Mental health services in Australia

In 2017, an estimated 26,311psychologists with full registration were working in Australia. The NHWDS workforce survey response rate for provisionally registered psychologists was too low for the data to be included in the NHWDS and are therefore excluded from the analysis presented below. According to figures from the Psychology Board of Australia, there were an additional 4,564 provisionally registered psychologists in Australia in 2017 (Psychology Board of Australia 2018).

State and territory

At a national level, there were 91.1 FTE psychologists per 100,000 population working in Australia in 2017. Rates ranged from 67.3 FTE psychologists per 100,000 population in South Australia to 159.7 in the Australian Capital Territory (Figure WK.10). In terms of time spent working as a clinician, this corresponds to 66.5 clinical FTE psychologists per 100,000 population employed in Australia, ranging from 47.6 in the Northern Territory to 109.1 in the Australian Capital Territory.

Description of figure WK.10 - Source data: Mental health workforce tables (1.4MB XLS)

Remoteness area

Over 8 in 10 FTE psychologists (83.0%) were employed in Major cities in 2017 (71.8% of the population lived in Major cities in 2017). There were 105.3 FTE psychologists per 100,000 population working in Major cities, 61.4 in Inner regional, 46.2 in Outer regional, 35.4 in Remote and 27.3 in Very remote areas (Figure WK.11).

Description of figure WK.11 - Source data: Mental health workforce tables (1.4MB XLS)

Hours worked per week

Psychologists reported working an average of 32.4 total hours per week in 2017, with an average of 23.6 clinical hours. Average total hours ranged from 31.6 hours per week for psychologists working in Victoria to 36.7 in the Northern Territory (Figure WK.12). The average clinical hours ranged from 22.7 hours for Victorian psychologists to 26.1 hours for Tasmanian psychologists. Male psychologists worked on average more total and clinical hours than female psychologists (males 35.8 total and 25.2 clinical hours; females 31.5 total and 23.2 clinical hours).

Description of figure WK.12 - Source data: Mental health workforce tables (1.4MB XLS)

Over time

Nationally, there has been an increase in the supply of psychologists from 2013 to 2017, from 86.2 to 91.1 FTE per 100,000 population. The proportion of female psychologists has also increased incrementally over this period; from 77.1% in 2013 to 78.9% in 2017.

The average total hours worked per week by psychologists has remained comparatively stable at around 33 hours per week from 2013 to 2017. Since 2013, the average total hours worked per week by male psychologists has reduced slightly but remains higher than that of females (around 36 hours compared to around 32 hours per week).

Characteristics

Half of all psychologists were aged 45 and over (50.7%) in 2017, with more than one-quarter (27.8%) aged 55 and over (Figure WK.13).

Description of figure WK.13 - Source data: Mental health workforce tables (1.4MB XLS)

Work characteristics

The majority (88.0%) of FTE psychologists reported their principal role at work to be clinician, followed by administrator (4.3%) and researcher (3.6%). The main area of practice (principal area of main job) nominated by about 2 in 5 (39.5%) FTE psychologists was counselling, followed by mental health intervention (27.8%) and neuropsychological/cognitive assessment (4.7%). The most common work setting was solo private practice (21.1%), followed by group private practice (16.7%) and schools (10.5%).

It should be noted that the principal area nominated by a psychologist does not imply that they hold area of practice endorsement. To be eligible to apply for an area of practice endorsement and use the associated title, a psychologist must have advanced training (an accredited qualification in the area of practice followed by a period of supervised practice) in addition to the requirements for general registration (Psychology Board of Australia 2011). In 2017, over one-third (38.0%) of psychologists held an area of practice endorsement. The most commonly held endorsement was as a Clinical Psychologist, held by about 1 in 4 (28.4%) of all psychologists (endorsed and non-endorsed), followed by Counselling Psychologist (3.3%) (Psychology Board of Australia 2018).