3- Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia 1. Current situation Psychotherapeutic Professions

In Australia, psychotherapy is a practice rather than a profession. There is no legally sanctioned definition of psychotherapy and not necessarily a consensus among those who claim to practice psychotherapy as to what activities are and are not included within the rubric of psychotherapy. There is evidence of low public awareness of psychotherapy, and little research about public perceptions of the practice of psychotherapy. One study showed that the public preferred counsellors to psychologists or psychiatrists (Sharpley, Bond, & Agnew, 2004). There is evidence that psychotherapy (especially when practiced outside the most widely recognized professions) is not widely appreciated within the health system. In a major national mental health study, only 11 % of women with a diagnosable mental disorder and 1 % of women without a diagnosable disorder consulted a mental health professional other than a psychiatrist or psychologist (e.g. counsellors, social workers, welfare workers) in the previous year (McLennan, 1998). This is no doubt due to the very low rate of referrals made by general practitioners in Australia, which in turn is influenced by the lack of Medicare rebates available for counsellin