Rick Whelan
Primary Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
Rick Whelan
Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
Pragmatic Mental and Emotional Depth
Are you in need of a Mental Health Nurse, a counsellor or psychotherapist? Have you been struggling with certain issues but don't know who to turn to or how to go about getting some help?
The mental health system in Australia is complex, convoluted, and poorly funded despite lip service provided by members of government. It is a mission of mine to try and give my patients effective, affordable mental health care.
"“Everything can be taken from a [hu]man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
Viktor Frankl
NDIS and MBS
How to make counselling/therapy affordable
If you already have NDIS funding for counselling [under therapeutic supports] and are either plan managed or self managed you are in luck. Your sessions can be fully subsidised, no out of pocket expenses.
If you are not eligible for the NDIS, I can offer healthy rebates through Medicare's MBS [Medical benefits Schedule]. Rebates are not limited by the number of sessions and so favour those in need of ongoing therapy or have chronic conditions in need of ongoing management.
“And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”
J.K. Rowling
COVID-19 - A unique moment in time for those in remote, rural and regional areas
If you live outside the metropolitan area of any of Australia's capital cities chances are you have very few choice regarding mental health services or absolutely no mental health services at all. Due to COVID-19 Nurse Practitioners have been given special MBS item numbers allowing them to provide patients with TeleHealth. As we here in Victoria are still in lock-down I am having to provide all my services via telephone and video services like Zoom, Skype, FaceTime and WhatsApp. At last Nurse Practitioners can start to fill an enormous gap in Australia's mental health services especially those marginalised due to their location. TeleHealth can be useful if you are fearful with regards to leaving your accommodation or feel uncomfortable with people coming into your home, no matter how good their intentions. If you need the help I urge you to get in contact.
A little about me
I am a Nurse Practitioner with endorsements in both Mental Health and Primary Care. It is where these domains meet that I really specialise in. It really means that I work in the community seeing clients/patients for matters relating to their mental health or psychiatric condition. I have a background in psychiatric nursing, drug and alcohol addiction nursing, counselling and psychotherapy. The therapies I use are eclectic, including, Jungian Analysis, Narrative Therapy, ACT [Acceptance Commitment Therapy] & other related mindfulness based therapies. I also use measurement tools such as the DASS21 and Mental State Examination to monitor my patient's mental state and to keep track of their progress/deterioration. With certain patients I suggest the use of various tools such as safety plans, Mental Health Traffic Lights to help them watch for their warning signs
What happens in a session?
It starts simple enough. We chat, get to know each other and I will ask questions relating to your every day life and history. From there I can make some suggestions on how we should proceed and between us we can come up with some sort of plan for the future. You might only need a handful of sessions, or perhaps you'd prefer ongoing sessions. If you and I agree then we go ahead and get the work done. If either you or I feel that it is not working, either of us can call it off. I should mention that I maintain a strict zero-tolerance policy around violence/bullying/standover tactics, no matter what form it takes. I have no taste nor time for such things.
Contact Me
I am located in the Eastern, Inner North and North Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne. As mentioned above I utilise Zoom, WhatsApp and FaceTime, enabling you and I to work together wherever either of us be located.
Contact me post-haste to learn more and book a session.