Affordable Counselling & Mental Health Supports

Rough Patch offers counselling, referrals, and other support in Sydney’s Inner West

About Rough Patch

Our unique model means experienced, professional counsellors reduce their usual fees to provide clients with counselling and support.

In turn, Rough Patch provides room hire at a significantly lower rate than other clinics, subsidised by sales from our shop, revenue from training, and through donations and grants.

Counsellors can then charge their clients less, making counselling more accessible.

Help us by donating & sharing!

Rough Patch is a grassroots social enterprise dedicated to making counselling services more accessible and affordable for people who can’t afford the usual fees of private mental healthcare.

This year, we aim to raise $10,000 so we can keep our doors open, our counselling fees low, and grow our service.

Counsellor - Supported Private Practice

We are currently seeking counsellors to join other private practitioners in our Community of Practice.

To join our community of practice, you must hold an undergraduate-level degree in counselling, psychology or social work, be registered with a professional association (eg; PACFA, ACA, APA, APS, AASW), hold a current Working with Children Check, hold your own professional indemnity and public liability insurance, manage your own accounting and clinical record keeping, and agree to work within our community of practice guidelines, including attending monthly practitioner meetings.

Our counsellors strive to be inclusive, non-pathologising, anti-racist, anti-ableist, weight-neutral and anti-diet, anti-homophobic, queer-friendly, and anti-misogynist, and actively seek to further their education about these issues on an ongoing basis.

A GUIDE TO ROUGH PATCH SLIDING SCALE FEES

This guide is to help you decide your fee for counselling at Rough Patch. Each person’s situation is unique, so this is a guide only. Your counsellor will discuss fees with you during your first session.

Together, you decide the appropriate fee for your sessions based on your circumstances.

You may fit at the lower end of the scale if...

You frequently experiences barriers to paying for daily living costs, such as housing, food, healthcare, school or higher education, childcare, clothing and transportation
You have high daily living costs due to family responsibilities or single income family
You have casual or insecure employment, or no capacity to generate income
You qualify for Centrelink assistance such as JobSeeker, Aged Care Pension, Austudy

You may fit at the higher end of the scale if...

You live in a multiple-income household or have living arrangements which share financial burden
You have few or no dependents
You can consistently manage daily living costs
You have consistent income
You have little or no debt
You want to support the ongoing financial viability of Rough Patch

We saved our clients

estimated total in fees with our reduced-fee counselling service in the past year alone.

$ 0

We provided

reduced-fee counselling sessions in the past year alone.

At Rough Patch

our fees are reduced by up to 70% of the market rate.

0 %

Our Mission

Is to make it easier and more affordable for everyone to access mental health supports and resources.

Our experienced, professional counsellors reduce their usual fees to provide clients with the counselling and support they need. In turn, Rough Patch provides room hire at a significantly lower rate than other clinics. This means counsellors can charge their clients less, making counselling more affordable.

How to Support Us

Meet Our Counsellors

Our Mental
Health Store

A unique and important part of the Rough Patch model is a shop which stocks a curated selection of books, mental health resources, self-care items, homewares and other products which support better mental health.

Make a donation

Help us build better mental health in our community.

Rough Patch is a social enterprise, which means we receive no government funding. We run on the power of volunteers and all revenue from sales and donations are reinvested in the organisation to continue offering reduced-cost counselling and mental health supports to our community.