Looking back through some old articles, I found a blog post discussing how much therapists should charge for therapy. When I was starting my practice, I did ask other professionals and people I knew had been to therapy what they thought was a fair fee. At the time I was trying to decide, also, if I could make a living doing this, so I got a wide range of opinions and used those to triangulate my fees. It turns out there are actually a number of factors I had to consider, such as:
How much did I want to make?
How much did I want the business to make?
How many clients did I want to work with in a week/month/year?
What are other people with similar experience/skills charging?
What other services (billing, reduced fees, technology, bottled water) did I want to offer the client?
The prices for services I came up with are, I believe, fair based on my training and experience, the quality of care I want to give, and how I want to live my life. The blog post, above, gave a link to another website that actually lets you look up the average cost of service in your area, so you can know what to expect. Here is the link. I cannot believe I have never heard of this .org before. If you are wanting to estimate the cost of psychotherapy, a common CPT (Current Procedural Terminology) code I use is 90837 (60 minute Individual therapy) and 90847 (Family therapy).
Consequently, I too have walked into a doctor's office (many times) knowing nothing about how much I would be charged when I left. I hate that feeling. My prices are posted in a lot of places, and I am more than willing to discuss them with a client or potential client.