To wonder how people afford counselling privately?

[MedianRange]

Counselling where I live starts at £40 per hour 50 minutes with some charging £50 or £60. Concessions for unwaged are minimum £35 per hour.

The average salary where I live is £19k.

How do people afford it??

I am unsure how much benefit people get if they are not working but I'm pretty sure they are unlikely to have £35 left over a month let alone each week or fortnight.

I'm also thinking that most people who would require counselling have had life issues that has probably impacted their earning potential.

But then if the counsellors get very few clients at these rates, it would make sense that they would charge less so I am honestly confused.

Any ideas anyone??

Where I live, there are plenty of counsellors who work from home and still charge £40-50 an hour. They're not incurring room charge costs or travel costs.

we have a local place thats a registered charity - contributions only-
if you cant afford you dont pay. its anonymous ,you put the cash in an envelope and put it in a box.

If they pay they turn up if they don't pay they don't!

Nice to see such a nuanced understanding in a mental health professional

Oh and much is said about travel costs for the therapist, do you think the client just teleports themselves there? :)

Median Yes I do put some of those costs against my tax bill which is just as well as I have to find my own continuing development. As I said I had to fund my own training and do this on top of being in full time employment,where I obviously pay tax and ni as well.
Tutt I'd still be doing volunteering as a counsellor if I weren't chairing the charity. I think it's good to give something back and I feel I'm doing my bit to enable local people to access free counselling.

When choosing a therapist what should one look for?

Any tips anyone?

Same way you afford anything else that costs £40 - you have it or you don't. I know people who'd say it was expensive, but spend that on clothes, meals out, lunches, coffees etc. If you literally don't have £40 after paying your bills, then no, it probably isn't going to be something you can afford - alongside lots of other things as well.

I had weekly sessions for 8 months. I felt guilty about the money but it changed my life. I'm about 4 years since my last session and not felt a need to go back. We considered it an investment and a necessity.

Actually I'm not sure why you're expressing shock and surprise at a person who has £40 after rent and bills (or, if we're talking monthly, £160). You probably know lots of people who have £160 to spend as they choose. Are you surprised at restaurant-goers or new-clothes buyers?

Median I mentioned the travel costs because that's extra time and money I have to account for. It's not unknown for me to turn up for a booked first session and for the client not to appear.
My clients generally live pretty locally to where I work.

I don't pay lower NI and yes some can be put against tax "some' but not all hense my other job, I do my own accounts as that is my other job.
Also if you studied as my friends who teach did you did this as part of your uni set hours? I didn't have that I had to do my uni set hours plus the counselling hours plus work as I had to have a roof over my head (mature student with small DS).
I was just trying to explain that on paper charging £40-£65 per hr looks great but in reality it isn't.

If you privatly tutored would you work at a loss? I firmly believe that everyone should be able to access counselling within our NHS but
unfortunatly the NHS has had to cut the budget (well here it has so I presume everywhere) so all our free or low cost services have been withdrawn, if I could live I'd give my time for a pitance (see above posts about paying vs none paying) but I as with my friends in the same field can't afford to.

I have been seeing a private counsellor for nearly a year now.I pay £40 for 50 mins.I started out seeing her every week,then every fortnight,now I see her once a month & my counselling is coming to an end.
I have been having CBT.Without it
I really don't think I could have coped with life in general.I had taken AD's in the past & tried NHS counselling,but didn't gel with the counsellor.
I did not have a job when I started my counselling(although my husband was working),I was a full time carer for my daughter who has CP.
I budgeted to make sure that we could afford it,as it was essential for the future of us as a family that I went to counselling.Without it everything would have broken down,for me it was a lifeline.So for me (us) it was essential.

chickens I'm glad you're feeling better.

Fatcunt it is having an understanding, insight and excepting that what I said is a truth that makes a very none judgemental opionion, empathic, caring and very much an expectance and that is ok ... what part of it do you take issue with, this is part and parcel of our work, the way we work we expect 37.5% of our clients to turn up!

*acceptance danm auto correct!

Median I don't think the travel costs for clients are relevant though are they?

Counsellors provide a service which people are free to take advantage of or not depending on whether they can afford it.

The issue of NHS counselling being woefully underfunded is a different one. We should not, IMO, be expecting the private sector to pick up the slack by undercharging.

