This is incredibly common — and you’re not alone. Many students minimise their own distress or feel guilty asking for help. If something has impacted your ability to study, it’s worth discussing.
A letter of support (sometimes called a practitioner certificate) is a supporting document that explains your exceptional circumstances:
Some universities may also require a specific form (for example a Health Professional Report) for special consideration applications depending on their practitioner requirements.
We can document the mental health and functional impact when you have been affected by exceptional circumstances such as:
We can provide evidence about functional impact of exceptional circumstances on your study, such as:
We can also document mental health impacts such as anxiety, depression, panic, trauma symptoms, or severe stress — and how these affected your study.
We can document the impact of exceptional circumstances on your mental health such as:
…and explain how these symptoms affected your study (for example concentration, sleep, attendance, assessment completion).
If your main issue is a physical illness, you will need evidence like a medical certificate from a doctor or medical clinic (for example a GP or hospital).
A letter of support/practitioner certificate will usually include:
Our letters of support/practitioner certificates are designed to be compliant with university policy and procedure requirements and verifiable.
Our document verification system lets universities confirm a letter is genuine and unaltered without revealing sensitive counselling details. Verification uses a unique code (e.g., IC‑1234‑ABCD) and runs server‑side (not in the browser) to reduce guessing and malformed requests. The result shows a clear status: Verified, Unverified, Revoked, or Expired. Only administrative metadata is shown for the purpose of document authenticity. This is limited to: the practitioner name, impacted dates, and session date. No notes, diagnoses, or therapeutic content are provided. Failed lookups are audit‑logged (timestamp, IP, masked code) to provide a defensible trail.
A FREE short PDF with 5 simple exercises any student can do when they’re overwhelmed (before class, after an email from the uni, before an assessment).
Appointments are available Monday to Friday, 9:00am–5:00pm
If you require after‑hours support, you’re welcome to submit a request through the contact form. Availability is limited, but requests are considered where possible.
We can bill plan-managed and self-managed NDIS participants for full fee counselling under NDIS Support Item 15_043_0128_1_3, within Capacity Building – Improved Daily Living (Registration Group 0128 – Therapeutic Supports).
Where pricing rules apply (including plan-managed), invoices follow the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits.
Your personal information held by us is governed by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Health Records Act 2001 (Victoria).
Information you disclose to your counsellor during a session is recorded as clinical session notes. These form part of the professional records that counsellors are required to keep. Session notes are kept confidential in accordance with the Australian Counselling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics and are not shared with third parties, except in the limited circumstances outlined below.
Confidentiality may be broken if:
In these situations, safety and legal obligations override confidentiality.
Yes. No one should miss out on support because of financial hardship.
While standard fees apply for most clients, we offer a limited number of reduced‑fee appointments for those experiencing significant financial difficulty. These are allocated based on need and availability. If a reduced fee would make counselling accessible for you, please reach out so we can discuss your situation.
Instant Counselling is a fully independent private practice.
However, if you choose to submit supporting documentation (e.g. special consideration) from us, then your university will be aware that you’ve accessed our services. This is always your decision.
The full Instant Counselling cancellation policy can be found under the Terms & Conditions.
Counselling can be highly effective, but like any health intervention, complex issues usually require time to see meaningful and lasting change.
A minimum of six sessions is recommended to properly assess whether counselling is right for you and to begin therapeutic work in a structured way. Some concerns resolve more quickly; others benefit from longer‑term support.
Please ensure you have:
You don’t need to prepare anything specific — just bring an open mind. We’ll take things at your pace.
Please note that we do not accept matters connected to Family Court/Family Law proceedings. We cannot provide counselling for Family Court purposes, write reports or letters, complete affidavits, communicate with lawyers about proceedings, or attend court.
Instant Counselling specialises in working with university students. Non‑students are welcome, but will not be eligible for the student discount.
