Everything you might want to ask.

You don’t need to be at breaking point, or to have a diagnosis, to come to therapy. If something is taking up space in your life, weighing on you, or getting in the way of how you want to live, that’s reason enough. Plenty of people come with difficulties that look manageable from the outside but quietly shape their days. An assessment with one of our experienced clinicians is a low-pressure place to talk it through.

Almost certainly, yes. You don’t need a diagnosis, the right words, or a clear reason to start therapy. Many people arrive knowing only that something feels off. If you’d like a gentle way in, a self-check can help you notice what’s going on, or you can simply book an assessment and talk it through with a clinician. Working out what’s underneath is part of the therapy, not something you have to do first.

Hora is for adults aged 18 and over, anywhere in the UK, who want good, open-ended therapy at a price that won’t strain them. There’s no income test and no means-testing. You don’t have to prove you can’t afford private rates, or justify why you’re here. Low-cost therapy should be a straightforward choice, not something you have to qualify for. The one thing we do check is that weekly online therapy is a fit for what you need, which is exactly what the assessment is for.

Yes. People come to Hora with anxiety, low mood and depression, burnout, stress, grief, relationship difficulties, low self-esteem, and life transitions, among many other things. Whatever brings you, the first step is the same assessment.

Not at the moment. Hora offers individual therapy for adults aged 18 and over.

Yes: you’ll need to be in the UK for your assessment and every session, in a private, indoor space where you won’t be interrupted.

No. You can refer yourself, just book your assessment and we’ll take it from there. You don’t need to involve your GP unless you’d like to.

Every Hora therapist is a psychotherapist in advanced UKCP-accredited clinical training: years into the highest and most rigorous psychotherapy training in the UK, typically a minimum of five years of postgraduate study, not a one- or two-year counselling course. They hold UKCP trainee membership and register with the UKCP on qualifying, and they are already well-established with substantial supervised clinical hours, seeing clients under close supervision and Hora’s clinical governance.

Worth saying plainly: because this route is so long, many of our therapists have by now trained for longer, and in more depth, than some practitioners who have already fully qualified through shorter counselling routes. Being ‘in training’ here means near the end of one of the longest trainings in the profession, not new to the work.

You don’t have to take our word for it. Every Hora therapist holds UKCP trainee membership, works under regular clinical supervision and within Hora’s clinical governance, is enhanced-DBS checked, and holds their own professional indemnity insurance. You’re welcome to ask about your therapist’s training, membership and experience at any point, and a good therapist will be glad you asked. (For what their training actually involves, see the question above.)

The two words are often used interchangeably, and good work happens under both. The real difference is in the training. A counselling qualification is usually shorter and more focused on specific issues; a psychotherapy training, especially the UKCP route, is longer and goes deeper into how our histories and patterns shape us, typically a minimum of five years of postgraduate study. Hora’s therapists are on that longer psychotherapy route, in advanced UKCP-accredited clinical training, so you get therapy from someone trained to that depth, at a counselling-level price.

They’re the UK’s main professional bodies for talking therapies. The UKCP (UK Council for Psychotherapy) sets the standard for psychotherapy specifically, with among the longest, most in-depth training routes; the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) and NCPS (National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society) register a broader range of counsellors and psychotherapists, including many shorter counselling qualifications. All uphold ethical standards. Hora works only with psychotherapists in advanced UKCP-accredited clinical training, because it’s the most rigorous route. You can read more at psychotherapy.org.uk.

It’s a genuinely confusing landscape, and the titles overlap, so here’s an honest map.

The counselling and psychotherapy tradition. Counsellors, psychotherapeutic counsellors and psychotherapists all work through talking and the relationship between you. The main difference is the length and depth of training: counselling qualifications are usually shorter and often focused on specific difficulties, while psychotherapy training, especially the UKCP route, is longer and goes further into how your history and patterns shape you. Within this tradition sit the analytic professions, psychodynamic and psychoanalytic psychotherapists, psychoanalysts and Jungian analysts, who train for years and often work more intensively, sometimes several times a week. That intensity is a different way of working, not a deeper or better one: relational and humanistic psychotherapy, the kind of in-depth work Hora’s therapists do, goes every bit as deep.

