Given the opportunity to have a piece published by the lovely online community ‘The Counsellors Cafe’ I took it. Here’s the beginning, click on the link to read more (and also check out their lovely website). It’s speaking to both therapists and help-seekers alike, so I hope there’s something in there for everyone:
The Cost of Counselling
Many, many times I see on forums or hear from people that they haven’t gone to counselling because of the cost. It’s too expensive. Even fellow counsellors.
I hear you. It can be a lot.
Depending on the counsellor (personally and professionally) you could pay anything from £20 to £80 a session in the U.K, $30 to $300 here in Australia. So that’s basically one hour of talking without any guarantee that it will ‘work’.
It’s a risk. But is it worth it?
I’m gonna go out on a professional limb here and say something that might seem scary to both clients and professionals alike: maybe it won’t work. Many of you will in fact know that it doesn’t always work, because you’ve had bad experiences with counsellors or supervisors in our profession.
But there are ways to pretty much guarantee that it will be successful beyond your wildest imagination.
To use a therapy well-worn phrase: let’s unpack those ways.
Firstly, the language around the word ‘works’ is a bit problematic. Other words, like ‘fix’ and even ‘healed’ can also be misleading. Basically if you’re showing up for counselling then you want to feel better. You want to change something. You want something to be different from how it is now. Sometimes you’re desperate and this is your last hope to get out of the world’s most giant hole.
So it’s really tempting to promise an outcome…
If you’ve read on at the Counsellors Cafe and you’d like to get more posts kinda like this in your inbox then sign up to the blog! You’ll get a FREE printable PDF of Journal Prompts for Imperfectionists and invite to join us in a closed Facebook group. Are you sick of just ‘getting on with things’ and want more… maybe sort of kind of contemplating online counselling? Please do just get in touch with me to make an inquiry, you never know what pathways some therapy sessions can open for you.
Leave a Reply