Therapies

  • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

    Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a structured, evidence-based therapeutic approach that focuses on identifying and modifying unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors. By addressing the interplay between thoughts, emotions, and actions, CBT helps individuals develop effective coping strategies, improve emotional regulation, and promote long-term psychological well-being.

  • Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)

    Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) is a comprehensive, evidence-based treatment designed to help individuals manage intense emotions and develop healthier coping mechanisms. By combining cognitive-behavioural techniques with mindfulness practices, DBT emphasizes the importance of balancing acceptance and change.

  • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

    Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychotherapy that helps individuals process and heal from traumatic experiences. Through a structured eight-phase approach, EMDR uses guided eye movements or other forms of bilateral stimulation to help reprocess distressing memories. This process aims to reduce the emotional charge of traumatic memories, allowing individuals to integrate these experiences in a healthier, adaptive way. EMDR is commonly used to treat trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and other related conditions.

  • Narrative Therapy

    Narrative Therapy is a therapeutic approach that views individuals as the authors of their own stories. It encourages clients to explore and reframe the narratives they hold about themselves, helping them identify and challenge limiting beliefs and unhelpful patterns. By externalizing problems and viewing them as separate from the individual, Narrative Therapy empowers clients to take control of their lives, create new meanings, and develop a more positive and empowered sense of self. This approach is particularly effective for individuals dealing with trauma, identity issues, and relationship challenges, and has been found to be especially beneficial for Indigenous Australians, as it aligns with cultural values of storytelling, community, and connection to identity and history.

Assessment Services

From 1st July, 2026, Tropical Psychology will be expanding our clinical services to include the following:

  • Clinical & Forensic consultations with medical, allied health and support staff - individual and group consults can be arranged to talk through complex mental health cases with a view to assist diagnostic formulation, treatment planning, case management strategies and risk estimation

  • Forensic Risk Assessments (adults only) - we accept referrals for forensic risk assessments for men and women who have present and historic criminal histories. We accept most major funding streams, including self-funded assessments. Forensic assessments will assist in the formulation of risk categorisation, criminogenic needs (forensic treatment targets), risk scenarios and non-clinical case management strategies. Post-assessment, consultations can be arranged with the assessing clinician either as a ‘one off’ or as part of a planned series of consultations to assist with the management of risk over time. Forensic assessments can be completed in our Cairns and Geelong clinics and we also accept referrals Australia-wide for TeleHealth reviews for individuals that do not live within our geographic regions

  • Cognitive Assessments - Cognitive Assessments utilise the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-5) and this assessment is available at our Cairns and Geelong clinics. Total pricing will be influenced by the reason for referral. The assessing clinician will discuss with you whether additional, supplementary assessments will also be included as part of the battery of assessment tools. Typically, pricing for a cognitive assessment starts at approximately $1000AUD - this includes WAIS-5 administration, scoring, interpretation and a concise clinical summary that is focused specifically upon the reason for referral. More comprehensive assessments that include supplementary tasks and a more comprehensive report (including a detailed clinical report about your mental health history) will incur an additional fee. As an indication, if the total assessment time (including comprehensive report writing) equates to 10 clinical hours, the total fee may be $2100. You will be given an exact quote for service when your referral is processed and this quote will specify what you can expect to receive from your assessing clinician.

  • ADHD Assessments (children/adolescents/adults) - These assessments are offered at our Cairns and Geelong clinics and we can consider referrals from other regions for TeleHealth appointments. The majority of our clinicians completed their psychology internships in NDIS organisations and have had extensive experience working with neurodivergence. They have worked collaboratively with medical, psychiatric, allied health staff and families to conduct accurate assessments that include both a diagnostic focus (confirming/disconfirming potential clinical diagnoses, including ADHD), developing clinical strategies to manage impulsivity/inattention, and non-clinical recommendations to assist family and support staff. Pricing is determined by the complexity of the case, the amount of collateral information that is available for review, and the complexity of the diagnostic report that you require. Most typically, a standard ADHD assessment is priced at approximately $1000 (for 5 clinical hours of interview, report writing, feedback session). Brief reports for an individual, their family and/or their school/workplace take less time and are therefore cheaper. Comprehensive reports that will be reviewed by medical practitioners, paediatricians and psychiatrists tends to take longer and incur a greater fee. Additionally, including a comprehensive metal health diagnostic assessment to explore comorbid conditions typically takes longer, particularly if there is a requirement to include additional psychometric tests.

