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Trust and safety

Listing standards

How we decide who is listed, how we check registrations, and how to report a problem.

Who can be listed

HeartChat lists mental health professionals and services who offer sessions in a language other than English, or who have real experience with multicultural and faith communities. This includes psychologists, psychiatrists, GPs with mental health training, counsellors and psychotherapists who belong to ACA or PACFA, accredited mental health social workers, mental health nurses, occupational therapists, creative arts therapists, peer workers and services.

How we check

  • Before a new listing goes live, we check the registration on the Ahpra public register, or the member register of the professional association.
  • If a professional changes their registration details, we check again.
  • Listings that pass show a “Registration checked” badge with the date we checked.

Profiles from the old HeartChat

Professionals who listed on the old HeartChat agreed to have a public profile. We moved their profiles to the new site and the HeartChat team confirmed the details. They are founding members, with a free Full listing until 30 June 2027. Until a professional claims their profile, messages sent to it come to our team, and we pass them on. Professionals can claim, change or remove their profile at any time.

What we do not do

  • We do not charge different people different fees. Everyone pays the same price for Full.
  • We do not copy listings from other directories or registers.
  • We do not sell or share personal information.
  • We do not recommend individual professionals. You choose.

Fair order

Results are ordered by how complete, checked and up to date a listing is. Full listings (including people in their free months and founding members) appear before free Basic listings. Example profiles come last. Listings with the same score are shown in a new random order each day, so everyone gets a fair chance to be seen. Filters always come first: a Basic listing that matches your language and faith shows before a Full listing that does not.

Report a problem

If a listing is wrong, or if you did not agree to be listed, use the report form. If you tell us a listing is yours and you did not agree to it, we hide it straight away. If you are worried about how a registered health professional has treated you, you can also contact Ahpra or the health complaints body in your state.