Therapy fees in London and online
What a session costs, what is included, and whether your insurance covers it.
What a session costs, paying directly
| Session | Length | Fee | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free 15-minute consultation (book, opens in a new tab) | 15 minutes | Free | |
| Initial assessment (book, opens in a new tab) | From 50 minutes | £80 | |
| Standard session (book, opens in a new tab) | From 50 minutes | £80 | |
| Single session therapy (book, opens in a new tab) | Up to 60 minutes | £100 | |
| Specialist treatment (EMDR, addiction) (book, opens in a new tab) | Up to 90 minutes | £150 | |
| Reports and non-clinical work | Per hour | £100 | |
| In person, at The Minster Centre (Queen's Park) (book, opens in a new tab) | By arrangement | +£15 |
These are self-pay fees. In-person sessions add £15 to the session fee, which covers the room hire at The Minster Centre. If you are claiming on private health insurance, sessions are billed to your insurer at a separate rate, which can be higher. What you pay depends on your policy, and I will confirm the figure with you before the first session.
Your insurance may cover this
I am recognised by AXA Health, Aviva, Vitality, WPA, Allianz and IPRS Health. If you hold a policy with any of them, therapy may already be paid for. It is usually one phone call to your insurer before you book.
How paying works
Therapy here is paid privately and session by session, and the price you see is the price you pay. There are three rates: a standard session of fifty minutes or more is £80, single session therapy of up to an hour is £100, and specialist work such as EMDR or addiction treatment is £150 for up to ninety minutes. If we meet in person at The Minster Centre in Queen's Park, £15 is added to the session fee, which covers the room hire.
Payment confirms the booking and holds the hour, and it is taken by card or bank transfer, through Stripe or Revolut Business, before we meet. An invoice is issued for every payment, which is the document your insurer or your employer will normally ask for. Psychological services from a registered practitioner psychologist are exempt from VAT, so nothing is added on top of the fees above.
If you are claiming on private health insurance the arrangement is different: the claim is authorised first, I invoice your insurer directly, and you may pay nothing at the time of the session. The rate your insurer is billed can be higher than the self-pay rate above, and what you end up paying depends on your policy and on any excess it carries. Please check with your insurer before you book, as most of them will tell you in a single phone call.
Out of pocket, what private therapy costs in London is what most people are really weighing up, and it is a fair thing to ask about openly. Prices across the UK vary widely for the same hour, and a low rate can at times mean a trainee on placement, while a high one can mean a central London address that you are partly paying for. My work is brief by design and it is meant to end, so the figure worth weighing is not the hourly rate on its own but what a whole course of treatment costs, which is the sum the calculator on this site works out for you. That is also something we can look at together in the free fifteen minutes, before you commit to anything.
Weighing up whether it is worth it?
The calculator puts these fees next to what research suggests brief therapy gives back, and it shows its assumptions instead of hiding them. It needs no sign-up.
Open the toolQuestions about paying
- Do I pay before or after the session?
- Payment confirms the booking and secures the slot. The exception is insurance, where the claim is authorised first and I invoice your insurer.
- How many sessions will I need?
- The work is brief and focused by design. Some people get what they came for in one or two sessions. Others use a longer block. I will tell you plainly when I think we have reached a natural stopping point rather than letting it run on.
- Is the first call really free?
- Yes. Fifteen minutes, no cost and no obligation. It is not a therapy session, it is to work out whether this is the right fit for you.
- What if I need to cancel?
- With at least twenty four hours' notice there is no charge: we find another time, and that is the end of it. Inside twenty four hours the session is charged in full, as the hour was held for you and cannot be offered to anyone else at that notice. Cancellation fees may be waived for genuine emergencies, such as sudden illness or a family emergency, so please tell me if something unavoidable comes up. Rescheduling works the same way and needs the same notice.
- What does it cost per hour?
- A standard session is a minimum of fifty minutes for £80, which is the clinical hour. Single session therapy runs up to sixty minutes for £100, and specialist treatment, which needs the longer slot, up to ninety minutes for £150. Nothing is billed by the minute, and the clinical notes and the planning between sessions are part of the fee. Written reports and comprehensive assessments are the exception, as they are substantial pieces of work in their own right and are charged by the hour at the rate in the table above.
- Do you offer blocks or packages of sessions?
- No, and that is deliberate on my part. You pay for each session as you come, so you are never holding credit for work that we have not yet agreed to do together. The work here is brief by design, and buying ten sessions in advance quietly assumes an answer to a question we should be asking as we go.
- Is there VAT on top?
- No. Psychological services from a registered practitioner psychologist are exempt from VAT, so the fee you see is the fee you pay. An invoice is issued for every payment, which is what you will need if you are claiming on insurance or putting the sessions through an employer.
Not sure which session you need?
Book a free 15-minute call. We can work out what would actually help, and there is no cost and no obligation.
