Why It's OK for Therapists to Charge for Their Expertise
I mentioned that I would follow up on this topic in my last post, because it’s something that’s been coming up lately. In my post announcing my venture into the course creation world, I briefly addressed the concern of pricing. Here is the excerpt, in case you missed it:
“Some people may think, “But why CAN’T you give it away for free? It’s just information! Therapists don’t make that much, you shouldn’t charge them for things.”
I hear you. But as skilled professionals and businesspeople, we have to consider how much time and effort it took to gain that knowledge, as well as the time and effort it takes to share it. The fact is, many of us are not in a season of life where we can put in hours and hours of work for free. I applaud anyone who can, and I hope to get there someday.”
No one has given me any grief yet, but I’ve seen it happen to others, so I wanted to address it ahead of time. I have seen way too much guilt and shame directed toward therapists for charging reasonable rates for their services. Not just client services, but supervision, consultation, coaching, courses, etc. The hate I’ve seen directed at skilled professionals for charging for their expertise is insane. And what’s more disturbing is that it’s often coming from other therapists. Therapists are perfectly aware how undervalued and underpaid our field is, and lament about it often. Yet when it comes to shame/guilt for charging people, the call seems to be coming from inside the house.
It’s not unreasonable to be adequately compensated for the time, energy, and money we put into things. I actually address this on my website, on my fees page:
“The cost of [services] is based on therapist experience, skill level, training, and the cost to run a therapy business. It takes into account the amount of money, education, and training it takes to become a licensed therapist, as well as the time and effort spent working in the field and completing continuing education to stay up to date in the profession.”
We have business expenses, bills to pay, families to feed, and goals we’re working toward. We all need to find a way of working that works for us. We should be able to do so without being accused of gatekeeping.
There are tons of free websites, blogs, videos, checklists, and resources out there, which folks are welcome to use. But with the sheer volume and quality of information I’ve compiled, and the hours/months/years it took to compile it, it would not make sense to make my offerings free. The knowledge I have about being a therapist took years of effort to cultivate - not to mention a great deal of stress, tears, challenges, mistakes, triumphs, confusion, and personal growth. Same goes for my knowledge of private practice. Plus, I have to account for the hours I’ve spent creating the courses, designing the webpages, recording audio, timing it with the slides, etc. You may look at something and decide it’s not worth that to you, and that’s fine! But remember that there’s a lot behind the scenes that you don’t see.
It’s curious to me that we’re okay with charging fair rates for sessions (although some folks are even divided on that), but not with charging other therapists/people for things like courses or consultation. It took just as much time and energy to get the expertise for both services - so why are we shaming people for charging reasonable rates for these things? And why are some of us throwing ourselves on the sword, charging little to no money for our efforts, only to complain later that we can’t pay our bills and haven’t been on vacation in 10 years?
Now, I use the term ‘reasonable’ rates, because I do agree that some folks are out here being (what I consider) unreasonable. I’ve seen many course offerings where the multiple-thousand dollar price tag does not appear proportionate to the content. Maybe the 1% of therapists who can afford that is their target audience, but I don’t think I’d recommend pricing out that many people. Another pet peeve of mine is the MLM-style approach to coaching and courses. For example, “Learn how to create your thousand dollar course by buying MY thousand dollar course!” or “Make six figures as a coach by buying my $5000 coaching program!” These folks often make wildly overblown claims that they have the perfect solution, or the secret sauce to success. This type of get-rich-quick approach eerily resembles traditional pyramid schemes, so it’s disheartening seeing them in the therapy space. I hate to contradict myself, but I just can’t condone these practices.
With that being said, what’s deemed ‘accessible’ vs. ‘too expensive’ also varies widely from person to person. It totally depends on your personal financial situation, employment situation, mindset toward money, and life circumstances. There are offerings out there that are completely free, objectively cheap, moderately priced, and high-priced. It’s up to each person what they feel is accessible to them. Just because I can’t afford something doesn’t necessarily mean that the price is unreasonable. It’s just not in my price range. That is to be expected in this world. Trying to appeal to everyone is a losing game, because there will always be someone who doesn’t approve - whether it’s your content, your pricing, etc. In that case, your offering isn’t for them. That’s not your audience.
As I mentioned, I’m just not in a season of life where I can work for free. Most people aren’t. I’ve actually tried that already - operating like a charity, undercharging because I felt bad and because “people need it but can’t afford it.” Unfortunately, it put me in a not-great financial spot and created burnout and resentment. It’s great that there are people out there sharing free blog posts every week, or spending hours helping folks without charging them - if that works for them. But just like not everyone can afford a $200 course, not everyone can afford to pour months into creating a course or an offering for free. And that’s okay!
To restate my goal: I just want to help people while also making enough money to support my family. I want to create courses that I would’ve found helpful, with prices I would’ve been willing and able to pay. It’s a tough position - balancing your needs with the needs of others. That’s the nature of our field, I suppose. I’m still figuring out what that looks like. All I can hope for is understanding and open minds while I do so.