PsychList is a project aimed at improving access to therapy. Many people who can't afford therapy are sitting on NHS waiting lists. This project is an extension of Basecamp Counselling Service, a successful, affordable, not-for-profit counselling service based in Wales. The PsychList register is aligned with the same sliding scale of session costs used at Basecamp.
Many therapists are passionate about improving access to therapy for all. PsychList signposts clients to these therapists. These are private practising therapists who have their own session costs but also maintain a space for a low-cost client in their caseload.
During the development of this project we carried out research and discovered that respondents rated session cost and area of therapist expertise as equally the most important factors when choosing a therapist. The third most considered factor was the Professional Body the therapist belongs to. To keep costs down, we decided not to post therapist profiles or attach images to the directory. The running costs of this website are hence kept to a minimum.
PsychList is marketed to all NHS Trusts and GPs in the UK and shared with stakeholders interested in affordable therapy provision.
Basecamp is a not-for profit cooperative providing a counselling service in Chepstow, Wales. We opened our doors to clients both young and old in October 2020. We have volunteer trainee and qualified therapists who work with clients for whom the usual cost of sessions would be prohibitive. Basecamp uses a sliding scale of costs dependent on income and have always offered free sessions to young people who self-refer without an adult's support and/or knowledge.
We aim to fill a gap in failing service provision where only those who can afford sessions can access counselling. People on a low income have a higher prevalence of mental health issues and reduced access to counselling sessions due to cost, it is the needs of this group we try to meet. Although free sessions would be the ideal situation, it is not possible for us to remain open and provide these to everyone.
We use a sliding scale formula based on the mode of therapist charges in the UK. The average cost of a session with a private therapist is believed to be between £40.00-£50.00. Through research, trial and experience, we believe we have made an accurate assessment of a truly affordable rate. The sliding scale goes up in increments of 10% of the average session cost. Starting at £10.00 for people earning up to £10,000 and finishing at £35.00 for people earning up to £35,000.
We opened in 2020 using a Lottery grant and at that time paid for our trainees'supervision. This swallowed up all the funding and sadly we had to choose between closing our affordable service or leaving trainees to fund their own supervision. Closing would have been detrimental to the trainees who seek placements as well as our clients for whom the nearest affordable service is over 25 miles away. We also support our trainee therapists on qualifying and refer clients to them.
Over time we wondered if we could make an impact on a larger scale and raise some money to be able to pay for trainee supervision. We came up with the PsychList Project, a web directory of therapists who also maintain a space for a low-cost client in their caseload. The aims of this project are twofold: to make therapy available to as many people as possible, so that it is not the preserve of the better-off and to create a revenue stream to assist in our endeavour to ensure that the Basecamp counselling model is sustainable and ethical.
PsychList is a register of therapists who want to make a difference to the lives of those people for whom the cost of a session is prohibitive. This register is for therapists who feel dismay at the injustice of our poorly funded NHS Mental Health Services as well the short-term models used to cut costs. This is unashamedly a client centred project. It's a directory which makes searching for a therapist who provides affordable sessions unproblematic, time saving, with the client having the knowledge that the fee is set; enquiring clients won't have to spend a lot of time searching for a fee that is affordable for them.
We will be marketing this register to every NHS Trust and GP practice in the United Kingdom, continually. Imagine the impact a collective of therapists could have on the NHS waiting list.
Running alongside PsychList and forming its own sub-site is ReadingList, a curated repository of news articles, book reviews and academic literature, which we believe will be of interest to both practitioners and to a wider audience. At the time of PsychList's launch users will find a number of research articles covering topics as diverse as social anxiety in children, barriers to the efficacy of CBT and the impact on mental health of long Covid recovery. Eventually we hope that members of the PsychList community will contribute to ReadingList with their own reviews, articles and publications.
It is through the PsychList register that we hope to foster a community of like-minded therapists who are passionate about therapy being available to all, regardless of income. The project has been created to address inequality as well as to help sustain our free and affordable counselling service; profits will go to Basecamp.
The running costs of this website are kept to a minimum, we don't want to develop a register that impoverishes therapists. It would be amazing if this project could make a dent in the amount of people waiting for therapy and give therapists more than just a place to advertise, for a lot less money.
Login