To the people past and present I have met in my practice, thank you for the opportunity to meet you and the privilege of sharing your stories. I hope I have been of use. If not, I hope your experience of sessions with me has shown counselling is a conversation in which you are respected as a fellow human who refuses to be beaten by a situation and seeks the help of another.
Regards, John Hunter
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Medicare Rebates for Counselling
You can now access up to 10 sessions of counselling and receive a Medicare rebate of $71.95 per session. Your doctor may refer you to me as a Mental Health Social Worker and registered Medicare Provider. Many conditions are covered by the Better Access scheme under which this provision operates. Your doctor will be able to advise you.
When you make an appointment to see your doctor it is wise to inform the receptionist you are seeking a Better Access referral as these appointments may require more time. Of course, your visit to the clinic is also Medicare rebatable.
I am happy to explain the system obligation free if you wish to call me on 0405 107 476.
John Hunter
BSW (Distinction), MAASW (Accredited), Mental Health Social Worker
Medicare Provider of Counselling Melbourne and Burwood East.
Mobile 0405 107 476, Ph. (03) 9539 2200, Email: john@johnhunter.net.au
www.johnhunter.net.au
When you make an appointment to see your doctor it is wise to inform the receptionist you are seeking a Better Access referral as these appointments may require more time. Of course, your visit to the clinic is also Medicare rebatable.
I am happy to explain the system obligation free if you wish to call me on 0405 107 476.
John Hunter
BSW (Distinction), MAASW (Accredited), Mental Health Social Worker
Medicare Provider of Counselling Melbourne and Burwood East.
Mobile 0405 107 476, Ph. (03) 9539 2200, Email: john@johnhunter.net.au
www.johnhunter.net.au
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Vale Bill Hunter
(This entry was written in May but was mis-assigned to my Drafts folder).
VALE Australian actor Bill Hunter (no relation). Bill typified so much of the Australian character I knew as a young man; that blend of traits and qualities which is somehow uniquely Australian. It persists today, although in different guise. Bill did not so much have to play as be this Australian representation. I will miss this.
John Hunter (no relation).
VALE Australian actor Bill Hunter (no relation). Bill typified so much of the Australian character I knew as a young man; that blend of traits and qualities which is somehow uniquely Australian. It persists today, although in different guise. Bill did not so much have to play as be this Australian representation. I will miss this.
John Hunter (no relation).
Medicare Better Access Counselling Rebates
MEDICARE rebates continue unchanged for counselling sessions with me as a mental health social worker and Medicare Provider when referred by a doctor under Medicare's Better Access initiative.
However, you may have heard the federal government has reduced the number of sessions available in any calendar year per client from a possible 18 (usually six - 12, with another six in certain circumstances) down to a maximum of 10.
Mental Health Social Workers and Psychologists I have spoken to are concerned this reduction will have the effect in some cases of making treatment incomplete.
If you have concerns about this change, you may write to the Minister for Health, Nicola Roxon, 1 Thomas Holmes Street, Maribyrnong VIC 3032, or Email: Nicola.Roxon.MP@aph.gov.au
John Hunter BSW (Distinction), MAASW (Accredited), Mental Health Social Worker
Medicare Provider of Counselling Melbourne and Burwood East.
Mobile 0405 107 476, Ph. (03) 9539 2200, Email: john@johnhunter.net.au
www.johnhunter.net.au
Posted by John Hunter Melbourne at 5:37 AM
Labels: Better Access changes, counselling rebates, Federal Health Minister reduction in counselling, government reduction in counselling sessions, medicare rebates for counselling, Minister Roxon
0 comments:
However, you may have heard the federal government has reduced the number of sessions available in any calendar year per client from a possible 18 (usually six - 12, with another six in certain circumstances) down to a maximum of 10.
Mental Health Social Workers and Psychologists I have spoken to are concerned this reduction will have the effect in some cases of making treatment incomplete.
If you have concerns about this change, you may write to the Minister for Health, Nicola Roxon, 1 Thomas Holmes Street, Maribyrnong VIC 3032, or Email: Nicola.Roxon.MP@aph.gov.au
John Hunter BSW (Distinction), MAASW (Accredited), Mental Health Social Worker
Medicare Provider of Counselling Melbourne and Burwood East.
