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A referral pathway for the people around the player
This page is for club doctors, club psychologists, player welfare managers, sporting code administrators, player association staff, and league integrity and wellbeing teams.
If you are responsible for the welfare of an elite athlete and you need a clinically credible, professionally appropriate referral option for addiction and related behaviours, this is where that starts.
The TARA Clinic is Australia's first nationally accessible long-term online outpatient addiction treatment program. We are led by an AHPRA registered psychologist, we are ASES accredited, and clinically governed.
Elite athletes face barriers to treatment most programs aren't built for
The players who need help the most are often the ones who find it hardest to access. The fear of being dropped. The risk of media exposure. The concern about what teammates, sponsors, or the public might think. The identity threat of being seen as someone who is struggling rather than performing.
These aren't excuses. They are real structural barriers that keep elite athletes out of traditional treatment models for years longer than the general population.
Inpatient rehab requires a visible absence from training and competition. Group-based programs require disclosure in rooms that cannot guarantee privacy. Traditional outpatient services rarely fit around the schedule of a professional athlete.
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The TARA Clinic was built for exactly this gap.
Built for the player who cannot press pause
100% Online, 100% Private
Players engage from wherever they are. Training camp, away game, pre-season, off-season. No clinic visits. No group rooms. No shared waiting areas.
Sessions are delivered via secure Telehealth and fit around training and competition, not instead of them.
Individual, Not Group
Every session is one-to-one with a registered clinician.
Players are never asked to share their situation in a group of peers, sponsors, or anyone who could identify them.
Confidentiality is built into the clinical model, not added on top of it.
Built For A Performance Environment
The Recovery Blueprint is designed for players whose lives cannot press pause. It does not require rock bottom. It does not require a career break. It is structured, identity-based, and designed to develop new patterns inside the environment where the player actually lives and competes.
How We Can Help
We treat:
- Alcohol use
- Cocaine and stimulant use
- Cannabis use
- Prescription medication misuse
- Gambling
- Pornography and compulsive sexual behaviour
- Stress-driven compulsive behaviour
- Substance use as a coping strategy for pressure and performance demand
We do not provide:
- Inpatient or residential treatment
- Medical detoxification
- Crisis or emergency services
- 12-step programming
- Group-only treatment
- Mandated or forensic reporting services
If a player requires medical detox or inpatient stabilisation first, we work alongside those services and provide structured online aftercare once the player is medically stable.
The Recovery Blueprint
Three components. One structured clinical pathway. Designed for the full arc of recovery, not just the first few weeks.
The Recovery Blueprint is The TARA Clinic's evidence-informed clinical framework. It is delivered entirely online, one-to-one with a registered clinician, and built on the Stages of Change model. Each component builds on the last. Progression between components is clinically assessed, not time-based.
Step 1:
Recovery Kickstarter
(Duration: 1 month)
Identifies what the behaviour is actually doing for the player, stabilises early patterns, and creates genuine momentum. This is where the clinical foundation is laid.
Step 2:
Recovery Essentials
(Duration: 3 months)
Works through the behavioural patterns, decision-making habits, and psychological loops that maintain the behaviour. Builds the tools and awareness needed for lasting change.
Step 3:
Empowered Recovery®
(Duration: 15 months)
The flagship component. Long-term identity-level change with stepped-down support, moving from weekly to fortnightly to monthly. This is where the change becomes who the player is, not what they are doing.
Total clinical pathway:
19-months of structured, online, one-to-one support. Players do not need to take time off training, travel, or competition at any point.
Three ways a player can enter the program
Wherever the player is right now, there is a clinically appropriate way to begin.
Direct Referral
The player is medically stable and ready to begin outpatient work. No hospital stay required. No time off. The player starts The Recovery Blueprint without disrupting training, travel, or the season.
Alongside Medical Detox
When the player requires medically supervised withdrawal, detox is handled by the appropriate medical provider. The TARA Clinic works in parallel, beginning weekly individual sessions from day one so the psychological work starts the moment it is clinically safe.
After Inpatient Treatment
The player has completed an inpatient stay and needs structured aftercare. Inpatient treatment is a strong start. The TARA Clinic provides the 19 months of structured outpatient work that follows, so what was started in inpatient can be maintained into the future.
The right treatment is the one the player will actually engage with.
For a player who cannot step away from their performance environment, that changes the game entirely.
Outpatient is not a compromise for this population. It is the clinical fit.
Inpatient and residential programs serve an important purpose for players who need medical supervision, crisis stabilisation, or a complete environmental break. For players in that situation, The TARA Clinic is not the right service, and we will say so honestly.
For medically stable players at the Preparation to Action stage of change, outpatient treatment is not a lesser option. It is the more appropriate one.
The behaviour the player is trying to change exists inside their real life, inside the pressures of their performance environment, inside the rhythms of their season. Developing new patterns inside that environment, with the support of structured clinical work, is how those patterns become genuinely sustainable.
