Back in November 2021, I developed a tiered financial contribution plan. I remain deeply committed to providing affordable sessions for therapists, groups, and organizations, and affordability also applies to me! So I am updating my contribution plan to reflect my financial support needs while sustaining affordability for therapists.
Here are my financial contribution guidelines for a 50-minute consultation session for established therapists (borrowed and modified from In Flow & Free):
Tier 1: In need of significant financial support = $100-25
Choose this option if you need the utmost consideration and support for your financial situation. Perhaps you are a recent graduate and just started your first job at a non-profit. Perhaps you are starting up your private practice and your finances are unknown or unstable. Perhaps you are paying off your student loans. Perhaps your financial situation has changed drastically. You need to be financially supported, as fully as possible, and this option creates a path for you to contribute what you can towards your own professional growth, while making sure to honor your financial constraints and limited resources. Or perhaps you are in need of more frequent support and finances are a barrier.
Tier 2: In need of consideration for financial support = $125-150
Choose this option if your financial reality is often precarious and not quite stable enough to commit more towards sessions. Perhaps you are making ends meet but still have a lot of bills to pay. Maybe an unexpected and urgent expense presented itself and has made a dent in your bank account. Maybe your cash flow is mostly stable, but sometimes deeply changed. Expendable income isn't available to you.
Tier 3: In need of some consideration for financial support = $150-175
Choose this option if you know that even though you sometimes stress about money, that you have more stable resources and that you can consistently make your financial ends meet and still have a bit left over. This option is an honest and thoughtful way of committing to the wider community who may not have the same access to financial wealth and privilege that you may have. And you understand that having a “scarcity” belief system doesn’t necessarily reflect scarcity in your bank account.
Tier 4: Not in need of consideration for financial support = $200-300+
While this tier doesn’t necessarily reflect your emotional or spiritual state of well-being, choose this option if you have consistent and stable financial resources. In this moment you are fully aware of your financial privilege to support yourself and others. You are aware that committing to the cost of this session will not negatively impact your life in any momentary or lasting ways.
The financial contribution plan requires reflection on our privileges. Please take some time to consider your financial life and determine an amount of money that will be manageable for you. Consider how you benefit from generational wealth. Consider how your contribution can support therapists with less financial stability. Consider how you struggle with finances.
Your financial contribution funds:
my time and effort in session
therapist with financial struggles who contribute at lower tiers
three unlicensed supervisees in weekly supervision at significantly lower rates
emails, texts, and quick phone calls between sessions
facilitative technologies (i.e., calendly, doxy.me, thinkific, computer, pandadoc, gmail, phone).
Additionally, therapists typically consult with me because I offer a harm reductive, trauma-informed, anti-oppressive, striving-for-liberation approach to the therapy room. While these approaches are becoming more common in organizations and practice, there is a still a significant gap in consultants offering support at these intersections.
While we will discuss your financial contribution during our next session, you may change your financial contribution at any time. For example, perhaps you commit to Tier 3 but then a huge unexpected expense comes through. Simply talk to me and we will adjust your contribution as needed.
Additional updates:
My office hours have expanded! I am in session from 10a-4p on Fridays with no limitations on the amount of sessions! This change is occurring because my dissertation is no longer my main focus! Yay! I can accommodate more frequent sessions as needed (let's talk first).
I will collect your full fee if you cancel within 24-hours of your session. I am chronically ill and I miss sessions and pay for them so I am setting the same expectation for my practice. When you cancel, I will email this policy to you as a reminder.