How to get a Mental Health Treatment Plan

Figures checked September 2026

A Mental Health Treatment Plan is a document your GP (general practitioner) For most people, where getting help starts. A GP can write a Mental Health Treatment Plan, prescribe medication and refer you on, and some are trained to deliver a small number of structured therapy sessions themselves. More in the jargon decoder writes with you. What it does is make you eligible for Medicare rebates, so that seeing a Psychologist Someone trained to assess mental health problems and treat them with therapy. It takes at least six years of study and supervised practice, and they're registered with Ahpra, the national regulator. Psychologists can't prescribe medication. More in the jargon decoder costs you less. The plan itself isn’t therapy.

Almost everyone calls it a mental health care plan or just a care plan. It’s the same thing.

What it gets you

Ten rebated individual sessions a calendar year. With a psychologist, a mental health social worker or a Mental health occupational therapist An occupational therapist with a mental health endorsement. Their focus is on daily life, such as getting back to work, study and routine, alongside the therapy itself. More in the jargon decoder .

Ten rebated group sessions a calendar year, separately, on top of the individual ten. The group rebate is easy to miss, and worth asking about.

The rebate is $149.05 a session with a Clinical psychologist A psychologist with an extra endorsement, which usually means two more years of training aimed at more complex problems. More in the jargon decoder , and $101.55 with a Registered For psychologists, psychiatrists and occupational therapists, registration with Ahpra is required, and using the title without it is an offence. Counsellors and psychotherapists can register with their national associations, which is voluntary. More in the jargon decoder psychologist. That’s what comes back to you, not what you pay. Fees vary, so the gap varies with them.

Some psychologists bulk bill, which means charging the rebate and nothing on top, so the session costs you nothing. It’s uncommon in private practice and places fill quickly. It’s more often available if you have a concession card, are a student, or are on a low income, so it’s worth asking when you book rather than assuming the answer is no.

Six, then a review. Your first referral is for six sessions. You go back to your GP for a review before the last four. People routinely find this out at session six, when they turn up and can’t claim, so book the review around session four or five.

The sessions run on the calendar year, not on twelve months from when you start. A plan written in October gets you ten sessions this year and ten more in January.

Who can have one

Your GP makes the decision, and it’s a real assessment rather than a formality. You need a clinically diagnosed mental disorder. You also need to require a moderate level of support, and to be likely to benefit from a structured Approach (modality) The kind of therapy someone uses, such as CBT or psychodynamic therapy. You'll also see it called a modality. More in the jargon decoder to your care.

Some people who’d get a lot out of therapy won’t meet that.

Four conditions sit outside the scheme: dementia, delirium, tobacco use disorder and intellectual disability. The reason is definitional rather than clinical. Better Access defines “mental disorder” in a way that doesn’t include them, following an older international classification, so they aren’t judged less serious — they’re funded through other doors. The dementia exclusion catches families off guard, because a plan is often exactly what they’ve been told to ask for.

Those other doors:

Dementia and delirium. Start with your GP, who can refer you to a geriatrician or a memory clinic. The National Dementia Helpline is free and answered at any hour on 1800 100 500, for people living with dementia and for the people caring for them. And if you’re the carer and you’re struggling yourself, the exclusion doesn’t apply to you: you can have a plan in your own right if you meet the criteria.
Tobacco. Quitline gives free telephone counselling on 13 7848, and your GP can prescribe subsidised medications that make quitting easier.
Intellectual disability. The NDIS is the main funding route. The exclusion is about intellectual disability on its own — someone who also has a diagnosed mental disorder can generally get a plan for that.

The plan has to come from your usual GP, or from one at the practice you’re enrolled with under MyMedicare. A walk-in at an unfamiliar clinic generally can’t write you a plan.

Asking for one

Book a long appointment and say when you book that you want to talk about a mental health treatment plan. It takes longer than a standard consultation, and a GP who has ten minutes booked will usually have to bring you back.

Whether you pay for that appointment depends on the practice. Some bulk-bill it and some don’t, and it’s a fair thing to ask about when you book.

What to say when you book covers the phone call itself, which is often the hardest part.

Two things that catch people out

Telehealth A session by video or phone instead of in person. Medicare gives the same rebate for a session by video as in person. More in the jargon decoder has a condition attached. A plan can be prepared by phone or video, but generally only if you’ve seen that GP face to face in the past twelve months. There are exemptions. If you can’t easily get to a clinic, ask the practice which applies to you before you book.

Your Psychiatrist A medical doctor who has specialised in mental health. Psychiatrists can diagnose, prescribe and do therapy, though many spend most of their time on medication and diagnosis rather than weekly sessions. More in the jargon decoder or paediatrician can refer you directly. If you’re already seeing one, they can usually refer you straight through, which saves you an appointment, a wait and a retelling. It’s easy to miss, so ask.

What it doesn’t cover

Counsellor Someone trained to help people talk through and work on difficulties. The title isn't protected in Australia, so it's worth checking a counsellor's training and registration. Medicare doesn't give a rebate for counsellors. More in the jargon decoder and Psychotherapist Someone trained in therapy, often for longer-standing patterns. Like counsellor, the title isn't protected in Australia, and Medicare doesn't give a rebate for psychotherapists. More in the jargon decoder aren’t part of the scheme, so nothing they do attracts a rebate — no matter how experienced they are or which approach they use.

Counsellors generally charge less than psychologists, but Medicare doesn’t give a rebate for counsellors. So a counsellor’s full fee can come out lower than what you’d pay a psychologist after the rebate, or higher, depending on what each one charges. Who does what sets out the professions and which of them Medicare covers.

When the sessions run out

Ten sessions is enough for some approaches and nowhere near enough for others. Most people in longer work reach the limit partway through, and keep going by other means.

What people do:

pay the full fee for a while
move to fortnightly
ask about a sliding scale
use the group sessions
switch to a lower-cost service
take a planned break and start again in January

Free and low-cost options covers the services that don’t depend on a plan at all.

Ask what the whole course is likely to cost at the first appointment rather than at the tenth. A good practice will give you a straight answer.

Where next

If you haven’t settled whether you want therapy, would I benefit from therapy? is the page for that. It also covers why you can start therapy without a plan at all: the rebate has an eligibility test, and therapy itself has none.

If you’ve got the plan and the question is who to see, read why who you see matters more than what they do before you pick. What happens in a first session covers what to expect.