Revive - Health & Happiness

Revive - Health & Happiness Revive Health and Happiness is a psychology practice in East Perth led by Principal/Clinical Psychologist, Lisa Irving.

Since its launch, our team has built strong relationships with a diverse client base and trusted professionals across the industry. Revive is a psychology and dietetics practice located in East Perth. Since launching the practice in 2017, Lisa Irving Principal/ Clinical Psychologist and the team have built excellent working relationships with our diverse client base and the professionals within th

e industry. Let our psychologists and dietitians guide you with evidence-based techniques to Revive your Health and Happiness.

Following on from yesterday's post about the WA workers comp changes — here's the part that directly affects how we work...
07/05/2026

Following on from yesterday's post about the WA workers comp changes — here's the part that directly affects how we work as psychologists.
The expanded management action exclusion under the 2023 Act has a practical implication that I think deserves more attention in our field.
Previously, many of us were trained to document causation in relatively broad strokes: work was a significant contributing factor, the presentation is consistent with a stress-related injury, employment circumstances contributed materially. That framing was adequate under the old scheme.
Under the 2023 Act, it's no longer enough.
If a claim involves any element of performance management, grievance processes, disciplinary action, or workplace investigation — and many psychological injury claims do — the report now needs to actively engage with the management action exclusion. Not just document the symptoms, but address the question: was the employment factor that caused the psychological harm a reasonable administrative action by the employer, or was it something beyond that?

A concrete example:

Two clients, similar presentations, both develop PTSD following workplace events.
Client A: the injury arose from a traumatic incident on the job — a violent customer, a workplace accident, witnessing harm. Employment is clearly the significant contributing factor. No reasonable management action exclusion is relevant.

Client B: the injury arose after a protracted performance review process that the client experienced as hostile, demeaning, and disproportionate. They develop a major depressive episode and meet criteria for PTSD.

Under the 1981 Act, Client B's claim had a reasonable pathway. Under the 2023 Act, the question becomes: was that performance review process reasonable and proportionate, or was it harsh? The clinical report needs to address that — because if it doesn't, the insurer will use the exclusion and the claim stalls.

That's a clinical documentation task, not just a legal one. And from 1 July 2026, the eligibility requirements tighten further.

If you're doing this work and you're not sure whether your reports are addressing the right questions for the current Act, that's worth a conversation. The scheme has changed. Our documentation needs to reflect that.

Happy to discuss further — feel free to message me or drop a question below.

WorkCover WA is updating its settlement process on 6 May. If you're doing workers comp psychology in WA, here's what's c...
05/05/2026

WorkCover WA is updating its settlement process on 6 May. If you're doing workers comp psychology in WA, here's what's changed — and what's coming.

From 6 May 2026, the statutory settlement lodgement process through WorkCover WA Online is being streamlined. Less manual data entry, pre-populated fields, fewer errors causing delays in settlement registration. On its own, a modest admin update. But it sits inside something bigger.

The Workers Compensation and Injury Management Act 2023 replaced the old 1981 Act when it commenced in July 2024. Most practitioners know the name change. Fewer have worked through what actually shifted.

Some changes are terminology only. "Whole Person Impairment" (WPI) is now "Permanent Whole of Person Impairment" (PWPI). Different initials, same concept — but if your report template still says WPI, it's worth updating.

The change that matters more for psychological injury claims is this: the exclusions have been extended.

Under the old Act, "reasonable management action" could exclude a psychological injury claim. Under the 2023 Act, that exclusion now explicitly covers reasonable administrative action during formal performance management — including in the lead-up to disciplinary proceedings.

In practice: a client placed on a performance improvement plan who develops anxiety and depression during that process may now face a harder path to an accepted claim than they would have two years ago — even if their distress is real and their presentation is genuine.

The "significant contributing factor" test still applies. What's changed is the width of the exclusion sitting alongside it.

Part 2 coming — what this means for how we document, assess, and report on psychological injury presentations. Because in a tightening scheme, a vague clinical report doesn't just fail the worker. It can actively work against them.