Psychology professions. Clinical psychologists and counselling psychologists train to doctorate level and assess and treat psychological difficulties, often in the NHS. “Psychologist” is a broad word, with forensic, educational, health and neuropsychologists too; the therapy-facing ones are clinical and counselling psychologists.

Medicine and nursing. A psychiatrist is a medical doctor specialising in mental health, and the person who can diagnose conditions and prescribe medication. Mental health nurses, sometimes a CPN, support people day to day, often within NHS teams.

Social work. Social workers focus on safeguarding, practical support and coordinating care, rather than weekly therapy.

Method specialists. Some titles describe a method rather than a whole profession: a CBT therapist delivers cognitive behavioural therapy, and there are EMDR therapists, hypnotherapists, psychosexual therapists, arts therapists (art, music, drama) and family and systemic psychotherapists, among others.

Coaching is not therapy. A life coach or wellbeing coach is not a therapist. Coaching is completely unregulated: anyone can use the title with no training at all, and it isn’t designed to hold mental-health difficulties. It may help with goals and motivation, but it is not a substitute for therapy, and it’s worth being wary of anyone offering it as one.

Two things worth knowing. First, some of these titles are protected by law and some aren’t: “psychologist” in its various forms, “social worker” and “arts therapist” are legally protected and regulated, and a psychiatrist is a registered doctor, but “counsellor”, “psychotherapist” and “psychoanalyst” are not protected in law, so anyone can use them. That’s exactly why the register a therapist belongs to (UKCP, BACP, NCPS or the BPC) and the training behind it matter so much. Second, only psychiatrists, and a few other specially trained prescribers, can diagnose or prescribe medication; everyone else works through therapy.

Hora’s therapists are psychotherapists in advanced UKCP-accredited clinical training, one of the longest and most rigorous routes in this talking-therapy tradition. For how the professional bodies map all of this onto training, see the question on SCoPEd below.

SCoPEd stands for the Scope of Practice and Education framework. It’s a shared, evidence-based map of the competences involved in counselling and psychotherapy with adults, agreed by the main professional bodies, including the UKCP, BACP, NCPS and BPC (together now called the Partnership of Counselling and Psychotherapy Bodies). The aim is to bring some consistency to a field where titles have never been standardised.

It sorts competences into three columns:

Column A is the foundation: the competences shared by all qualified counsellors and psychotherapists.

Column B adds the further competences of more experienced, “advanced” practitioners.

Column C is the fullest scope: the competences specific to psychotherapists, who train the longest and deepest.

The framework describes competence and training, not anyone’s worth, and it’s been genuinely debated within the profession. What it’s useful for here is placing the training honestly: the UKCP-accredited psychotherapy route Hora’s therapists are on is mapped to Column C, the most advanced scope. They’re completing that training now, working toward its full scope under close supervision.

It splits into two kinds of regulation, and the difference is worth understanding.

Protected professions have a legal regulator. Doctors, including psychiatrists, are regulated by the General Medical Council (GMC), with the Royal College of Psychiatrists setting their specialist training. Practitioner psychologists and arts therapists are regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). Social workers are regulated by Social Work England and its equivalents across the UK. Nurses, including mental health nurses, are regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). For these professions the title is protected in law: you can’t lawfully call yourself a psychiatrist, psychologist or social worker without being registered.

Counselling and psychotherapy are self-regulated. There is no single legal regulator, and, unlike the professions above, the titles “counsellor” and “psychotherapist” aren’t protected in law, so anyone can use them. Instead, practitioners join a professional register run by a membership body that sets its own training and ethical standards: the UKCP (UK Council for Psychotherapy), the BPC (British Psychoanalytic Council) for the psychoanalytic and analytic professions, the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy), and the NCPS (National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society). CBT therapists have their own body, the BABCP.

The safeguard to look for is PSA accreditation. The Professional Standards Authority is a statutory body that oversees the legal regulators above, and separately accredits the voluntary registers that meet its standards. UKCP, BACP, NCPS and BPC all hold PSA-accredited registers. So the simplest check before you start with any private therapist is: are they on a PSA-accredited register? If they aren’t on a register at all, keep looking.

Hora works only with psychotherapists in advanced UKCP-accredited clinical training, who hold UKCP trainee membership, under close supervision and Hora’s own clinical governance.

