FAQs

Yes, she has received all required vaccination doses for Covid-19 mandated for health practitioners in NSW. In an abundance of caution, she will also be wearing a face mask in all her sessions for everyone’s safety.

‘Therapist shopping’ can be a time-consuming and costly affair. To save you time and money, and reduce stress, Chiu offers a free 20-minute phone chat where you can briefly describe your concerns, explore therapy and/or support options then decide if Chiu is the right fit for you and your therapy goals. If there is a better clinical fit elsewhere, Chiu will assist by recommending therapists more suited to your needs.

Contact Chiu to indicate interest in booking your free 20-minute phone chat. During your free 20-minute phone chat, you can briefly describe your concerns, explore therapy and/or support options then decide if Chiu is the right fit for you and your therapy goals. If there is a better clinical fit elsewhere, Chiu will assist by recommending therapists more suited to your needs.

Due to robocalls and popular demand, Chiu receives many, many missed calls every day. She no longer enjoys the full-time support of an administration team who was able to screen all calls. Also, nobody enjoys playing ‘phone tag’ all week. So, the most efficient way to get in touch is by writing to her – specifically, texting a brief message to 0491 188 891 or send her an online message.

Yes, Chiu offers telehealth sessions using Zoom video conferencing service. Telehealth is emerging as an important change to patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic with health practitioners across many professions offering phone or online consultations to support their patients.

Please note that our appointments are set to Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT) from the first Sunday in October to the first Sunday in April during Daylight Saving Time (DST) and Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) for the remainder of the year.

You may use your NDIS funding if you are a Self- or Planner-Managed participant. Unfortunately, due to NDIS Guidelines, Agency-Managed participants are unable to use their NDIS funding with us. In addition, NDIS guidelines state that participants accessing funds from Improved Relationships can only do so with registered providers. Possibilities is no longer registered as a provider with the NDIS.

Yes, she is.

Possibilities has set aside a limited number of bulk billing appointments for long term clients who may experience financial distress. 

You do not need a referral to see a Psychologist. However, should you be eligible to claim the Medicare rebate, a Medicare Plan will need to be provided. Please speak to your GP, paediatrician or psychiatrist for advice on the most appropriate plan for your needs. Most private health funds offer rebates on psychological services if the client has ancillary or extra’s cover. Rebates vary depending on your fund and your level of cover. Please contact your fund for their latest rebate information.

The Better Access initiative gives Medicare rebates to help people access mental health professionals and care, regardless of where they live.

In the referral, Medicare requires the following to be provided by your referring doctor.

1. Doctor’s name
2. Doctor’s Medicare Provider number
3. Date of referral
4. Briefly record reason for referral eg. anxiety
5. Number of sessions referred for eg. 6 sessions

If the referral is provided directly to you at your consultation, please check to ensure all relevant information is recorded before you leave the Doctor’s office.

For a registered psychologist who is not clinically endorsed:
$92.90 for individual face-to-face or telehealth sessions lasting 50 – 60 minutes

Under the Better Access initiative, eligible clients can receive:

• Up to 10 individual sessions in a calendar year (1 January to 31 December). 
• Up to 10 group therapy sessions in a calendar year where such services are available and seen as appropriate by your referring doctor and the psychologist.

Referrals cannot be provided for the full 10 sessions. A referral is for a maximum of six sessions. Your referring doctor will assess your progress after the first six sessions and determine whether further sessions are needed.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Medicare has provided up to 10 additional sessions per year (likely to expire December 2022). Your referring doctor will need to provide a referral for you to access this. After you have reached the maximum number of allowable sessions for the calendar year you will not be eligible for any further Medicare rebates for treatment you receive from a psychologist until the new calendar year.

Work and Development Orders (WDOs) are a way to help people who can’t pay their fines. WDO sponsors include government agencies, non-government organisations and health practitioners. Unfortunately, Chiu is not a WDO sponsor.

To find a sponsor, visit https://www.revenue.nsw.gov.au/fines-and-fees/cant-pay-your-debt/find-a-wdo-sponsor

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) is the national organisation responsible for implementing the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (the National Scheme) across Australia. AHPRA works with the 15 National Boards to help protect the public by regulating Australia’s registered health practitioners. Psychology is a regulated profession, like medicine, psychiatry and law. To call yourself a psychologist and to practise as one, you need to register with the Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA), which is part of AHPRA, formed in July 2010.

