Therapy Assistant
Relationships can be affected by differences in communication, sensory needs, emotional regulation, executive functioning, intimacy, and the amount of practical or caregiving work each person is carrying.
Mindkit works with couples and partners across different relationship structures, including monogamous, polyamorous, open and other non-monogamous relationships.
Therapy Assistant, Level 2
$86.79
Per hour. Minimum booking of one hour.
Who it is for
Adults, children and teenagers
No diagnosis, referral or current Mindkit therapy plan is required.
FORMAT
Telehealth, or in person in Melbourne by arrangement
What does it involve?
What does it involve?
Practical implementation of agreed therapeutic work.
Who is it for?
Who is it for?
Adults, children and teenagers. No current Mindkit therapy plan is required.
Where does it happen?
Where does it happen?
Telehealth or in person in Melbourne by arrangement.
How long is a session?
How long is a session?
Minimum booking of one hour.
What does it cost?
What does it cost?
$86.79 per hour for Therapy Assistant Level 2.
Can I use NDIS funding?
Can I use NDIS funding?
Available to self-managed and plan-managed participants where appropriate to their plan and funding.
Is Therapy Assistant the right service for me?
Therapy Assistant support may be helpful when you understand the strategy developed with your psychologist but need support putting it into practice between appointments.
Your psychologist sets the therapeutic goals. The Therapy Assistant helps you practise and apply the agreed strategies between appointments.
Therapy Assistant or Support Work?
If your psychologist has developed a specific strategy with you and you need help practising it between sessions, Therapy Assistant support may be the better fit. If you need someone to sit with you while you sort your inbox, organise appointments or complete paperwork, that may fit Support Work.
Is Couples Therapy the right service for us?
Couples Therapy may be useful when difficulties between you have become repetitive, difficult to resolve, or increasingly influential in everyday life.
You might understand the problem intellectually but still find yourselves having the same disagreement. Responsibilities may have become uneven or difficult to negotiate. One person may feel repeatedly misunderstood, criticised, dismissed or responsible for keeping the relationship functioning. You may also be trying to understand a relationship differently after recognising Autism, ADHD or another form of neurodivergence in one or more partners.
You do not need a formal Autism or ADHD assessment to work with us. Couples Therapy is available where one partner is neurodivergent, several partners are neurodivergent, neurodivergence is suspected but has not been formally identified, or no partner currently has a formal assessment.
Self-identified and questioning neurodivergent people are welcome. You do not need documentation to be taken seriously here.
What can a Therapy Assistant help with?
What a Therapy Assistant supports you with depends on what you and your psychologist are working on.
What a Therapy Assistant supports you with depends on what you and your psychologist are working on.
Practising and establishing
- Practising strategies or skills introduced in psychology sessions
- Establishing routines that support the therapy goals
- Using task support or body doubling while you practise work that is difficult to initiate alone.
Making a strategy usable
- Breaking an agreed strategy into smaller practical steps
- Working on organisation, forms, emails or phone calls where these are directly relevant to the therapy plan.
For children and teenagers
- Practising therapy skills, establishing routines, or organising schoolwork between appointments.
The Therapy Assistant does not independently decide what your psychological therapy should involve. Clinical direction remains with your treating Mindkit psychologist.
What can a Therapy Assistant help with?
What a Therapy Assistant supports you with depends on what you and your psychologist are working on.
What a Therapy Assistant supports you with depends on what you and your psychologist are working on.
Practising and establishing
- Practising strategies or skills introduced in psychology sessions
- Establishing routines that support the therapy goals
Using - task support or body doubling while you practise work that is difficult to initiate alone.
Making a strategy usable
- Breaking an agreed strategy into smaller practical steps
- Working on organisation, forms, emails or phone calls where these are directly relevant to the therapy plan.
For children and teenagers
- Practising therapy skills, establishing routines, or organising schoolwork between appointments.
The Therapy Assistant does not independently decide what your psychological therapy should involve. Clinical direction remains with your treating Mindkit psychologist.
How does Therapy Assistant support work?
Your psychologist sets the goals, and your Therapy Assistant helps you practise between appointments.
You and your psychologist identify what needs to change outside the therapy room
This might be a strategy you need to practise, a routine you are trying to establish, a task that repeatedly becomes stuck or another practical part of the therapy plan.
Your psychologist sets the scope
The Therapy Assistant works from the goals and clinical direction established in therapy.
The Therapy Assistant works from the goals and clinical direction established in therapy.
The Therapy Assistant works from the goals and clinical direction established in therapy.
Your Therapy Assistant helps you put strategies into practice
The Therapy Assistant provides practical support while you practise or implement the agreed strategies. Sometimes you may need somebody to structure the task with you. At other times, their presence may be enough to make beginning and continuing easier.
Therapy Assistance remains guided by your psychologist
Your psychologist and Therapy Assistant will continue to work together to ensure your support is well-coordinated.
How does Therapy Assistant support work?
Your psychologist sets the goals, and your Therapy Assistant helps you practise between appointments.
You and your psychologist identify what needs to change outside the therapy room
This might be a strategy you need to practise, a routine you are trying to establish, a task that repeatedly becomes stuck or another practical part of the therapy plan.
Your psychologist sets the scope
The Therapy Assistant works from the goals and clinical direction established in therapy.
Your Therapy Assistant helps you put strategies into practice
The Therapy Assistant provides practical support while you practise or implement the agreed strategies. Sometimes you may need somebody to structure the task with you. At other times, their presence may be enough to make beginning and continuing easier.
Therapy Assistance remains guided by your psychologist
Your psychologist and Therapy Assistant will continue to work together to ensure your support is well-coordinated.
What are the sessions like?
