Anonymised intake and appointment data from a multi-location Sydney counselling and psychology practice, analysed to surface meaningful shifts in mental health, demand, and demographics. Published findings are listed below.
Anxiety has become the leading reason women seek counselling, surpassing relationship issues for the first time. Female work stress now exceeds male, burnout cases have increased fivefold, and men seek help for suicidal ideation at rates equal to women despite a much higher suicide death rate.
Read the full reportRelationship issues remain the top presenting concern, while anxiety nearly doubled during COVID and work stress hit a record high in 2025, especially among women. Addiction rates are significantly higher in men and more prevalent in lower-affluence suburbs, with porn addiction showing the largest gender gap.
Read the full reportAnxiety has become the leading reason women in Sydney seek counselling, surpassing relationship issues, while work stress in women now exceeds that of men for the first time. Burnout has increased nearly five-fold among female clients, reflecting significant post-pandemic workforce exhaustion.
Read the full reportThis report highlights that anxiety and depression remain the leading reasons Australians seek mental health support, with young people and women experiencing the highest distress levels. It also reveals significant gender differences in diagnosis and help-seeking, alongside increased mental health challenges in regional and remote areas.
Read the full reportA multi-location private counselling and psychology practice operating in Sydney since 2011 sees a representative cross-section of the city's mental-health demand. The research published here treats that body of practice data as a public-interest dataset.
All findings draw from anonymised intake forms and appointment records collected at Associated Counsellors & Psychologists Sydney clinics between January 2011 and December 2025. The dataset covers 36,309 unique clients, 139,687 appointments, and over fifty distinct presenting-issue categories captured at intake.
Each report begins with a defined research question, agreed with the practice's clinical lead before any data is queried. Counts and rates are derived from the practice management system without access to individual records. Categorical breakdowns are reported as percentages of unique clients, not appointments, to prevent over-representation of long-engagement cases.
Where pre-pandemic and post-pandemic windows are compared, the convention is 2011–2019 versus 2021–2025. Comparisons across gender, suburb, and presenting issue use the same denominators throughout.
No individually identifiable client information appears in any published report. All counts have been verified by the clinical lead and the practice manager prior to publication. The practice does not sell, license, or otherwise distribute the underlying records; only aggregated findings are released.
Journalists are welcome to cite findings with attribution to Associated Counsellors & Psychologists Sydney. For interviews with the clinical lead, supporting data, or additional breakdowns, please contact the practice via the contact page.
Coverage of Associated Counsellors & Psychologists Sydney research in Australian press will be collated here as it is published.