How Much Does Therapy Cost in Adelaide in 2026?

Australia is unusual in that the two numbers that decide your cost are both published. Medicare's rebate for a psychology session under Better Access is $149.05 with a clinical psychologist and $101.55 with a registered psychologist, updated 1 July 2026. The profession's own body suggests a fee of $330, while stating plainly that this is "a suggestion only" and that "the fee at which a service is set is at the discretion of the individual psychologist". Charged at the suggested fee, your gap is $180.95 or $228.45 a session, depending on which kind of psychologist you see. The Adelaide practices that publish their fees all charge below that suggestion, so a realistic gap here is $80 to $160.

These are guiding estimates. Therapists set their own fees.

What Adelaide practices actually charge. Adelaide practices that publish their fees list roughly $210 to $310 for a fifty-minute session: about $210 to $260 with a registered psychologist and about $225 to $310 with a clinical psychologist. Every published Adelaide fee we could find sits below the suggested $330, which is worth knowing before you assume the gap above is what you will pay. Below that band sit a university clinic, free government centres, and headspace if you are young.

The arithmetic, done properly

	Clinical psychologist	Registered psychologist
MBS item	80010	80110
Schedule fee	$175.30	$119.45
Medicare benefit (85%)	$149.05	$101.55
APS suggested fee	$330	$330
Your gap at that fee	$180.95	$228.45

The $47.50 worth asking about

A clinical psychologist attracts a rebate $47.50 higher per session than a registered psychologist, for the same fifty minutes, turning entirely on whether the practitioner holds a clinical endorsement. Across the ten sessions Medicare allows in a calendar year, that is $475. It is a fair question to ask when you book, and it is not a question about quality; a registered psychologist may be exactly the right person for you.

How to get the rebate at all

• You need a referral from a GP, who prepares a Mental Health Treatment Plan.
• Medicare covers up to 10 individual and 10 group sessions per calendar year.
• The session must run at least 50 minutes for these item numbers.
• At the end of a course of treatment your GP reviews whether more is needed.

If you cannot pay the gap

The Adelaide University Psychology Clinic

Adelaide University's Psychology Clinic at the Magill campus "provides high-quality, affordable psychological services to the general community", seeing children, adolescents and adults. "Psychological therapy is provided by provisional psychologists (postgraduate psychology students) under the supervision of fully qualified psychologists." The clinic publishes its current fee schedule through Adelaide University Health Clinics rather than on this page, so check there or ask when you book.

Medicare Mental Health Centres: free, walk in

These are Australian Government centres, and their own description is unambiguous: "The service is free and no referral or appointment is needed. Walk in and talk with us today." They are staffed by "qualified professionals and people with lived experience of mental ill health". And if you are here on a student, work or temporary visa: "You don't need to be an Australian citizen to access support." They are not a crisis service; for urgent help call 000.

headspace: if you are 12 to 25

headspace supports young people aged 12 to 25 experiencing or at risk of mild to moderate mental ill health. It is government funded, with centres across Australia. Costs vary by centre and generally there is no charge with a Medicare card, but check with your local centre rather than assuming.

Who is who, and why it changes the price

• Psychiatrist: a medical doctor, regulated by the Medical Board of Australia under AHPRA. Can prescribe.
• Psychologist: registered with the Psychology Board of Australia under AHPRA. The clinical endorsement drives the higher rebate.
• Counsellor and psychotherapist: self-regulated, no mandatory government registration, though many belong to PACFA or the Australian Counselling Association. Generally no Medicare rebate.
• Accredited mental health social worker: can deliver Medicare-rebated sessions under Better Access.

If you need someone now

• Lifeline: 13 11 14
• Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467
• Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636
• Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800

Sources

• Medicare Benefits Schedule, Item 80010 and Item 80110: schedule fees and benefits, current at 1 July 2026.
• Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Better Access initiative: the ten-session annual limit.
• Australian Psychological Society, what it costs: the 2026–2027 suggested fee and the discretion statement.
• Medicare Mental Health, Medicare Mental Health Centres: free access, no referral, the citizenship statement.
• Adelaide University, Psychology Clinic: the community-access and supervision statements, read at source.

Reviewed August 2026. Medicare figures are from the MBS item pages and were current at 1 July 2026. The suggested fee is the APS's own published figure. Clinic fees are from each institution's own published schedule, read at source; where no schedule is published we say so rather than estimate. The Adelaide range comes from fees published by Adelaide practices on their own websites, read 26 August 2026. We do not publish city price lists we cannot trace to sources that charge them.