Many people who have suicidal thoughts or other challenges need psychotherapy, but cannot afford it. There are options, though, for receiving therapy without giving up other necessities or going into debt. Here are a dozen:
1. Contact your health insurance company, if you have insurance.
Most health insurance companies in the U.S. are required to cover some degree of mental health treatment. Your insurance company can link you with a therapist whose services they cover. If you have Medicare or Medicaid, contact your local office for help. Be warned, though, that many therapists don’t accept insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid, and those who do may have a wait time of several weeks or months.
2. Go to a community mental health center.
These non-profit agencies usually are funded by local government or by revenue from Medicaid and Medicare. To find one in your area, call 211 (or go to the online search tool for 211) or SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 800-662-HELP (4357).
3. Go to a community health center.
Community health centers offer preventive and primary care at no charge to people who meet certain (low) income requirements. Many centers offer integrated care, where mental health and substance use professionals work with patients in primary care settings. To find a community health center near you, go to the HRSA Find a Center site.
4. Look for a therapist who works on a sliding scale.
Many therapists will reduce their fee according to clients’ ability to pay. Therapists who list their information on The Psychology Today Therapist Finder site indicate whether they offer a sliding scale. You can also can therapists individually and ask them if they adjust their fees for people who do not have insurance and cannot afford the full fee.
5. Search for “pro bono” or low-cost therapy in your area.
Many agencies and private therapists offer free or very low-cost therapy to people with low income. For example, some Mental Health America chapters have a network of therapists who provide therapy at no cost to people who cannot afford it.
You can also contact the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill’s helpline, at 800-950-NAMI (6264) or info@nami.org, for names of places that offer free or low-cost therapy.
Or call 211 for referrals. (Not all places in the U.S. have 211 service, but most do.)
6. See if there’s a psychotherapy or psychiatry training clinic near you.
Universities and medical schools usually have training clinics that provide therapy at steeply discounted rates. If you have a university or medical school in town, contact the departments of clinical psychology, counseling psychology, professional psychology, psychiatry, social work, professional counseling, and marriage and family therapy. Even if they don’t have a training clinic, they might have referrals to low-cost services.
7. Check with social service agencies.
You might be surprised at the variety of agencies that provide psychotherapy, including agencies that serve people who are homeless, refugees, immigrants, older adults, gay and lesbian youth, and more. In various cities, some religious agencies, such as Jewish Family Services and Catholic Charities, also offer therapy.
8. Try a service that offers access to low-cost therapists.
OpenPath Collective, for example, lists therapists who charge $30-$60 session. The service charges $49 a year to join. Participating therapists agree to charge the lower rates for OpenPath members.
9. If you’re a student, contact your school or university to see what mental health services they provide.
Children and adolescents receive mental health services more from schools than anywhere else. Universities usually have counseling centers that offer a certain number of free sessions to students.
10. See if your workplace has an EAP.
Short for “employee assistance program,” an EAP provides counseling and therapy to companies’ employees. Your company pays for the service, not you. These sessions are usually quite limited in number.
11. Use online therapy.
Online therapy services have their pros and cons, but they tend to be less expensive than private, face-to-face therapy, and often therapists are more available. Online companies to look into include TalkSpace and BetterHelp.
12. Try group therapy.
Typically offered by therapists in private practice or at agencies, group therapy sessions tend to last longer and cost less than individual therapy.
Do you have other suggestions to share? If so, please leave a comment below.
In addition to using my own ideas, I also drew from the following articles for this post:
Here’s What To Do If You Can’t Afford Therapy
What to Do When You Can’t Afford Therapy
What to Do If You Can’t Afford Therapy, According to an Expert
Copyright 2019 by Stacey Freedenthal, PhD, LCSW. Written for SpeakingOfSuicide.. All Rights Reserved.
Therapy has not helped me. I have decided it puts the therapist on a pedestal, like they’re somehow better than I am and have all the answers. It’s been a huge waste of money, and I have gone many years to different therapists. Not only that, so many therapists and psychiatrists don’t work on a sliding scale, and I find that to be incredibly greedy. Isn’t the goal to help people? Are they REALLY suffering if they get paid $100 an hour versus 150?
Not a single site out there offers any help for people who work for a living.
I’m sorry but I make too much money for me to be put on a sliding scale payment. It’s just 65% of my income goes to housing cost alone, 30% goes to the utilities/property taxes/hoa fee/internet to work from home, and 5% goes to food.
If I didn’t work for a living I’d be covered by medicaid. I am, in fact covered by insurance but the copay for a therapist is $130 for in network. They want to be seen 1-2 times a week, 4 times a month. That’s $520 a month or $6240 a year.
Who has that kind of money that works for a living, but I guess I just have to take it right? I’m not poor enough to matter.
I totally understand you are saying. Sometimes it feels like we are punished for working.