Template Tuesday Workers compensation template checklist: Information receivedCollateral informationHistory and mechanis...
05/05/2026

Template Tuesday

Workers compensation template checklist:

Information received
Collateral information
History and mechanism of injury
Treatment history
Background history
Physical injury considerations
Presentation and symptoms
Provisional diagnosis and medications
Differential diagnosis, summary, recommendations

See all my report templates at virtuosaai.com

Feel free to:

1. go to the website www.virtuosaai.com to apply for a login
2. book a meeting with Karen here: __https://meetings-ap1.hubspot.com/karen-rowell/virtuosa-ai-demo?uuid=aa057c32-bdf8-4cc3-b3c2-324c2819e828__
3. Book online for supervision with Lisa:

**copy and paste this URL for online booking: https://clientportal.zandahealth.com/clientportal/f6d48b9d-e3ff-46cf-804c-93744d950bfb**

"I'm breaking up with you. It's not me, it's you."That's what I had to tell ChatGPT today.She was my best friend for the...
03/05/2026

"I'm breaking up with you. It's not me, it's you."

That's what I had to tell ChatGPT today.

She was my best friend for the past year or so. Without her, I genuinely don't think I would have had the confidence to start Virtuosa AI. She helped me think, draft, plan, and push forward when I had no idea what I was doing. So I do feel a little guilty. She's not out of my life. She's just no longer my best friend.

That title now belongs to Virtuosa for my clinical work.

She's helping me write workers compensation reports in a fraction of the time. She has the occasional bug or flu, and when that happens I notice immediately because she's usually such a hard worker. But on the whole, she is exceptional. She's even started helping me draft emails and responses to injury management consultants, lawyers and insurers, which is genuinely useful for the day-to-day of workers comp work. I love her for it.

I've also started using Claude's Cowork mode, which has been quietly changing the way I handle non-clinical work. Automating things, fine-tuning workflows, taking tasks off my plate that used to just sit there.

And then there's Wispr Flow. I press the Fn key and get remarkably accurate voice-to-text, instantly. For someone who thinks faster than she types, this has been a quiet revelation.
When I find something I love, I tell people. So there it is.

Are you using AI tools in your psychology practice? Curious what's actually working for people.

WorkCover WA is updating its settlement process on 6 May. If you're doing workers comp psychology in WA, here's what's c...
03/05/2026

WorkCover WA is updating its settlement process on 6 May. If you're doing workers comp psychology in WA, here's what's changed — and what's coming.
From 6 May 2026, the statutory settlement lodgement process through WorkCover WA Online is being streamlined. Less manual data entry, pre-populated fields, fewer errors causing delays in settlement registration. On its own, a modest admin update. But it sits inside something bigger.

The Workers Compensation and Injury Management Act 2023 replaced the old 1981 Act when it commenced in July 2024. Most practitioners know the name change. Fewer have worked through what actually shifted.

Some changes are terminology only. "Whole Person Impairment" (WPI) is now "Permanent Whole of Person Impairment" (PWPI). Different initials, same concept — but if your report template still says WPI, it's worth updating.
The change that matters more for psychological injury claims is this: the exclusions have been extended.

Under the old Act, "reasonable management action" could exclude a psychological injury claim. Under the 2023 Act, that exclusion now explicitly covers reasonable administrative action during formal performance management — including in the lead-up to disciplinary proceedings.

In practice: a client placed on a performance improvement plan who develops anxiety and depression during that process may now face a harder path to an accepted claim than they would have two years ago — even if their distress is real and their presentation is genuine.

The "significant contributing factor" test still applies. What's changed is the width of the exclusion sitting alongside it.

Part 2 coming — what this means for how we document, assess, and report on psychological injury presentations. Because in a tightening scheme, a vague clinical report doesn't just fail the worker. It can actively work against them.

