You might be wondering why counselling is so expensive, and it’s a fair question.
The cost of therapy varies hugely based on factors like how experienced the counsellor is; the area where they practice; whether they have funding to offer subsidised sessions; the type of therapy they offer, and more.
There’s therefore no such thing as a typical cost for a counselling session. It can range from free with a charity or a student counsellor in training, through to hundreds of pounds for the most in-demand therapists.
So why does therapy cost so much per hour?
Counsellors don’t receive your session rate every hour. They are only charging for the time they see clients, not for all the other time spend on admin, marketing, and other parts of their work.
There are also a lot of costs to think about, including:
Supervision – Counsellors are required to pay for supervision to go through their client work (client details are kept anonymous) and to ensure they’re working safely and ethically. Therapists need to pay the supervisor, and the therapist themselves isn’t being paid for their time.
Membership body fees – There is no legal requirement to be a member of a professional body in the UK, but most counsellors are a member of one. This gives clients reassurance that they are working to a code of ethics and there is somewhere to complain if the therapist behaves unethically.
Insurance – As with most businesses, therapists pay for insurance in case things go wrong.
Website – Even if a counsellor designs and maintains their website themselves, there’s still the cost of hosting. They need to pay someone to make it, or create it themselves while not being paid for the time they spend.
Marketing and directories – Therapists often pay to be listed on counselling directories. They may pay for adverts, local leaflet drops, or other types of advertising too so that potential clients can find out about their service.
Room rental – Counsellors need a confidential space to work from. This may be particularly costly in places such as city centres and Central London.
WiFi and other utilities – Businesses need to pay for internet, electricity and other utilities in order to perform their role.
Books and resources – Counsellors may provide clients with resources to support their sessions, and therapists themselves need to read to keep up to date with developments in therapy.
Training and continuous professional development (CPD) courses – Initial training runs into thousands of pounds which needs to be paid back. As part of keeping up to date, membership bodies require their counsellors to undertake a minimum number of hours of ongoing training each year and this needs to be paid for.
Computer, hardware and other equipment – Therapists need to pay for any equipment necessary to carry out their role.
Pension, holiday pay and sick pay – Most therapists are self-employed and don’t get any of these things. The hourly rate therefore needs to be enough to cover them.
And then of course there’s tax and National Insurance to come out.
Therapists might be seeing four or five clients on the days they work. Some are able to see clients five days per week, but many would quickly burn out due to the emotionally and mentally demanding nature of the role.
It’s unusual for a self-employed therapist to be paid for more than 20 hours per week if they’re working full time, and most are seeing fewer clients than that.
Once you take out all the costs listed above, you can see why it can add up to a significant hourly charge to make it sustainable.
Jade Farrington - Neurodivergent Counsellor and Rewind Trauma Therapist 