  • Psychological Assessments - All of Tropical Psychology’s clinicians have extensive clinical experience working across a range of clinics and fields. This includes inpatient and outpatient psychiatric services, forensic facilities, NDIS organisations, residential care units and private psychological practice. We are happy to discuss one-off psychological assessments for the purpose of confirming/disconfirming psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, personality disorders, substance misuse disorders, Bipolar Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and psychotic disorders. At your request, and with your consent, we can work collaboratively with clinical and non-clinical care teams to ethically share a summary of this information to assist you to receive the care that you need. Pricing will be discussed with you at the point of referral. Typically, clinical assessments with a diagnostic focus have a minimum 3-4 hour time committent (interview + report writing), so pricing for clinical assessments typically starts at $600. Reviewing extensive collateral information, interviewing family members, liaising with external stakeholders and writing comprehensive reports (vs focused summaries) incur a greater expense due to the time required to do these tasks.

Group Therapy-Expressions of interest now open…

Tropical Psychology are currently planning a brief (10-week) group therapy program in the Cairns region. This initial group will be aimed at adult women who have histories of volatile, toxic and unhealthy relationships (family, friends, partners). Frequently, people who have had such experiences have had some form of attachment trauma early in life and/or other types of invasive traumas across the lifespan. This will not be a specific trauma-therapy group. Rather, we will be focusing more upon relationships, attachments and self-confidence.

We are offering this group program to a maximum of 10 women. We find that group therapy is sometimes a scary or overwhelming idea and that people prefer to seek out 1:1 counselling. However, when facilitated delicately, group therapy can be a powerful experience to allow you the opportunity to feel validated, heard and to recalibrate what a 'normal' response to an 'abnormal' event is. Too often, people that have not lived the same life as you don't understand why you respond the way you to when you get triggered. This is particularly true when the triggers are not obvious to others.

In the group program, we will initially spend time creating a safe environment. There will be no pressure or expectation to make trauma disclosures in front of other group members. We will spend some time learning about how trauma + other life experiences shape and influence our relationship confidence. Will then spend a lot of the time learning and practicing new skills. This may look and feel a lot like Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) for those of you who have engaged in that form of treatment in the past. However, we respect that not everybody has the time and ability to commit to 6-12 months of regular treatment.

Group therapy will have a mix of education provided by the facilitators (Joe & Brooke - both experienced psychologists), individual work, small group work and also larger group discussions. We aim to make it interactive and to have a range of different activities so that people don't get bored, overwhelmed or lost in content! People with ADHD presentations are certainly welcome - we will work with you to brainstorm accommodations to make group therapy as helpful as possible. There will be times where we are playing music that highlights clinical themes we are talking about. We may be watching short clips from movies or YouTube. We'll have photo-cards and other clinical props. We'll have people helping us out as we draw pictures on the whiteboard to try to simplify heavy clinical content. We call ourselves 'facilitators' in group therapy because we are not the experts. We facilitate activities and discussions and it is our group members that do all the hard work. You will be responsible for your own healing. We're just here to guide the process and to make it a safe environment for everybody.

We hope that this is a healthy and useful introduction that gives people a chance to reflect upon lifelong patterns that perpetuate unhealthy relationships. And we hope that this is a useful introduction into the sorts of skills that can be used straight away.

We will release more details as we lock in our own plans. Depending upon the group composition, it will either be 1 or 2 sessions per week for 10 weeks. Realistically, we are hoping to be ready and organised for a commencement in April, 2025. NDIS funding will probably be appropriate, we can liaise with your support coordinators to clarify this for you. If you have a Mental Health Care Plan from your treating GP, this may also be appropriate to allow for Medicare-rebated treatment. Once we have more details organised, we will be able to quote the exact gap fee if you are referred via a MHCP (if we have a full group, we hope to minimise fees, they may be $20-30 if we can keep our costs down). Private referrals (self funded) will also be welcome.

If this group therapy option sounds like it could be helpful, please contact us initially via email (help@tropicalpsychology.com). Just give us a (very) brief bio + reason for referral + funding stream. We'll then be in touch, probably in March, 2025 to begin making more specific plans. If the demand is greater than we are anticipating, we will consider offering multiple groups and then try to mix people up so that there are similar issues in any individual group.

We look forward to hearing from you!