Ask RiotACT: Bulk billing psychiatrist

I’m sorry things are hard for you right now. Have you tried seeing a GP first? If you work out a mental health plan with a GP, you can claim some of your sessions back on medicare, so it makes the first few sessions alot more affordable.

Hello, sorry about you situation.
Mental health care in ACT is abysmal. My own experience and that of a friend & a relative, is that it was easier to access good care in Bathurst on a weekend than here on a weekday.
The other name for the CAT Team here is “Can’t Attend Today”!
You may be better off travelling to Sydney or somewhere in NSW if that is do-able in your situation.
The other thing I found here was that the level of mis-diagnosis was hi, the duty of care minimal (trying to discharge a suicidal patient 10 hours after she had arrested in the emergency ward & been resusitated), refusing to admit another suicidal patient to a private ward in Calvary as the case was “too complicated” (that patient was in possession of enough medication to successfully suicide at the time!). Another person was severely overdosed by the psychiatrist on medication for an illness that had been mis-diagnosed & nearly died (3 days in ICU then 4 in the ward).
I’m sure some people have some good stories to tell, but I do not – over a period of several years it was one disaster after another.
I am only posting this, so that you may be informed. Be very cautious – be alert, but not alarmed.
I wish you well.