The Women’s Health Service offers free services for women, by women. Our services include nursing, medical, nutrition and counselling for vulnerable women in the ACT and region.
About this service
Our services include:
Well Women’s Assessment and Specialised Medical Service
The nursing medical service is open on Monday and Thursday with a GP and Nurse available.
You can receive a full health check, including health history, basic physical examination, routine screening, cervical screening (used to be called pap smear) and lifestyle advice.
You can also see a doctor for short term care for reproductive and sexual health including contraception (IUD, Mirena, Depot), menopause, and pelvic pain.
Nutrition
Our dietician can speak with you about nutrition related issues, including general nutrition, food allergies or intolerances, gut issues and developing a healthier relationship with food. This service is available every second Thursday.
Counselling
We provide short, medium and longer term counselling to women who have been impacted by abuse and/or neglect in childhood and/or adulthood. This may include domestic violence (verbal, emotional, physical, sexual, financial) and/or sexual assault.
Health Promotion
When resources allow, we provide health promotion on women’s health issues to community agencies, and training to health professionals and community agencies on working with women who have experienced violence.
Who we care for
Our nursing and medical team see women aged 14 years and above who find it difficult to access health services due to:
- violence, abuse or neglect
- identifying as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin
- language or cultural barriers
- homelessness or risk of homelessness
- substance abuse issues
- mental health issues
- disability
- sexual identity issues
- financial disadvantage.
Our dietician sees current clients of Women’s Health Service.
Our counsellors see women aged 18 years and above who have experienced abuse and/or neglect in childhood or adulthood.
We offer these services for free if you have a Medicare Card.
How to access this service
We are a self-referral service.
You can make an appointment by calling our reception staff on (02) 5124 1787 between 8:30am and 4:30pm, Monday to Friday.
What to expect
Our Well Women’s assessment is a one-hour appointment with one of our nurses. Other appointments with our nurses are usually 30 minutes.
Your first appointment usually includes talking about your history and a physical examination, and coming up with a plan for managing your health needs.
Your appointments with our dietician are usually up to one hour.
Your first appointment with a counsellor is a booked phone call. When you call to self-refer, our reception staff will book a time that suits you for one of our counsellors to call to talk about your counselling needs.
You can expect your booked phone call to last 30 minutes to one hour.
Counselling sessions are usually 50-minutes to one hour. These sessions are usually offered every two weeks.
What to bring to your appointment
- Medicare card
- Health Care Card and/or concession card (if you have one)
- List of medicines you are currently taking (or the boxes), including medicines you have bought without a prescription, such as herbal supplements and vitamins
Where we’re located
Services are provided from City Community Health Centre.
Counselling services are also provided at outreach locations including:
