Psychologists in Canberra have seen a surge in new people seeking appointments in the aftermath of coronavirus, leading to ballooning waiting lists across the city.
At some Canberra clinics, demand from new clients has almost tripled due to rising levels of stress, anxiety and depression in the community due to the combined effect of the summer's bushfire crisis and COVID-19.
In some instances, the waiting for new clients to get an initial appointment is several months, compared to targets of two to three weeks.
Client services manager at the Canberra Psychology Centre for Children and Familes, Susie Minto, handles new bookings for the centre's two clinics in Acton and Charnwood.
She said the demand increase was due to people feeling more anxious and unsettled due to the after-effects of COVID.
"Demand has been going up all the way this year and it hasn't slowed down," Ms Minto said.
"It peaked during the bushfires and it's gone up."
While the peak of coronavirus in the ACT occurred earlier in the year, Ms Minto said the surge in requests for psychological support had been coming through in more recent months.
"I wouldn't say there was a late reaction, but there is not enough support in Canberra centres or enough psychologists to provide help," she said.
"More support from the government is needed, there is not enough help for people when it comes to it."
Principal psychologist at Northside Psychology Holly Kirwan has also noticed a similar trend.
She said even with 15 psychologists at the clinic, they were finding it difficult to keep up with the number of new referrals.
"We need to consider that some people have a delayed response and people can often hold it together during a crisis, and when they're in a safer environment, they fall apart," she said.
"We are finding it hard to keep up with demand and that will continue to grow."
At the Northside clinics alone, levels of new patients coming through between June and November this year was double that of the same period last year.
It was even higher between January and June this year, where the rate was three times higher than 2019 levels.
Despite the rise in people seeking psychological support in the wake of the pandemic, Ms Kirwan said it was reassuring that more people knew they needed to reach out for professional support.
"I think there has been an enormous shift in the last few years and it is getting so normalised," she said.
"It is a really good shift that people are seeking out and accessing support and reaching out."
Tegan Carrison, the executive director of the Australian Association of Psychologists, said many psychologists were closing their books to new clients due to the increase.
"At the start of COVID, people were in crisis mode and now that huge initial crisis has eased, we're now seeing a lot of issues starting to emerge, and people are thankfully seeking help," she said.
"It has been a really challenging year and we're seeing a natural response to these huge challenges."
Shortages in the number of psychologists in the ACT may be among the factors contributing to the lengthening wait lists for new patients, but more than a dozen new psychologists are set to join the ACT workforce in coming months, thanks to a new partnership with the Australian National University.
The partnership between Canberra Health Services and the university will see students in the final year of their study for a Masters of Professional Psychology carry out a one year on the job internship under the supervision of senior psychologists.
The program has been in development since 2017.
This year, 13 students from the program will graduate but that figure will reach between 25 and 30 within the next two years.
Clinical psychologist Connie Galati said it was important to increase the number of psychologists who practice in the ACT.
"There was a real risk that without a local provider for on-the-job training, we would lose psychologists because they would go interstate to complete that requirement," she said.
"With the new program we'll be close to doubling the psychology workforce in a given year."
