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A referral pathway for clinical peers
This page is for GPs, psychologists, psychiatrists, and occupational health professionals who are considering referring a client to The TARA Clinic for specialist outpatient addiction treatment.
If you are working with a client who is struggling with addictive behaviour and you need a referral pathway that is clinician-led, evidence-informed, and appropriate for someone who cannot or will not engage with traditional inpatient or group-based treatment, this is where that conversation starts.
The TARA Clinic is led by an AHPRA registered psychologist, is ASES accredited, and is clinically governed. Your client's medical and psychiatric management stays with you. The TARA Clinic provides specialist addiction treatment alongside that, with clear clinical communication and formal step-up protocols throughout.
The clients who fall through the gap
The clients who need the help the most are often the ones who find it hardest to access it.
They are functioning well enough that inpatient treatment feels disproportionate, or they can't step away from work, family, or professional life long enough to access it.
They are too private for group-based programs. They have tried 12-step models and found the framework doesn't fit.
They may have attempted change before without sustained results, and they feel like they are running out of reasons to try again...
These clients don't need less clinical support. They need a different kind of clinical support. One that works inside their actual life, addresses what the behaviour is actually doing for them, and builds the identity-level change required for something to stick.
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The TARA Clinic was built for exactly this gap.
Built for clients who need a different approach
100% Online, 100% Private
Your client engages from wherever they are. No clinic visits, no shared waiting rooms, no group settings.
Sessions are delivered via secure Telehealth and fit around their professional and personal commitments, not instead of them.
Individual, Not Group
Every session is one-to-one with a registered clinician.
Your client is never asked to disclose their situation in a group setting.
Confidentiality is built into the clinical model.
Solution Focused, Practical
The Recovery Blueprint does not focus on stopping the behaviour in isolation. It addresses what the behaviour is doing for the client, builds new patterns inside their actual environment, and develops the identity-level shift that makes change sustainable.
How We Can Help
We can help your client with:
- 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 your client requires medical detox or inpatient stabilisation before beginning outpatient treatment, contact us. We can connect you with appropriate services and begin the outpatient work alongside or immediately after medical stabilisation, so your client does not lose momentum between the two.
Who Is Appropriate To Refer?
The TARA Clinic conducts its own intake assessment to confirm clinical suitability before any client begins. The following is a guide to the presentations we are well-positioned to work with.
Appropriate for referral:
- Adults at the Preparation to Action stage of change who are medically stable and appropriate for outpatient care
- Clients managing alcohol use, stimulant use, cannabis use, prescription medication misuse, gambling, pornography, or chronic burnout with substance-based coping
- Clients who have not responded to inpatient treatment or group-based programs and need a different clinical framework
- Clients who need a discreet, flexible option that works around existing professional and personal commitments
- Clients who have previously attempted treatment and require a longer-term, identity-based approach
- Clients who have completed inpatient or detox treatment and require structured outpatient aftercare
Not appropriate at this time:
- Clients requiring medically supervised alcohol or benzodiazepine detox
- Clients in acute psychiatric crisis or with active suicidal ideation requiring inpatient management
- Clients at pre-contemplation or early contemplation stage of change with strong ambivalence towards change
- Clients with active and significantly distressing drug-induced psychosis unmanaged by a treating psychiatrist, or severe untreated co-occurring mental health conditions requiring specialist psychiatric management before addiction treatment can begin
If you're unsure whether your client falls within our scope, contact us before making the referral. We are happy to discuss the presentation confidentially.
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 how the behaviour is currently serving your client (what it is doing for them), stabilises early patterns, and creates genuine momentum. This is where the case conceptualisation and foundational therapeutic work begins.
Step 2:
Recovery Essentials
(Duration: 3 months)
Works through the behavioural patterns, cognitive loops, and identity factors that maintain the behaviour. Builds the tools, self-awareness, and psychological flexibility required for sustained 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 sessions as clinical independence grows. A client must be assessed as being in the Action stage of change before progressing to this component.
Total clinical pathway:
19-months of structured, online, one-to-one support. Your client does not need to take time away from work, family, or their professional life at any point.
When a client needs motivational groundwork first
Some clients present having engaged with treatment previously without demonstrating the behavioural readiness required to progress.
For these clients, Ignite Recovery is available as a separate three-month intensive program, running two sessions per week.
Ignite Recovery is designed for clients at the Contemplation stage who need to deepen their motivational foundation before entering the main Blueprint sequence. It is not a step backwards. It is a different clinical tool for a specific clinical moment.
Three ways your client can begin
Wherever your client is right now, there is a clinically appropriate starting point.
Direct Referral
Your client is medically stable and ready to begin outpatient work. No inpatient stay required, no time off work, no disruption to their existing commitments.
They begin The Recovery Blueprint and the clinical work starts immediately.
Alongside Medical Detox
When your client requires medically supervised withdrawal, this detox is managed by an appropriate external 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 to do so.
After Inpatient Treatment
Your client has completed an inpatient stay and needs structured aftercare. The TARA Clinic provides 19 months of structured outpatient work that follows and consolidates what was started in inpatient, so the change does not stop when the program does.
For the right client, outpatient is not a compromise. It's the stronger clinical choice
The behaviour your client is trying to change exists inside their real life, inside their relationships, their work pressures, their daily environment. 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 client from their environment, stabilises them, and returns them to the same conditions that the behaviour originally developed in. If the underlying driver of that behaviour has not been addressed, the environment reasserts itself and the problem surfaces again.
The Recovery Blueprint is built on a different premise. It develops new patterns inside the actual environment where the behaviour exists. For clients who are ready to do that work, this is where it happens.
