What do you think is a fair price for a therapy session?

It depends how long a session is, costs of renting & maintaining premises, qualifications & experience of the therapist.

MaryTheBookeeper
Your a little out of touch. You would have paid £60 about 10 yrs ago. I pay £50 for a full body massage.

Depending on what the therapy is but my physio/chiropractor charges £40 for 45mins which I think is cheap to be honest.

£40 for 50 mins counselling round here. I think that’s cheap. My friend who goes says it’s expensive but she goes and spends that easily in different ways that won’t do her as good as talking therapy. You have to weigh it up.

"qualifications & experience of the therapist" like the story of the £500 invoice from the plumber after ten minutes work, which when queried was itemised as "For hitting the pipe with a hammer - 10 minutes work - £15. For knowing where to hit it, and how hard - 30 years training and experience - £485"

My son found a private therapist for £60. I think that was for an hour session.

What sort of therapy Marythebookeeper? If psychological therapy look at the BACP on line directory - www.bacp.co.uk/search/Therapists - many therapists will quote prices per session (usually 50 or 60 minutes). If you check your area you can see the average cost.

If you are quoting £120 a session for counselling therapy they are having a laugh! Most therapists would charge half that some slightly more expensive some cheaper. I don’t care how experienced she is that is exploitation.

As a well qualified experienced therapist this is my opinion. Before you go to any therapist ask to check out their qualifications, experience, what kind of therapy they specialise in, are they registered ( they must be in law) do they belong to a professional organisation such as BACP or UKCP, or BABCP . They are not working ethically if they are not, and whether they have professional indemnity insurance. ( they are very foolish if they work independently without it and most salaried posts expect it . No bona fide therapist would object to any of these questions and many private counsellors have a website which will tell you the answers to these queries and what their fees are, some do a sliding scale of fees, some do a flat rate for all but £120 is excessive.

Look at BACP website and find the therapist list or go onto Counselling Directory.Com for therapists and fees for your area

Physiotherapy? Aromatherapy?pyschotherapy?

some do a flat rate for all but £120 is excessive.

I know you've said you're a well qualified and experienced therapist but it could very well be that the 120 is well worth paying based on the expertise and qualifications of the therapist. It can also very much depend on where in the country the person is. And just now long is a session? Is it one of those ones where a person could be cut off mid sentence due to the next client/patient being in the waiting room or is time built into each session in order to accommodate people needing more time.

I would pay 120 and more if the person I was seeing was good and it wouldn't matter if another professional just down the road was charging less. There would be something about the two of them that meant I thought the 120 was worth paying.

I use private medicine a lot in the UK due to family circumstances and it's generally that in the psychiatric and mental health field. I find that when you get down to the smaller print in a professionals background information you can usually see why some people are able to charge way more than others - even though it may not be apparent initially.

BibiSarah
Most counselling therapy sessions are between 50-60 minutes that’s up to the therapist. You don’t work in more time or as much time as the client “needs” that’s not how it works in professional therapy. Neither would a psychologist or psychiatrist do that, it’s not open ended there has to be a professional boundary.

A good therapist will always structure the session so the client leaves feeling in a good place. Paying a lot more than most therapists doesn’t mean you are getting a better service. It can be a con to make you think that- smoke and mirrors.

Better to carefully chose a therapist who is well versed in the area of expertise you want and with whom you feel comfortable enough to have a trusting relationship. That has nothing to do with how much they charge but how they make you feel

Very good post TwiceAsNice . I feel like I wasted a lot of money paying for therapy for a loved one a few years back . The first few sessions seemed okay but then it was just a fortnightly dose of nothing , going over and over the same old stuff. There was no moving on and certainly no sign of the good place . At one point he suggested I set up a direct debit for a small discount at which point I pulled the plug.

In hindsight I wish I had saved the money and paid more for some better qualified help .

From a very recent enquiry I know that a consultation with a private psychiatrist is upwards of £600 for one hour . Completely out of my reach.

Rates vary in different parts of the country, in the south west its £40-£60 in general. I imagine London is vastly different. For £120 an hour, I would expect some special expertise.

I was looking for a counsellor for someone and was quoted £70 an hour the cheapest rate was £50 an hour but someone who had less specialist areas (this was Dorset) she wasn’t able to afford that as it was equivalent to her weeks shopping budget so she is having to wait to see if there is any chance of NHS help on the very long waiting list !

It does vary. Which area of the country, what level of qualification and experience, reputation of therapist. The key is finding someone with the expertise in the area you're most focussed on. There should be telephone discussion after which you and the therapist decide whether you meet for an initial assessment session. The cost of each session will be made known at that point. The first session concludes with an agreement either to close there, or to commit to five-six sessions. That should ensure things don't drift in the way gillybob describes.
I don't see £120 as excessive but would expect a well qualified therapist with an excellent reputation and probably a wait list

In this area it’s £50 - 75 per 1 hour of CBT type counselling with a BACP registered professional.
It’s roughly the same for a full body massage at a Spa or Beauty salon.
Since a hair cut and colour can cost more than that at a high end Hair salon, I don’t think £65 for an hour of therapy with someone who is well trained is too much. The benefits can be lifelong.

I pay £80 for an hour on zoom, CBT.

I have regular Acupuncture. An hour with my highly qualified Acupuncturist is £40.00 for an hours treatment. My daughter in West London pays £60.00.

I've been reading about a therapy which works brilliantly for many people and is free - worth a look for anyone and everyone.

www.journaling.com/articles/expressive-writing-a-tool-for-transformation-with-dr-james-pennebaker-ph-d/

My local therapy centre charges minimum donation of £5 for range of therapies . Privately , they are about £30-40 hour , so, £120 is extremely excessive, so please check it out before you pay ?

I paid £35 for a half hour zoom consultancy with a physio from Swindon (highly qualified and known from a previous life before I moved to Norfolk).

£40 -£100 for grief counselling in the Birmingham area. Acupuncture the same. around £50-80
Massages £30-60
Hope this helps

I spent most of my working life as a senior psychotherapist in NHS clinics. It depends what is on offer. If a targeted therapy with a very experienced therapist (say, Cognitive Analytic Therapy or CBT with an expert not a “counsellor”) the initial appointment may well be £120. However, some private clinical psychologists working in expensive premises and relying on you being covered by insurance may also charge that, and may not be particularly skilled or value for money. As others have said, do a little research. Sometimes it seems every other person is a therapist / counsellor and some charge large amounts even if inexperienced, albeit qualified. Check out if they are BAPC, UKCP or BCP etc etc, or a licensed counselling psychologist or a clinical psychologist who has had some skilled therapy training.