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Low-fee couple psychotherapy

About the service

Couple therapy is provided by experienced trainees who are undertaking an advanced training in psychotherapy. This is a service that takes into account your particular financial circumstances and the fee range is from £20 to £50 per session. We do our best to accommodate individual needs with regard to location and times available for therapy.

Please note that the Low Fee Service is subject to availability.

Commitment

To be considered for a low fee vacancy, you will need to make a 12 month minimum commitment, involving one session per week.

Below is a list of the current vacancies available for low-fee psychotherapy. The list gets updated every few weeks.

To enquire about a vacancy, please email: clinicalservices@bpf-psychotherapy.org.uk

Current Vacancies

To enquire, please email: clinicalservices@bpf-psychotherapy.org.uk

  • Central London W1 area
  • West London W11
  • North London N19
  • Wiltshire area
  • North West London NW11

Following your initial contact with Clinical Services and if there is a suitable vacancy on our intensive 3x weekly low fee service we will put you in contact with one of our Low Fee Service organisers.

After talking to the Low Fee Service organiser, if appropriate, you will be sent a questionnaire. Once this is returned along with your administration fee of £30 the Low Fee Service organiser will look at your questionnaire and if appropriate will arrange for you to have a consultation;

You will be offered a consultation with a senior therapist. This will provide you with an opportunity to explore your needs and readiness for intensive 3x weekly treatment; The fee for this consultation is £75 and if two meetings are required it will be £100. This payment is paid directly to the therapist offering you this appointment and is non refundable.

There is no guarantee that there will be a referral to one of our trainee therapists after the assessment consultation.  A decision concerning a potential  referral for intensive low fee therapy will be taken by the Clinical Team after the consultation with the senior therapist.  Psychoanalytic psychotherapy 3 x weekly is not always the most suitable form of help and it may be considered that an alternative form of therapy would be more appropriate. The Clinical Team consider each application carefully and may make alternative recommendations.

Reports may be requested, with your permission, if you have had previous contacts and consultations with similar services;

If it is decided that this is not the best form of treatment for you other options will be suggested;

Where possible we do our best to accommodate individual needs with regard to location and times available for therapy. 

Where possible we do our best to accommodate individual needs with regard to location and times available for therapy. 

What is couple therapy and how can it help?

Most couples experience difficulties in their relationship at some point, often to do with communication or life transitions. Problems might remain unspoken and may resolve spontaneously. But sometimes things may continue unaddressed and couples can get stuck, caught in cycles of recrimination and misunderstanding. This is when seeking therapy as a couple can be helpful. By ‘couple relationship’ we mean the diverse range of adult partnerships regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, living together or apart, with or without children, and throughout the life cycle

What kinds of difficulties might couple therapy help with?

Though not an exhaustive list, some of the issues which can be helped by couple therapy include the following: loss and bereavement, separation and divorce, the decision about whether to separate, the impact of affairs, problems with sex, sexuality and gender, illness and death, fertility and conception, parenting, extended family problems, adoption and kinship care. For many, it’s not just that there are difficulties in the relationship, but that it is difficult to talk about them.

What happens in the sessions?

Couple therapy provides a safe setting, where you can work with your therapist to get greater clarity and understanding about your situation. It will help you to identify the roots of the difficulties in the relationships and find new ways of thinking about your difficulties and resolving your problems, facilitating positive changes for both partners and the couple relationship. There is now a strong evidence base for the effectiveness of couple therapy for both individuals as well as the couple’s relationship, and couple therapy is recommended in the NICE guidelines particularly for depression.

Is it just about making people stay together?

Couple psychotherapy does not attempt to just keep a relationship going at all costs. Rather, couple therapy works to support the couple, as well as each individual partner in the relationship, to reach whatever decision is right for them, including considering whether either or both partners could benefit from additional support individually or whether separation is the best way forwards. 

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