Many considerations are made as to which environment would be the most conducive to achieving client goals. Depending on the outcome of these considerations, Chiu may recommend that therapy / capacity-building sessions be held in the clinic room, at home, at school or in the community setting.

However, as of 2022, our services are exclusively telehealth. Should Chiu determine that your needs (or your child’s needs) are best served face-to-face, she will make recommendations for suitable therapists based on her best practice database.

Yes she does, 100%.  

Numerous studies have shown that supportive parental involvement in their child’s capacity building sessions not only enhances outcomes, but it also has a positive influence on the child’s wellbeing and behavior. A parent’s interest and encouragement in a child’s development can affect the child’s perceptions toward themselves and their place in society.

Chiu believes that parents are the experts of their children, and so collaborates closely with them. In helping the child, she helps the parents understand more deeply what the child may be experiencing and ways to proactively support their child’s growth by utilising evidence-based strategies. In the event a child requires psychotherapy instead, it would be appropriate for the child to be given much more privacy. Often, we have found parents very understanding of this need. How much feedback Chiu gives the parents (if any) will be respectfully discussed with the child, empowering them with a sense of agency and autonomy.

Yes, she does. Chiu believes in a collaborative approach to supporting our young ones. It takes a village, after all.

Yes, she would. Chiu believes in a collaborative approach to supporting clients. The level of collaboration will be determined by you and Chiu will respect your wishes.

For many years, Chiu used to run a number of manualised group programs such as Secret Agent’s Society and Stop Think Do. She also developed and facilitated group programs for carers of individuals with rare genetic conditions, for children with a brother or sister with disability and for young adults with Asperger’s (or ASD L1) interested in learning more about dating, sex and relationships.

However, at present time, Chiu is not facilitating any group programs.

Chiu does not have LGBTQIA+ lived experiences herself. However, Chiu has direct and personal connections all her life through community, friends and family.

Firstly, Chiu cannot “fix” him because he is not broken. 

Secondly, there is no cure for Autism because there is no cure for a neurotype. What Chiu can do instead are:

1. Provide treatment for psychological distress (eg. anxiety, depression) arising from living as a neurodivergent person in a society built for neurotypicals.
2. Facilitate capacity building sessions to increase sensory and interpersonal adaptability for when they choose to socialise with neurotypicals in their own preferred style(s), in often over-stimulating environments.
3. Provide opportunities for them to understand themself better and affirm their status as a valued minority group.
4. Provide you with opportunities to understand your child better and support you as you affirm their status as a valued minority group.
5. Facilitate emotional and behaviour regulation skills training that does not promote self-shaming, Autistic masking or forced compliance.

We respectfully invite you to visit The Gender Centre to learn more about gender and gender identity. Many parents in your position have found it very useful to join a parent peer support group. Once you do this, and if you have more questions for us, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

There have been too many times when a parent presents in session and discloses their child has been diagnosed x number of years ago with, let’s say, ADHD. When queried about their understanding of the condition from a neurobiopsychosocial point of view, most parents will shrug and say “actually I don’t know much. I just know they never listen and can’t sit still”.

Given that research has shown us that neurodivergent children will receive about 20,000 more negative messages by age 10 than they do positive messages as compared to their neurotypical peers, it is imperative that parents of children with ADHD (and other divergent neurotypes) be empowered with up-to-date knowledge and useful skills. In our experience, once a parent understands how their child’s brain and body works, they become much more understanding and compassionate, significantly reducing the number of negative interactions and negative messages. They also become more motivated to learn how to teach and support their children in a less shame-inducing way.

The following are usually addressed in these sessions:

1. Explanation on how the brain works and how it affects the rest of the body
2. Explanation on how (i) can result in certain thoughts, emotions and behaviours
3. Explanation on how we can respectfully and efficiently provide science-based intervention, support, and guidance at the right time (it’s all about timing, y’all)
4. Coaching on how to increase the child’s motivation rather than rely on intimidation and threats
5. Coaching on how to improve parent-child relationship so that collaboration feels natural
6. Coaching on how parents can remain calm when the situation escalates, and how parents can be more compassionate towards themselves and their child when mistakes occur
7. Mentoring on how to advocate for their child when teachers or other family members don’t understand
8. Support ways parents can affirm their children’s status as a valued member of society regardless of their neurotype

Managing feelings associated with adjustment such as loss, grief, confusion, frustration, anger, sadness, and fear is another way Chiu supports parents, especially parents of children going through a significant life change. These life changes can include gender questioning and gender transition, along with major health-related challenges. Offering support to parents ensures that the parent is better equipped to emotionally support their children, as they have a professional sounding board to work through their individual stressors.

