Information for GPs
AASW’s Accredited Mental Health Social Workers are recognised providers with Medicare Australia, delivering clinical social work services in mental health settings and utilising a range of evidence-based strategies.
Find a social worker near you
Our Find a Social Worker tool can help you link your patients with a social worker near them.
Accredited Mental Health Social Workers - Experts in complexity
Accredited Mental Health Social Workers (AMHSWs) are highly trained and educated mental health professionals, meeting some of the highest standards of professional regulation in Australia. AMHSWs are one of the few designated allied health professional groups eligible to provide private mental health services to people with diagnosable mental health conditions or people ‘at risk’ of developing mental health conditions under the Commonwealth Medicare initiative.
AMHSWs provide a vital service to those experiencing mental health disorders, learn more from the new report Accredited Mental Health Social Workers: Qualifications, Skills and Experience.
Mental health social work programs
Social workers in the mental health field can deliver professional services under the following programs:
- Better Access to Mental Health Care
- Focused Psychological Strategies
- Chronic Diseases Management (Enhanced Primary Care)
- Department of Veterans’ Affairs
- Non-directive pregnancy support counselling (NDPC)
Mental health social work services
- Assessment, intervention, treatment and support, including therapy to individuals, their families/carers and groups with mental health disorders
- Mental State Examination and other relevant assessments across the range of presentations and lifespan
- Evidence-based therapeutic treatments for DSM 5/ICD 10 illness categories
- Bereavement, grief and loss counselling
- Family/parent-child interventions, including evidence-based family interventions
- Couple therapy and relationship counselling
- Therapeutic and psycho-educational group programs
- Assessment and treatments for alcohol and other drug misuse and dual diagnosis/comorbid presentations
- Culturally competent interventions and/or referrals for specific groups
- Facilitating access to information, services and resources.
