Outpatient/community mental health services

Counselling and therapy can be helpful for dealing with a wide variety of issues (e.g. stress and coping, relationship problems) and mental health conditions (e.g. depression, anxiety, etc.)

ACT is a type of therapy that helps people by using  acceptance and mindfulness, along with commitment and behaviour-change strategies.

Animal-assisted and pet therapy are types of therapy that use animals trained to provide affection and comfort to people in a variety of places including hospitals, retirement or nursing homes, mental health facilities and schools.

Art therapy is a way of helping people through art, and is provided by accredited art therapists. Painting, drawing and sculpting are common ways that help people to express themselves and heal. Unlike traditional art, the focus is on the process of creating the artwork rather than the final product.

Attachment therapies focus on strengthening the attachment or relationships between a child and parent, or child and adult caregivers.

DDP is a therapy and parenting approach that uses what we know about attachment and trauma to help children and families with their relationships. When a child has experienced stresses such as trauma, this can lead the child to become disconnected from the important people in the child's life, and experience problems such as depression, anxiety and behaviour problems. DDP offers a powerful way to reconnect children to the people that are important, thus improving their relationships as well as problems with depression, anxiety and behaviours. 

Behavioural therapies uses different strategies to help a person learn life skills and more positive behaviours such as communication and social skills. Examples include therapies used in autism such as Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) and Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI).

Coaching is the process whereby a coach teaches and directs another person via encouragement and advice. The coach provides an individual with feedback, insight and guidance on achieving their full potential in their business or personal life. Coaches usually first help by defining goals, and then supports the client in working out a strategy to reach those goals, and helps the client stay on track.

Compared to counselling, coaching generally has a narrower focus; focuses on performance rather than underlying root causes; tends to be shorter-term; does not seek to improve underlying psychological problems; focuses on improvement on function in already well-functioning individuals.

Coaching is generally more suitable for individuals who are well-functioning to begin with, whereas counselling/therapy would be recommended for individuals who are more distressed.

Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is a type of therapy for numerous conditions such as depression and anxiety. CBT helps individuals by looking at negative thoughts and behaviour patterns, and changing those into more helpful coping thoughts and behaviours. CBT can be delivered by any health professional who has had adequate training in CBT, such as psychologists, registered psychotherapists, social workers and physicians including psychiatrists.