DH has counselling, and will be doing for some time. It enables him to function better, and therefore boosts his earning power. It is a good investment.

Mental Health provision through the NHS is laughably poor, we could just FOAD as far as the government is concerned. I pay £30 a week most weeks to see my therapist. My mother helps with the cost, as I would if my children needed it. My therapist is fab and a lifesaver, but I imagine I'm going to be in therapy for years. It's so easy to see how people fall through the gaps and end up in terrible situations through absolutely no fault of their own.
I imagine that we don't count as productive work-units to Victorian cunts like IDS.

I have been fortunate (unfortunate?) to experience 3 types of counseling. Uni service (free, I did about 12 weeks - 6 was the basic +extension was awarded). Nhs (again 6 or 8 weeks, was able to access this quickly as was recently pregnant). And private cbt from priory. Private was a whopping 125+ per hour (long story, but covered by accident compensation payment).

All were good. All were very different. I think it depends on your personalityand what you want from ccounseling. My uni and nhs experiences were much more of a long term chat about issues in detail.The pprivate cbt didn't go into that, it was all about managing my reactions to situations (and he sometimes made it quite clear that my actual problems were not relevant, just how I dealt with them). So somewhat ruthlessly efficient!

Thanks ilovesooty,great counsellors are amazing.I have never added up the total amount I've spent on mine because,for me,it doesn't matter.It has changed my life & that is priceless.

KateSpade, I find rapport very important. Counsellors will provide a list of the areas in which they specialise. Personal recommendation is very important too.

I'm not sure I fully understand your last post to me Tutt, but I just think it doesn't come across very well for a counsellor to make a blanket statement on a public forum that clients who don't pay don't turn up.

I think there's an interesting conversation to be had about the value people place on things they don't pay for, and the different pressures people feel when they're paying or not paying, along with the additional difficulties many people on low incomes face that can affect attendance, and the idea that more expensive treatments can be more effective (perhaps via improved placebo response).

But you seemed flippant, perhaps because of frustration, and I wonder if that kind of flippancy is better kept to a professional forum rather than spread around in public.

Random I agree. I also make it clear to clients that if I'm not the right counsellor for them I'll be happy to recommend someone who might be better for them. There are some issues where I know other counsellors who have greater expertise and I'm always happy to signpost.

Why oh lost his job a couple of months ago and started seeing a private counsellor for ongoing issues (he has had 8 weeks free bus one but they weren't specific to his issues) She usually charges £45 a session but is charging him £45 every 2 sessions. She would rather be received help than none at all. On jsa it's leaving us penniless but he needs it.

niddy: "In my experience as having worked with both paying and non paying clients, there has definitely been far greater commitment, respect (cancelling appointments rather than no show) and therapeutic movement in paying clients in general."

I have also worked with paying and non paying clients and that has not been my experience.

I would say that those clients who are not able to function well enough to hold down enough work to make payment at full rates a possibility DO tend to DNA more often than the waged clients.

But CERTAINLY not 'greater commitment' and ABSOLUTELY NOT 'more therapeutic movement'.

I don't assume that the money people are able to access for their treatment is indicative of their respect, either for me / my skills or themselves.

Counselling Charities often run reduced sessions I had an amazing counsellor for about 6 months for £15 a session. Generally the counsellors aren't fully qualified but are qualified to take on cases (they're vetted). Worked for me.

I didn't make a 'blanket statement' I was talking about my experience?
As for the erest I in no way implyed or said any of that. I also wasn't the only one that said it so I'm not really understanding your judgement of me?

I also in no way implyed that an expensive treatment was more effective, the service is the same so again don't get where you are coming from?
You have made the judgement there, I at no time commented on low/high income nor did I say who I work with so please don't infer I did, I have worked across the board so that argument falls on it's knees... just because a service is free doesn't mean it's for low income so you have really confused me.

I just talked about my experiance which on an open forum is ok,not unethical and as I am a person with views also allowed, not frustrated why would I be, I'm actually making mental notes of what is said to improve/change/whatever services I am involved in!

Don't whatever you do see someone who I did years ago who agreed to a reduced rate then moaned about it, played the poor card every time I went! She let me choose some crap momento (like a charm, crystal thing) when I left but her whole persona was awful, I should've left or reported her to her organisation as she wasn't professional in other ways.