Looking for free therapy online?

What you need to know before trying to find it.

You need therapy but can’t afford to pay so you have turned to the Internet to find some support provided free of charge.

There will be three separate groups looking to find free help and you will fall into one or the other.

The groups are:

1: You can’t afford to pay due to your financial circumstances, maybe you have lost your job or are in debt or even going through a divorce and every penny counts and your just keeping your head above water.

2: your under 18 and are not able to pay unless your family pays for the therapy and you can’t bring your self to ask them. One very important consideration for this group is that you are considered a minor and any therapist will have to get permission from a parent or guardian before talking to you.

3: You feel unable afford to pay for therapy but in reality you are making excuses to your self and others, for instance some people are willing to spend £70.00 going out on the weekend or buying new outfits and still say that £ 35.00 or £45.00 for therapy is two expensive, they complain how bad their life is and how much they need help from a therapist but they can still afford that holiday or new TV. If you look closer its either about a total lack of commitment from you or just a way of finding a reason to show others how its not your fault or responsibility.

There is some help and options for the first two groups, and first you need to try and understand why you need help or what for, is it about addictions or anxiety and depression or relationships, this will help you find the charities that specialise in that area and what free services they provide online and/or in your locality.

Some charity organisations do provide free counselling services and other practical help totally free.

How to look and where to find it.

There are some options to think about and what you think will work for you for finding the help and support you need.

1/ for people over the age of 13 there are online self help sites that have a forums or community where you can ask questions and seek information, centred around your pacific problem or a general mental health forum that handles many areas of distress.

They can provide a valuable source of practical information and allow you to talk to people in the same or similar situation to your self and find out how they coped or good quality found help that worked.

2/ do a search for “mental health charity organisations” and see what's available, you can also add your problem in front of the search term such as depression, don’t search for free therapy as it often shows up dodgy sites or web sites that seem to offer free services until you look deeper or have to sign up before you find out that its not free at all.

Ask your local Doctor or medical centre for information on free counselling services, you may have to wait a while but it is still worth adding your name to the list.

Don’t forget to look in the phone book, it maybe the old way of doing things but it can help you find what you need.

3/ there are ways of finding good support for a very limited cost, “easily affordable” and it can work very well.

But it’s about you taking the responsibility for your life and spending the time needed to work through thoughts and feelings with a commitment from you, by spending some time to read this you are probably that type of person if you just give your self the chance to try and not to expect to much to fast it may help you find a new way.

What you need to ask your self if you see free therapy options on any web site.

How can they offer it for free? Therapists need to make a living the same as any other type of worker, do you find free accountancy services or building services, the answer is no! That's because professional people have to pay for equipment and materials and that's the same with any therapist.

We have needs that have to be met, who pays for this web site? Who pays for the supervision and computer equipment? So if its provided for free there are still costs that have to be paid and how do they do that.

Most therapists training last on average two years, I did three years initial training and the cost of training and ongoing supervision needs to be covered, who pays the therapist if you don’t?

I have never found a totally free one on one online therapy service as yet, if you do please send me the information and so II can give that out on this site for others to find the help they need.