If you have spent an evening clicking through therapist websites in Atlanta, you have probably noticed how many of them never mention money. You get a warm paragraph about the therapeutic relationship and then a contact form. That is a strange way to begin a relationship built on honesty, so let me just answer the question.
What it costs in my practice
A 50-minute individual session is $185. A 50-minute couples or family session is $220. The first conversation, a 30-minute consultation, is free, and it exists so you can find out whether we are a fit before any money changes hands.
A sliding scale is available for a limited number of spots. If cost is the thing standing between you and starting, say so during the consultation. I would rather have that conversation than have you quietly decide therapy is not for you.
I do not bill insurance directly. That is a deliberate choice, and the next two sections explain what it buys you and what it means for your wallet.
The monthly math nobody shows you
A per-session number is hard to plan around. What people actually need to know is what this does to a month.
Weekly individual sessions come to roughly $740 in a four-session month, and about $925 in the occasional five-session month. Every other week is roughly $370 a month. Weekly couples work is about $880 a month, and every other week about $440.
Two things are worth saying about those numbers. First, most people do not stay weekly forever. A common shape is weekly at the start when things are acute, then every other week as the work becomes maintenance, then monthly check-ins, then done. Therapy is meant to end. Second, if you have out-of-network benefits, the figure above is not what you finally pay.
What out-of-network benefits actually do
Many PPO plans include out-of-network mental health coverage even when people assume they have none. The mechanism is simple. You pay me at the time of the session. I give you a monthly superbill, which is an itemized receipt carrying the codes your insurer needs. You submit it, and your plan reimburses you directly for whatever portion it covers once your out-of-network deductible is met.
How much comes back varies enormously by plan, so I will not pretend to a number. What I will say is that a fifteen-minute phone call to the member services number on the back of your insurance card usually settles it. Ask these four questions and write down the answers:
- Do I have out-of-network outpatient mental health benefits?
- What is my out-of-network deductible, and how much of it have I met this year?
- What percentage of the allowed amount do you reimburse after the deductible is met?
- Do I need pre-authorization, and how do I submit a superbill?
People are often surprised by the answers. It is also worth knowing that therapy is generally an eligible expense for HSA and FSA cards, which changes the tax math even when reimbursement does not apply.
The real question is not what a session costs. It is what it costs to keep living the way you are living right now. Dr. Aaron J. Kimble
What you are actually buying when you pay privately
Paying out of pocket is not just a bill. It changes the care itself, in four concrete ways.
Nothing about your care is sent to an insurance company. When a plan pays for therapy, it requires a mental health diagnosis on file and can request records to justify continued treatment. Private pay means that does not happen. For people holding security clearances, going through custody matters, maintaining professional licensure, or sitting in executive roles, and for anyone who simply does not want a diagnosis attached to their name, this is the entire reason.
No diagnosis is required at all. Plenty of what brings people to therapy is not a disorder. Grief. A hard marriage. A career that has stopped fitting. The exhaustion of being the strong one. Insurance needs those things translated into a billing code. Private pay does not.
No one outside the room decides when you are done. No session caps, no utilization review, no letter explaining why you still need care.
Sessions are the length they should be. Fifty minutes, not the shorter increment insurers often prefer.
If the number is genuinely out of reach
I would rather point you somewhere useful than have you give up. Ask me about the sliding scale. Consider every other week instead of weekly, which is real therapy and not a consolation prize. Check whether your employer offers an EAP that covers a first block of sessions. Open Path Collective maintains a national directory of reduced-fee therapists. Community mental health centers in Fulton and DeKalb counties offer income-based fees. Being unable to afford my rate is not the same as being unable to get help.
Start with the free half hour
The consultation costs nothing and commits you to nothing. Thirty minutes is enough to tell whether you can talk to someone, which matters more than any credential on a wall. You can book it online, in person in Midtown or by secure video anywhere in the eleven states I am licensed in.
This post is for education, and it isn't therapy, legal advice, or insurance advice. Coverage varies by plan, so confirm the details with your own insurer.