How We Charge

Many people wonder why counsellors and therapists charge what they do. Some of them think we charge too much! So before we explain our unique three tier system: gold standard, low cost and no cost, we'd like to briefly outline some of the costs that are involved in training a therapist and maintaining a professional registration.

If you're not concerned about the components of our costing, you can skip the next few paragraphs. Just click here - or scroll down to Gold Standard, Low Cost & No Cost.

Basic counselling or therapist training can cost anything between $8K to $20K or more for a Masters degree. That's just to get started! Then on top of the usual costs of running an office (which we won't go into here) we have considerable ongoing professional costs in order to bring you the very best and highest qualified people.

To ensure the professional quality of our services we insist that all those who are part of our team be a member of one or more professional associations. You can see the memberships listed on our Meet the Team page. To become and maintain annual membership of a professional association, a counsellor or therapist is required to demonstrate that they have been individually supervised by a more senior therapist for up to 15 hours each year. The cost of this can range between $70 and $200 per hour. Our associations also demand that we undertake up to five days a year of Professional Development to ensure that our skills are current. The cost of this is an average of $200 per day. Additionally we are mandated to take out Professional Indemnity Insurance.

Gold standard, low cost and no cost.

Our team members, listed on Meet the Team offer a unique three levels of charging for their services: gold standard; low cost; no cost.

No cost
Graduate students in training. Judith supervises a number of students who are coming to the end of their training in either a Masters degree or a Diploma in Art Therapy or Transpersonal Counselling. Almost all of our supervisees are mature aged although we do have talented people in their 20's working with us. Only the most talented people are chosen to work with you and they are committed and generous with their time and energy.

Legally, because they are still completing their formal counselling training, they are not allowed to charge.

Any one is eligible to approach these students for counselling.

Click here to see our list of students.

Low cost
Graduate students who have completed their training. Some of the graduate students who have completed their formal training may be willing to take on a few low cost clients while they are gaining experience in the field.

Judith Ayre Associates. Some of our Associates, as part of their service to the community, take on a percentage of low cost clients who otherwise would not be able to afford to pay.

Only those who otherwise would not be able to afford a counsellor or therapist, such as people who are unemployed or on a pension, are eligible to apply. If in doubt, please ask.

Judith Ayre Associate Psychologists. Psychological services are recognized by the government for rebates. Some of our Associates are qualified psychologists and they are able to offer rebates for their services.

Click here to see our list.

Gold standard
Judith Ayre Associates. These are all qualified and experienced people who have completed extensive training in their chosen field and maintain the required standards of ongoing professional development and professional indemnity insurance to qualify for membership of their professional associations.

Click here to see our list.