Wee excerpt from a longer post I am working on...
Another barrier to higher education I have felt the burden of most of my educational journey is cost...
When I first started pursuing higher education there were a lot of barriers. One of the most profound was my mum’s tax credit support stopped. This meant that the wee bit of extra financial support we had stopped. I never understood why. Why would something that is supporting us to improve our circumstances stop as we start to progress?
I have been talking with my mum about this a lot recently in relation to my journey of becoming a therapist. In the last 5-10 years, talking therapy has become a much more acceptable way of mental health maintenance and recovery in Scotland. However, for many years therapy has been somewhat stigmatised, especially in working-class communities. I think about this a lot in terms of the cost to become a therapist.
Bear with me here…. some therapists believe that it’s the relationship between the therapist and the client that makes the biggest impact and change in a person’s life. The idea is that if a person connects with their therapist and feels at ease, they will be able to unpack the layers and begin to understand themselves more clearly. So, if this is true, then surely, we need a range of people from different backgrounds training to become counsellors? This is not to say that you need to have a lot in common with your therapist to be able to connect and relate to each other. However, a common theme I use to hear growing up was “how are they going to understand my situations from studying books”. Of course, there is much more to it, and there are incredible counsellors from a range of backgrounds who have deep empathy and compassion. But surely, we need to be subsidising therapy training so people from more deprived backgrounds with lived experience can train if they wish to do so. There are some grants available but from my hours of research there limited.
Added on to this is the GIGANTIC waiting list that the NHS currently has for talking therapy. The list must be overflowing from the pandemic and often private therapy is unaffordable for people to do long-term if at all. I know from my work that the CAMHS waiting list is over two years.
Although we have so many things to fund as a nation/worldwide to heal from the pandemic (and everything else going on), I believe that the cost of therapy training and therapy, in general, should be subsidised. Similar to some nursing qualifications.
We need more therapy and therapists. I truly believe that having a safe, non-judgement space to share how you feel is as important as exercise, sleep and a “balanced diet”.
P.S. I know there are wonderful counsellors out there providing subsidised rates when cost is a barrier. . I feel this wee blether was more about structural change and support.
Comments