What I have found & find as a Counseling Prof ( I share this also as a Mental Health Prof.) is frustration on finding prof. who are open, & think “outside the box” much like yourself. Academics,Degrees,Training,etc..So Often evolve into a one size fits all script of responses to clients (or guests – I like that word better).Suicide, using the S word, sets off alarms for 90% of Counselors, & their immediate response in their presence is to advise one to call 911- go to the hospital etc. All generic, & not helpful, and the initial words before any conversations begin!!.Finding the right mental health prof. or health care providers is the challenge, A huge challenge !! The stigmas in mental health (& as a Prof,) are real….for 30 years I have Been on a TRD/PTSD trauma journey, I now am aware that unprocessed trauma, fully opened, discussed etc. could be, IS the beginning of what greatly contributes to TRD…& is most likely the root cause. I have found of late that when I study listen & read of Dr. Gabor Mate, I find within my soul gentle, albeit, temporary relief, if I apply the words “Compassionate Inquiry,” to myself. & I can only imagine what it may be like to locate a prof. who endorses that term & believes in its basic theory which is really an approach, unique, needed & so similar to ALL that is written on your site. Your style is Compassion (& compassionate inquiry) & is authentic & not from a textbook script. I have lost two loved ones ages 43 & 46, who Both died by suicide in the last 8 yrs. Both were males, In law enforcement & aviation & I have never seen two indiv. don’t do very hard to live. Both had support systems that I feel were judgemental & often shared, and in non supportive ways, that they needed to “fix themselves” as if this invisible brutal & torturing depression was really a result of negative thinking, and it was up to them to fix themselves, etc…that stigma that mainly reinforces these harmful replies. So !Many people may listen (but how many are skilled, & gifted to really hear, to hear, to be present, to not judge, nor pull out their “textbook script” reply? You are a gift that keeps on giving // where as you shared on this website that the word “suicide ” does not asap freak you out or jump into SOS mode. You listen & hear & hear listen, and are that rare mental health prof. who I believe when working with indiv. practices with compassion, & asks quests, utilizing compassionate inquiry. I now do not readily share in my journey, that I lost two loved ones who died by suicide!! as Each & Every time I have, I have heard, immediately, and before I even begin asking or speaking for help, I hear, “do you know you are now, at a high risk yourself” & …..Stigma has promoted silence & now still At 59, I continue on my journey to locate a counselor who does not practice with that textbook focus, nor asks the needed key ques. I have utilized almost all of the resources you have listed ,as well as Psychology Today. It is a needed site that lists Prof. yes, & their “specialties”, where trauma & grief etc. are almost on everyone’s list (& sadly a high percentage take no ins.) I would mortgage my home to locate a Professional that I feel I can trust & would be a good fit for me.!! I discovered your site today ( I am also a researcher ) & not by accident, per say, but by typing in some serious words such as ” suicide- why ? ” & other S words in desperation, still seeking a way, searching for how to resolve my burning in hell, torturous daily emotional pain… I lack a support system of any kind, so I stop when I read on Many sites reach out to a trusted friend, family member etc. I do not have that & watched 2 loved ones fall into that trap of reaching out, begging for a “soft place to fall” ,…I wished then, and still do, that if only their struggles were due to cancer, drug or alcohol abuses or something that would illustrate visible symptoms !! how diff their lives could of been, may of been.. Yes asking Is important, as is reaching out …but finding that right individual (individuals) is crucial. Today in utter desperation, drowning within, suffocating amidst my emotional inferno, I discovered You, & your site. Today, I live, because of what you have written & with courage & transparency have shared. Today I am afloat, because of your words, your journey & because of YOU. You care, you share, & made a diff. BY BEING THE DIFFERENCE. Thank you,Stacey.
Christal,
I’m very touched by your words. It saddens me that you’re in daily emotional pain, aren’t able to find good help, lack a support system, have lost two loved ones to suicide, and experience all the other challenges you mentioned. And it moves me that you’ve found something of value in what I’ve written here. I thank you immensely for letting me know. Your words really mean a lot to me.
I hope that your own compassionate inquiry comes more easily and often, so that you can experience more relief. And I hope you are able to find the support you seek. And everything else you hope for, including appreciation for the beauty of a butterfly, which you mentioned in another comment, I hope for you, too.
Thanks for sharing here.
Please are you ok? I’ve just read this in a similar place myself. Rejected by mental health professionals. Hurting.
But I care for you after reading your words.
I hope you feel safe.
My insurance won’t pay for a psychiatrist or regular therapy
All I have is therapist through a stepping stones program
And crisis center they all are having 27 clients at a time
A PA writes my meds for my mental illness but is very unable to write the ones that would really help
I’ve had chronic pain for a long time I’ve had 2 serious car accidents and now it’s so bad I just want to die will not do anything deliberately
As I did twice last summer that place was horrible
I have so little access to health care here in this county
My pain is intensified
Every hour every day and will only get worse
I’m 68 and have serious health issues what to do
My friends and family do not know how to handle it they’re all too far away don’t drive and I’m unable to do household maintenance and can’t find caregiver
also will be living on 2nd floor and knees and back are shot
my feet are really bad insurance won’t pay for my shoes is this too long
Can you help in any way
Clinics in this area are worthless and insurance will not pay for stuff that I need for my dental work so they’re rotting
Where do I turn for help
In Pa there is a service called compass where you can find out what services are available to those who live on limited incomes. I saw someone posted from Doylestown (which is in Pa) but I am not sure where you are. I would call my state Probably dept social services and see if they have something comparable or someone who can help you to find out what services are available. I hope you can find some help.
I have tried on many occasions to kill myself the last one worst than the first lol everything from drug overdose to spitting my writs to trying to hang myself. The thought of being dead is 100% more meaningful than my heart hurting even one more second
basically, if you have no money, no need to be a burden on system & planet.
So sad to read & feel all the pain, I get it.
I don’t want to wake up tomorrow, BC I know I’ll feel just like I do today.
I’m 45, odds are I don’t make 46-