body belonging clinic

Psychological injury on a WorkCover WA claim? Treatment should not wait.

Psychological treatment for workers compensation claims, by telehealth anywhere in Western Australia. The worker hears from me within one working day of referral, is offered a first appointment within five, and pays nothing.

Make a referral → Call 0493 117 185
If you were hurt at work

You can choose who treats you.

WorkCover WA’s guidance to workers is plain: you have the right to be treated by a doctor or allied health provider of your choice. Tell your doctor or your claims manager you would like to see Lauren Lynch at Body Belonging Clinic. Or send the form below yourself, with your claim number, and I will take it from there.

Treatment is paid by the insurer against your claim. You are not invoiced and there is no gap. If your claim has not been decided yet, I work with the insurer so treatment can start while they decide, rather than asking you to fund it.

Sessions are by video, from wherever you are. No drive to Perth, no day off to get here, no waiting room.

If you manage the claim

Nothing to set up at your end.

Accreditation with the Australian Association of Social Workers is the provider eligibility requirement for mental health social work under regulation 32 of the Workers Compensation and Injury Management Regulations 2024. Schedule 6 of the current Health Services Fees Order carries the fee. There is no panel to check and no registration to wait for.

The same scheduled hourly rate as a generally registered psychologist, and materially below the clinical and counselling psychology schedules for the same hour. Accounts come to you against the claim number, and the worker is never charged a gap.

Three numbers. I hold to all three.

  • One working day. The worker gets a call from me within one working day of the referral arriving.
  • Five working days. A first appointment is offered within five working days, wherever in the State the worker lives.
  • Five working days. A report comes back within five working days of your request, written to the Schedule 6 specification and copied to the treating doctor.

That is the commitment, not a busy period caveat. If I cannot meet it on a given referral, you hear it the day the referral arrives, not a fortnight later.

Referral in. First appointment offered inside a working week.

01

The referral arrives

By the form on this page, by email, by phone, or as a letter from the worker’s doctor. A name, a phone number and a claim number is enough to start.

02

I call the worker

Within one working day. If they have not yet heard about the referral, I explain who I am and why I am calling, and nothing goes further without their agreement.

03

First session offered

Within five working days, by video. The same day, I confirm the referral with the claims manager and agree the reporting schedule.

04

Treatment, measured

Measures at baseline and every review. Reports within five working days of request. The next block requested before the current one runs out.

Distance should not be the reason treatment is late.

A worker injured in Karratha, Esperance or Derby usually waits, not because the entitlement is unclear, but because there is nobody local. By telehealth that stops being the reason. The Pilbara, the Kimberley, the Goldfields, the Mid West, the South West and the Great Southern are all on the same five working day offer as Perth.

Who I work with

The workers hardest to place well.

Fifteen years of clinical practice, with neurodivergent workers, LGBTQIA+ workers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers, and workers in regional and remote WA. I am a Yorta Yorta and Boonwurrung woman, so cultural safety is something I practise rather than describe.

What I treat

Psychological injury from work, or made worse by it.

PTSD and trauma after an incident at work. Anxiety and panic. Depression. Adjustment after an injury, an investigation or a performance process. Psychological injury after a physical injury, including distress that comes with pain. Sleep. Anger where it is threatening the return to work. Eating and body distress where a physical injury or a long claim has disturbed eating.

How I work

Matched to the presentation and the guidelines.

For PTSD, trauma focused cognitive behavioural work, including cognitive processing therapy. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy skills for the adjustment, distress tolerance and values work a return to work runs on. Goals aimed at function, in line with the Clinical Framework for the Delivery of Health Services that WorkCover WA endorses.

How change is measured

At baseline and at every review.

The PCL-5 where trauma is in the picture, because general distress scales do not measure it. DASS-21, K10 or PHQ-9 where they fit. A function measure alongside the symptom one, because symptom change alone does not tell you whether someone can go back to work.

What referrers can count on.

Claims managers, injury management coordinators, workplace rehabilitation consultants and GPs.

Reporting agreed at referral

Schedule 6 allows three reports per claim before insurer approval. I set the schedule with you at the start and ask before going past it. From 1 November a Treatment Management Plan is required where a worker is likely to need more than five consultations, and I send one as soon as a claim looks like running that long.

Case conferences

I attend them. And I write to the rehabilitation plan’s goals rather than around them, so what you get from me is usable in your own reporting without translating it.

Deferred claims

A deferred claim does not have to be a waiting claim. Provisional payments cover medical and health expenses, up to a set limit, where a deferred decision notice was given and no decision has been made by day 28, and treatment before acceptance is payable once a claim is accepted. So I start inside the window and ask you to confirm in writing.

