Melbourne

Yeah, psychiatrist is for meds, psychologist better for general listening. Check with Bupa anyway, I was last with them mid 2021 and they might have changed their policies by now.

250 per before rebates is not unusual but still on the higher side and generally for when you need a really good psych or somewhat more specialised support. I have seen psychs for 180/hr or so before rebate (again, that was a couple years ago), they can still be pretty good if you just need to start off and get things off your chest.

Alternatively look into counselors, they are not medicare or private health claimable but can also be very good at that initial level when you need to talk through stuff and need a third party sounding board. Psychologists at the higher end are not always good for that and some may even recommend you try elsewhere.

I have seen both this year, spent an absolute fortune on psychologists because of a LOT that I won't go into. Easily over 1.5k out of pocket through the MHCP 10 sessions + allied heath 5 sessions and probably 3.5k more fully out of pocket for further sessions. It was a big financial hit, but I really needed it.

the silver lining for me is because I'm now on medicare, eventually I got a lot more rebated off medicare for the rest of the year, sadly no for psychology (because I'd used up all the sessions), but massively for psychiatry ($400+ session down to $50 out of pocket, $96 gp visit down to $12 out of pocket). Next year I hope I won't need nearly as many services now that a lot of things have been resolved

edit: edited to add, GOOD LUCK FRIEND I really hope you can still push on and find someone you can open up to, even starting with counselling can be better than nothing, don't let it build up to the point that you end up paying much more in other ways, especially when you're here as a migrant and it can feel so isolating and that you've got nobody to fall back on. I believe in you!