Mental health practice marketing

You are not short of clients

Australian psychology practices are short of appointment hours. Marketing sold on lead volume is solving the wrong problem.

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The government's own modelling

A 57.3% undersupply

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing puts the 2025 shortfall of psychologists in health settings at 10,269.9 full-time-equivalent once unmet demand is counted.

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And it widens

24,115.5 FTE short by 2038

That is a projected 96.6% undersupply. Even the narrow measure, counting only demand as currently expressed, goes from 534.1 FTE short to 7,092.5.

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What that means for you

More enquiries buys a longer waitlist

If the book is full, the enquiry is not the scarce item. The hour is. Someone who waits six weeks and then leaves cost you twice.

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So you hire

And that is where the risk starts

Registered psychologists are the scarce item, so practices grow by adding counsellors and provisional psychologists. Counsellor is not a protected title. Psychologist is.

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Section 113(2)

The practice writes the team page

It is an offence to use a protected title about another person in a way that could reasonably be expected to induce a belief they are registered, unless they are.

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And dressing it up does not help

"With or without any other words"

Section 113(3) says so directly. Section 116 goes further and covers any description that could reasonably be understood to indicate someone is qualified to practise in a health profession.

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The maximum

$120,000 for a company

For an individual it is $60,000 or 3 years imprisonment or both. Maximums per offence, not typical outcomes. Consolidated National Law, current as at 10 April 2026.

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The fix is four lines

Say the registration in each profile

Not in a group heading above everyone. Publish the fee, the wait and the registration of every person on the team. It is a compliance job and a growth job at once.

Tap for the full breakdown, with every source.

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