Why I'm increasing my fees
How you benefit from increased fees
However, my story is a little different. Due to everything going on, I have deliberately kept my fees prices lower during this time. I understand times are hard, and I’ve done my best to keep counseling affordable.
But the time has now come to update my fees. In this article, I’m going to break down what is changing and why.
So, in this blog post, I’m going to explain why my prices are increasing on the 1st of July 2023 (because, to be honest, they really should) and how you can still get counseling and coaching at the current price.
Let’s get started…
My fee structures
How much will I charge for counseling/ psychotherapy?
My current price for our counseling starts at €65.
A typical client pays between €65 and €80. I’ve charged this much since June 2022.
The new pricing structure will be €110 for counseling. For anyone located in Austria, there’s a reimbursement from their health insurance available. ÖGK refunds currently €31.48 and most other health insurances refund a higher rate.
So, if you’ve paid €80 so far, there’ll be no increase to be paid by yourself as long as there’s a mental health issue that can be reimbursed by your health insurance.
If you you’re paying privately for counseling or coaching, the increase is about 28%.
Now, that may sound like a lot, but below I’ve broken down the main reasons I’ve increased my prices. I want to be as transparent with you as possible, and explain why this is.
1. I have completed 10 years of counseling training and got fully licensed by the health ministry. That means I am now a fully licensed person-centered psychotherapist.
Pretty much at the same time, I graduated from 10 months of relationship coaching training.
2. About 3 months ago, I decided to quit my employed job in youth counseling, so that I’m serving fewer clients and can spend more energy and time with each client. Maybe you haven’t experienced it yet, but I’m also working in between sessions.
There are not only notes and reflections of each session but also very practical tasks like networking and helping clients find the right psychiatrists or getting psychological diagnostics, more often than not, also referrals to other specialized doctors, physiotherapists and other helpful institutions.
Further, I do answer emails anytime in between sessions and if any urgent struggle or question comes up in between sessions you don’t have to wait another 4 days. Many clients use this opportunity, especially at the beginning, until their life gets more stabilized.
3. I’m very flexible with appointments and if anything urgent comes up or your work-schedule just changed, I’m usually able to reschedule withing the next 24 hours.
4. As I’m investing myself heavily in training and education, I usually have suitable books and worksheets around - not just recommendations but also books handy to be borrowed and handouts. So, if you enjoy working through your issues on a cognitive level, I do support you with material as well as “homework”.
5. For obvious reasons, I keep counseling and relationship coaching separated. Nevertheless, I’m the same person and obviously there’s a pretty wide overlap between relationship coaching and counseling. So, my clients benefit in either way from my large investment in working on relationships in counseling and coaching. And as I am licensed for counseling and relationship coaching separately, both of the regulatory body’s require me to keep studying separately. So, just in order to those regulations, you can be sure that I am highly invested in further training and ongoing supervision.
6. You may have realized that I graduated from the relationship school in Colorado, I speak Arabic and French (besides English and German) and I have rich work experience with intercultural relationships between people – as well as within themselves. I have been working with migrants, third-culture-kids, refugees and grown-up children from bi-cultural families throughout my life.
I have grown up in a family with intercultural relationships over generations, used to live close to the border German-French-border and continued to study and live the challenges of being a foreigner and crossing bridges from one culture to another.
Consequently, most of my clients come from intercultural backgrounds. And although it’s easily forgotten as it became my nature, but traveling between continents, studying abroad, learning languages and connecting with people from different countries and cultures requires some investment.
But honestly, I see it as the only way to really get the challenges of an intercultural life.
When will my fees increase?
The fees will increase to €110/ session on the 1st of July 2023.
Why am I justifying my fee increase?
It would have been far easier for me to (silently) update my fees without writing an article about it, so why did I feel it’s necessary to do this?
The honest answer is transparency. It’s not easy for therapists to increase their prices, and it’s not fun for clients to pay more than they have done before.
I wanted to explain exactly why I have to change things. I’m not raising my fees ‘just because’, I’m raising them for valid reasons. And all those reasons actually benefit you, the client.
My hope is that you still invest in counseling, and my transparency is just how I generally want to show up in the counseling- and coaching relationship.
How to work with me for cheaper
We won’t be increasing our prices until the 1st of July. This means if you sign up for coaching now, you’ll be saving 30%.
For psychotherapy, the reimbursement will take on the increase.
If you’re looking for psychotherapy, and you can’t afford the fees, please check out “Psychotherapeutischer Bereitschaftsdienst” as they adapt fees according to the income and I tend to open up a few spots to them.
So, I don’t offer reduced fees/ Sozialtarif myself because I don’t want to negotiate or check out my client’s financial situation. But if you’re in need, please don’t hesitate to ask them if I have currently a reduced spot available.
