Mental Health Social Workers
Did you know that there are different university qualified and accredited mental health professionals who can work with you if you’ve been struggling and could use some help? In addition to psychologists, mental health social workers are also able to provide you with psychological assessment and treatment. Mental health social workers are eligible for Medicare rebates and are certified to offer one-on-one psychological therapy sessions.
There is a common, yet misleading perception, that only psychologists are qualified to provide psychological therapy. In fact, mental health social workers can be just as well trained and experienced as psychologists and can apply the same range of therapeutic approaches as psychologists.
Mental Health Social Workers have undergone additional training and supervision following their social work degree in order to be accredited by Medicare to provide psychological therapy. Similar to psychologists, their training incorporates an understanding of how psychology develops throughout childhood, assessment of psychological disorders, and treatment of these disorders through psychological intervention. In addition though, Mental Health Social Workers may be able to offer a slightly different perspective to psychologists in that their thinking may be finely tuned to their clients’ social connections, their family structure, and the social systems they have encountered.
The mental health social workers at Cova Psychology have a particular interest in working with psychological trauma and as such have extensive experience assessing and treating the impact of trauma. Like psychologists, their therapeutic style often draws from a range of approaches which may include Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) and Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR).
When looking for a therapist, our advice is to look for a someone who is qualified and experienced, as well as someone with whom you can build a connection. We encourage you to research carefully and look for the person you believe has the key skills and experience to help you – whether they are a psychologist or a mental health social worker.
For more information about working with a therapist at Cova Psychology, contact us on:
Looking for Psychologist Melbourne and Mental Health Accredited Social workers offering a wide range of therapies, including EMDR Therapy Melbourne? Contact us to discuss today.
