You can contact me by sending a message to (0091) 9810932253 or a mail to kaifmahmood@gmail.com . 

Psychotherapy fee, logistics and related matters

The fee for therapy can be difficult to pay for many people, particularly young persons who form the larger proportion of those who reach out to therapists. 

For me, having chosen a helping profession, it is always painful to say no to someone because they will be unable to pay the fee. Yet, one needs to be careful to not stretch oneself too much, and have adequate stretches of rest and reflection if one is to try to be deeply present to another human being. 

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From January 2026, the fee for one session of 2 hours is Rs 4500. If you are unable to pay this amount, we can have a discussion and come to a slightly reduced fee that works well for both of us. 

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There is a cancellation policy. If the client cancels a session, and we are unable to find a substitute time that suits both of us, the client pays 50 per cent of the fee.

If the client is more than 20 minutes late, the session is considered cancelled. 

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If therapy continues for over a year, we increase the fee by 10 percent every year. 

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If the fee is unaffordable for you, I could refer you to another therapist. You can also consider attending a listening circle with me, which is affordable for most people. 

There is one low-fee slot where the client can choose an amount that is a substantial but affordable contribution for them. At the moment, this slot is occupied. 

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Sessions are once a week, unless, occasionally, the client feels a need for an urgent session or more frequent sessions. 

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For those outside India, the fee is Rs 9000. If one is not able to afford this fee, particularly if one is not in a high income country, we can have a discussion and come to an amount that is suitable for both of us. 

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The fee is on the higher side of average, and the reason for that is that the sessions are longer than the conventional therapy session which is 50 minutes long.

A therapy session usually involves the client sharing with the therapist what they are experiencing in the moment and have experienced in the preceding days, the therapist listening deeply and with care, and offering some responses that help a deeper layer of emotions to emerge in the client. There is a slow emergence of a space where difficult emotions and life questions can be held in all their fullness, rather than avoided, so that emotional change and insight come to life.

Over the years, I have increasingly come to feel that for the way in which my work has evolved, 50 minutes – particularly if it is once a week – is far too constricted for such a space to be created, and leads to a more mechanical pattern of communication on my part and a hurried and unloading one on the part of the client, rather than a true, restful dialogue. 

Therefore, I only offer 2 hour sessions now. If the client feels they are done before that, we can end the session then. 

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According to what the client is looking for, therapy can be both short-term or long-term.

Short-term therapy involves helping the client see that there can be different ways of responding to difficult emotions, particularly anxiety, and offering them perspectives through which they can see these emotions and respond thoughtfully when they next emerge, so that they can preserve a sense of calmness and self-understanding.

Although clients usually benefit even from a few sessions and are always free to stop therapy when they wish, I suggest that they try therapy for 25 sessions for its effect to be relatively stable and not dissipate between sessions. 25 sessions, at one session a week, usually take about six months. 

While all clients benefit from short-term work, most prefer to stay for longer, to engage in a deeper opening up of the personality and a slow rebuilding of the self, in dialogue with the therapist. The longer the client stays in therapy, the more the contemplative aspects of the work become intensely palpable and viscerally felt.

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Occasionally, I am approached by persons who are not yet interested in regular therapy, or former clients, who want only one session, in order to get a therapist’s view on what they are experiencing. Single sessions do not bring deep emotional change which is the goal of regular therapy, but they do help the person understand what they are experiencing, its causes, and what they could do in the short and long term to walk further on their journey of growth.

Having stated this framework of understanding, I offer a single or occasional session for those who wish to do them. Since this is only one session, the fee for it is whatever the client feels is a meaningful contribution on their part.

I can suggest Rs 3000 as fee for such a session, but am happy to work with what is possible for the other person.