Taking the first step… making an appointment

Our Counselling Program provides services to children (5+), young people, families, and individuals. These services are provided by counsellors employed by Doncare, volunteer counsellors and counselling students.

Booking an appointment

Appointments take place at our office, Suite 4, Level 1, 687 Doncaster Road, Doncaster. From time to time, appointments can be conducted via Telehealth as agreed with your counsellor.

To book an appointment, please email Doncare’s Counselling Intake Coordinator or call 9856 1500 for more information.

The intake interview is your first step to finding out if this service can assist you. During peak periods, there may be a waiting period before an appointment becomes available.

Counselling appointments times:

• Monday – 9 am to 9 pm
• Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – 9 am to 5 pm

You can read about our Fee Schedule and Payment Policy,  Cancellation Policy and Non-Attendance Policy below.

Our Fee Schedule and Payment Policy

We aim to provide an accessible and affordable service to the community and our fee schedule offers two rates:

• Individual counselling $65 full-fee, $45 concession
• Couples counselling $135 full-fee, $85 concession
• Prepare and Enrich Couples Program $220 (consisting of 3 feedback sessions following your online assessment)

Fee payment is required on the day of your appointment, prior to attending your counselling session. This is applicable for both face-to-face appointments conducted at Doncare and Telehealth.

• Payment is accepted via EFTPOS and credit card
• We do not accept cash payments

*Our reception can sometimes be quite busy. Please arrive ten minutes prior to your appointment to ensure you have enough time to pay your account prior to attending your counselling session.

Our Cancellation Policy

When you book your counselling appointment, we reserve that time specifically for you. We understand that sometimes cancellations are unavoidable, however, as we can see only a limited number of participants per day, we ask that you provide as much notice as possible when cancelling an appointment.

Appointments that are cancelled or rescheduled without sufficient notice will be charged a fee.

• Non-attendance or sessions cancelled without 24-hours notice will be charged the session fee
• Repeated cancellations or failure to pay the cancellation fee will result in the service being discontinued

*All charges incurred because of cancellation will be required to be paid in full prior to attending your next counselling session

 

Our Non-Attendance Policy

We have a high demand for our counselling services and substantial waiting lists. If you are unable to attend your appointments regularly, please discuss your situation with your counsellor.

• If you are unable to commit to your scheduled appointments, it may be appropriate to postpone your sessions until you are able to attend more regularly
• If you miss three consecutive sessions without advising us, we will assume that you no longer require our service and the appointment time will be given to another participant

If you have questions regarding fee payments, cancellations and non-attendance call us on 9856 1500. Thank you for your understanding and co-operation.