WA Mental Health

24/12/2025

🎄Hi, I’m Carrina Hampton, Director and Clinical Lead of WA Mental Health.

As the year comes to a close, I want to pause and say thank you.

To the individuals, couples, and families who have trusted us with your deeply personal stories this year, thank you. Sharing your experiences takes courage, and we hold that trust with great care, respect, and responsibility.

To the organisations, schools, sporting clubs, workplaces, and community groups who have trusted in our professional knowledge through training, workshops, and speaking engagements, thank you for inviting us into your spaces and conversations.

To our WA Mental Health team across Western Australia, I want to acknowledge you personally. I genuinely enjoy hearing feedback after a community member has had a positive session with you. While building a team has a business focus, building a therapeutic community means so much more, and that is what you continue to create every day through your care, professionalism, and presence.

We also recognise that our team, clients, and broader community are diverse, and that not everyone celebrates Christmas or follows the same cultural or religious traditions. To those for whom this is simply a holiday period, or a time of rest, reflection, or cultural observance of another kind, we wish you peace, safety, and wellbeing too.
Wherever this time of year finds you, we hope you feel supported, connected, and cared for in ways that matter to you.

From all of us at WA Mental Health, we wish you a gentle festive season and continued wellbeing into the year ahead 🤍

Carrina

24/12/2025

🎄 Christmas support is available 🎄

We know this time of year can be especially difficult for many people. The lead-up to Christmas can bring added pressure, grief, loneliness, family stress, or emotional overwhelm, and it’s not something anyone has to sit with alone.

Tamara is available for urgent, last-minute Christmas appointments via telehealth (phone or video), offering flexible, compassionate support when it’s needed most.

If you or someone you care about is finding this season heavy, reaching out can make a real difference. Support is available, even at short notice.

👉 Book with Tamara here:
https://wamentalhealth.com.au/practitioner/tamara-boaden/

Please share this post if it might help someone in your world 🤍

08/12/2025

What Does a Marriage or Relationship Counsellor Actually Do?

I was reflecting this morning on the many hats we wear in the therapy room. Relationship counselling isn’t a single method or a one-size-fits-all approach. Depending on the couple, our role can shift and evolve, sometimes several times within the same session.

Negotiator
Supporting couples to navigate competing needs or expectations. We help uncover what each person is genuinely asking for and guide them toward solutions that feel fair, balanced, and achievable.

Mediator
When conversations get stuck or emotions run high, we slow things down and bring structure. As mediators, we ensure each person is heard respectfully and without slipping into old patterns.

Coach
We teach essential relationship skills: communication, emotional regulation, conflict management, and ways to reconnect. Like any good coach, we guide, practise, refine, and build confidence over time.

Cheerleader
Progress deserves recognition. We highlight strengths, celebrate small wins, and help couples reconnect with the qualities they value in each other.

Referee
When boundaries are crossed or someone becomes overwhelmed, we step in firmly and calmly. Emotional safety is always the priority, and sometimes that means pausing the conversation so everyone can reset.

Adjudicator
Not about taking sides, but about naming patterns or impacts with clarity and compassion. When couples feel lost, we help bring grounded insight to what’s really going on.

Translator
So often, couples speak in words or phrases that feel almost foreign to the other person. We help translate the meaning beneath the communication – the needs, fears, hopes, and intentions – so each partner truly understands what the other is trying to say.

Comedian (the gentle kind)
Sometimes what couples need most is relief. A small moment of lightness or warmth can shift a whole conversation. We’re not entertainers, but we do make room for ease, humour, and those soft moments that remind couples their relationship can still feel good.

Guide
Above all, we walk alongside couples as they navigate the complexity of their relationship. We don’t judge or predetermine outcomes. We support healthier communication, deeper understanding, and stronger connection.

And sometimes, our role is to help couples part ways amicably, with dignity, clarity, and as little harm as possible. Ending a relationship doesn’t need to be destructive. With the right support, it can be handled with respect and emotional safety.

Every relationship is unique, and the role we play shifts to meet the needs of the moment. Some days it’s strategy, some days it’s skill-building, some days it’s deep emotional healing, and often, it’s a blend of all three.

03/12/2025

What if the biggest game-changer in sport isn’t physical - but mental?