Inclusion ensures that all children participate comfortably and meaningfully while learning and interacting with others. It is an affirming approach that acknowledges each child’s strengths and interests while making necessary adjustments, so that they are supported to be active members of their community.

Often Chiu is engaged by proactive and dedicated early learning centres and childcare centres to empower their staff with inclusion and behaviour support training and mentoring. The goal is to equip their staff with up-to-date science-based knowledge to support children who may be experiencing psychological distress, adjustment challenges or disabilities, as well as the practical skills to do so confidently.

Here are some feedback from Chiu’s training sessions:

“My team and I enjoyed Chiu’s laidback approach and working style. We found it easy to learn from her and found the collaborative discussions to be a great way to learn.”

“Chiu always presents helpful, practical ideas. She is so knowledgeable and shares that in a respectful way.”

“Chiu was incredible and helped us support and understand our children at a deeper level. She gave us strategies that allowed us to become more confident in our teaching styles.”

The science of Psychology is critical to the workplace. It helps managers at all levels of organizations select, support, motivate and train employees. It also helps businesses design products, build better workspaces and foster healthy work cultures. 

In addition to providing consultation services to Southeast Asian based businesses and not-for-profit organisations, Possibilities is the in-house consultant for one of Australia’s leading talent management agencies. We also provide consultation to an innovative digital product developer that is utilising cutting edge blockchain technology to create unique products that support the grief process.

The Psychology Board of Australia is committed to protecting the public by ensuring that Psychologists practice in a competent and ethical manner. Supervisors help to achieve this commitment by improving competence in their supervisees. While Chiu is no longer a PsyBA registered supervisor, she is still sought after for supervision and mentoring by registered psychologists and provisional psychologists alike.

For many transgender folks, it’s an easy way to affirm their identity and show the world the pronouns they’d like you to use. However, it goes beyond trans and non-binary equality. Sharing our pronouns online promotes and normalises discussions about gender. This is very important to do as there is always more work to be done when it comes to inclusivity. Therefore, by sharing her own pronouns routinely, Chiu tries to normalise this practice, and to make it easier for others to do the same.

Chiu has written works published on her Linkedin profile. You can see them here. In addition, a website blog was introduced in 2024. Click here to view our blog.

Just as a competent builder would have more than one tool in their toolbox, Chiu utilises an eclectic and evidence-based approach when working with clients. Clinical modalities that Chiu uses when a situation calls for it include but are not limited to:

• Cognitive Behaviour Therapy 
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy 
• Dialectical Behaviour Therapy 
• Compassion Focused Therapy
• Solutions Focused Therapy 
• Positive Behaviour Support
• Parts work such as Internal Family Systems, Resource Therapy and Schema Therapy

Chiu is looking forward to completing training in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) soon.

Most health and allied health practitioners experience occasional offers of gifts from their patients over the course of their career. Infrequent gifts of wine, chocolates and flowers, especially in December are commonplace in most Australian clinics. However, some patients tend to gift more frequently, or to give gifts of greater commercial value, than others. This starts to pose difficult questions for practitioners as to what is considered acceptable gift accepting behaviour, and how to determine when the receipt of gifts becomes improper or unethical. The ethical code of conduct that guides Possibilities suggest small and/or inexpensive tokens of appreciation around Christmas time is acceptable. Should you wish to express appreciation through gift giving, we would appreciate cards or chocolate that can be shared with our colleagues at the clinic.

Possibilities Psychological Services prides itself on the service we provide to our clients, however we are always looking for areas that we can improve upon. Your constructive feedback as a client is a valuable part of this.

If you believe that we have failed to provide you with a service in line with your rights as listed in your service agreement, or are in any way dissatisfied with the service you have received, please do not hesitate to bring it to our direct attention via email so that the deficiency can be immediately corrected.

If your assessment indicates that Chiu’s role as a psychologist poses a risk to society, and wish to make a formal complaint, you can contact the following agencies:

• Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) 
• The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA)

For your convenience, here is her registration number PSY0001319354. 

Our profession relies on proactive members of society like yourself to ensure standards of care and duty of care provided by health practitioners are maintained at the highest level. We thank you for your assistance.

Yes he is. He is a very good boi.