Counselling  

Overview

We offer individual counselling to anyone struggling with their sexuality and relationships. We extend Jesus Christ’s unconditional love and share the hope and freedom we have found, with you.

We've Walked The Same Path

All of our counsellors have journeyed in this area personally so they have a greater awareness of the emotions and challenges you face.

This is important to know as one of the first things you're likely to ask your counsellor is, "What's your background?"

This means you can feel confident that what they share with you is not theoretical, but coming from a place of experience, reality and truth.

Privacy

We understand your privacy is of paramount importance to you and under no circumstances do we reveal your details, contact method or personal situation to anyone.

You may have carried secrets for decades without ever revealing your struggles.  Exposing this could be disastrous to your relationships, employment, professional life, congregration, staff or otherwise.

To help maintain your privacy and confidentiality, we have put the following measures in place for your protection:

• All our counsellors are professionally trained and accredited

It is mandatory for all counsellors working with Liberty Inc to be degree qualified and be a member of the Christian Counsellors Association of Australia. The Christian Counsellors Association of Australia maintains minimum standards of ethical practice including privacy and confidentiality.

• Variety of locations to meet

If you’re concerned about being seen, we offer a variety of locations for you to choose from. Alternatively, telephone of Skype consultations provide the highest level of privacy for you.

• Variety of payment methods 

If you are concerned with your partner, spouse, staff or colleagues becoming aware of your link with Liberty Inc, we offer a variety of payment methods such as cash and PayPal to avoid linking you back to Liberty Inc.

The Process

If you're new to counselling with us, the general process is:

Counsellors - General

So that you can receive the best counselling possible, there is a strict criteria for all our counsellors. They must have these professional qualifications:

• Degree qualified
• Member of the Christian Counsellors Association of Australia

To ensure ongoing accountability, all counsellors themselves have a supervisor they report to on a monthly basis.

If you’re a Christian, you’ll be pleased to know all our counsellors are:

• Born-again Christians
• Ongoing members of a local church
• Required to provide ongoing evidence of a continuing and increasing intimate relationship with God

Counsellors - Paul Wegner

Background

Paul has specialised in the area of sexual and relational brokeness for 10 years and is currently the CEO of Liberty Inc. Paul is happily married with two children and holds a Bachelar of Social Science and is a clinical member of the Christian Counsellors Association of Australia.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Social Science (Counselling) - Christian Heritage College Brisbane
• Cert IV Assessment in Workplace Training

 Other specialised areas include

• Men’s issues
• Same sex attraction
• Grief and loss
• Supervision

Memberships

• Clinical Member of the Christian Counsellors Association of Australia
• Registered Member of PACFA (Psychotherapy & Counselling Federation of Australia)
• Commission for Children & Young People (registration 22705/4

Counselling Times

• Monday to Wednesday: 9:30am to 6:00pm (excluding Australian public holidays)
• Thursday to Sunday: Closed

All consultations are by appointment only for either 30 or 60minutes.

Telephone appointments are limited to 30 minutes.  This is due to most counsellors and clients finding it difficult to concentrate for longer periods of time.

Face-to-face consultations are limited to 60 minutes.

Consultation Frequency

It is very rare that more than one consultation per week is needed and only in specific circumstances would this be recommended.

For most people, a weekly consultation is adequate and as progress is made, this is reduced to a fortnightly or monthly consultation.

Consultation Length

It is important that you do not become dependent on your counsellor.  The objective therefore is always to provide support but not create a co-dependency situation.

The amount of time that you would see a counsellor in an on-going basis varies greatly and can be a couple of months to in excess of 12 months.  This is something that you would discuss with your counsellor and is taken on the uniqueness of your situation.  It is never an overnight process.

Locations

For one-on-one counselling, we have a minimum of two separate locations we can physically meet you at, depending on where you live and your circumstances.

Locations are not published on this web site or any printed material. This is to retain privacy and confidentiality for all clients who visit us.

Pricing

Note: Whilst we request fees for counselling, we recognise that Liberty Inc is a ministerial organisation and in cases of genuine financial difficulty, no one will be denied help.

Telephone

1 x 30 minute session - $40.00

Over the years, we've found that 30 minutes is the optimum time for telephone counselling sessions. Telephone calls require a higher level of concentration due to being only auditory. Limiting sessions to 30 minutes will prevent yourself and your counsellor becoming fatigued.

Skype

30 minute sessions - $40.00

Face-to-face (Single consultation)

Standard, 60 minute sessions - $70.00
Student, 60 minute sessions - $40.00

We also offer a discount on Standard sessions if you pay and book three (3) sessions in advance.  Instead of the normal $210.00, it drops to $180.00.

For payment options, please review the Payment Options section.

Scheduled Times

Please be punctual to all appointments.

If you have a telephone counselling session, we request that you phone us at the arranged time. The number to call will be provided by your counsellor beforehand.

Payment Options

We accept the following forms of payment for counselling:

1. Cash (face-to-face appointments only) 

You can pay cash direct to your counsellor during your face-to-face consultation.

Please note that our counsellors do not carry cash and may not be able to provide change. To avoid disappointment, please bring along the correct amount of funds.

(We do prefer electronic payment methods if at all possible.)

1. Cheque 

Please make cheques payable to ‘Liberty Inc’ from an Australian financial institution.

1. Direct bank deposits 

For direct bank deposits, please transfer funds to:

Bank: Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Account name: Liberty Inc
Account number: 00910746
Account BSB: 064 121

When transferring funds, please use your name in the description of the transfer so our accounts team can identify the funds as having come from you.

1. Credit Card 

We accept Mastercard, Visa and Bankcard.

Note: This option is coming soon, available early 2011.

1. Pay Pal 

We accept payment from Pay Pal.

Note: This option is coming soon, available early 2011.

Cancellations

We require at least 24 hours notice for any cancellations.
If you email or leave a telephone message with us, please do not consider it cancelled unless you have received acknowledgement of your message.

Cancelling or rescheduling at the last moment does mean that someone else has missed out on that appointment time due to short notice.

Schedule a Counselling Session Now

If you'd like to book a counselling session right now, please either:

1. Call  (07) 3390 4250 from Australia
   OR
   Call +61 7 3390 4250 if calling from outside Australia.  (Note: We use http://www.timeanddate.com for calculating time zone differences.)
   
2. Email us at counselling@libertyinc.org.au and suggest a few suitable times and we'll get back to you. 

(Note: For your convenience, an online booking system will be available early 2011.)