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Accepting Payments for Your Private Therapy or Counselling Practice

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The GoCardless content team comprises a group of subject-matter experts in multiple fields from across GoCardless. The authors and reviewers work in the sales, marketing, legal, and finance departments. All have in-depth knowledge and experience in various aspects of payment scheme technology and the operating rules applicable to each. The team holds expertise in the well-established payment schemes such as UK Direct Debit, the European SEPA scheme, and the US ACH scheme, as well as in schemes operating in Scandinavia, Australia, and New Zealand. See full bio

Last editedJun 20232 min read

Making therapist payments has traditionally been done via cash and cheque, with many therapists and counsellors today still reluctant to start including credit card payment. For therapists in some practices, digital payment processing can seem daunting and even expensive due to extra costs.

However, the benefits of including a credit card payment for therapists as an option are undeniable, with charges being negligible. In this guide to therapist payments, we’ll discuss the many benefits of digital payment processing for private therapy and counselling practices.

Benefits of credit card payments for therapists

There are significant benefits for accepting credit card payments for therapists and counsellors. Consider that credit card payment for therapists can:

make it more likely you will be paid on time
enable you to expand your services
allow you to adjust due amounts easily
improve the customer experience

Now let’s break down the various benefits and see exactly how a private therapy or counselling practice can benefit from accepting credit card payments.

Higher guarantee of payment

Accepting debit cards, credit cards, and the likes of contactless payments, opens up more possibilities for customers to pay for their session on the spot, which massively reduces the chance of them not being able to in that moment. This helps therapists optimise cash flow as there will be no more customers forgetting the cheque book at home, or not being able to get to a cash machine, as the customer can pay through multiple other methods.

Teletherapy appointment payments

Digital payment processing is important if you offer any teletherapy or virtual counselling appointments over the internet. Such methods became very popular during the recent pandemic and their convenience, along with ever better video conferencing technology and specialist apps, have made teletherapy a new staple of private therapy and counselling practices.

Offering such services makes the option for credit card payment for therapists necessary, as the alternative would be waiting on a cheque through the mail that might not even arrive or have sufficient funds when you try to cash it.

Flexible payment totals

If you have a strict therapist pay per hour system in place and some customers want to run over their allotted time, then it is easy to adjust the amount due for the extra time. This can also work wonders for therapists who offer additional products to customers to take home with them.

Cancellation and late fees

Therapist payments are not just limited to the therapy session itself, as many practices charge fees for time wasting cancellations and arriving late. Such behaviour can impact a therapist’s earnings and so it is only fair that a late arrival or late cancellation incur a fee.

If you have such a policy that involves charging extra for lateness, missed appointments or a late cancellation, then such fees are much easier to charge with digital payment processing via a credit payment for therapists.

Improved customer experience

Most customers today will actually prefer the option to pay via debit or credit card. Few people prefer cheques these days, and the same goes for carrying around significant sums of cash. Remembering to bring the chequebook or stop by a cash machine can be a hassle, so accepting credit cards is actually a good bit of customer service.

Recurring payments for regular customers

The nature of therapy and counselling means that therapists usually have many regular customers who return time and again. They could be weekly or monthly sessions for an extended period of time, or as and when the customer needs the therapist’s services.

For such customers, therapists and counsellors can set-up a direct debit for recurring payments, with recurring or adjustable amounts. The Go Cardless payment system is ideal in this situation, allowing therapists to charge their regular customers quickly and easily without fuss.

We can help

GoCardless is a global payments solution that helps you automate payment collection, cutting down on the amount of financial admin your team needs to deal with. Find out how GoCardless can help you with one-off or recurring payments.