Websites for Gold Coast psychologists, counsellors and psychotherapists, from Coomera down to Coolangatta, arranged around the questions people ask before a first session, including the ones that only come up when a client lives over the border in Tweed.
The Gold Coast runs into New South Wales without a break, so a practice in Tugun or Coolangatta may have clients who fall under another state's crisis line, victims of crime scheme and workers compensation system. Further up the coast, the questions are about how you compare with the free services nearby. Either way, the site should answer them before anyone has to pick up the phone.
Queensland's 1300 MH CALL (1300 642 255) only takes calls from within Queensland, so someone ringing from Banora Point or Kingscliff needs the NSW Mental Health Line on 1800 011 511 instead. The note on every page gives 000 and Lifeline on 13 11 14 for everyone, then lists both state lines with a few words on who each is for, and says plainly that the practice isn't a crisis service.
Victim Assist Queensland only covers counselling after violence that happened in Queensland. Violence in NSW comes under the NSW Victims Support Scheme, which has its own list of approved counsellors. If you're approved under one or both, the fees page says which, so a client from Tweed can tell before booking whether sessions with you are likely to be covered.
If you see clients by video, say so near the top, along with any difference in fee. From early October to early April, clocks in NSW run an hour ahead, so every time on the site carries the words "Queensland time". If your booking system lets you edit its confirmation emails, the same words go there too, and a client in Pottsville doesn't log on an hour late.
Southport, Robina, Burleigh Heads, Varsity Lakes and Coomera are separate centres, each with its own traffic and parking. Each set of rooms gets a page with the street, level, parking and nearest light rail stop or train station, and a booking link that opens the calendar for that location in Halaxy, Coreplus, Cliniko or whichever system you use.
Gold Coast PHN funds Supporting Minds, a free short-term service for people who can show financial disadvantage. A private practice doesn't need to compete with it. Your fee, the likely gap after a Better Access rebate and whether you keep any reduced-fee places let a person decide quickly, and one line pointing to the free service, for someone who can't afford private sessions, costs you nothing to include.
If you see young people, give that work its own section: the ages, whether a parent comes to the first session, and how long you usually work with someone. Families on the coast can also go to headspace in Southport or Upper Coomera, which offer free support to 12 to 25 year olds, so set out plainly how you work, what a session costs after any rebate and how soon you can see someone, and let families compare.
The Queensland rules apply here as they do in the capital. Complaints about psychologists and counsellors go to the Office of the Health Ombudsman, counsellors and psychotherapists work under the Queensland code of conduct for health care workers, WorkCover Queensland usually funds treatment while a mental injury claim is being assessed, and Victim Assist Queensland covers counselling after violence in the state. Our Brisbane psychologists and counsellors page goes through each, with links to the official guidance. This section stays on the coast.
Gold Coast PHN, whose area stretches from Jacobs Well in the north down to Coolangatta and inland as far as Canungra, funds Supporting Minds, a free clinical service delivered by Wesley Mission Queensland. It offers up to six sessions of structured one-to-one psychological therapy, using approaches such as CBT, DBT and ACT, together with a wellbeing consultant and group sessions, for residents with mild to moderate symptoms who can show financial disadvantage. A general stream covers people aged 16 to 65, and an LGBTIQAP+ stream people aged 12 to 65. Anyone can refer, and the service's page (opens in a new tab) recommends Medicare Mental Health on 1800 595 212 for self-referrals. For 12 to 25 year olds, headspace Southport on Nind Street and headspace Upper Coomera on Brygon Creek Drive, both run by Lives Lived Well, offer free, confidential support.
The border changes more than the clocks. headspace Tweed Heads, on Wharf Street, is run by Social Futures, and its funding is administered by Healthy North Coast, the NSW primary health network for the area, not Gold Coast PHN. 1300 MH CALL is only available in Queensland, and violence that happened in NSW is a matter for the NSW Victims Support Scheme (opens in a new tab), not Victim Assist Queensland (opens in a new tab). Psychologists hold national registration and can see clients from both states, but a counsellor who also consults in rooms or on home visits south of the border comes under the NSW code of conduct for non-registered practitioners there, which our Sydney psychologists and counsellors page explains.
