STUDENT REFERRAL FOR COUNSELLING AT YOUR SCHOOL

If you're a partner school looking to refer a student, you're in the right place. Our aim is to make school-based mental health as smooth as possible for you, families, and students.

If you’re a school looking to partner with us, please fill in the Student Referral Form below.

Student Referral Form
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UNDERSTANDING THE REFERRAL PROCESS

We use a traffic light system to triage student referrals. This helps us to efficiently assess the situation and determine the best mental health plan for each student.
Here's how it works:

The Traffic Light System

  • Green referrals involve situations where mental health support can be provided. These might include:

    • Friendship challenges

    • Social anxiety

    • Phobias

    • Grief

    • Depression and withdrawal

    • Externalising behaviours without violence

    • School refusal

    • Parent separation

    • Low self-esteem and confidence

    • Social skills training

    • Classroom adjustment recommendations

    • Behaviour response recommendations

    • Acute/isolated experiences of trauma.

  • In some cases, we need more information on the student to clarify the scope of the referral. These referrals may involve:

    • Students are already seeing a psychologist or being supported by an NDIS care team

    • Referrals where only one parent gives consent and the other parent withholds consent

    • Complex post-traumatic stress symptoms

    • Chronic and complex psychological presentations

    • Referrals to see multiple students from the same family.

  • Some referrals may not align with the scope of our services and will be declined. These might include:

    • Sexualised behaviours

    • Externalising behaviours that put the supervisee or staff at risk (e.g., historical or recent assaults of staff)

    • Suicidal statements or self-harm behaviours deemed out of scope for a Provisional Psychologist

    • Lack of written consent from the parent(s)

    • Cases requiring legal intervention or involvement of the courts

    • Staff mental health concerns.

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Parent or Guardian Consent

After we receive a student referral, our Supervising Psychologists will review it. If approved, we'll send consent forms to the parent(s) / guardian(s) to complete online.

If we don't receive the signed consent within
7 days, we'll contact the school for help in following up.

For information on how we handle student and family information, including privacy details, please visit our Privacy Policy.

SUBMIT A REFERRAL

Please complete all required fields below and click ‘Submit’ at the end of the form to send your school referral to Psychs in Schools.

If you have any questions about this form or the referral process in general.
You can contact us at info@psychsinschools.com or reach out to our
Business Operations Manager, Jen Lyons, on 1800 157 168.

Assessment Referral Guide

Frequently Asked Questions

  • We provide 3-4 counselling sessions per day, which equates to 8-18 referrals throughout the semester.

    Referrals must be mild to moderate. However, for kids with more severe needs, our psychologists can treat mild to moderate issues.
    They can do this while the child waits for a referral for more severe care. A Provisional Psychologist may write a support letter for the family.

    They can take it to a GP to request a mental health care plan.

  • To refer a student, please complete the referral form on this page. Once submitted, our team will triage the referral. If we accept it, we will send consent forms to the parent(s)/guardian(s).

  • Yes, you can refer multiple students from the same family, but siblings are not usually seen for counselling at the same time to protect privacy and meet professional guidelines. In some cases, our provisional psychologists may work with two siblings at once if the work is different, such as one student having counselling while another is completing an assessment.

  • If a student already gets help from another psychologist or an NDIS care team, the referral may be marked Yellow. It will then be reviewed further.

  • Once the referral is submitted, we aim to complete the triage within 5-7 business days. If accepted, consent forms will be sent to the parent(s) shortly thereafter.

  • We offer both Brief Assessments (Cognitive and/or Adaptive Functioning) and Comprehensive Assessments (e.g., Specific Learning Disorder assessment, Intellectual Disability, ADHD).

    We use the WISC-V for cognitive assessments (allowing us to assess students aged 6 - 16 years & 11 months) and the Vineland- 3 Comprehensive Form to assess adaptive functioning.

    These can be delivered in several ways: through assessment-only placements, as one-off purchases, or as part of our counselling placements.

    Please contact our sales team for more information.

  • The school will need to bear the costs for an independent interpreter.

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Partner with Us

If you’re ready to support your students' mental health with evidence-based practices, contact us below.

Get in Touch