Enhancing the contribution of clinical psychology: an under-utilised workforce in public mental health services
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Updated: Nov 16, 2025

Using Visual and Narrative Methods to Achieve Fair Process in Clinical Care
Published on: February 16, 2011
Henry Jackson1, Caroline Hunt2, Carol Hulbert1
1University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Objective:
Clinical psychologists are practitioners with expertise in mental health, who apply advanced psychological theory and knowledge to their practice in order to assess and treat complex psychological disorders. Given their robust specialised mental health training, clinical psychology is an integral component of the Australian mental health workforce, but is under-utilised. Recent reviews have identified significant problems with Australia's mental health system, including unequal access to clinical psychology services and fragmentation of service delivery, including convoluted pathways to care.
Conclusions:
Clinical psychology is well placed to contribute meaningfully to public mental health services (PMHS). We describe what clinical psychologists currently contribute to team-based care in PMHS, how we could further contribute and the barriers to making more extensive contributions. We identify significant historical and organisational factors that have limited the contribution made by clinical psychologists and provide suggestions for cultural change to PMHS.
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