Welcome to CLARITY of SELF
I am currently unable to make any new client appointments as I have no available spaces. I am happy to receive your enquiry regardless and I will make a note of your contact, however I am unable to respond to you personally to provide referrals or to give a timeline for new appointments at this time. I appreciate that this is disappointing and I know it can be difficult right now to access therapy but don’t give up! Keep looking, ask around, revisit & review, have a look at my Relevant Links page and see if there is a lead there you can follow.
This website describes my Canberra based practice, Clarity of Self Counselling & Psychotherapy which offers:
- Face to face, individual or couple psychodynamic psychotherapy.
- Home visits and telehealth when available.
I am a Masters degree qualified Registered Clinical Counsellor with PACFA (Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia, 24364). I am a provider for Victim Support Services ACT, BetSafe EAP and a number of private health funds. Check with me if you have insurance – Bupa, AHM, Medibank, HCF, Rural Health (emergency services & others).
I will work with you to explore your situation, thoughts and feelings. We will progress at your pace, creating safety and mutual understanding as we go. The way I work favours the longer term, as it is a relational depth psychotherapy. This requires a commitment to attending ongoing sessions.
Longer term depth psychotherapy offers you an opportunity to explore your self, your relationships and to experience changes within these two realms that are permanent and freeing.
Session information
Psychotherapy sessions are 50 minutes in length and are by appointment only.
Contact me to make a first appointment for us to meet and learn a bit about each other. It is important you feel I am someone you can work with, and I think I will be able to help you.
2023 Fees* – My session fee is $140 for private individuals, $160 for couples, family or corporate payees. Fees are due at the completion of the session and can be paid by cash, direct debit, or by credit card. Due to the reservation of your regular therapy time slot, payment is required for sessions cancelled with less than 24 hrs notice for any avoidable reason.
NDIS:
Billed at the NDIA set rate of $156/hr plus $78 travel for home visits and is for plan or self-managed funds only.
No medicare rebates are available. At present only psychologists & MH Social Workers are eligible. However, the full fee is equivalent or less than most gap-payments with medicare mental health care plans, and is available for as many sessions as you need per year, without the official diagnosis on your medical record that is required for a MH Plan.
For a small monthly fee (from $5) you may access my Patreon page, which is like an online blog, that you can subscribe to. I have posted on there about how I work, what happens in therapy, client concerns and various topics and what therapy is – Somatic Intersubjective Self Psychology based psychotherapy:
From a basic psychodynamic orientation, and a theoretical framework of self psychology, I include a focus on bodily emotional experience (somatic awareness). The body holds a wisdom that is true. Voicing or interpreting what the body already knows helps us to further understand our selves, allowing for change and insight. Our body is our vessel which contains us and is us.
Karen Stewart
*Fee - Where does the fee go? $140/$160 per session is for approx. 2 hrs of my time (incl. session set up, notes & review, communications, supervision, ongoing PD). A full client load is approx. 15-20 spaces per week. 30% is for direct costs - rent, supervision fees, PD costs, supplies etc. 20% is for indirect costs - annual& sick leave, training & supervision time (PD), & where possible, some superannuation. (So $140/4 = hourly wage)
