I was asked about how to do therapy on a budget . . .
First I find it necessary to say that you do not need therapy in order to experience the healing that you want. You can and are able to manage your depression as well as all of your mental health on your own. You are fully equipped and while it is difficult to feel that empowerment while in the midst of a depressed state of mind, or the panic of anxiety, or. a sense of helplessness – it is nevertheless still true.
That being said, it is good that you are thinking about therapy as it generally can be very helpful. I typically would make this a tangential sermon in some existential or philosophical train of thought – but I will keep it practical as I am making assumptions about the tolerance for intellectual thinking among the budget conscious.
So, ideas I can offer to approach doing therapy on a budget (although it is kind of painful for me to say that knowing that the old addage of you get what you pay for is true even in this profession). So, here are my suggestions.
Sliding Scale
Counselors and therapists sometimes work on a sliding scale. This means that they adjust the fee that is charged based on the income of the client. While the scale itself may vary in range depending on the therapists willingness to discount their service – you can cut the cost of therapy in half. Whether or not they charge a flat fee or if they charge on sliding scale – this is typically advertised on their website or profile. When in doubt, it is easy to ask.
Low-Income Programs
There are free community mental helath programs (depending on where you live) that you may be able to access. To find a program that is in your area, try reaching out to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) helpline, which is a great organization. You can also tap into the government offering through MentalHealth.gov. While local free or reduced rate programs may cater to a specific population or geographic region you will find that generally all therapists and counselors are trained to work with depression, anxiety, and emotional regulation.
Therapy Apps
So, you have tapped into the online therapy apps – I am assuming – which you have learned is pretty affordable by comparison but still may be out of your budget. Engage with them to ask if they have opportuntities for scholarships. Contact@betterhelp.com. They often have free trials that are a week or a month long. While it may not be much in terms of establishing a long term therapeutic relationship, there are therapist who are trained and do quite well with just a handful of sessions and use directive approaches that are short term effective. Outside of the virtual counseling world you can also find some decent mental health apps like CALM, HEADSPACE, and EXPECTFUL. They are not a subsitute equal to the benefits of a dynamic talk therapy, but in all fairness they offer more benefit than some of the therapists that you will find in the “budget” sectors.
Local Colleges
IF you happent to live in a town or city that has colleges or universitites you may want to approach them. The counseling centers on campus are not just for the students as clients but many of the centers have a training lab where students who are in training to become counselors have supervised labs. Their fees are commonly less, and frankly you can get decent counseling here as the trainees are being supervised by master counselors, and are receiving live guidance during sessions. Plus they are still green, vulnerable, relateable and haven’t developed professional bad habits, invulnerability, or over idealized themselves yet.
Crisis Prevention Lines
While agian not much in terms of establishing a long term relationship, if you needed a one time conversation that might lend itself to be productive in the short term, try a crisis line. You may not feel you are in an emergency type of crisis, but these loesn are not like 911. There are trained professionals (equal to or even greater degree of training than in person therapists) who are manning the phones and who will be eager to provide support, guidance, and even insight for free.
Ask for ProBono
You can always ask your therapist or a therapist you are shopping if the have met their pro bono quota. Pro Bono is just a fancy way of saying services for free. A common pracitce amoung human service professionals that we are called to engage in as part of our discipline. Depending on their State of practice they may be required to provide a percentage of their time towards pro bono counseling. At any rate it is cited as a best practice art of the ACA ethics code to offer pro bono services as part of our advocacy work.
I hope these suggestions have been helpful. IF you have any questions for us please reach out at David@reamtexas.com
