FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

I am registered with the Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF), so all medical aids will cover the cost of sessions to the degree that they make provision for counselling services for your medical aid plan. It is always advised that you confirm with your medical aid what your annual benefit for psychological services is. I run a cash practice, so you will need to submit claims to your medical aid to reimburse what you pay for sessions.

Prescribed Minimum Benefits are a set of legally defined benefits that all medical aid schemes need to cover regardless of the benefit option you have selected. PMBs exist to ensure that all medical scheme members have access to certain minimum health services. The aim is to provide people with continuous care to improve their health and well-being and to make healthcare more affordable. 

· F43.0 – Acute Stress Reaction, accompanied by recent significant trauma, including physical and sexual abuse. Up to 12 sessions.  

· F43.8 – Other Reaction to Severe Distress 

· F43.9 – Reaction to Severe Stress, Unspecified T74.1 – Physical Abuse and T74.2 – Sexual Abuse Attempted suicide, irrespective of the cause. Up to 6 sessions. 

· Major Affective Disorders, including unipolar and bipolar depression. Up to 15 sessions. 

· F20.4 – Post-Schizophrenic Depression 

· F25 – All Schizoaffective Disorders 

· F30.1 – Mania without Psychotic Symptoms and F30.2 – Mania with Psychotic Symptoms 

· F31.- – All Bipolar Affective Disorders 

· F32.- – All forms of Depressive Episodes 

· F33.- – All forms of Recurrent Depressive Episodes 

· F53.1 - Severe mental & behavioural disorders associated with the puerperium (period post-childbirth), not elsewhere classified

· F53.8 - Other mental & behavioural disorders associated with the puerperium, not elsewhere classified 

· F53.9 - Puerperal mental disorder, unspecified 

You can contact your medical aid and enquire to what extent they may cover mental health problems over and above the prescribed minimum benefits as well as whether they cover your specific condition. If they do not, then you will be required to pay for counselling yourself.

No. You are in charge of your counselling process, and you decide what you want to share with me. Counselling works best when you are completely open about the issues you specifically choose to focus on, but you can always discuss with me which parts of your life you want to be open about and what parts of your life you wish to keep private.  

I can accommodate weekly and twice-weekly counselling sessions because the evidence shows that this is the most effective way to conduct the process. 

  Counselling is a process and works over time. One session is unlikely to have any lasting benefit. 

Because the body and the mind are so closely related, giving medical information helps a counsellor to understand your health context, to keep track of your baseline for functioning, and to help you to look out for unusual symptoms. 

No. Counsellors and psychologists cannot prescribe any medication. Only psychiatrists, who are medical doctors, can prescribe meds. 

Couples counselling is about understanding how two people are relating to each other and whether they can relate to each other in a more constructive way. The couples counsellor looks closely at communication, power dynamics, and shared values and goals. 

If you think counselling will benefit someone you love, you can share my information with them but legally, they need to approach the counsellor for their own process. This can be a difficult issue, contact me if you would like to discuss it. 

Yes. My sessional rooms for in-person counselling are fully disability friendly.