OSHCstudents – Everyone can feel down or have a bad day, so reaching out if it turns into something more is an important first step to take. There is a range of medical and allied health practitioners available to help.
Help with finding a mental health practitioner
At any point in time 1 in 5 Australians will be suffering from one or more mental health conditions (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2022), for overseas students, it can be as high as 1 in 3 (Student International 2016).
Everyone can feel down or have a bad day, so reaching out if it turns into something more is an important first step to take.
There is a range of medical and allied health practitioners available to help.
Some key practitioners are:
- General Practitioners – If you have concerns about your mental health, booking an appointment with a GP is an important first step. Mental health conditions may have a variety of causes including sometimes as a symptom of an illness or medical condition. GPs are trained to identify and investigate these and also help to guide you on the next step of who is best to help you treat and manage your condition.
- Psychologists – A psychologist is a university-trained professional who understands the causes of stress and mental health conditions and can help people to understand and manage the way they think, feel, behave, and react.
- Psychiatrists – A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who is a specialist in mental health and emotional issues. Psychiatrists are trained to diagnose and treat mental health issues, prescribe medications to help and use other therapies to support them.
- Mental Health Social Worker – A mental health social worker is a professional who holds a university qualification in social work and has gone on to specialise in counselling people having a hard time because of mental health issues.
Step 1: Make an appointment with your GP (doctor) to talk about your mental health
If your GP puts a mental health care plan in place for you, discuss who can best provide the services you need under your plan.
Your GP may recommend and refer you to a certain mental health practitioner. You can also request that the GP provides you with an open referral so that you can choose a suitable mental health practitioner depending on your needs.
A GP mental health plan will need to be in place for you to be able to access the MBS benefits for treatment under your OSHC policy.
Step 2: Choose a mental health practitioner and make contact
Finding a mental health practitioner that is right for you is an important part of your treatment and care. Many mental health practitioners will often specialise in particular mental health conditions, age groups or client groups.
It is also important to make contact with the practitioner before you have your first appointment to ask about the cost of treatment. Under your Allianz Care Australia OSHC policy, treatment by mental health practitioners is covered at the MBS benefit amount. Often mental health practitioners will charge fees above this amount and any gap fees between the MBS benefit amount and the practitioner’s fee is not covered under your OSHC policy so it is important to choose a practitioner that suits your needs.
You may want to speak with one of the providers in our mental health network to help you make the right choice in finding a suitable practitioner or use our find a doctor tool to locate a mental health practitioner near you.
You are international students or foreigners arrive to Australia, or Australian citizens traveling abroad who are looking for OSHC, OVHC, travel insurance, please contact OSHCstudents Team at email: info@oshcstudents.com and our partners for further information and assistance.
OSHCstudents (source: Allianz Care Australia)
