How Much Does Therapy Cost in Dublin in 2026?

Therapy in Dublin costs roughly €60 to €120 a session with an accredited counsellor or psychotherapist, and €120 to €170 with a psychologist. Before you pay any of it, check three free routes: Counselling in Primary Care if you are 18 or over and hold a medical card, Jigsaw if you are 12 to 25, and Turn2Me, which offers six free online sessions to anyone living in Ireland. Ireland publishes no fee schedule for private practice, so the figures above are drawn from what Dublin practices publish themselves.

These are guiding estimates. Therapists set their own fees.

Gate one: the medical card

The HSE's own wording is plain: "The National Counselling Service (NCS) provides free counselling for people age 18 or older who have a medical card", and "depending on your needs, up to 8 free counselling sessions may be available". The service is called Counselling in Primary Care (CIPC), and it treats mild to moderate difficulty at local primary care centres.

The route matters as much as the entitlement:

• You need a referral from a GP or another health professional; you cannot self-refer.
• Once referred, phone your local CIPC office within 2 weeks to confirm you want the place, or the referral lapses.

If you do not have a medical card, CIPC is not open to you at any price; it is not a subsidised service but a card-holder one. It is worth checking your card eligibility before assuming you fall on the paying side of that line. The wider National Counselling Service is not card-gated in the same way: adults who experienced abuse or neglect in childhood, and former residents of a mother and baby home, can refer themselves without a medical card on freephone 1800 234 110.

Gate two: being 12 to 25

Jigsaw provides, in its own words, "free therapy and support to young people living in Ireland" aged 12 to 25, from 18 locations and online. It is a registered charity, and there is no medical card requirement. For a young person in Dublin, this is the place to start, and the price is zero.

Free, with no card and no age limit

Turn2Me, a registered charity (CHY18803), offers up to six free one-to-one online counselling sessions to anyone living in Ireland. No medical card, no referral. If you hold private health insurance, check it before you pay anything: Laya's Mental Wellbeing Support Programme includes up to six face-to-face counselling sessions per issue at no extra cost for members aged 16 and over.

Paying privately: what Dublin practices charge

Most Dublin therapy happens privately, and here is the honest position: Ireland has no published fee schedule for private counselling, psychotherapy or psychology. No professional body sets or publishes rates, and websites quoting one standard Dublin session price are quoting themselves. What can be checked is what Dublin practices publish on their own websites: accredited counsellors and psychotherapists at roughly €60 to €120 for a 50-minute session, psychologists at roughly €120 to €170, and one clinic listing €280 for a first psychiatric assessment, which was the only published psychiatry figure we could find. Therapists in training and pre-accredited therapists sit at the bottom of those ranges. Many practices operate sliding scales; asking about one costs nothing.

Lower-cost private options

Two services publish fixed low fees rather than leaving you to negotiate. MyMind, a registered charity (CHY17600), charges €60 for a 50-minute session and €30 to students, pensioners, unemployed people and anyone earning under €25,000 a year, on proof, from Dublin and several other counties. PCI College's counselling service charges €10 to €30, with therapists in training working under accredited supervision, across Dublin and a dozen other counties. Neither needs a GP referral.

Your GP remains the pivot for everything beyond counselling: referral into HSE mental health services, and assessment of what level of support fits. GP consultation fees for those without a card are also unpublished and vary by practice. Whatever you end up paying privately, Revenue allows tax relief at the standard rate of income tax on qualifying health expenses, which include treatment from a psychologist or psychotherapist who is a practitioner, or a diagnostic procedure you were referred for.

If you need someone now

• Samaritans: 116 123.
• Text About It: text HELLO to 50808.
• Pieta: 1800 247 247, for suicidal crisis and self-harm support.

Sources

• HSE, Counselling in Primary Care: the free-with-medical-card rule, the 8 sessions, the referral route and the 2-week confirmation window. Read 28 July 2026.
• Jigsaw, About Jigsaw: free therapy and support, ages 12 to 25, 18 locations. Read 28 July 2026, re-checked 26 August 2026.
• HSE, National Counselling Service: who qualifies without a medical card, and the self-referral route. Read 26 August 2026.
• Turn2Me, one-to-one counselling: six free online sessions for Irish residents. Read 26 August 2026.
• MyMind, individual counselling fees: the €60 and €30 rates and who qualifies for the reduced one. Read 26 August 2026.
• PCI College, counselling service: the €10 to €30 trainee service and its locations. Read 26 August 2026.
• Laya Healthcare, Mental Wellbeing Support Programme: six face-to-face sessions per issue for members. Read 26 August 2026.
• Revenue, qualifying health expenses: psychologist and psychotherapist treatment. Read 26 August 2026.

Reviewed August 2026, with every service named here read at its own page. The private session ranges come from fees that Dublin practices publish on their own websites; we do not cite private practices as sources, so the ranges are guiding estimates rather than a schedule.