Mobile 0405 107 476, Ph. (03) 9539 2200, Email: john@johnhunter.net.au
www.johnhunter.net.au
Posted by John Hunter Melbourne at 5:37 AM
Labels: Better Access changes, counselling rebates, Federal Health Minister reduction in counselling, government reduction in counselling sessions, medicare rebates for counselling, Minister Roxon
0 comments:
Information for Medibank Private Insurance Fund Members
Please be advised that I am no longer a registered provider with the private medical assurance fund known as Medibank Private.
John Hunter BSW (Distinction), MAASW (Accredited), Mental Health Social Worker
Medicare Provider of Counselling Melbourne and Burwood East.
Mobile 0405 107 476, Ph. (03) 9539 2200, Email: john@johnhunter.net.au
www.johnhunter.net.au
John Hunter BSW (Distinction), MAASW (Accredited), Mental Health Social Worker
Medicare Provider of Counselling Melbourne and Burwood East.
Mobile 0405 107 476, Ph. (03) 9539 2200, Email: john@johnhunter.net.au
www.johnhunter.net.au
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
No Excuse For Bastardry and Ill Treatment At Duntroom Military College -or anywhere else
It seems that some Australians have not noticed Australian efforts to stamp out bullying, cyber stalking, work place abuse.
Ron Coxon, OAM, President of the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia is just wrong to say that bastardisation of trainee soldiers is needed to see if they will be reliable on the front line. Scandals at Royal Military College, Duntroon, routinely come to life to be met with outrage, promises to never allow a repeat of offending behaviour, followed some years later by another revelation and so the cycle goes.
I should make clear that Mr. Coxon is president of one of the bodies representing Vietnam veterans. His opinion is his own. It is not representative of war veterans as a whole.
Mr. Coxon's opinion would be supported by many old guard soldiers who endured these physical and psychological abuses, survived them, and continued their service. It was a reality for many. But to accept this mis-treatment of young Australians who seek to serve their country as "normal", and even to assert it to be a critical predictor of courage under fire is a nonsense.
Australian soldiers as far back as Gallipoli and previously showed themselves to be better fighters when they were provided information on what their objective was and why they were to perform the duties they did. This was in contrast to British commanders who treated their troops as automatons.
Beatings, humiliations, denigration, have lead to suicide in our armed forces in recent times. They have made this terrible choice because the very units they wanted to be a part of them abused and tormented them. This in no way correlates with how they would have performed in a conflict zone. This old excuse for mistreating fellow servicemen has cost these young members their lives and the chance to serve. And why? because their officers, NCOs and peers denied them the respect they deserved from their own.
One can assume many young men and women who wish to serve in the armed forces, and whom would be ideal candidates, would forsake the opportunity not because of fear of an enemy, but a natural loathing for being abused by our own in the confines of military service.
Able service personnel do not look for fights but are prepared for them in battle. To assume that beating, whipping, burying people in boxes, humiliating, intimidating, insulting them toughens people is surely a nonsense. And clearly, some are so distraught by the attacks they die, by their own hand, we assume. I wonder if those who share Mr. Coxon's view really appreciate the difference between toughening a person (in strength, self-reliance, character) and simply making a person hard, cold, uncaring.
And for anyone who believes that it is necessary for troops prone to capture to be prepared for torture at the hands of the enemy by controlled stress and duress in Code of Conduct courses, I wish to say that is a separate debate.
Mr. Coxon and a succession of Duntroon commanders and commanders in other units support for simple bastardry is what I am denouncing.
John Hunter BSW (Distinction), MAASW (Accredited), MACA (Clinical)
Medicare Provider of Counselling Melbourne and Burwood East.
Medibank Private registered.
Mobile 0405 107 476, Ph. (03) 9539 2200, Email: john@johnhunter.net.au
www.johnhunter.net.au
Ron Coxon, OAM, President of the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia is just wrong to say that bastardisation of trainee soldiers is needed to see if they will be reliable on the front line. Scandals at Royal Military College, Duntroon, routinely come to life to be met with outrage, promises to never allow a repeat of offending behaviour, followed some years later by another revelation and so the cycle goes.
I should make clear that Mr. Coxon is president of one of the bodies representing Vietnam veterans. His opinion is his own. It is not representative of war veterans as a whole.
Mr. Coxon's opinion would be supported by many old guard soldiers who endured these physical and psychological abuses, survived them, and continued their service. It was a reality for many. But to accept this mis-treatment of young Australians who seek to serve their country as "normal", and even to assert it to be a critical predictor of courage under fire is a nonsense.