And WA is the winner. Not necessarily the winner of the football — I don't even follow that — but I wanted to let you kn...
03/05/2026

And WA is the winner. Not necessarily the winner of the football — I don't even follow that — but I wanted to let you know that I spent some time going through the actual fee schedules for workers compensation psychology across every Australian state and territory. The variation is significant enough that it probably deserves more airtime than it gets.

Here's what psychologists are actually being paid for workers compensation sessions right now:

Western Australia: $328.90/hr for clinical or counselling-endorsed psychologists, $242.05/hr for registered psychologists. WA is the only scheme in the country that pays a meaningful premium for clinical endorsement.

ACT, Tasmania, NT: No fixed schedule. Psychologists in these jurisdictions bill APS-recommended rates, currently $318 per session. In practice, this makes them among the most financially attractive jurisdictions for this work.

South Australia: $261.50/hr (all psychologists, no endorsement distinction)

Queensland: $267.00/hr (all psychologists)

New South Wales: $284.40/hr for initial sessions, $237.60/hr for subsequent sessions

Victoria: $203.91 per 60-minute session, the lowest fixed rate in the country

For context, the APS recommended rate at the time of writing is $318 per hour, and the current NDIS price limit for psychology in most states sits at $244.22/hr.

Victoria's workers compensation rate sits well below both of those.

NSW subsequent sessions fall below NDIS too. WA's registered psychology rate barely clears it.

In a period where cost of living pressures are real, experienced psychologists are in short supply, and people with work-related injuries genuinely need access to quality psychological care, it's worth asking whether these rates are set to attract experienced clinicians or to quietly discourage them.

If workers in some states can only access psychological services through their compensation scheme when a psychologist is willing to take a meaningful pay cut compared to NDIS or private practice rates, that's a workforce access problem, not just a billing one.

Keen to hear from psychologists around the country — does the rate in your state shape whether or how much workers compensation work you take on?

Something struck me when I was putting together an overview of Australian AI tools which include report writing. Every ...
02/05/2026

Something struck me when I was putting together an overview of Australian AI tools which include report writing.

Every single one of them was built by a psychologist who got tired of something.

Tired of being behind. Tired of spending hours on documentation instead of clinical work. Tired of carrying the cognitive load of a complex report on top of a full caseload.

Tired of a system that asks a lot and gives very little back.

Here is what has been built — by Australians, for Australians:

NovoPsych / NovoNote — Buchanan, Melbourne VIC. Building since 2012.
Psychometrics, outcome monitoring, AI scribe, and brief reports.

Ecko Health — Conomos, Sydney NSW. All-in-one clinical OS with a Clinical Double that learns your workflow.

PractaLuma — Malhotra, Melbourne VIC. Full practice management:, psychometrics, telehealth, and Medicare billing.

Virtuosa AI — Irving, Perth WA. Full disclosure: this one is mine. Virtuosa is built for only for report writing — brief through to complex. An Ai that specialises in report writing. You can upload written notes, transcriptions, audio recordings, and collateral documents (previous reports, referrals, GP letters, employer correspondence). Virtuosa reads those documents so you never have to retype client information. Report types include medico-legal, workers compensation, NDIS,
neuropsychology, school psychology, AHPRA, and supervision. Upload and interpret
psychometric results.

A source identification button shows where the AI found each piece of
information.

Edit the draft directly in the document and paste to your letterhead.

The platform flags missing information before you finalise. The chat function also lets you draft email replies and compare documents.

Different tools. Different parts of the workflow. But underneath all of them is the same problem: psychologist burnout is real, and the documentation load is a significant part of why.

1 in 3 Australian psychologists are reporting emotional exhaustion. We are meeting about 35 per cent of our national workforce target.

These tools are trying to give some of those hours back.

If you are not sure which one suits your workflow, I put together a comparison.

In the last 18 months I've worked with somewhere around 30-40 workers with work-related PTSD.I've been keeping a mental ...
02/05/2026

In the last 18 months I've worked with somewhere around 30-40 workers with work-related PTSD.

