Initial Telephone Consultation: 15-30 minutes (FREE)
Session Length: 90 minutes
Session Cost: $140.00 CDN (plus HST)
Student/Unemployed Rate: $120.00 CDN (plus HST)
Sessions Available: Daytime, evenings and Saturdays.
I believe that counselling should not be so expensive that your biggest problem is wondering how to pay for sessions. I also believe that you should be able to talk to me personally before you book an appointment. You should not have to spend time and money travelling to and paying for an entire session just to find out what kind of counsellor I am.
That’s why I offer a free twenty minute telephone consultation before I book any appointment. The best way to find out about counselling is to talk to me personally and let me address any questions or concerns you may have. That will give you a chance to figure out whether I’ll be the right counsellor for you.
That is also why at $90 CDN per hour, my fee is lower than the average rate for counselling which is approximately $125.00-$175.00 per hour. I don’t charge as much because I know that a lower rate will make it easier for you to meet with me on a consistent basis, and that will make getting the results you want far more likely.
How long and how often are sessions? Why 90 minutes?
My counselling sessions are a full hour and a half long. I add the extra half hour because I have found that an hour does not give most people enough time to fully explore their thoughts and feelings. It takes the average client fifteen to twenty minutes to relax into a session and by the time they are really into it, more than half the session is gone if it’s only an hour long. A hour and a half makes for a deeper and more effective self-examination process.
Ninety minute sessions also mean that you don’t have to attend every week. I see people on average once every two weeks. While you still receive an average of one hour per week of counselling, you don’t have to spend a lot of time and money travelling to an appointment every single week.
I have found that if I make the process more convenient, it will be more consistent and we will get better results. That is why in addition to daytime sessions, I offer appointments during the evening and on Saturdays so you don’t have to miss work to come to counselling.
Does expensive counselling mean it will be better counselling?
Absolutely not! There is little correlation between a counsellor’s fee and his or her level of expertise. There are good and bad counsellors in every price range. A counsellor’s fee indicates more about how they choose to run their practice and their own subjective view of their worth, than their actual impact on clients. The reason I say this so confidently is that a counsellor’s level of expertise is not the determining factor in a positive counselling outcome. In fact, research study after research study demonstrates that the most important factor is the “rapport” between the client and the counsellor. In other words, people want to know you care before they care what you know.
Of course, developing this rapport does have a lot to do with the counsellor’s skill. But the right match is also determined by what kind of person the client is, and what kind of person the counsellor is. In his book Sociodynamic Counselling, Vance Peavey notes “…the person or self of the counsellor is just as important as any method the counsellor may use.” In other words the personality of the counsellor and how comfortable you feel with him or her will make more of a difference than a counsellor’s supposed level of expertise and the fee they charge.
For a no-charge, no-obligation, initial consultation just contact me.