Australian soldiers as far back as Gallipoli and previously showed themselves to be better fighters when they were provided information on what their objective was and why they were to perform the duties they did. This was in contrast to British commanders who treated their troops as automatons.
Beatings, humiliations, denigration, have lead to suicide in our armed forces in recent times. They have made this terrible choice because the very units they wanted to be a part of them abused and tormented them. This in no way correlates with how they would have performed in a conflict zone. This old excuse for mistreating fellow servicemen has cost these young members their lives and the chance to serve. And why? because their officers, NCOs and peers denied them the respect they deserved from their own.
One can assume many young men and women who wish to serve in the armed forces, and whom would be ideal candidates, would forsake the opportunity not because of fear of an enemy, but a natural loathing for being abused by our own in the confines of military service.
Able service personnel do not look for fights but are prepared for them in battle. To assume that beating, whipping, burying people in boxes, humiliating, intimidating, insulting them toughens people is surely a nonsense. And clearly, some are so distraught by the attacks they die, by their own hand, we assume. I wonder if those who share Mr. Coxon's view really appreciate the difference between toughening a person (in strength, self-reliance, character) and simply making a person hard, cold, uncaring.
And for anyone who believes that it is necessary for troops prone to capture to be prepared for torture at the hands of the enemy by controlled stress and duress in Code of Conduct courses, I wish to say that is a separate debate.
Mr. Coxon and a succession of Duntroon commanders and commanders in other units support for simple bastardry is what I am denouncing.
John Hunter BSW (Distinction), MAASW (Accredited), MACA (Clinical)
Medicare Provider of Counselling Melbourne and Burwood East.
Medibank Private registered.
Mobile 0405 107 476, Ph. (03) 9539 2200, Email: john@johnhunter.net.au
www.johnhunter.net.au
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Crown Casino Expects Us To Believe They Care
ABC radio news yesterday reported Crown Casino in Melbourne's gaming staff had asked Mr. Fevola, until recently an AFL football player, to leave the gaming area because he "has a known gambling problem". The Casino spokesman said Mr.Fevola was told it was in everybody's interest and Mr. Fevola left "voluntarily".
A coup in publicity for Crown Casino to get that story and a sound bite from the casino spokesman on the radio. It suggests the monster Crown organisation has a heart and intervened to spare a patron more losses.
I am glad for Mr. Fevola. I pity so many others I have spoken to over the years.
I wonder how many other people knew Mr. Fevola had a gambling problem before the Crown Casino spokesman's statment to this effect was broadcast on national radio. It certainly has spread the word. But no pain for the Crown Casino.
Mr. Fevola's difficulties with alcohol are certainly well publicised and are something Mr. Fevola is reportedly getting assistance to overcome. As such he deserves as much support as any one of the thousands of Australians who find alcohol a surprisingly nasty addiction. I wish this young man success with both alcohol problem and the gambling problem so widely broadcast by the Crown Casino spokesman.
If only the Crown and other gaming businesses were as prompt to act in the case of lesser known persons who find their lives going down the toilet because of the planned hypnotic effects of Australian designed poker machines, their proliferation and the environment created by venues to attract and hold what they call customers.
Call me cynical but I suspect Crown Casino pushed their story to distance themselves from Mr. Fevola. No one notices when Joe or Jill Average walk glazed from a venue having lost their week's earnings in a compulsive gambling session unable to pay the rent, feed the kids, pay busfare to work. But if someone as recognisable as Mr. Fevola is seen, somebody might question Crown Casino if it did not make a fuss of being a "rescuer" and "protector" of the venue.
A casino employee once briefed a group of gambling counsellors which included myself in an "orientation evening". Having spoken of the Sheiks who visited and were required by Crown Casino to put up $1,000,000 in advance as proof of their "good faith", we were sat down and told some of the history of the Crown Casino which this young man was proud to provide.
In the two short years operation of the small, temporary casino which used to sit adjacent to the Police Complex near the former Spencer Street railway station, Crown had made enough profit to build the massive Crown Casino complex on South Bank. I was amazed and asked,
"Are you saying that in just two years you got enough money from your gambling customers to finance this entire complex?" My disbelief at the callousness of this was lost on the young man from the Crown Casino.
"Yes" he said with satisfaction. "It was a good business plan".
