Training in clinical psychology is extremely comprehensive. It is competitive to obtain a place within a master’s program and often it is the best performing undergraduate students that are chosen first. To become a fully registered clinical psychologist, you need to complete six (6) years of full-time study, including a masters or doctorate degree in clinical psychology, plus be supervised for two years following by a more experienced practitioner. It’s fair to say that it’s a bit of a journey to become fully registered.
One important component of training in clinical psychology is delivering the service with a client centred approach, building trust, ensuring confidence and developing a strong therapeutic alliance. We know that a strong alliance or the client-therapist relationship is one of the best predictors of client outcome.
From our perspective, training in clinical psychology can be at odds with the workers’ compensation system, despite many clients presenting to clinical psychologists with organisational or workplace related matters. The workers’ compensation system requires a level of transparency, a degree of openness and requires that the practitioner communicate with key parties on the client’s progress. To many clinical psychologists, this can be stressful, difficult and at odds with the way they were trained.
At Headway, we believe it is possible to provide a high-quality client centred service, whilst also keeping key stakeholders updated on how the client is progressing and any obstacles or barriers that may be presenting during treatment. This is of course with client consent.
At Headway, we are cognisant of the context in which we deliver psychological services and the importance of key party collaboration to promote an efficiency recovery for the client. Our process for servicing workers’ compensation clients include:
- Scheduling client appointments within 48 hours of referral;
- Providing immediate feedback to the referrer following the first appointment;
- Providing an assessment report the day following the initial assessment;
- Liaising with key stakeholders including the GP, psychiatrist and/or the workplace rehabilitation provider.
- Attendance at case conferences if required.
- Regular review of client progress and communication with the referrer.
If you have any clients that could benefit from Headway’s pro-active clinical psychology treatment, please get in touch via referrals@headwaypsych.com.au, or call (08) 9226 4489 for further information.
