Can’t Afford Therapy?6 Ways to Get Help for Less.

Where can you get therapy for less?

These 6 routes run from free to about $70 a session. Each has a trade-off, and it sits right next to the price. Prices change, so check them when you call.

• 1
  Free sessions through workMany employers pay for a set number of free counselling sessions through an employee assistance program, often between 3 and 12, sometimes per problem. Ask HR or look in your benefits. The sessions run out, so use them for one clear thing.
• 2
  Community health centers, free to low costHealth centers funded by the federal government must offer a sliding fee if your income is up to twice the poverty line, and a full discount below it, apart from a small fee. Many offer counselling. Find one near you, then ask how long the wait is.
• 3
  University training clinics, from about $5Graduate students see clients under a licensed psychologist’s supervision, and the fee follows your income. One clinic charges $5 to $30 a session. Intake can close for part of the year, and most clinics cannot take a crisis.
• 4
  Sliding-scale networks, $40 to $70Open Path, a nonprofit, charges $65 once, then $40 to $70 a session with a licensed therapist, or $30 with a student intern. It is for people whose insurance does not cover therapy well, or who have none.
• 5
  Group therapy, less per personOne therapist works with a small group at the same time, so each person pays less than for a session alone. You share the hour, and you talk in front of others.
• 6
  Support groups and guided self-help, freeNAMI runs free peer support groups, many of them online. Guided self-help means a workbook or online course with short check-ins from a professional. Peers are not therapists, so this suits everyday struggles more than a crisis.

Does cheaper therapy work as well?

Often, yes. A review of 23 studies found group therapy worked as well as one-to-one therapy. Another review, of 21 studies, found guided self-help worked about as well as face-to-face therapy for depression and anxiety.

• Group therapy worked as well as one-to-one

  A review pooled 23 studies that tested group and individual therapy side by side, for the same problems. The 2 formats came out about equal.

  McRoberts, Burlingame and Hoag, 1998
  

• Guided self-help matched face-to-face therapy

  21 studies and 810 people with depression or anxiety compared the two. There was no real difference at the end of treatment, or up to a year later.

  Cuijpers and colleagues, 2010
  

Both reviews measured whether people got better. Neither looked at cost. Fit with the person matters too, so if the first one is wrong for you, ask for someone else.

You can start dropping the pattern with Glissa while you wait

A therapist helps with where a pattern came from. The pattern itself turns up most days, in small moments, and that part you can start on tonight. Glissa is an inner glow up for women, built for those small moments. It does not treat anything, and it is not for a crisis.

Private therapy rates: Open Path Collective. Day 30 retention on mental health apps: Baumel and colleagues, JMIR, 2019

On your iPhone, a ten-question quiz gives you one number for how much of you is showing right now. Then a thirty-second check-in each day spots the old patterns that dim you. Saying yes to everyone is one of 11.

Each week you get one small dare, written from your own answers, to help you drop the pattern costing you most. It costs $4.99 a month, billed as $59.99 a year, so a whole year costs less than one private session.

How do you ask a therapist about price?

Ask before the first session, in writing. Ask if they have a sliding scale, and what their lowest fee is. If you are paying without insurance in the US, you also have the right to a written estimate of the cost before you start.

• 1
  Ask about a sliding scale“Do you have a sliding scale, and what is your lowest fee?” is a normal question to ask.
• 2
  Get the estimate in writingIn the US, people paying without insurance can ask for a good faith estimate before the first session.
• 3
  Space the sessions outFewer sessions cost less. Some therapists will move to every other week once the first few are done.
• 4
  Find out who else they would suggestIf they are full or too expensive, ask who they would send you to.
• 5
  Use the first call to check fitAsk if they offer a short free call first, and how they work with the thing that brought you there.

Questions

You can start with one call this week

Pick the route that fits your week and make one call, or send one email. If money is tight because you keep saying yes to everyone, how to say no without feeling guilty is the next read. Does journaling actually work? compares 7 ways to work on yourself, and every post on people pleasing is on one page.

Glissa is an inner glow up, 30 seconds a day on your iPhone, with one small dare a week.

The glow up that starts on the inside

Get back the parts of you that you filed down to keep everyone else comfortable. 30 seconds a day, all the way back to 100% and past it.

Download Glissa for iPhone $4.99 a month, billed as $59.99 a year