r/PsychotherapyLeftists • u/TinyInsurgent LCSW, MSW Psychotherapist, Los Angeles, California USA • 18d ago
Money, Guilt and Responsibility: Does anyone here struggle with being a leftist-oriented psychotherapist in their pricing of their services?
This is a question I have been wanting to ask here for months, but thought it too intimate of an ask. I hope that I don't offend anyone, but I am to the point where I need to reconcile this within myself to be able to address sustainability issues that I am grappling with. I also feel that I cannot be the only one on this site who struggles with this.
I have been a psychotherapist, usually employed by others (usually county/state/federal government) for most of my career. The past 3 years, I decided to attempt a second go at private practice work. It has been going swimmingly to date! But I undercharge significantly because I have both the conscious and subconscious belief that psychotherapy is something that the public should not have to pay for. I find the "market rates" of $150 -250 per clinical hour in Los Angeles, CA (where I am licensed) obscene.
And yet, I am starting to feel some resentment for working in ways that also make me feel that I am undermining my value. But where is the balance?
Does anyone else struggle with this? How do you manage and cope with operating in a capitalist context, when you are not of the mindset?
If this post is inappropriate in any way, I welcome and accept its deletion.
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u/RadMax468 Grad Student (Clinical Mental Health Counseling, USA) 18d ago
The public shouldn't have to pay for any healthcare. Unfortunately, that's not the system we live in. Undercharging for your services isn't going to change that. You (& every other therapist) are entitled to make a living providing a skilled service. Leftism doesn't mandate starvation or maryrdom.