No stalls between approvals

I ask for the next block before the current one runs out. If a worker misses two appointments in a row, you hear from me. That is usually the earliest signal something has changed.

What I will not do

I do not issue certificates of capacity; those sit with the treating medical practitioner and I refer the request straight back. I do not conduct independent medical examinations or permanent impairment assessments, and I do not take a treating role and an assessment role on the same worker.

Credentials you can check

Lauren Lynch, Accredited Mental Health Social Worker, AASW accreditation no. 461419. ANZAED Credentialed Eating Disorder Clinician. Professional indemnity and public liability current. NDIS Worker Screening cleared. ABN 76 208 028 254.

Four ways in. Pick the easiest.

Send the short form below. Email referrals@bodybelongingclinic.com.au with the worker’s name, phone number, claim number and your contact details. Call 0493 117 185. Or download the full referral form and send it back by email. A letter from the worker’s doctor with the claim number and the claims manager’s email is enough on its own.

Referral form, fillable PDF → Capability statement, one page →

Who is making the referral? *
The worker and the claim

For example, the best time to call, whether an interpreter is needed, or whether a text first would be easier. Please leave clinical detail out of this form. I gather what I need securely once we are in touch.

How this information is handled

This form carries contact and claim details only, sent over a secure connection and read only by the clinic. Clinical information is gathered after first contact through our secure practice system, in line with the Australian Privacy Principles and our Privacy policy. Referrals are read on working days. If a referral is urgent, call 0493 117 185.

The rest of it.

Can I choose who treats me?

Yes. WorkCover WA’s guidance to workers is that you have the right to be treated by a doctor or allied health provider of your choice. Tell your claims manager you would like to see Lauren Lynch at Body Belonging Clinic, or send the referral form on this page yourself.

Do I need a referral from my doctor first?

You do not have to wait for one. You can send the form yourself with your claim number, and a short letter from your doctor with the claim number and the claims manager’s email is also enough on its own. It helps to let your doctor know either way, because your certificate of capacity comes from them and I copy them on every report.

Is a mental health social worker the same as a psychologist?

No. They are different professions, and both are funded under the WA scheme. An Accredited Mental Health Social Worker is a social worker assessed by the Australian Association of Social Workers as qualified for mental health practice, including psychological treatment. Mental health social work has its own schedule in the Health Services Fees Order, at the same scheduled hourly rate as a generally registered psychologist.

Is telehealth covered under WorkCover WA?

Yes. WorkCover WA’s published guidance is that telehealth consultations use the same service codes and the same fees as consultations generally, where direct contact and examination is not essential. Psychological treatment is a talking therapy, so it usually meets that test.

What happens after a referral arrives?

I call the worker within one working day and offer a first appointment within five. I confirm with the claims manager that the referral is received, agree the reporting schedule, and ask for approval of the first block of sessions. Accounts go to the insurer against the claim number.

Does the worker pay anything?

No. Treatment is billed at the scheduled fee to the insurer or self insurer, so there is no gap. A missed appointment is not billed to the claim, and I do not invoice the worker for one.

What if liability has been deferred?

Send the referral anyway. If the insurer gives a deferred decision notice within 14 days of receiving the claim and has not decided liability within 28 days, provisional payments of medical and health expenses apply from the day of injury, up to a set limit, and they are not recoverable from the worker unless there was fraud. If the claim is accepted, treatment given before acceptance is payable as well. I ask the claims manager to confirm this in writing so treatment can start inside the window.

Is mental health social work funded under the WA scheme?

Yes. Mental health social work is a compensable health service under regulation 32 of the Workers Compensation and Injury Management Regulations 2024, with its own schedule in the Health Services Fees Order. Accreditation with the Australian Association of Social Workers is the eligibility requirement. There is no panel or registration to join.

Can you see workers outside Perth?

Yes, anywhere in Western Australia, by video. Karratha, Port Hedland, Newman, Broome, Kununurra, Geraldton, Carnarvon, Kalgoorlie, Esperance, Albany, Bunbury, Busselton and Northam are all on the same five working day offer as Perth.

Do you write certificates of capacity?

No. Those stay with the treating medical practitioner. If a claims manager asks me for one, I refer the request back to the doctor and let the claims manager know I have.

Make a referral → Email referrals@bodybelongingclinic.com.au

This is not a crisis service.

Referrals are read on working days and are not monitored at all times. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 000. For 24/7 crisis support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can contact 13YARN on 13 92 76.

Make a referral →