Frequently Asked Questions
What is intensive couples therapy?
Grounded in the science behind the Gottman Method Couples Therapy, intensive couples therapy is a dynamic alternative to traditional weekly sessions. It’s a condensed and focused approach to relationship counselling that will provide you with the time you need to...
Can Couples Therapy Work Where There Is Abuse in the Relationship?
While couples attending my services may have any one of a broad range of relationship issues, as a baseline their relationship must demonstrate mutual respect and safety. I do not work with couples where violence or abuse (physical, emotional, sexual, financial,...
How Do I Find a Great Couples Therapist?
The relationship between you and your psychologist can have a big impact on the outcomes of your therapy, so it is important to spend some time understanding what it is you both need and expect from your relationship with your psychologist before you engage in...
Signs This Relationship Therapist May Not Be the Right Fit for You
Your therapist’s job is to ensure the therapeutic relationship is maintained in a way that allows you both to participate fully in the current process and to feel like there is a sustainable shift in the right direction. Relationship counselling involves challenge and...
What are Some Common Concerns about Relationship Therapy?
Common aspects of individual sessions in couples therapy which people worry about include: What my partner said about me Given you are in couple’s therapy, it is highly likely that you will have been the subject of at least part of our individual session. Similarly,...
What is relationship therapy?
Relationship therapy (couples therapy) is a collaborative conversation between you and your therapist. Your therapist has the skills to help guide you to explore new ideas and existing strengths and barriers, but they are not all-knowing. Anticipate going into therapy...
When Is Relationship Counselling Not a Good Idea?
Love alone is not enough to save a relationship. You need commitment, persistence and willingness to take responsibility for your contributions to the issues, in order to get unstuck. If you think the issue is all with your partner, then the collaborative active...
Confidentiality in Couples Therapy
In addition to the usual confidentiality consideration, couples therapy has additional layers of ethical and privacy concerns. In joint sessions, both partners need to feel safe in expressing their innermost thoughts and feelings. Your therapist needs to have the...
Can I Claim a Medicare Rebate for Relationship Counselling?
The short answer is “no”. While people with mental health issues may also experience relationship problems, under the current Medicare system couples counselling is not eligible for Medicare rebates, even if both partners have an eligible Mental Health Treatment Plan...
How do Psychologists / Relationship Therapists Set Their Fees?
The current Australian Psychological Society (APS) National Schedule of Recommended Fee for a 50-minute consultation recognises the baseline professional training and experience required to gain and maintain registration as a psychologist. Psychologists are required...
How Long Does Relationship Therapy Take?
For meaningful change, couples therapy can be expected to take 8–12 sessions on average, although outcomes vary across couples. Factors which impact treatment outcomes include:I maintain a transparent and collaborative approach to working with you on your presenting...
What is Involved in a Relationship Therapy Session?
Every therapist conducts sessions differently. In my approach, I view therapy as a blend of mentoring, counselling and coaching. My work involves guided and purposeful conversations to help you uncover patterns, expectations and assumptions that are keeping you stuck....
What is Relationship Therapy?
Relationship therapy (couples therapy) is a collaborative conversation between you and your therapist. Your therapist has the skills to help guide you to explore new ideas and existing strengths and barriers, but they are not all-knowing. Anticipate going into therapy...
What is the Cost of Relationship Therapy?
As with any specialist service, fees vary among psychologists, so be sure to check with the provider of your choice regarding their fees before you start therapy. My fees for relationship therapy include the administration and feedback of an online assessment, which I...
Do I Need Help with Burnout?
10 signs that you could benefit from some extra support: You more often than not dread going to work. People irritate you a lot more than usual and you’re less tolerant at home. It is hard to recall the last time you laughed freely, breathed deeply, did something you...
How Does Therapy Help with Burnout?
Therapy is a process of coaching, mentoring and counselling. It is based on dialogue between you and your therapist, and involves a collaborative approach to helping you develop healthier and more effective habits. Therapists don’t offer advice. It is different from...
Am I Burnt Out?
If you answer ‘yes’ to these questions, you could be experiencing symptoms of burnout. Emotional exhaustion, responsibility overload, and burnout are popular terms which refer to a sensation of feeling overwhelmed in life, not knowing what’s important to do every day,...
What Does Burnout Look Like?
While symptoms vary for each of us, burnout, or emotional exhaustion, often looks like a flattening in mood and a narrowing of perspective. Joys are more muted, accomplishments and successes are overlooked or minimised, and energy is depleted. You may notice you are...
Is my information confidential?
Information is collected about you as part of the assessment and treatment process. It is important that you are able to trust that your privacy is protected. As such, all disclosures and information is considered confidential between you and Dr Bek (Dr Rebekah...
How do I book?
If you are ready to move forward with change, book a session with me through our online portal and select your choice of online or in-person (Gold Coast location) consultation. Available times are displayed and alternative options for online consultations only may be...
Should I have online or face-to-face therapy?
In the last few years online psychological therapy services have proliferated, partly through the relatively recent application of Medicare rebates to certain online psychology services. You may be worried that online services are not as effective as in-person...
I’m thinking about having therapy but I am worried about what my history says about me?
Your history says the same thing about you as mine does about me – that we are products of our nature and shaped by our experiences. Everyone has baggage. We start life as a perfect ceramic tile, beautiful in its simplicity and pure of design… then life happens. Mixed...
What if I don’t like what I hear (or find out) about myself?
Participating in a semi-structured process of self-discovery with a view to effecting meaningful change in your life is bound to raise at least some challenging ideas. Change is only possible through confronting entrenched attitudes, beliefs and behaviours that are...
What if I’ve tried therapy before and it didn’t work?
Registered Psychologists have a common background of a minimum six years of training and supervised professional practice. Within that framework, as autonomous human beings with our own individual wealth of lived experience and understanding, we each bring something...
What if I don’t have time for deep and meaningful conversations?
If you are someone who finds it difficult to talk about your feelings, to engage in conversations about emotions, or who is easily frustrated or impatient with problems that seem to defy logical, rational solutions, then you may worry that therapy is going to be too...
How do I fit therapy in with being fully functional at work / life?
I am invested in ensuring my clients get the maximum benefit from investing time and energy in the process of coaching / mentoring / treatment with me. What this means is that I maintain a high professional standard in my professional skills and knowledge, as well as...
How do I get the most out of my sessions?
I am invested in ensuring my clients get the maximum benefit from investing time and energy in the process of coaching / mentoring / treatment with me. What this means is that I maintain a high professional standard in my professional skills and knowledge, as well as...
How long will therapy take?
In Australia, the Medicare system has created a framework which suggests 6–10 individual sessions in a calendar year are generally sufficient for meaningful change. For some issues, this is sufficient; for other concerns you may need more time. Factors which impact...
Do you need to have a problem for therapy to be useful?
The short answer to this is “not necessarily”. You do however, need to have a sense that you want to change something in your life, whether it is a problematic reaction, behaviour or issue with an aspect of your psychological functioning (mood, concentration,...
How are therapy sessions structured?
Psychologists need to explain their therapeutic approach and help you to understand the potential risks, as well as gains, involved in engaging in services. My practice draws on skills, tools and techniques from a variety of therapeutic frameworks and modalities,...
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