Psychologist for free or very low cost?

[igetmorelovefromthecat]

My DP was nearly sectioned a year ago and was then under the care of the mental health team locally, who gave him 20 sessions with a psychologist. They really helped him, he has an awful lot of issues that it's not my place to go into, they go right back to childhood and he is now 42. The sessions ended as his psychologist moved to another placement and his allocated number of sessions was up anyway, but he was nowhere near to being OK.

That was in August and since then he has really gone downhill and really needs to speak to someone. We don't have a lot of money and I have begged the mental health team to give him more sessions but they won't and that's that, unless he gets really bad like he was a year ago but I really don't want it to get to that.

We found a psychotherapist who would see him at half her normal rate, but after one session she said that she could not help him, his problems are VERY complex and not helped by the fact that he has Aspergers. Basically, after a lot of phoning around the only person who would be willing to take him on was a private psyhcologist who charged £100 per hour! She said he would need someone who was properly qualified as it could be very dangerous for him to get the wrong advice. But there is no way we can afford that.

Does anyone have any ideas where we might be able to access some affordable help? Our relationship is really suffering. We live in Somerset.

I think MIND do physchotherapy that is part of a charity donation £20 a hour I think could that be a option. I am not 100% certain on that but pretty sure check out your local MIND office and ask.

There is here in Taunton if that helps - MIND used to be free but with a donation (of any amount) - although this may vary from branch to branch.

You could also contact the national autistic society and see if they have any pointers or links with counsellors who are aspergers friendly.

I have spoken to Mind and they could not really help. Thanks for the link Paarrp but after speaking to many places that offer counselling/psychotherapy I have not found anyone who will take him on, it needs to be a clinical psychologist. I did try phoning that actual place and left a message but they never got back to me.

Is the GP not willing to refer him up to secondary level so that he is under the care of a consultant psychiatrist? That maybe a better way in to be seen by a clinical psychologist on the NHS

Has he been discharged by the mental health team?
If so, would the GP re-refer him? Or if your DH is still under the teams care have they given a reason why they dont think he should be offered my psychology - is it because of limited resources, or is it because they dont think he would benefit from it at the moment?

What does your DH want to do - you say that you have begged the team for more sessions, does your DH want this - it might have more impact if he was asking, as if you are the one asking they might interpret that as your DH not being keen, IYSWIM?

He has not been discharged yet, his care co-ordinator wanted to see how he was getting on with the psychotherapist we found before discharging him, so I left a message on Friday to say that didn't work out.

Yes DP is really keen to see someone, he has come along when I have been trying to persuade them, I am a bit more outspoken than hum so I did most of the talking but he made it clear that he wanted to see someone and explained what had been going on for him lately. But the answer is a definite 'no', the trust will only ever offer 20 sessions, that is the maximum. They acknowledge that he would benefit from more sessions but the pot is empty as far as he is concerned.

He is going to see the GP tomorrow to see what they suggest, I'll put an update to say how that goes.

It is good your dh wants to see someone. It is very hard to get to see a psychologist on the nhs, however bad you are considered to be - here it is 12 sessions max, each trust has their own limit. Do they have anyone else, not called a psychologist who can help?

There are a few low cost Psychotherapy services running around the country. For around £25 per session he could attend therapy with a trainee psychotherapist but this would usually be for a minimum of 2 years, and 3 times per week, so £75 per week. However, some qualified psychotherapists will take people on at a reduced rate, so what you need to do is get him to go for an assessment and discuss what he can afford during that first assessment session. Usually you can negotiate a reduced rate for the assessment session as well, over the phone beforehand. for example I see a fully qualified psychoanalytic psychotherapist for £30 a session which is an excellent rate, and well worth every single penny.

Contact the British Psychoanalytic Council in the first instance here and see if they can point you in the right direction. There would be few psychoanalytically trained therapists who would refuse to see a complex and disturbed person - complexity is their speciality.

You must be warned - this kind of therapy can be long term, hard work, but it is the only one that will provide lasting change.