Clinical 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 the Transtheoretical Model of Change, Motivational Interviewing, and identity-based behaviour change methodology. Longitudinal outcome data collected using validated clinical tools, including the AUDIT, DASS-21, Brief-COPE, and DUDIT, is available to download below.
How information is handled
Everything the client shares with their clinician is confidential, governed by the Psychology Board of Australia's Code of Conduct and the standard legal limits that apply to all registered clinicians.
With your client's written consent, The TARA Clinic provides structured clinical communication to you across the program. You'll receive an introduction letter covering the program structure, the client's starting point in The Recovery Blueprint, our scope of practice, and the step-up protocol where risk is present.
At discharge, you also receive a formal discharge summary including dates of attendance, the stage of the program reached, and the client's clinical status at the time of discharge.
Book a Confidential Clinical ConversationThe referral process
Confidential Initial Conversation
Contact us to discuss your client confidentially. Where you feel it is necessary, this allows you to assess clinical fit before the referral is made. No formal referral documentation is required at this stage.
Clinical Intake Assessment
Once your client is ready, they complete a confidential intake assessment with The TARA Clinic. This confirms clinical suitability, identifies whether medical detox is needed first, and establishes the appropriate starting point in The Recovery Blueprint.
Personalised Plan and Commencement
A clinical plan is agreed with your client. With their consent, you receive a formal clinical introduction letter confirming the plan, the scope of work, and the communication pathway. Sessions can begin within days of assessment.
Review the outcome data before you refer
The Evidence of Efficacy Report contains The TARA Clinic's longitudinal outcome data, validated psychometric results, and de-identified clinical case studies covering alcohol use disorder and methamphetamine use with drug-induced psychosis.
This document is intended for registered health professionals and treating clinicians. By downloading you agree to receive occasional updates from The TARA Clinic. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Program Fees
The full Recovery Blueprint pathway runs across 19 months*. Three delivery formats are available depending on your client's clinical needs, preference for privacy, and budget.
*Programs are paid for at each stage of the Blueprint.
Group Format
For clients who want the structure of a peer group alongside individual clinical work.
Starting from $14,000
- Delivered in small groups (maximum 7 clients)
- Led by a TARA Clinic clinician
- Includes the full Recovery Blueprint pathway
- 19 months of structured support
Individual Format
For clients who require complete privacy and one-to-one clinical work throughout.
Starting from $22,500
- Delivered one-to-one with a TARA Clinic clinician
- No group component
- Scheduling that works around your life and commitments
- Pacing that adapts to your own progression
- Full clinician continuity across all 19 months
- Includes the full Recovery Blueprint pathway
Working Directly with Tara
For clients whose presentation specifically requires the founder's direct clinical involvement. Limited spaces.
Starting from $42,500
- Delivered one-to-one with Tara Hurster, registered psychologist and founder of The TARA Clinic
- Typically sought when previous treatment attempts have been unsuccessful or the client has specifically requested Tara's involvement
Payment plans and staged commencement are available. To discuss fees or payment arrangements directly, contact us.
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 one foundational position: 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.
Common questions from referring clinicians
Here's what most clinicians want to know before making a referral.
Can my client be in treatment with me and The TARA Clinic at the same time??
Yes, and this is often the most effective arrangement. The TARA Clinic is an addiction-specialist service.
If you are providing general psychological support, GP management, or psychiatric care, we work alongside that, not instead of it.
With your client's consent, we can establish a collaborative care arrangement from day one.
What happens if my client's presentation exceeds what The TARA Clinic can manage?
We have formal step-up protocols in place. If at any point a client's presentation requires a higher level of care than we can safely provide as an outpatient service, we will communicate this directly with you and with the client, and support the transition to the appropriate service.
We do not continue working with clients when the clinical evidence suggests a different level of care is needed.
Do you accept clients who are still using?
Yes, depending on the presentation. Abstinence is not a prerequisite for beginning The Recovery Blueprint.
What matters is that the client is medically stable, at the Preparation to Action stage of change, and willing to engage with the clinical work. We assess this at intake.
What if my client has a co-occurring mental health condition?
Mild to moderate co-occurring conditions, including depression, anxiety, and trauma histories, are common in the clients we work with and are managed within the program.
Clients with severe or actively destabilising psychiatric presentations that require specialist management before addiction treatment can begin are not appropriate for referral at this time.
If you are unsure, contact us to discuss the presentation before referring.
Can I refer a client who has already tried inpatient treatment?
Yes. Clients who have previously attempted inpatient treatment and relapsed are one of the populations The Recovery Blueprint is specifically designed for.
Prior treatment attempts are discussed at intake and inform the clinical approach from the start.
Is this appropriate for clients who are involved in legal proceedings or under a court order?
The TARA Clinic does not provide diagnostic assessments or forensic assessments. However, we do provide detailed treatment summaries for local and district courts which document the client's engagement with treatment, clinical progress, and current status in the program.
If your client is engaged with legal proceedings and requires clinical documentation as part of that process, contact us to discuss what is possible before making the referral.
Resources
Articles/Blog
Free Resources
Self-Help Option
Step 1: Recovery Kickstarter
Step 2: Recovery Essentials
Step 3: Empowered Recovery®
©️ 2026 The TARA Clinic Pty Ltd.
Head Office
PO Box 268.,
WAVERLEY
NSW 2024
02 8074 5497
0432 700 784
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The TARA Clinic acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
We also acknowledge and celebrate the cultural, religious, spiritual, sexual orientation, and gender diversity of our team, clients, and the community. We welcome everyone to our service.
©️ 2026 The TARA Clinic Pty Ltd.