Nobody will ask about your childhood in the first ten minutes.
Sixty minutes, mostly spent working out what you want to be different and whether this clinician is the right fit. You are allowed to leave and try someone else — that is a normal outcome, not a failure.
The hour, roughly
Paperwork and the ground rules
Consent, confidentiality and its three exceptions, fees and the cancellation policy — said out loud rather than buried in a form you sign without reading.
What brought you in
In your own words, at whatever level of detail you want today. “I would rather not go into that yet” is a complete answer.
What you want to be different
The most useful question in the hour. It becomes the thing we measure against, so at session six there is something concrete to compare.
A plan, and a number
A rough approach, roughly how many sessions, and what you might do before next time. Small and specific, not a life overhaul.
Whether to continue, and with whom
Fit predicts outcome more than method does. If this clinician is not right, you will be offered someone else here or a name elsewhere — a normal way for a first session to end.
Confidentiality, and its limits
What you say here stays here. Your file is not shared with your employer, your family or your insurer, and if you are here on a Medicare plan the only thing your GP receives is a short progress letter — not your session notes.
There are three exceptions, and you will hear them in the first ten minutes rather than reading them in fine print: a serious and imminent risk to your life or someone else’s, a child at risk of harm, or a court subpoena. You can also ask, at any point, what has been written about you — it is your file.
Bring with you
GP referral & mental health plan
Required for the Medicare rebate. Without it the full fee applies.
Medicare card
Or the digital version in your phone wallet.
Any concession card
Health Care Card or pension card, if you are asking about a bulk-billed place.
A list of medications
Including anything a GP or psychiatrist has started or changed recently.
More than 24 hours’ notice, no charge
Inside 24 hours, half the fee; on the day, the full fee, and Medicare cannot rebate it. We waive it for genuine emergencies and for the first time it happens — but the hour cannot be given to anyone else at that notice, which is the whole reason for the policy.