Essentia Health’s Telehealth Clinic

Essentia Health provides Telehealth Services (telephone and video consultations) to individuals throughout Australia! Online mental health consultations save you time and gives you access to intensively trained DBT and trauma specialists no matter where you are. We offer Individual Therapy & DBT Groups online!

Essentia Health’s Telehealth services are delivered via Zoom and/or Cliniko which meet industry standards for safety and security within the Health Sector. At present our therapists are mainly from Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

New referrals through our national intake service.

We have multiple options for individuals to contact our team for intake & referrals including via phone, email, medical objects or completion of one of our online forms (NDIS or General Referrals) below.

Frequently Asked Questions about Telehealth

How much does Individual Therapy & Groups Cost? Essentia Health does not receive any government funding therefore our fees are set by our private psychologists, social workers, mental health OTs and psychotherapists. Individuals may be eligible under the NDIS, WorkCover, Department of Veteran Affairs and/or other schemes to access our services with no charge. Individuals with mental health plans can access our services with an out of pocket cost of $100 per session for individual therapy and/or an out of pocket cost of $20-30 for DBT groups. If you would like to access Essentia Health’s individual therapists privately the cost will range from $150-$240  and group will range from $40-100 depending on the clinician’s experience and qualifications.

What are the Advantages of using Telehealth? Telehealth makes an important contribution to overcoming inequalities in access to private mental health and counselling services. This is most clearly related to improving the availability of services in rural and remote areas as well as at a time where it can take 6-12 months to see a Psychologist. The Telehealth modality is also advantageous for client groups experiencing difficulties leaving the home (e.g., clients with agoraphobia, social phobia, stigmatised groups of individuals and more).
Other advantages include an enhanced capacity for clients to choose a clinician with specific expertise, reduced time waiting for an appointment, less time off work to attend the appointment, and increased flexibility in appointment time and location.

How effective is telehealth? There is a range of quality evidence reporting the effectiveness of Telehealth which includes videoconferencing and telephone therapy (Fletcher et al., 2018; Varker, Brand, Ward, Terhaag, & Phelps, 2019). Systematic reviews examining the efficacy of Telehealth psychology compared to in-person treatment report equivalent outcomes for depression, anxiety, physical health issues, addiction, eating disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Backhaus et al., 2012; Hilty et al., 2013). This finding extends across child, adolescent and adult client groups, and across cultural groups (Hilty et al., 2013).

The evidence-base for telehealth in improving an individual’s mental health continues to expand. Recent clinical studies supports the use of telehealth for individuals including veteran and civilian PTSD, obesity management, parenting and adolescent obsessive compulsive disorder (Glassman et al., 2019; Lewis, Huang, Hassmén, Welvaert, & Pumpa, 2019; Ngai, Wong, Chung, Leung, & Tarrant, 2019; Turner et al., 2014).

Can you assure my security? Essentia Health uses two platforms with industry leading standards in security for the delivery of Telehealth Services. Please click the links below to access the product statements for the two platforms our therapists use:
– Security for Cliniko go to https://www.cliniko.com/security/
– Security for Zoom go to https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/esafety-guide/zoom