It’s a good question. £45 is a lot of money. We really get that. So I thought I would explain why we charge what we do. 

Firstly, to train to be a counsellor it takes around 4 years just to qualify and that cost a lot in training fees. That doesn’t include any specialist training post qualification. 

Once a counsellor is qualified they are required to continually train each year and pay for good quality continued professional development training. 

To become a counsellor, all counsellors have to have a lot of their own personal therapy (we have all been paying clients!) 

Counsellors have to pay for clinical supervision each month to work at processing their client work. 

The fee for a 50 minute session does not include all the work outside of that session for any notes, reports or other input that may be needed. 

Counsellors pay an annual fee to belong to a professional body as well as paying for their own insurance. 

If counsellors advertise, or belong to an online listing, there is a fee for this. 

If counsellors are self-employed, they have to pay tax and national insurance. This includes paying accountancy fees. 

Counsellors have to pay to rent a room to be able to see their clients in a professional space. 

At Lighthouse43 we have to pay for the building including heating as well as other building and maintenance costs. 

We know that counselling fees can seem expensive and that it is a lot of money to find, but I hope that this explanation goes some way to answer why it costs what it does.