Counseling is an Unattainable Service for the Large Majority of the US

Warning: I am about to step onto my soapbox.

Many of you know that the price of mental health services is a topic near and dear to my heart. Counseling is not affordable for a large portion of the people in the United States. I am not advocating that the government take over the health care system, but I am advocating that the mental health professionals aim to make at least some of their time affordable. As someone who is not yet licensed and is green in the profession, I am sure many more seasoned counselors have thoughts on this issue.

However, even in my short time in this profession, I have seen how people fall through the cracks. If people are materially poor then the government will pay for the person’s mental health services. If people have good insurance and a billable diagnosis, then the client can just pay for his or her co-pay, but what about the rest of the population? What about marriage counseling where neither person has a billable diagnosis? What about grad students? What about the working class? What about middle class people with children and every day bills? The list could go on, but you can understand the people who fall through the cracks. We have so many people trained in the mental health profession, yet; still so many people consider mental health services out of reach.

I do believe that mental health professionals should be able to make a living and I know that this is a working profession and not a volunteer job. Mental health professionals have bills just as the rest of the world does, however, we end up with these skills to help people, yet, and so many cannot use our skills because of money. This is a huge problem.

At the end of the day, I am advocating for a mix of clients. If all mental health professionals took just a few clients at a very low fee ($20-$40/hr), this would make a huge dent in the problem. Are mental professionals all so busy and strapped for cash that taking on one or two clients at a reduced fee would break the bank? Doubtful. We cannot save the world, but we can use our helping profession to help people who need help.