Most sessions are by telehealth and focus on putting your psychologist’s guidance into practice.
You and your Therapy Assistant work through the strategy together, one practical step at a time. You might keep track of things in a shared document, and we can send you notes after each session if you would like them.
You can keep your camera off, move around, use fidgets and take breaks. Eye contact is optional, and you can ask us to use shorter sentences or write things down in the chat.
Therapy Assistant and Support Worker
Therapy Assistance is currently provided by Matt, Therapy Assistant. Matt works under the direction and supervision of the Mindkit psychologist providing your therapy. The psychologist remains responsible for the clinical direction, while Matt helps you practise and implement agreed strategies in everyday life. Matt can provide Therapy Assistant sessions remotely or in person in Melbourne where this has been arranged in advance.
How is this different from Support Work or Executive Function Coaching?
Therapy Assistance is linked to psychological therapy. The Therapy Assistant works under the direction and supervision of a Mindkit psychologist and helps implement agreed therapeutic strategies and goals between sessions.
Support Work
Support Work is broader practical assistance with everyday functioning. It can include task support, appointments, forms, phone calls, routines and life admin without those tasks needing to form part of a psychologist’s therapy plan.
There can be overlap in the activity itself. Which service you need depends on why you need support and whether it is part of therapy with your psychologist.
Executive Function Coaching
Executive Function Coaching is a separate service focused on developing systems and strategies for areas such as planning, organisation, time management, task initiation and managing competing demands.
A Therapy Assistant works from the plan established in psychological therapy. For example, therapy may establish a different response to a recurring pattern of avoiding important correspondence. The Therapy Assistant can then support the client while they practise that response with the actual correspondence.
Where the main goal is to develop an executive-function system in its own right, coaching may be the better fit.
Fees for Therapy Assistant
There are no eligibility criteria. A current Mindkit therapy plan is not required. Sessions have a minimum booking of one hour.
Therapy Assistant, Level 2
$86.79
$86.79 per hour. Sessions have a minimum booking of one hour.
Contact us to enquire about Therapy Assistant support.
NDIS-funded Therapy Assistant Level 2 sessions are charged at $86.79 per hour where the support is appropriate to the participant’s plan and funding. The service is available to self-managed and plan-managed participants.
In-person support in Melbourne must be arranged in advance. For privately funded appointments, travel time is charged at $86.79 per hour. For NDIS-funded appointments, provider travel is charged at the current Therapy Assistant Level 2 provider-travel rate of $43.40 per hour.
Appointments cancelled with less than two business days’ notice are charged at the full fee.
Therapy Assistant sessions do not attract a Medicare rebate.
NDIS rates are updated when the NDIS pricing schedule changes.
Therapy Assistant FAQ
Is a Therapy Assistant another therapist?
No. Therapy Assistant is practical support, not psychological therapy. Where the support is linked to therapy, the treating psychologist remains responsible for clinical direction.
Can the Therapy Assistant change my therapy plan?
A Therapy Assistant does not change a clinical treatment plan. Where support is linked to therapy, changes to clinical direction are discussed with the treating psychologist.
Can I use a Therapy Assistant if my psychologist is somewhere else?
Yes. There are no eligibility criteria and a current Mindkit therapy plan is not required. If you are seeing an external psychologist, a Therapy Assistant can still provide practical support, but does not work under that clinician’s direction.
Is this only for ADHD?
No. Therapy Assistance is not tied to a particular neurotype. It can be useful wherever practical implementation is difficult.
Can children and teenagers use a Therapy Assistant?
Yes. Therapy Assistant work with children and teenagers can include task support, establishing routines, organising schoolwork and practising agreed strategies. Where the support is linked to therapy, the treating psychologist may direct the therapeutic goals.
Can the Therapy Assistant help with life admin?
Yes. This can include forms, email organisation, phone calls and task support. If the main need is ongoing general life-admin assistance, Support Work may be the clearer service.
Can I use body doubling?
Yes. Body doubling can be used where working alongside another person helps you begin, sustain or complete practical work.
Is there a minimum booking?
Yes. Therapy Assistant sessions have a minimum booking of one hour.
Can Therapy Assistant support be provided in person?
Yes. In-person support can be arranged in Melbourne. Travel arrangements and cost are agreed before the session.
Can I use NDIS funding?
Yes, for self-managed and plan-managed participants where Therapy Assistant support is appropriate to the participant’s plan and funding. Therapy Assistant Level 2 sessions are currently charged at $86.79 per hour.
Do I have to use a Therapy Assistant if I am in therapy?
No. Therapy Assistance is an optional practical service for people who would benefit from help putting strategies into practice or completing everyday tasks.
What if I am not sure whether I need Therapy Assistance, Support Work or coaching?
You do not need to decide from the website. A free 15-minute telehealth consult can be used to discuss which service fits what you need.
Why is knowing what to do sometimes not enough?
Understanding a strategy and being able to use it place different demands on attention, memory, executive functioning and regulation. A person may understand exactly what needs to happen and still have difficulty initiating the first step, holding several steps in mind, changing from one activity to another or remembering the strategy when already overwhelmed. Fatigue, sensory load and competing demands can make this harder again. Therapy Assistant work focuses on the point at which the plan becomes difficult to carry out in everyday life.
Do I need to be seeing a Mindkit psychologist?
No. A current Mindkit therapy plan is not required and there are no eligibility criteria. Where Therapy Assistant work is linked to psychological therapy, the treating psychologist can still direct the therapeutic goals. Mindkit Therapy Assistants do not work under the direction of an external treating psychologist.
Ready to start?
Contact us to enquire about Therapy Assistant support. If you are not sure whether Therapy Assistant, Support Work or coaching is the better fit, book a free 15-minute consult first.