An inpatient stay removes the player from their environment, stabilises them, and sends them back. If the underlying driver of the behaviour has not been addressed, the behaviour often returns when the environment does.
The Recovery Blueprint is built on a different premise. It develops the new patterns inside the actual environment where the behaviour exists, which for an elite athlete is a performance environment that cannot be paused for six weeks.
Book A CallClinical Credibility You Can Stand Behind
AHPRA Registered
Founded and led by Tara Hurster, a registered psychologist with close to 15 years of clinical experience in addiction treatment. All clinical work is delivered by AHPRA registered psychologists or PACFA registered counsellors under clinical supervision.
ASES Accredited
The TARA Clinic holds accreditation under the Australian Service Excellence Standards, the national quality framework for community services. Accreditation requires ongoing, independently audited compliance with governance, safety, and quality standards.
Clinically Governed
Every client is assessed at intake. Where clinical risk exceeds what can be safely managed in an outpatient model, a step-up to higher-intensity care is recommended. This is a core component of our clinical governance framework, and we welcome collaborative care arrangements with club medical teams.
Evidence Informed
The Recovery Blueprint is built on established clinical frameworks including the Transtheoretical Model of Change, Motivational Interviewing, and identity-based behaviour change. Longitudinal client outcome data is collected and available to referring clinicians on request.
How information is handled
Everything the player shares with their clinician is confidential, and confidentiality is governed by the Psychology Board of Australia's Code of Conduct and the standard legal limits that apply to all registered clinicians.
With the player's written consent, we can provide structured progress reports to a nominated club doctor, club psychologist, player welfare manager, or integrity team contact. The content, frequency, and recipients of those reports are agreed with the player at intake and can be adjusted over time.
Book A CallThe referral process
Confidential Initial Conversation
Contact us to discuss the player confidentially. We can have this conversation with you before the player is informed, so you can understand whether The TARA Clinic is a clinical fit before the referral is made.
Clinical Intake Assessment
Once the player is ready, they complete a confidential intake assessment. This confirms clinical suitability, identifies whether medically assisted detox is needed first, and establishes the appropriate starting point in The Recovery Blueprint.
Personalised Plan and Commencement
A clinical plan is agreed with the player, and with any nominated club contacts the player consents to involve. Sessions can begin within days of assessment. The player receives a secure online portal, session links, and a welcome pack.
Fees
The full Recovery Blueprint pathway is $22,500 for 19 months of structured one-to-one clinical support. This includes Recovery Kickstarter, Recovery Essentials, and Empowered Recovery® in their individual format.
Players, clubs, player associations, and codes each have different funding arrangements. We are happy to discuss payment structures, staged commencement, and invoicing directly with whoever is administering the support.
For players who require a different entry point, individual sessions and shorter engagements are also available.
About the founder
Tara Hurster is a registered psychologist, the founder of The TARA Clinic, and the architect of The Recovery Blueprint. She has close to 15 years of clinical experience in addiction treatment and a clinical philosophy built on a simple belief: the person is never the problem. The behaviour is always trying to solve something.
Tara has been recognised as a finalist in the Telstra Best of Business Awards (Championing Health, NSW), the Australian Small Business Champion Awards (Psychology), and the Australian Women's Small Business Champion Awards. She speaks and trains nationally on addiction, recovery, and the clinical thinking behind The Recovery Blueprint.
She has built The TARA Clinic with one long-term goal: for The Recovery Blueprint to become the framework of choice for addiction clinicians in Australia, and for elite performers in every field to have access to clinical work that meets them where they actually live.
Common questions from clubs and codes
Here's what most people want to know before getting started.
Will our player need to take time off training or competition?
No. The Recovery Blueprint is delivered entirely online and is designed to work around training schedules, travel, and competition.
Session frequency is adjusted across the program, moving from weekly in the early stages to monthly in the later stages.
Can treatment be paused for finals, tours, or major competitions?
Yes. Session scheduling is flexible and can be adjusted around the demands of the season.
It's best when this is planned with the player in advance, rather than disrupting the clinical work reactively.
What happens if the player has a setback?
Setbacks are handled clinically, not punitively. The Recovery Blueprint is built on the understanding that change is not linear. A setback is treated as clinical information, not as a reason for the program to end.
If at any point the level of care required exceeds what we can safely provide as an outpatient service, we will say so directly and support the transition to the appropriate level of care.
Can we have more than one player in the program at the same time?
Yes. Because treatment is one-to-one and online, players from the same club, team, or squad can engage concurrently without encountering each other.
There are no shared groups, shared portals, or shared sessions.
How is this different from the psychologist our club already has?
Club psychologists provide essential, often excellent psychological support. The TARA Clinic is an addiction-specialist service.
We work alongside club clinicians rather than replacing them, and we can set up collaborative care arrangements with a club psychologist, club doctor, or external treating GP from day one.
What about retired players?
Retired players are a population we work with most effectively.
The identity threat of retirement, the loss of structure, and the change in social environment are well-established risk factors for addictive behaviours.
The Recovery Blueprint is built for exactly this kind of transition.