Probably "good business" to usher out the door minor VIPs like Mr. Fevola, one time AFL champion, who are highly visible victims of the proliferation of gambling opportunitis and government addiction to the tax revenue they provide (the fourth largest source of Victorian State revenue; other states are similarly dependent). Otherwise people might question just how much Crown Casino and other venues really care about patrons.
Tonight's media and the AFL seem puzzled Mr. Fevola is going to America. "Fleeing" or a similar word used on Melbourne Channel Ten news tonight. But he leaves with his brother, a family support, leaves public speculation and media stalkers. Mr. Fevola has done some pretty awful things perhaps but as he says, alcohol is the first step in all these humiliations.
I wish him well. Perhaps Australia will be generous enough to give him credit for owning up to the frightful degredations for which alcohol abuse can set up any of us. Good luck and courage on getting help for your demons.
John Hunter BSW (Distinction), MAASW (Accredited), MACA (Clinical), Medicare Provider of Counselling Melbourne and Burwood East, Medibank Private registered.
Mobile 0405 107 476, Ph. (03) 9539 2200, Email: john@johnhunter.net.au
www.johnhunter.net.au
A coup in publicity for Crown Casino to get that story and a sound bite from the casino spokesman on the radio. It suggests the monster Crown organisation has a heart and intervened to spare a patron more losses.
I am glad for Mr. Fevola. I pity so many others I have spoken to over the years.
I wonder how many other people knew Mr. Fevola had a gambling problem before the Crown Casino spokesman's statment to this effect was broadcast on national radio. It certainly has spread the word. But no pain for the Crown Casino.
Mr. Fevola's difficulties with alcohol are certainly well publicised and are something Mr. Fevola is reportedly getting assistance to overcome. As such he deserves as much support as any one of the thousands of Australians who find alcohol a surprisingly nasty addiction. I wish this young man success with both alcohol problem and the gambling problem so widely broadcast by the Crown Casino spokesman.
If only the Crown and other gaming businesses were as prompt to act in the case of lesser known persons who find their lives going down the toilet because of the planned hypnotic effects of Australian designed poker machines, their proliferation and the environment created by venues to attract and hold what they call customers.
Call me cynical but I suspect Crown Casino pushed their story to distance themselves from Mr. Fevola. No one notices when Joe or Jill Average walk glazed from a venue having lost their week's earnings in a compulsive gambling session unable to pay the rent, feed the kids, pay busfare to work. But if someone as recognisable as Mr. Fevola is seen, somebody might question Crown Casino if it did not make a fuss of being a "rescuer" and "protector" of the venue.
A casino employee once briefed a group of gambling counsellors which included myself in an "orientation evening". Having spoken of the Sheiks who visited and were required by Crown Casino to put up $1,000,000 in advance as proof of their "good faith", we were sat down and told some of the history of the Crown Casino which this young man was proud to provide.
In the two short years operation of the small, temporary casino which used to sit adjacent to the Police Complex near the former Spencer Street railway station, Crown had made enough profit to build the massive Crown Casino complex on South Bank. I was amazed and asked,
"Are you saying that in just two years you got enough money from your gambling customers to finance this entire complex?" My disbelief at the callousness of this was lost on the young man from the Crown Casino.
"Yes" he said with satisfaction. "It was a good business plan".
Probably "good business" to usher out the door minor VIPs like Mr. Fevola, one time AFL champion, who are highly visible victims of the proliferation of gambling opportunitis and government addiction to the tax revenue they provide (the fourth largest source of Victorian State revenue; other states are similarly dependent). Otherwise people might question just how much Crown Casino and other venues really care about patrons.
Tonight's media and the AFL seem puzzled Mr. Fevola is going to America. "Fleeing" or a similar word used on Melbourne Channel Ten news tonight. But he leaves with his brother, a family support, leaves public speculation and media stalkers. Mr. Fevola has done some pretty awful things perhaps but as he says, alcohol is the first step in all these humiliations.
I wish him well. Perhaps Australia will be generous enough to give him credit for owning up to the frightful degredations for which alcohol abuse can set up any of us. Good luck and courage on getting help for your demons.
John Hunter BSW (Distinction), MAASW (Accredited), MACA (Clinical), Medicare Provider of Counselling Melbourne and Burwood East, Medibank Private registered.
Mobile 0405 107 476, Ph. (03) 9539 2200, Email: john@johnhunter.net.au
www.johnhunter.net.au
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