Differentiating between Social Work, Psychology, Psychiatry and Counselling Services

Polaris understands that your compensation claim is only one part of your life’s journey, but your injury and the legal process can be daunting and take its toll on day-to-day living. That’s why we offer access to our in-house social worker, Nicole, at no cost to you. Nicole supports a number of Polaris clients across a range of matter types, including Workcover claims, TAC claims, medical negligence and public liability claims.

The intersection of social work and the provision of legal services, particularly in personal injury law, is an emerging practice area that seeks to holistically support clients to receive wraparound support. The aim is to address the immediate or ongoing needs of clients to successfully support them during their legal claims.

But what is social work, and how does it differ from other professions such as psychology, psychiatry and counselling? While there are crossovers between the professions, there are distinct differences in what they do and how they deliver services to people.

Social work is a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes self-determination, advocacy, and empowerment of all people.

Social workers support people to navigate through systems and challenging times in their life, and have knowledge of who and where to refer you for specialised support.

When you’re pursuing a personal injury claim, social workers can provide critical support and can assist you with:

• supporting your general mental health and wellbeing by providing ongoing emotional support, incidental counselling, self-care regulation strategies and support mapping;
• providing referrals to specialist services;
• attending important or stressful appointments with you as a support person (e.g. going to court, medico-legal and psychiatric assessment appointments);
• working with you on any practical applications you need assistance with – including but not limited to public housing applications, Centrelink applications, NDIS access forms, etc;
• explaining paperwork and information if you need extra comprehension support.

One main difference between social work and other therapeutic professions is that they do not diagnose and treat mental health conditions. However, they can warmly refer you to people who do.

Counsellors provide evidence-based talk therapy. Like social workers, they also can not diagnose mental health conditions. They can offer generalised treatments, or specialise in therapeutic treatments such as psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, behavioural therapies (CBT, DBT, etc.), acceptance and commitment therapy, narrative therapy, etc.

Psychologists on the other hand, are accredited to assess, diagnose, and provide clinical support for mental health conditions, in conjunction with providing the therapeutic treatment listed above.

Within psychology, you may see titles such as ‘provisional psychologist’, ‘registered psychologist’, and ‘clinical psychologist’. Let’s explore what these are now.

A provisional psychologist is a practitioner who has completed a university degree and is eligible to undertake a program of supervision (placement) to apply their academic skills “on the job”. Typically, this involves a minimum of two years of weekly supervision with an Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) approved supervisor. Another term for a provisional psychologist could be a graduate psychologist.

A registered psychologist encompasses a fully qualified and practicing psychologist who does not have a specialty interest area. They are qualified mental health professionals who can provide broad therapeutic interventions across a wide range of presenting issues. Another term for a registered psychologist could be a general psychologist.

A clinical psychologist has undertaken additional academic study and training to specialise in a particular area of practice – clinical psychology being its own domain. They will complete six years of university study and at least two years of supervised practical training, (or registrar program), totaling 8 years of study altogether.

A psychiatrist can also provide psychological interventions, but as they have trained as medical doctors, they can prescribe medication. Psychiatrists and psychologists are both trained to diagnose mental health illnesses, but as psychiatry is technically a field of medicine, it is more concerned with the assessment and monitoring stages of mental health diagnoses.

Psychiatrists (along with general practitioners (GP’s), can prescribe and dispense mental health medications and can manage the dosages of these medications as part of your agreed treatment plan.

Your GP can also provide you with a mental health care plan to access Medicare rebate services of up to 10 sessions per calendar year (meaning you only pay a portion of your psychologist or counseling session costs per session).

When you’re looking to access any of the above services, it’s important to ensure you are engaging with practitioners who are registered under their appropriate professional body. This ensures there’s accountability and standards of practice that practitioners must meet to continue practicing in their chosen profession year upon year.

Psychologists

Psychologists register with the Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA), which forms part of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). They may also be a member of the Australian Association of Psychologists Inc (AAPI), or the Australian Psychological Society (APS).

Psychiatrists

Psychiatrists are regulated by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). Most but not all are members of the Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP).

Counsellors

For counsellors, the main registration body is the Australian Counselling Association (ACA). They may also be a member of the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA).

Social workers

For social workers, this is the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW). Polaris’ social worker, Nicole, is an accredited member of the AASW.

If you’re looking for holistic support after an injury, alongside the legal expertise to get you the compensation you deserve, we offer a free consultation and run cases on a ‘no win no fee’ basis. Our social worker services are also free when we are acting on your behalf. So, it costs you nothing to find out where you stand.