The future of a program that has helped millions of Australians seek treatment and support for their mental health remains unclear, as the government considers whether to wind back extra help given through the pandemic.
Since 2006, eligible Australians have been able to have up to 10 psychological visits subsidised by Medicare.
But as the pandemic ramped up through 2020, the number of visits doubled to 20 in what was described as a temporary increase.
In this year alone, more than 2.1 million Australians have used the program, accessing 8 million services.
The 20-session limit is due to expire at the end of the year unless the federal government decides otherwise.
The Health Department is reviewing the plan but is not expecting an update until December.
'Not everyone has bounced back'
Senior psychology lecturer Rachel Sharman from the University of Sunshine Coast said people were still dealing with "post-COVID difficulties" that were affecting their mental health.
She said they needed support, but a cap on subsidised sessions would always have its disadvantages.
"There are a lot of people who had all sorts of problems during COVID – losing their job and all that sort of stuff," Dr Sharman said.
"People haven’t necessarily bounced back quite as quickly as the economy and the rest of the country has."
She said the challenge with the program was that 20 sessions with a trained psychologist may not be enough for some people, yet 10 would be too many for others.
"If I said to you, 'We're going to give every single woman in labour the same time in hospital', it doesn't make a great deal of sense," Dr Sharman said.
"Some women will be in labour for four hours, others will be in labour for 40 hours. It’s ridiculous to try and squash them all into this one little box.
"I think a flexible system is probably one that's got a little bit of practical utility rather than one that's completely rigid."
Young people facing health battles
Dr Sharman said there were also still many young people who would be grappling with mental health issues after years of lockdowns, restrictions and isolation.
"While your brain is still developing, you haven't really developed the coping strategies or the resilience yet to manage all of those sorts of situations," she said.
Grace Bennink, 20, and Yashvi Parma, 19, say younger people have been hit hard by COVID restrictions.
The pair are now part of a group advising their local hospital service to ensure young patients do not slip through gaps.
"I think just access to mental health [support] has definitely been a really big thing through COVID, with lots of young people," Ms Parma said.
"When it comes to the lives of young people, they have been severely impacted.
"I think when it comes to mental health, it's about trying to cope with that isolation that happened, and try to move on into a bit more of a societal, communal-based place."
Ms Bennink said the loss of human connection during COVID restrictions had consequences for young people.
"Just the connectedness that was lost – like you don't have that social interaction again," she said.
"It's so critical to our life, our health and our mental health.
"And yeah, unfortunately, we just got a lot of that, but hopefully we can start getting it back."
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