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Internet Counseling Fees
By: Dr. Suzanne LaCombe, November 14, 2007.
Online counseling has taken off in the last year and many people who wouldn't find it convenient or easy to see a therapist face-to-face, are embracing internet therapy wholeheartedly.
I don't actually do online counseling, but I am a member of the International Society for Mental Health Online where I learned about e-therapy. I gathered the following information from a representative sample of online therapists' websites.
Online counseling takes different forms, from email to phone to videoconferencing. You can receive one-on-one counseling or be part of an online chat group moderated by a counselor.
Fees range as widely as they do in person-to-person therapy, although they appear to be slightly less than what an in-person appointment might be. Generally speaking, the more experienced the therapist is, the higher the fee will be.
Here's a sample range that I gathered from our ISMHO members who are, for the most part, online therapists. You can find fees both lower and higher than these.
Some fees charged are on a per-minute basis and can range from $1-1.50 a minute (as with Kasamba in the ad below). Other therapists offer the traditional half-hour to one hour rate.
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$30.00 - $60 for 30 minute chat session (sometimes called TherapyChat)
$70.00 - $120 for 60 minute chat session
$110 - $145 for a monthly package - might include for instance 6 - 8 email exchanges. Or, a package of 6 emails could vary from $190 - $245.
Email Session: $28 - $35 per 30 minutes eTherapy Session.
Email and video email exchange per 30 minute session: $30
The advantage of "email video" is that it gives you the benefit of the same response time delay of emails but provides your online counselor with audio-visual cues (i.e. body language and speech cues). These are helpful to the counselor who can then better meet your needs.
The length of a "session" in cyberspace varies, as in person-to-person counseling (i.e. 50 - 60 minutes).
One session could also be one email exchange. The fee for this could range between $20 - $45. Sometimes counselors offer a discounted package for a certain number of emails.
Hope you find that helpful!
Dr. LaCombe
Related Topics
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