The Psychology department can accept referrals from referrers and agencies internal and external to The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) for clinical psychology and neuropsychology services.  The client being referred must meet the referral criteria listed below. The Psychology department does not offer services to children or adolescents who are not patients of the RCH. 

Referral criteria

Clinical psychology referral criteria

Clinical psychology provides psychological assessment and treatment to patients of the RCH.  In order to be eligible for our service, the young person must:

1. Be a regular patient of the RCH, seen at least every six months.
2. Be experiencing psychological distress as
   a) a consequence of their medical condition
   b) that is interfering with the treatment of their medical condition
   c) as a parent who is struggling to adjust to and/or manage their child’s medical condition
3. Not primarily presenting with acute mental health/risk issues to either self or others requiring urgent treatment or case management.

If you would like to discuss a possible Clinical Psychology Service referral, please contact Dr Tara-Jane Clark, Clinical Psychology Team Leader on Telephone +61 3 9345 5881 or email your enquiry to Psychology.dept@rch.org.au 

Neuropsychology referral criteria

Neuropsychology accepts referrals for children who are current patients of the RCH, and who have complex medical issues with the potential to impact on brain function and/or brain development.

If you would like to discuss a possible referral to the Clinical Neuropsychology Service, please contact Jacquie Wrennall, Deputy Director of Psychology - Neuropsychology, on Telephone +61 3 9345 5373 or email your enquiry to Psychology.dept@rch.org.au 

Referrals from RCH clinicians

To make a referral to Psychology for an RCH patient, please place an outpatient order in EPIC under "PSYCHOLOGY and NEUROPSYCHOLOGY".

Referrals from an external provider to the RCH

Please refer to the referring information page for all information regarding external providers making a referral to the RCH.