If you’re looking for psychotherapy with a flexible fee structure in DC, there are a number of resources in the area for finding psychotherapists who offer sliding scale fees, typically based on your financial circumstances.
(I always maintain a number of “sliding scale” spots in my practice, for current, ongoing patients who encounter a temporary job loss or other financial problem due to illness, disability, etc., during the course of our work together.)
Here are some of the ways to find sliding scale or reduced fee psychotherapy in the Washington DC area.
Open Path Psychotherapy Collective
The Open Path Psychotherapy Collective is a non-profit nationwide network of licensed mental health professionals offering in-office mental health care—at a steeply reduced rate—to individuals, couples, children, and families in need.
The Meyer Treatment Center
The Eugene Meyer III Treatment Center is the Washington School of Psychiatry’s outpatient mental health clinic.
DCPA (District of Columbia Psychological Association
The District of Columbia Psychological Association (DCPA) has a “Find A Therapist” section where you can choose from a number of criteria, including “Sliding Scale” (under “Other Accepted Payment Options”).
PsychologyToday.com’s “Find A Therapist”
PsychologyToday.com is one of the largest directories of psychotherapists. When you go to the site, enter your preferred Zip code and hit “Search.” Profiles of therapists in or near that area will appear, and when you click on a therapist’s profile, you’ll see a section labeled “Finances,” where the therapist indicates if they offer sliding scale fees.
The Meltzer Center
Located in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences building on GW’s Foggy Bottom Campus, the Meltzer Center: Psychological and Community-Based Services provides a wide variety of low-cost mental health services to adults, children, families, and couples in the Washington DC area. It is a training clinic for PhD students in the Clinical Psychology program — all of the doctoral student clinicians are supervised by members of the GW clinical psychology faculty.