Infidelity navigation: Summary * fidelity 101 * fidelity 108 * fidelity 2 * fidelity 3 * fidelity 4 * emotional cost * triangles * how to mend * models of mending * how to forgive * the unforgivable * relationship education * exits from intimacy * ending a relationship in peace * defences * emotional intelligence * re-romancing * on vulnerability
Relationship navigation: * page list * page 1 * page 2 * page 3 * page 4 * page 5 * how to build intimacy * how to mend * models of mending * commitment quiz * toxic patterns * mental maps * tough love * boundaries * turning points * how to end * forgiving * survey of marriage * what is success * marriage research * love styles * marriage quotes * family love like the wind
Meditation navigation: Mind * how to meditate * loving kindness * embodied mind * the Sacred * Yoga Nidra * the resolve * Tonglen meditation * forgiving * Antar Mouna * Tantra * Vedanta psychology * inner smile * reciprocity * spiritual materialism * mental maps * trusting in mind * prayer * zen mind * manifestos
How to mend navigation: 1. How to mend * 2. Models of mending * 3. How to be a grown up * 4. Hold me tight * 5. Becoming vulnerable * 6. Emotional bids * 7. Constructive fights * 8. Exits from intimacy * 9. The answer
Trauma navigation: complex trauma 1 * societal trauma 2 * write it out 3 * life events scale 4 * compassion fatigue 5 * first aid 6 * first responders 7 * post-trauma growth 8
Last edit of this page 30/04/2013
PETER FOX Clinical Psychologist BSc MSc MACPA
PBA Registration No. PSY0001394830 endorsed Clinical Psychologist
Medicare & BUPA Provider No. 2768391A. Medibank provider No. 0871161L
Contact: Phone number: 0412 621 957 and Email
Postal address: Peter Fox PO Box 77 Brunswick Heads NSW 2483
New clients : I am available for new clients in Brisbane and the Byron Shire.
I am unable to take on new clients in Canberra unless you are willing to continue on skype.
I am happy to spend 10 minutes on the phone to help you work out if it would be appropriate to make an appointment to deal with the issues you are handling. Same for an email chat.
To make an appointment in Brisbane please phone my office on 07 3831 6058 and for Northern Rivers phone or text 0412 621 957.
If you are wondering how I work go to this extensive information page or consider the examples on Intro 1
I also provide and recommend premarital coaching and counselling. Very few people have taken this up preferring, I believe, to come when it hurts bad rather than when it's a troubling itch.
Brisbane
St Andrew's Psychology, 33 North Street, Spring Hill - Google map. Catch the free Spring Hill Loop bus to St Andrew's Hospital or walk through to the rear of Roma Street station and up through the parklands to North Street. We are opposite the hospital. [Gold Coast Line timetable.pdf]
Northern Rivers
Allied Health Centre 70-72 Rajah Road. Ocean Shores NSW 2483
Phone 0412 621 957
If you have a brief referral note from your GP in the Ocean Shores Medical Centre I will give you a free 20 minute introductory/assessment session next door. At the conclusion I may be able to advise how I or another psychologist might assist you or your family. You will be under no obligation. The benefit to me is extending the 'word of mouth' referral network in my community.
Intake questionnaires If you have made a session time with me, please complete and snail mail or encrypt and email either this couple intake questionnaire in docx format (or pdf) or this individual intake questionnaire (or pdf) well before our first session.
Consultation fee and payment methods: A session of sixty minutes costs $220. You can pay by cheque, cash or internet bank transfer on the day. I accept some credit cards but only via PayPal - link to my PayPal account.
Here is information on the recommended fee structure and rebates for psychological services.
Cancellation policy:
48 hours or more notice - No Charge
Between 24 and 48 Hours notice - $50.00
Cancellation less than 24 hours or failed to attend - $150.00
If you are unavoidably delayed please text me ASAP on 0412 621 957.
Media
An interview with me: Truth in Relationships on ABC Radio in mp3 format.Visit my smart phone friendly site couple-therapy.org
Email consultations
I charge $aus200.00 per hour pro-rate in 5 minute increments.
As soon as I open up your email and its attachments I start the timer. When I have finished thinking and composing a response I click send and stop the timer. I may do this in a number of short time blocks or one continuous block of time, depending on my availability and the complexity of the issues you raise.
I will invoice you with a record of my time. You can then pay via PayPal or if you prefer, I will send a PayPal invoice for you to complete. I will tend to let your account run up time until we reach about an hour before I invoice you.
Skype, FaceTime or telephone sessions
Video conferencing platforms and telephone will work best for clients who have already worked with me face to face.
There is significant daily variation in the quality of even the best equipped internet and mobile connections at both ends. Skype is not the most reliable platform. FaceTime may be better. Given the limitations, here are some suggestions that will enable me to give you my best.
Audio visual: Ideally I want to be able to see you sitting together on a sofa or in two chairs with a camera that will show me the expression in your eyes, mouth and hands, and audio that will register changes in voice tone as your emotions rise and fall. Lacking that kind of equipment we can try a conference call on skype when you have two devices set up to work with skype.
I want to hear one word ice-breakers and see the simultaneous response in the other's body.
Around 7% of communication is content, 38% is tone, and a 55% is body language! Nonverbal cues tell us what might be in the other's mind.
Security and thus confidentiality is an issue with teleconferencing. Skype has a number of privacy settings and encrypts the data if you have a paid account.
Health insurance
Many Private Health Insurance plans as well Teachers and Army Health for example cover some of my fees.
Medicare provides cover if you come as an individual patient with a Mental Health Care Plan (MHCP) for a limited number of sessions. I can legitimately see you together with your partner on one and maybe two of those sessions but only in support of your GP's MHCP treatment plan.
For more information on Medicare visit this page.
In couple's work the primary client is the couple. That ensures impartiality, and accountability to the relationship. Unfortunately, that client does not have a Medicare number. Most health insurance companies around the world do not recognise couple's therapy as a rebatable health service.
Consequently I cannot accept Medicare type referrals for Couple's Therapy even though relationship distress is a powerful predictor of both relapse from any kind of medical or psychological treatment and of the timing of onset of clinical depression!
I have a number of concerns about MHC Plans anyway.
Firstly, the plans require diagnosis of a mental disorder. This is likely to remain on your medical record at the Health Insurance Commission for a very long time.
Secondly, a valid GP's mental health care plan could void a later claim on some accident/illness insurance policies. Consider this standard waver for disability and income insurance (my italics):
No claim shall be payable under this (plan) where any claim arises in relation to or is contributed to by stress (including post traumatic stress), fatigue, physical symptoms of a psychiatric illness or condition, anxiety, depression, psychoneurotic, psychotic, personality, emotional or behavioural disorders, or disorders related to substance abuse or dependency (which includes alcohol, drug, or chemical abuse or dependency).
Thirdly, there are unacceptably high compliance risks for the practitioner. Noncompliance by a referring medical practitioner can lead the treating psychologist to be required to re-pay Medicare's patient refunds.
I will review my policy as Medicare reviews its scheme and in the light of our association's (ACPA) submissions to Medicare.
Here is the latest Medicare Psychologist's Fact Sheets.