I've been keeping a mental tally of how many of them had an employer who responded well.

Who didn't tell them they were weak for struggling.

Who didn't make veiled comments about their job security.

Who didn't simply stop making contact altogether.

What would you guess?

I'm not sharing this to shame anyone. Most managers aren't malicious, they're undertrained and uncomfortable, and they default to avoidance or, worse, they pressure the worker to have it over and done with.

These workers aren't fragile. Many of them are high performers who held everything together through a traumatic incident and then found, weeks later, that they couldn't stop replaying it (flashbacks, bad dreams, ruminating, panic, sleeplessness, anger).

What they needed from their employer in that window wasn't a timeline. It was a human response.

That's a learnable skill. It's not complicated. But someone has to teach it.

"Informational, Not Clinical": Why That Distinction Gets Complicated in Mental HealthChatGPT Health launched in Australi...
01/05/2026

"Informational, Not Clinical": Why That Distinction Gets Complicated in Mental Health

ChatGPT Health launched in Australia this week. Positioned as informational, not clinical, which currently keeps it outside the TGA's regulatory net.

I think this is fascinating and concerning.

The fascinating part is straightforward. People want faster access to health information. That appetite is real and it's not going away. AI, used well, has a genuine role in healthcare. I built a report writing application using AI for clinicians, so I understand this space firsthand.

The concerning part is more specific.

"Informational" and "clinical" aren't cleanly separated, particularly in mental health. A person asking an AI about their trauma history, their depression, or why they can't sleep isn't always in a neutral, information-seeking headspace.

They may be in distress. They may be looking for reassurance. The context changes the equation significantly.

There's a real difference between a thoughtfully designed, clinician-informed mental health tool and a general-purpose chatbot wearing a health badge. That difference isn't captured by the informational/clinical distinction. It lives in how the tool was designed, what guardrails were built, and what happens when someone discloses something serious.

Australia needs a more nuanced regulatory conversation than "does it technically count as a medical device." That conversation is urgent and, at the moment, overdue.

Keen to hear from others working in this space. Do you think the current framework is fit for purpose?

Funny FridayClient: “So I went back to my ex again…”Therapist on the outside:“Let’s explore what led up to that decision...
01/05/2026

Funny Friday

Client: “So I went back to my ex again…”

Therapist on the outside:
“Let’s explore what led up to that decision.”

Therapist on the inside:
“We literally mapped this out.”

Therapy is often serious, meaningful, and deeply important work.

But sometimes, it is also the delicate art of maintaining a calm face while your internal monologue is doing cartwheels.

To all the psychologists, counsellors, and therapists out there: may your clinical curiosity remain strong, your poker face remain intact, and your coffee be appropriately therapeutic.

I've helped someone learn to love workers' comp report writing — and I'd love for more of you to join us.Not only is the...
30/04/2026

I've helped someone learn to love workers' comp report writing — and I'd love for more of you to join us.

Not only is the work valuable, it pays well. I'm based in WA and I'd be genuinely curious to hear how the fee structures compare in other states.
Here in WA, the Workers Compensation Health Services Fees Order 2025 pays clinical psychologists $328.90 per hour for consultations, reports, and file reviews. Same rate across the board, plus GST.

Each new psychological injury client can generate up to 10 chargeable hours within the first month — across document review, assessment sessions, report writing, liaison with injury management consultants or other professionals, and commencing psychological treatment. With two or three clients in that stream, the income contribution is meaningful and sustainable.

We've also been working on report turnaround time. I'll be upfront that I built a tool called Virtuosa AI for exactly this reason — so take that with appropriate salt — but getting a workers' comp report done in a fraction of the usual time changes the economics of this work considerably. Virtuosa is now available to try if anyone is curious.

I do individual supervision for psychologists wanting to build this area of practice. Happy to share more or have a chat if it's useful.

Address

129 Royal Street
East Perth, WA
6004

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 6pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

+61863810297

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