Binge Eating Therapy Psychologists by telehealth, Australia wide

No. You can book your first session today without a referral. A referral only matters if you want a Medicare rebate, which needs a Mental Health Care Plan or an Eating Disorder Plan from your GP. If you already have one, email it to admin@biteintofreedom.com.au and we do the processing. If not, your psychologist can tell you which plan fits and what to ask your GP for.

We are accepting new clients. Live availability is shown on the booking page, so you can choose a time now rather than wait for a call back. If nothing on the calendar suits, speak with our teamcall 03 9001 9100 and we will look at what is opening up across the team.

Your first session is 50 minutes by video. Your psychologist asks what tends to happen before and after an episode and what you want to be different, then explains how they would work with you. There is no weighing and no diet talk. Before it, you complete an online intake form that is sent to your email automatically after booking, and your psychologist sends a telehealth link the day before or the morning of your session.

Yes. Eliza Hartley (clinical psychologist) and Felicity Staedler (psychologist) see all ages, including children and teens, so please book under 16s with one of them. Jared, Ted, Deborah and Louise see clients aged 16 and over. Our dietitians Samantha Wright, Sarah Why and Gabriela Salant also see all ages, with carer and family support, so please book a dietitian for under 18s with one of them.

If you live in Australia, yes. Our psychologists see clients by video, so you can work with a binge eating psychologist from home, whether you are in Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra, Hobart, Darwin or a regional town. Medicare rebates apply to telehealth sessions the same way they do in person.

A 50 minute session with a registered psychologist is $260, with a Medicare rebate of $101.55 and an out of pocket cost of $158.45. A 50 minute session with a clinical psychologist is $310, with a rebate of $149.05 and an out of pocket cost of $160.95.

A Mental Health Care Plan covers up to 10 rebated sessions per calendar year. An Eating Disorder Plan covers up to 40 rebated psychology sessions in a 12 month period. Payment is taken from your stored card after the session, and your rebate is usually in your bank account within 1 to 3 business days. We do not bulk bill.

Yes. Binge eating disorder is one of the conditions an Eating Disorder Treatment and Management Plan covers, if your GP assesses that you meet the Medicare criteria. It allows up to 40 rebated psychology sessions and up to 20 dietitian sessions in 12 months. If you are not eligible, a Mental Health Care Plan covers up to 10 psychology sessions per calendar year.

Some private health funds cover psychology under extras, and we give you an itemised receipt. You cannot claim Medicare and private health for the same session. If your NDIS plan is self managed or plan managed and includes psychology funding, you can use it here: check with your plan manager first, then book an NDIS psychology session.

Therapy works on what sits underneath the episodes: the triggers, the shame that follows a binge and keeps the cycle going, any anxiety or low mood, and the all or nothing thinking that turns one slip into a whole night. You build emotion regulation and urge management skills that hold up in the moment. None of it involves dieting, food rules or weight loss goals.

Yes. CBT-E, the enhanced form of cognitive behavioural therapy developed for eating disorders, is a first line, evidence based treatment for binge eating disorder. Where it fits, our psychologists also draw on DBT skills for emotion regulation and ACT. If general CBT has not shifted the bingeing before, CBT-E is a different protocol, built around what keeps an eating disorder going.

Therapist and counsellor are general terms that anyone can use. A psychologist is an AHPRA registered health professional with at least six years of training. When you see a binge eating therapist at Bite Into Freedom, you are seeing a registered or clinical psychologist who provides binge eating counselling and therapy by video, and sessions attract the Medicare rebates shown on this page.

No. Our care is weight neutral. Dieting and restriction are some of the strongest drivers of bingeing, so a weight loss goal would work against treatment. The focus is fewer episodes, less time lost to food thoughts and a more settled relationship with eating.

Yes. Bingeing at night is common, and it is usually a mix of the day's stress landing, unmet needs and not eating enough earlier on. Your psychologist helps you work out what drives your evenings, then builds coping strategies that start before the urges do.

Emotional eating is using food to manage a feeling, which most people do sometimes. Compulsive overeating describes eating that feels driven and hard to stop. When episodes are regular, involve a loss of control and are followed by shame or distress, that can match binge eating disorder. You do not need to work out which one it is before booking, or have a diagnosis to be seen.

It can. ADHD and binge eating often go together, through impulsivity, irregular meals and using food to regulate. Our psychologists take a neurodiversity affirming approach and adapt therapy for ADHD and autism, from session structure to the strategies you practise.

Both can help, and treatment guidelines recommend a team for most eating disorders. The psychologist treats the emotional drivers and thinking patterns. The dietitian helps you step out of the restrict and binge cycle with regular eating. If you are unsure where to start, book either one. Your clinician can advise whether adding the other would help, and our eating disorder dietitians work under the same practice.

Yes. Research shows telehealth psychology for eating disorders performs comparably to in person care, and Medicare rebates apply to video sessions the same way. Being at home often makes the hard parts easier to say, and the skills get practised where the episodes actually happen.

Our psychologists provide outpatient treatment by telehealth. If you need more support than regular sessions, such as a day program or hospital care, your psychologist will work with you and your GP to find the right level of care.

We are not a crisis service and cannot respond urgently. In an emergency call 000. For support right now, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or the Butterfly National Helpline on 1800 33 4673.