Counselling Shed Fees
For individual counselling sessions, both online and face-to-face, I charge £65 for general counselling, £75 for sex addiction counselling, and an additional £10 is charged for evening appointments. For those in financial need, I have a limited number of reduced price sessions.
What are you looking for from Counselling?
If you are thinking of having some counselling then please feel free to get in touch, by email or by phone. You can then tell me what you are looking for and if I feel that my counselling service is a good match for you, then we can then discuss and agree fees.
Financial Commitment
Counselling works best when appointments are on a weekly basis – and so £65 – £85 per week is a significant financial commitment. However…
What is the cost of your worsening mental health?
The other way of thinking about the cost of counselling is to consider what the cost is to you, of not addressing your problems and struggles.
What is the cost to your mental health?
You might consider what the cost is to your sense of wellbeing or your sense of enjoyment and satisfaction in life; the cost to your relationships; to your family; to your job.
What is the cost of living your life on other peoples terms and conditions, rather than living your life in terms of your own wishes, values and needs.
What is the cost to your life of being dependent on some kind of problematic behaviour, which, no matter how damaging or disruptive it is to your life, is used as some kind of coping mechanism. For example many people loose partners, careers, homes etc. due to out of control addictive behaviours.
Think also of the cost to your health. Prolonged periods of depression, anxiety, loss of hope and the ongoing feeling of not being enough, can lead not only to poor mental health but to the development of physical symptoms and ultimately to a shortening of life expectancy and/or to a deterioration in the quality of life.
Illness and disease is not always a symptom of poor mental health since people are often just bloody unfortunate to experience certain symptoms and/or get struck down with certain diseases.
On the other hand, and for some medically diagnosed conditions, a link has been found to poor mental health – for example research shows that prolonged periods of stress, loneliness, low mood and low self-esteem are not good for our overall health.
Another way of thinking about the cost of counselling
Financially right now, times are difficult for many of us. However, taking care of your mental health can be the ultimate sign that you are taking care of yourself and taking your mental health and well-being seriously.
Like an empty watering can, if you run dry, not only do you feel exhausted and used-up in yourself – but you have nothing left to give the other areas of your life that need attention – partner, family, job, health etc. – and so these areas suffer too.
Counselling is not forever
The other thing to consider is that counselling is not, in my view, intended to be a life-long commitment. Rather, it is intended to support you for as long as YOU are finding it beneficial.
In practice this usually means that I support clients to find out what it is that they are looking for from counselling and then together we work towards finding your next steps forwards. Before not too long, clients find that they are ready keep on moving onwards on their own.
A practical approach to affordability
Recently a friend of mine was thinking of having counselling and because of her financial situation she was complaining to me about the cost of counselling.
I helped her to see what the benefits of counselling would be and this encouraged her to take stock of her financial situation and to rethink her outgoings.
She soon realised that if she ditched the daily coffee and croissant that she bought on her way to work and instead took her own coffee and snack she could easily afford a weekly session of counselling. Again, this situation would not be forever and she could return to shop bought coffee in the future, but reprioritising what she was spending her money on allowed her take herself and her mental health seriously and to then prioritise her well-being above shop-bought coffee.
OK so that was before the hike in mortgage interest rates and the rise in the cost of living. Collectively though, and understandably, stress levels seem to be increasing in society, as do levels of anxiety, low mood and depression – along with the unhealthy coping mechanisms that many people rely on.
Therefore it is now more than ever, even more important that we prioritise our mental health.
Waiting to support you if you feel you could use my support!
Reach out
Look, if you are struggling – and many of my clients say that they have been struggling for a long time, often years – then don’t go on struggling all on your own. Reach out and get the support that you need.
I look forward to hearing from you.
M: 07757 859650
E: bradley@thecousnellingshed.co.uk
Or you can find my contact details by clicking here.