What the funding allows
Medicare sets two boundaries. The first is the course of treatment: a maximum of six individual sessions on an initial referral, after which your GP reviews the plan and can refer you for more. The second is the annual cap: ten individual services per calendar year, plus up to ten group services.
Neither number is a clinical recommendation. They govern what is subsidised, not what treatment requires.
What treatment requires
We agree the likely number of sessions with you at the first appointment, once we understand what is happening, and set a review point rather than committing you to an open-ended course. For some presentations a focused block of work is enough; for others — long-standing trauma, complex or recurring difficulties — a longer course is realistic, and we will say so early rather than late.
Frequency matters as much as the total. Sessions usually start weekly or fortnightly while skills are being built, then space out as things stabilise.
If you need more than ten
You can continue privately once the Medicare-funded sessions for the year are used, and private health extras cover may apply at that point. The annual allocation resets on 1 January. If sessions on a current referral are unused at the end of December, they can still be used, but they count towards the new year's ten.
Ending well
Finishing therapy is a piece of work in itself: identifying what changed, what maintains it, and what to do if symptoms return. We plan that rather than letting it drift, and a written report goes to your referring GP at the end of each course of treatment so your care stays joined up.