Finding Bilingual Mental Health Professsionals

• Finding bilingual mental health professionals
• Further reading

Sometimes your patient may feel more comfortable consulting a mental health clinician from a similar cultural and/or linguistic background as their own. This approach will not necessarily suit every patient, however, if you believe that your patient could benefit from seeing someone from a similar background the following organisations can help you find bilingual and bicultural mental health professionals. 

• Transcultural Mental Health Centre, Clinical Consultation and Assessment Service
  Our Clinical Consultation and Assessment Service provides short term clinical intervention using bilingual clinicians. If you are a mental health professionals from a NSW Health public mental health service, please contact us on 9912 3851 or Toll free 1800 648 941 to discuss making a referral.

Directories of mental health professionals

• Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW)
  The AASW Directory for Social Workers lists AASW Members who have elected to make their details available to the public. The Directory can be searched by language preference. 
• Australian Psychological Society (APS)
  The APS 'Find a Psychologist' database lists psychologists throughout Australia. Results can be filtered by client type, medicare status, secure messaging, NDIS, gender, appointment times, languages, APS Colleges and more.
• The Australian Register of Counsellors and Psychotherapists
  An independent, national register of qualified counsellors and psychotherapists.
• Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA)
  PACFA’s ‘Find a therapist’ directory lists therapists by location, languages spoken, whether they offer telehealth, type of therapy and the issues in which they specialise.
• Psychology Today Directory

  A directory of psychologists in NSW select Language from ‘More’.

• Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists
  'Find a Psychiatrist' is a directory of psychiatrists working in private practice in Australia. The directory can be searched by location, language, problem area and practice details. 
• WayAhead Directory
  Search for a mental health or community service by category or location

Other peak bodies of professional or ethnic groups as well as Migrant Resource Centres and religious organisations may also be able to assist you to locate appropriate service providers. Visit Specialist Services for Migrants and Refugees for more information. 

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Further Reading

Cabral, R. R., & Smith, T. B. (2011). Racial/ethnic matching of clients and therapists in mental health services: A meta-analytic review of preferences, perceptions, and outcomes. Journal of Counseling Psychology 58(4), 537–554.

Mollersen, S., et al. (2009). Effects of client and therapist ethnicity and ethnic matching: A prospective naturalistic study of outpatient mental health treatment in Northern Norway. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry 63(3): 246-255.

Sawrikar, P. (2013). A qualitative study on the pros and cons of ethnically matching culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) client families and child protection caseworkers. Children and Youth Services Review 35(2): 321-331.

Steinfeldt, J.A., Clay, S.L. & Priester, P.E. (2020) Prevalence and perceived importance of racial matching in the psychotherapeutic dyad: a national survey of addictions treatment clinical practices. Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy 15, 76

Ziguras, S., et al. (2003). Ethnic matching of clients and clinicians and use of mental health services by ethnic minority clients. Psychiatric Services 54(4): 535-541.

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