None of this needs a long explanation on your site. It needs the right line in the right place: the two crisis numbers in the urgent-help note, the schemes you're approved under on the fees page, and Queensland time wherever a time appears. A practice that gets those details right is easier for a GP in Robina, or one in Tweed Heads, to send people to.
We're an Adelaide team and work with Gold Coast practitioners by phone and email. We haven't built a psychology or counselling site yet. Our Queensland clients include Queensland Dance & Performing Arts on Brisbane's Bayside; the two projects below are closer in how they handle a first booking.
Neither is a therapy practice. Dr Tabara Dione coaches doctors in confidence from Melbourne, and Resolve Forward works with separating families in Sydney. On both, a first-time visitor who'd rather not ring can book or get in touch online.
Coaching for doctors from a Melbourne specialist anaesthetist. The about page sets out her credentials, and visitors can book a discovery call online or send a message instead, the same choice a counsellor can offer with a short introductory call.
Visit the Dr Tabara Dione site (opens in a new tab) See it in our portfolio
A Sydney family dispute resolution practice. Clients choose a priced package and book it online, and a five-step intake form collects their background beforehand, so the first session doesn't begin with paperwork.
Visit the Resolve Forward site (opens in a new tab) See it in our portfolio
“My website is exactly how I wanted. I highly recommend Salem for any business wanting a professional website without the bull.”
★ 5.0 from 33 Google reviews (opens in a new tab)
See all 14 recent client sites in our portfolio.
$399
One practitioner, one set of rooms: who you see and how you work, registration or membership, fees and rebates, your booking link, and urgent-help numbers for Queensland and NSW callers.
Our usual suggestion
$899
Home, an about page with qualifications and memberships, and a fees page covering Better Access, private fees, video sessions in Queensland time, the victims of crime schemes you work with, and cancellations.
$1,499
A group practice, or rooms at both ends of the coast: a page per clinician or location, pages for client groups such as teenagers or couples, a referrers page for GPs in both states, fees and contact.
The national ones and both state lines. 000 and Lifeline on 13 11 14 work everywhere; 1300 MH CALL is for callers in Queensland, and the NSW Mental Health Line on 1800 011 511 is for callers in NSW. We set them out as a short box on every page, under a line saying the practice isn't a crisis service.
Only if the violence happened in Queensland. Where the client lives doesn't decide it. Violence in NSW falls under the NSW Victims Support Scheme, which approves its own counsellors. Your fees page can say which schemes you're approved under and link to each scheme's own page, so the client checks eligibility with the scheme rather than with you.
If it would help your clients, yes. A line near your fees pointing people on low incomes to Supporting Minds, or young people to headspace Southport or Upper Coomera, tells them where else to go if you're not the right fit or the cost is a barrier. Send us the wording you're comfortable with and we'll place it where it reads naturally.
Label every time on the site as Queensland time, put the same words in your booking confirmations if your system allows it, and, if many of your clients are south of the border, add a one-line note on the booking page that NSW is an hour ahead during daylight saving. Changing that wording later is a text edit covered by the $30 monthly hosting.
By phone and email, as it does for all our clients outside Adelaide. WebCraft Studio is at Ste 3/110 Hutt St, Adelaide, with current clients in SA, NSW, VIC and QLD. You send your words, photos and practitioner details; we build the draft and send you a link; you ask for as many changes as you need; and you pay once you're happy with it.
Tell us where your rooms are, who you see and whether your clients cross the border. We reply within 24 hours, and you pay only after you've approved the finished draft.
We reply within 24 hours. Prefer email? info@webcraftstudio.com.au