Join us for Mind Over Matter: Sport & Mental Health Symposium, an evening that tackles the real pressures behind performance and why mindset matters more than ever.

🗓 When: Friday 20 March at 6pm
📍 Where: Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre

Founded by emerging athlete and mental health advocate Alyssa Bradbury, this event highlights the powerful connection between sport and mental health through a line-up of incredible speakers - with a strong focus on supporting our junior athletes.

Let’s change the way we talk about performance, pressure, and preparation - on and off the field.

Learn more via our website (link in bio).

27/11/2025

24/11/2025

Applications close in 10 days...

🌿 Opportunities with WA Mental Health 🌿

We’re growing and have a few exciting opportunities coming up for early 2026 — from counselling and case management to joining our national Beer + Bubs facilitator network.

💼 Current Opportunities:

1️⃣ Student Counsellor – South Regional TAFE (Bunbury)
6-month maternity leave contract | School-term hours | Start February 2026
🔗 seek.com.au/job/88280631

2️⃣ Coordinator / Case Manager – aMaze Parenting (Bunbury)
6-month maternity leave contract | Start mid-January 2026 | Community-based family support
🔗 seek.com.au/job/88280263

3️⃣ Beer + Bubs Facilitator Licences – National
Join our network of dad-inclusive childbirth and parenting educators across Australia.
🔗 seek.com.au/job/88277900

If you’re passionate about mental health, family wellbeing, and community connection — there’s never been a better time to get involved.

💚 Find out more via the links above and join us in making a difference across WA and beyond.

22/11/2025

Important Update: Medicare & Better Access – From 1 November 2025

From 1 November 2025, new rules will apply to the Better Access program.
If you use Medicare rebates to see a psychologist or mental health social worker, these changes may affect you.

What’s changing?

To claim Medicare rebates, your Mental Health Treatment Plan (MHTP) and referral must come from:
• Your usual GP, or
• A GP at the practice you’re registered with under MyMedicare

This applies to in-person and telehealth referrals.
One-off telehealth referrals from unfamiliar clinics will no longer meet Medicare requirements.

What this means for you
• If you already see the same GP or clinic, little will change.
• If you move between clinics or don’t have a single GP, you may need to choose a “usual doctor” or register with MyMedicare.

Existing referrals
• Plans and referrals dated before 1 November 2025 remain valid until all sessions are used.

Why the change?
These reforms aim to:
• Improve continuity between your GP and mental health practitioner
• Support better, more coordinated care

How WA Mental Health can help:
If you're unsure whether your referral meets the new rules:
• Bring it to your next appointment, or
• Email it through for us to check

We’ll guide you through the process and help keep your care on track.

17/11/2025

"You had everything you needed… so how could you struggle?"

Chi Chi shares how cultural beliefs can make it harder to recognise and talk about mental health.

Even when life looks good from the outside, it doesn’t erase the pain or challenges someone’s been through.

This is why understanding different cultural views on mental health matters. It helps us support people in a way that truly respects their story.

Note: This video is part of the professional development we provide to our practitioners and the practitioners on the WA Mental Health Directory. To learn more or to join the directory, head to our website - https://wamentalhealth.com.au/join-us/join-our-online-directory/

11/11/2025

Honouring difference means recognising that love, family, and belonging come in many forms - and every one of them is valid.

That’s how our communities can grow stronger, together.

05/11/2025

🌿 Opportunities with WA Mental Health 🌿

We’re growing and have a few exciting opportunities coming up for early 2026 — from counselling and case management to joining our national Beer + Bubs facilitator network.

💼 Current Opportunities:
1️⃣ Student Counsellor – South Regional TAFE (Bunbury)
6-month maternity leave contract | School-term hours | Start February 2026
🔗 seek.com.au/job/88280631

2️⃣ Coordinator / Case Manager – aMaze Parenting (Bunbury)
6-month maternity leave contract | Start mid-January 2026 | Community-based family support
🔗 seek.com.au/job/88280263

3️⃣ Beer + Bubs Facilitator Licences – National
Join our network of dad-inclusive childbirth and parenting educators across Australia.
🔗 seek.com.au/job/88277900

If you’re passionate about mental health, family wellbeing, and community connection — there’s never been a better time to get involved.

💚 Find out more via the links above and join us in making a difference across WA and beyond.