Victoria · by video · adults and teens
ADHD assessment, Melbourne
Assessed from home by a registered psychologist, anywhere in Victoria. $1,650 including the report. The part most Melbourne clinics skip: what actually happens afterwards, when you want a prescription.
We are a telehealth service, not a Melbourne clinic. There is no waiting room in Carlton. You are assessed over video from wherever you are, and the report is written by a registered psychologist. If you specifically want to sit in a room with someone, we are the wrong choice and we would rather say so here than after you have paid.
The Victorian prescribing rule just changed, and it is worth understanding
This is the thing that decides how many appointments you end up paying for, and it is different in Victoria from how it works in Queensland or Western Australia.
Historically in Victoria: psychiatrists could treat adults with stimulants without a separate permit. GPs needed a Schedule 8 treatment permit, which the Department generally granted only where a specialist had already made the diagnosis and reviewed the patient recently. In practice that meant a Melbourne adult wanting medication went to a psychiatrist, and the waits and fees that come with that.
In September 2026 Victoria started a program to change it. The Department of Health has selected roughly 150 GPs to complete training delivered by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners — online modules plus a two-day workshop. GPs who finish it are to be able to diagnose ADHD and prescribe for adults and for children aged six and over. Successful applicants were told they had places in late July 2026, and the program commenced in September.
Be realistic about what that means today. One hundred and fifty GPs across a state of seven million is a pilot, not a rollout, the cohort is still working through the training, and the Department has described the prescribing change as pending regulatory amendment. For most Melbourne adults right now, initiation still runs through a psychiatrist. We will tell you what applies to your situation at intake rather than pointing at a program and letting you assume you can get into it.
Victoria also requires prescribers and pharmacists to check SafeScript, the real-time prescription monitoring system, before writing or dispensing a stimulant. That is unchanged and applies regardless of who prescribes.
What this means for the money
If you want a diagnosis for its own sake — to understand yourself, to get adjustments at work, to get accommodations at a Victorian university — a psychologist-led assessment is sufficient and the $1,650 is the whole cost.
If medication is the reason you are doing this, budget for a psychiatrist appointment after the assessment. That is true in Victoria whoever assesses you, including the Melbourne clinics charging more than us. The honest sequence is: assessment, report, then a prescriber who has to be satisfied in their own right. Anyone implying one appointment gets you a script in Victoria is not describing the current rules.
What the assessment involves
Questionnaires before we meet. Completed at your own pace. If someone who knew you as a child is willing, they fill in a short informant section — useful, not mandatory.
Two to three hours over video, splittable across two sittings. A developmental history back to childhood, a structured interview against the DSM-5 criteria, and the differential work — ruling out depression, anxiety, sleep disorders and trauma, which produce a similar picture.
A second clinician reviews the report before it is released.
Your report, in plain English with the reasoning shown, structured for whatever you told us it has to do.
Autism assessment in Melbourne
We assess adult autism on the same basis — $1,650, by video, against DSM-5-TR criteria, with a report that shows its working. There is no medication pathway for autism, so none of the Victorian prescribing complexity above applies. What a Victorian autism diagnosis does affect is access: workplace adjustments, university accommodations, and NDIS access where the level and functional impact support it.
If both autism and ADHD are plausible, assess them together. $1,950 rather than $3,300, one developmental history instead of two, and no risk of the first clinician reading one condition's traits as evidence against the other.
Melbourne questions
Can I get an ADHD assessment in Melbourne by video?
Yes. An adult ADHD assessment is built on your developmental history, standardised rating scales and a long clinical interview — none of which requires you to be in a room. You are assessed from home, anywhere in Victoria. What video cannot do is write you a prescription, and in Victoria that is the part worth understanding before you book anything.
Who can prescribe ADHD medication in Victoria?
Psychiatrists can treat adults with stimulants without a separate permit. GPs have historically needed a Schedule 8 treatment permit, generally granted only where a specialist has already diagnosed you and reviewed you recently. Victoria has now started a program to change that — see the section above — but it is early and small.
Do I need a GP referral?
Not for the psychologist-led assessment. You need one if you want the Medicare rebate attached to the psychiatrist-led option.
How much is an ADHD assessment in Melbourne?
$1,650 with us, including the written report. Assessing for autism at the same time is $1,950 rather than $3,300. Melbourne clinic prices for a comparable adult assessment commonly run higher, and some quote the assessment and the report separately — worth checking whichever way you go.
Can I get assessed through the public system in Victoria?
Adult ADHD is poorly served by the public system nationally, and Victoria is no exception. Public adult mental health services are configured around acute and severe mental illness, not developmental assessment. Most Victorian adults who get assessed pay privately. We would rather say that than imply a free option exists and let you find out.
Is a psychologist's diagnosis accepted in Victoria?
For understanding yourself, for workplace adjustments and for university accommodations, yes. For medication it is not sufficient on its own anywhere in Australia — a prescriber has to be satisfied in their own right. In Victoria that currently means a psychiatrist for most adults.
Not sure it is worth the money yet?
The free ADHD test takes three minutes, needs no email, and will tell you if an assessment looks like an overreaction. We would rather say that than sell you one.