How To Find Affordable Therapy

Have you ever looked at someone and thought to yourself: All y’all need therapy?

There are a lot of reasons why people may not see a therapist. Mental health in general has a lot of stigma around it; if we’re talking to someone about our issues, that can make it seem as though we’re not “strong” enough to tackle our own problems. We don’t like to be seen as weak or broken, and that can make it hard to ask for help. But that isn’t the only reason people may not be talking to a therapist.

In rural areas, there just aren’t a lot of therapists.

For expats, there may not be therapists who speak our native language, which is huge for talking about interpersonal issues.

It may be hard to find a therapist who isn’t fully booked or can start working with you right now.

But I think the most common thing I’ve heard from clients is that money stops people from talking to a therapist. Even for people who work with insurance companies, sometimes you may not know what your insurance company will pay or what your copay is.

Therapy can change lives, but not if it’s unaffordable. So here are some things to consider if you feel you can’t afford therapy, but feel you need or want it. Keep in mind that these options may not be available for everyone depending on your life situation, but they’re worth investigating.

1. Look for therapists who offer “sliding scale” rates. “Sliding scale” is a therapy term that means that the therapist has lowered their fees, usually based off of income. Whether or not the therapist does this is basically up to the therapist unless you’re using insurance, which removes it as an option. It can’t hurt to ask; worst case scenario they’ll say no. There are several therapy directories out there that you can use to search for therapists in your area (you can see a list of directories on my About page), and many of them allow you to see which therapists offer sliding scale rates or discounts.

2. Find a place that has interns. As part of a master's-level program to become a therapist, it’s a requirement to do a certain number of hours of therapy. Because these interns are not licensed therapists, they cannot charge for this service. This means that if you have a local university near you that has programs to help people become licensed therapists, counselors, or social workers, there are probably agencies near you that offer free therapy through interns. If you don’t know where these agencies may be located, you can contact the universities and ask. Universities know where their students are located, and they want them to have practice with clients, so this is in everyone’s best interest!

3. Look into Open Path Collective. Open Path Collective is a website created to help people find sliding scale therapists in their area and online. The therapists who work with Open Path Collective have agreed to charge people with no insurance between $20 and $80 a session, depending on the type of session. This applies to both in-person and online therapies. When compared to local prices, this is generally considerably more affordable.

4. Contact your local universities if you’re a student. Universities often have their own therapists to work with students for free or at a reduced cost. So if you’re a student, your own university is a great resource for affordable therapy. If they don’t work with you directly, your university should have resources for where they can refer you in the area for affordable therapy.

5. See a therapist less often. Often times we want to see a therapist as often as we can, so that we can work out our issues as soon as possible. While this could be ideal, when finances come into play, it may not be realistic. If you find a therapist you like, seeing them less often may help you afford to actually work with them. In my experience, unless I have concerns about my clients, I’m willing to see people once or twice a month to make therapy affordable for them.

6. Check if your work has EAP benefits. EAP stands for Employee Assistance Program. Essentially it’s something that larger workplaces pay for that gives benefits to employees, such as paying for a specific number of therapy sessions (maybe 4 or 6, depending on the EAP). Confidentiality laws prevent your workplace from knowing who uses this benefit or what it was for, they just get a report about how many times it was used. So if you talk about conflict with your boss, your boss won’t find out. A lot of times people don’t know that they have this benefit, but it can help you get some really affordable therapy.

7. Reach out to your insurance company. If you have insurance, your insurance company can be a great resource. You can find out what therapists in your area take your insurance, and calling your provider is the best way to find out what you’d be paying for therapy. This is how you can find out just how affordable therapy is through your insurance company.

8. Look into online therapy. Online therapy is relatively new, which means that the prices are often different when compared to more traditional therapy. Individual therapists (like myself) provide online therapy services and there are larger corporations such as Betterhelp that do online therapy work.

When you first look into therapy prices, it may seem really intimidating and expensive, but there are several ways to talk to a therapist without breaking the bank.