How can I make a psychology referral at Ability Consultants as an NDIS participant? Can I access PBS too?

If you’re looking for psychology support or positive behaviour support (PBS) in NSW or Queensland, we can help you. In this article we’ll let you know how to make a referral to Ability Consultants.

How to make a psychology referral

If you’re new to Ability Consultants, you can make a psychology referral on our website using our one stop referral form. The information you send will help us understand your goals and needs and will assist us in matching you to the right psychologist.

About the referral form

The referral form also asks for important information required by the NDIS and information that we’ll include in your service agreement.

Questions range from contact details through to information about your diagnosis and why you are requesting a psychologist. The form also asks for your NDIS details including NDIS number, funding types and NDIS Plan dates. If you’d like help understanding which NDIS funding types you can use for psychology, our article includes helpful information.

Who can complete the referral form?

You can complete the form, or a person can do this on your behalf, such as a family member, support coordinator, support worker, GP or even an allied health specialist such as an occupational therapist.

Do I need a referral from my GP?

No, a referral from your GP isn’t required when requesting psychology at Ability Consultants.

Are there additional referral steps?

Yes, we have a couple of extra steps for our psychology referrals, just to make sure we are the right fit for your needs. Our Intake Team will ask some additional questions to clarify you are looking for a psychology service. Then our team may give you a call to have an informal chat and assess your needs and goals, before all referral information is passed on to our Psychology Team to review.

Can I make a referral for psychology and PBS?

Yes! Our team at Ability Consultants specialises in positive behaviour support (PBS) and psychology. If you need both supports, please complete the referral form once only, and include a note that you’re looking for PBS and psychology.

What is PBS and how does it differ from psychology?

Psychology support can include therapy and/or assessments.

Like psychology, PBS aims to improve your quality of life. PBS focuses on helping to reduce behaviours of concern and reduce and remove restrictive practices, if they are in place. We take a person-centred approach as we create your behaviour support plan, and provide training and coaching to implement your plan.

PBS focuses on working with you and your entire support team. Working as a team helps create a behaviour support plan that can be used by everyone to help support you. It’s important that PBS practitioners carry out thorough assessments, observations and interviews to create a behaviour support plan that truly reflects you.

An example of a behaviour of concern is that a person might undo their seat belt everytime the car starts moving, so they can hit another passenger. An example of a restrictive practice might be a seatbelt buckle cover to prevent the person from undoing their seatbelt. (Note: It’s important to note that a seatbelt buckle cover is not always a restrictive practice and it’s best to check with a behaviour support practitioner if you have any concerns).

Psychology, on the other hand, might include therapy, such as regular meetings with your psychologist that focus on helping you build skills to manage difficulties you might experience. These may include emotional regulation, education and understanding of your difficulties, processing difficult situations/trauma, developing social skills, all with a focus on emotions and behaviour. A psychologist can also conduct assessments such as adaptive or cognitive assessments that may be used to better understand your strengths or areas that we can assist with improving.

We can deliver therapy 1:1 with your psychologist or if you choose, we can also involve people from your support team or family members. A psychologist will take a person-centred approach that will be guided by your needs at all times and kept confidential.

In the context of the NDIS, psychological support needs to relate to a disability and must aim to improve a person’s independence.

What if I already have a PBS practitioner at Ability Consultants?

If you already see a practitioner on our team for PBS, please let them know if you’d like to consider psychology support. Not all of our PBS practitioners are psychologists and we will allocate a different member of our team to be your psychologist. Both practitioners will work with you and with each other to ensure they help you work towards your goals.

Wait times for psychology and PBS

If you’re new to Ability Consultants, there is generally a waiting list for PBS. Our wait time is on our website and we update our wait time weekly.

Wait times for psychology will differ from our PBS wait times. Usually, the wait time for psychology support is shorter than for PBS. The wait time will depend on a few factors, such as your needs, location and availability of the psychologists in your area. For an up to date estimate, please complete a referral form and let our team know you’d like more information about psychology wait times.