Time
Individual appointments are nominally fifty minutes long, at a time we negotiate. The length of an appointment is not determined by a clock but rather by the process of our meeting and may be less or more than fifty minutes at my discretion.
The Tuesday group meets online between 7:00 – 8:30 pm on Tuesday evenings. We also meet twice a year in person to work together for a day.
I am planning to start a second in-person group in Wellington in 2025.
Money
Unless otherwise negotiated (see below) my fees are nominally as follows (including GST at 15%.):
Assessment
• Individuals: Three hours at $375.00 total cost
• Group: No cost for three week assessment by the group
Consultancy
• One-off consultation $250.00
Individual and Conjoint Psychotherapy
• Once a week: $190.00 per appointment
• Twice a week: $145/appointment or $290/week
• Three times a week: $130/appointment or $390/week
• Four times a week: $115/appointment or $460/week
• Five times a week: $100/appointment or $500/week
Group Psychotherapy
• $180 per month by automatic payment on the first of the month.
Supervision/Group Process
• Individual: $160.00 for fifty minutes
• Group: $300.00 for ninety minutes
Notes
Frequency
There is no requirement to attend psychotherapy more than once a week, however it is often helpful to find a way to do so: This is something you can discuss at your assessment, and it is always possible to vary as part of the work.
Negotiating Fees
The fees listed above are an indication of what I expect you to pay and we may negotiate a higher or lower fee according to your circumstances. The cost needs to be significant to you but not punitive. For example a single person living off a pension might only be able to pay $45/session (roughly a day’s income) whereas it might be appropriate for a lawyer to pay more than the indicated fee. At any point in time my capacity to negotiate will be determined by my current caseload.
Cancellations
When you begin a therapy we will negotiate times to meet at the same time week after week, sometimes over a period of years. As far as is possible I will not make changes to your time and I will give you advance notice of any breaks/holidays. In effect you are leasing a period in my life for the duration of the treatment and if you don’t show up for an appointment, I will still charge you and I will spend the time thinking about you. However if you give advance notice that you will not be able to come, we may either be able to negotiate an alternative time or alternatively I will charge you half my fee for the missed appointment. This is not negotiable.
Paying Off Over Time
Therapy is not intended to be lifelong and you might pay me what you can afford at a point in time knowing you will need to pay off a balance in the future, possibly after your therapy has ended. I don’t charge interest and the invoice I give you at the end of each week has the balance owing printed on the bottom of it. We will need to keep any debt in mind to ensure it does not interfere with the treatment.
Affordability and Change In Circumstances
I don’t believe therapy should ever end because of money alone; rather the economics of therapy forms a part of the work.