an Australia-wide service |
Relationships Personal problems Child and family |
NEW!
Counsellor Plus is planning a regular monthly information sheet, designed to be helpful to physicians, naturopaths, physiotherapists and others who may encounter people in psychological distress. Each information sheet will give helpful facts about one specific problem. Topics will include:
The information sheets will be available as attachments to email. If you are interested, please write to Dr Bob Rich, bobrich@web.solutions.net.au. |
Counsellor Plus is staffed by a network of highly trained professionals, all with advanced qualifications and years of experience in private practice or with welfare organisations.
Counsellor Plus is an Australia-wide service. It has been set up as a specialist program by an established service, Western Psychological Services Pty Ltd., whose clients have expressed a need for a qualified professional service they could contact immediately, any time and from anywhere.
How Counsellor Plus Works
You are then transferred to a professionally qualified counsellor with specialist expertise in your area of concern. Your consultation can now begin. Should you want a follow-up consultation, you can arrange to talk to the same counsellor at another time.
Counsellor Plus provides counselling, practical information, guidance, advice, help with problem solving, and referral to specialists. Suitable reading material may also be recommended.
Who can be helped by phone counselling?
| Are you a country person, isolated from services? Do you have a physical disability, or are you housebound for any other reason? | A highly trained counsellor is as near as your telephone. |
| Do you have a desire to keep your need for counselling private? | On the phone, you can stay completely anonymous if you choose |
| Are you a business person, or someone else with insufficient time to travel to Consulting Rooms? Are you too busy to make an appointment? | You can talk to a counsellor for ten minutes at a time, or however long you wish. You can ask for the same person on another occasion |
Are you far from home and family? Are you away from your usual source of help? | Counsellor Plus is Australia-wide. |
| Do you prefer to discuss an issue with someone immediately? Do you need access to professional help after hours? | Pick up the phone and dial for instant professional help. |
But can someone help me over the phone, in just a few minutes?
YES. GIVE IT A TRY.
*Research shows that being heard and accepted in itself has great healing power. Counsellors are trained in ‘reflective listening’, which is a powerful tool for relieving distress. *Often, a chronic problem can be overcome by looking at the situation in a different way. This needn’t take a long time. The phone counsellor may help you to change your life, by gaining a new view of a person or a problem.
Examine NARRATIVE THERAPY |
*Counsellors have come across problems like yours before, and may suggest strategies you can try. What has worked for someone else may work for you.
Tips on attacking a problem |
*Many sources of anxiety are matters of false expectation. For example, it can be a great relief to know that your child’s behaviour is within normal limits. A 'panic attack' is often in response to bodily feelings misinterpreted as life-threatening.
Read about panic attacks |
*Depending on your problem, the phone counsellor can help you in many other ways.
How do I pay?
Payment is simple and confidential.
Counsellor Plus telephone counselling costs $2.95 per minute. You are being charged only for time spent with the counsellor. You pay through your telephone account, which will state only that it is a 1900 number. No other information is listed.
You can talk for up to an hour, but the average call to Counsellor Plus is 30 minutes, many clients being satisfied after 20 minutes. At the start, you can tell the counsellor how long you want the session to be. To make a comparison, the Australian Psychological Society’s current recommended fee for face-to-face consultations is $150 per hour.
There are other 1900 services charging as high as $5 per minute, staffed by untrained people offering scientifically unsubstantiated advice.
Calls through mobile phones or public telephones are charged at a higher rate.
Remember, with Counsellor Plus, you initiate the call, and can stop whenever you wish.
Other services
Counsellor Plus can help you in other ways. E-mail for details to wps@lexicon.net.au
Who runs Counsellor Plus?
Angelo Pagano B. A. (M. B. Sc Prel), M. Psych (Prel), MAPS is the Director and Principal Psychologist of Western Psychological Services, which he founded in 1991. He is an Associate Fellow of the Institute of Rational Emotive Therapy, New York, and an accredited Supervisor and Faculty Board member of the Australian Institute. He is also a member of the International Association for Cognitive Psychotherapy and an accredited Marriage Guidance Counsellor. He is trained in Clinical Psychology and has worked in private practice, hospital, rehabilitation, relationship and university settings.
What is Cognitive Therapy? |
Kerry Proctor B. A. (Dip. Ed.), B. Ed. (Couns.), M. Family Therapy (Prel), MAPS is an accredited Supervisor and Member of the College of Counselling Psychologists; the Victorian Association of Family Therapists and an accredited Marriage Guidance Counsellor. She has worked in private practice, community health and welfare agencies and lectured at Universities. Her specialist areas are family therapy, family trauma counselling, depression and anxiety related problems, and conflict and relationship counselling.