The short answer is it’s not!
I imagine there are very few people alive today who can remember a time when health care was not free at the point of delivery and so it goes against the grain to have to pay for services that are essentially health. I go to a private dentist and I take a very deep breath when I get the bill, even though I recognise that as an NHS user I probably have no real idea of what health services cost.
Time
The hour that you spend with your therapist is the tip of the iceberg.
- Outside of that we reflect on the time that we have spent together, write notes and loosely plan the next session.
- Some clients present us with unusual things and we may do extensive research, we also spend some time exploring our particular therapeutic interests, learning about conditions that we may not have come across and generally extending our knowledge in order to offer a first class service.
- From time to time we are asked to liaise with other services (with the clients permission), or write reports for the courts or insurance agencies.
All of this takes the time of the therapist and feeds into the hour that you spend with him or her.
Private therapists are part of what are referred to as the caring professions and many of us do genuinely care however we have to earn a living
Overheads
- We have the usual overheads, rent, electricity etc.
- In addition we pay a subscription to our professional body, we have personal liability insurance and we pay the data protection authority a fee as well.
- There are also the hidden overheads: If we wish to remain registered with a professional body we are asked to attend a minimum number of hours of professional development. These are courses that keep us up to date with latest research and development or offer a little more education on a particular topic or introduce us to a new area. Although they are a necessary part of our continued membership of our professional body we have to pay to attend. Many of us attend such courses over and above what is specified because we wish to develop our knowledge.
- In recent years, too counselling has become a degree qualification, and many younger therapists will still be paying off university loans. I myself changed careers and so was not eligible for funding and therefore my degree and post graduate courses were self-funding and I am still repairing the financial damage.
You will see why I make the claim at the beginning that private therapy is not expensive given the amount of time ad expertise goes into the hour that your therapist spends with you.
But much more than that therapy is an investment that you make in your well-being.