Our therapists train in in-depth, relational psychotherapy and draw on a range of approaches depending on what suits you. If you’re specifically after short-term, structured CBT, tell us at assessment and we’ll be honest about whether we’re the right fit.

No. EMDR is a specialist therapy, mainly for trauma, with its own separate training, and it isn’t something our therapists offer. If EMDR is specifically what you’re after, we’ll be honest about that at your assessment and can point you towards services that provide it.

Yes. After your assessment, you’re sent a selection of therapist profiles and you choose who you’d like to work with. If the fit isn’t right after the first few sessions, we’ll help you change, free of charge.

Yes. After your assessment, we send you a shortlist of therapists matched to what you’re looking for, each with their availability, specialisms and interests, and you choose who feels right. Rather than a directory to scroll through, it’s a selection chosen for you, so you’re weighing up people who already fit what brought you to us.

If having a neurodivergent therapist matters to you, say so at your assessment. Hora is committed to recruiting therapists who are neurodivergent themselves, though we can’t always guarantee a match. Where we can, we’d be glad to pair you with someone who shares that understanding.

Yes, and we’d encourage it. Training on placement is a normal, valuable part of qualifying, so a trainee therapist isn’t a bad thing in itself. What matters is honesty. Many services don’t make it clear that your therapist is in training, and some rely on trainees working unpaid. If a low-cost online service is a private business rather than a charity and the therapist still goes unpaid, it’s fair to ask who is profiting. Ask both questions plainly: ‘Is my therapist in training?’ and ‘Are they paid?’ A service that treats people well will answer without hesitation.

It’s worth asking who actually delivers therapy this affordable. A lot of low-cost online therapy comes from counsellors early in a one- or two-year training, almost always working unpaid, and sometimes presented as fully qualified when they’re not. Hora is the honest version: your therapist is a psychotherapist in advanced UKCP-accredited clinical training, the deepest and most rigorous route in the profession, closely supervised and with hundreds of clinical hours behind them, and paid fairly for every session. Therapy is open-ended, with no session cap and no income test, and you choose who you work with. Genuinely affordable, and never built on someone’s free labour.

Yes. Sessions are private and confidential, held on a secure platform and handled in line with the UKCP’s Code of Ethics on confidentiality, alongside professional and data-protection standards. The only limits are the usual ones around serious risk of harm, which your therapist will explain.

We handle your data in line with UK GDPR. Sessions run on a secure, encrypted Zoom telehealth link built into our clinical system; any notes are kept securely and access-controlled; and your card is held by Stripe, a regulated payment provider: neither Hora nor your therapist ever sees or stores your card number. We only collect what we need to provide your care, never sell your data, and you can ask to see or delete your information at any time. The full detail lives in our privacy notice.

Yes, wholeheartedly. Hora is for everyone, and we want it to be a place where you never have to explain or defend who you are. Both of Hora’s directors are gay, so this isn’t an add-on for us, it’s personal, and you’re always welcome to raise anything with us directly. If it matters to you to work with a therapist who has particular experience here, say so at assessment. Hora is committed to recruiting therapists across the LGBTQIA+ community, and while we can’t always guarantee a particular match, we’ll take what matters to you into account when we suggest profiles.

We want it to, and we take it seriously. You should never have to educate your therapist about racism, or play down what you’ve lived through, in order to be understood. Therapy that treats your background as beside the point isn’t good therapy.

At your assessment, tell us if it matters to you to work with a therapist who shares or understands your heritage, faith or cultural experience, and we’ll take that into account when we suggest profiles. We can’t always promise a perfect match, and we’d rather be honest about that than pretend otherwise.

If you’d specifically like a therapist of Black, African, Asian or Caribbean heritage, the Black, African and Asian Therapy Network (BAATN) holds a directory of qualified therapists and is well worth knowing about, whether or not you begin with us.

And whoever you see at Hora, you’re always welcome to raise it with us directly if something doesn’t feel right.

Very possibly, yes, and being neurodivergent is something to work with, not around. Many neurodivergent people find parts of conventional therapy hard: the small talk, the eye contact, reading between the lines, or the sensory side of a clinic room. Meeting online from your own space, where you control the environment, is something a lot of people find genuinely easier.

The most useful thing you can do is tell us at your assessment what helps and what gets in the way, whether that’s how we communicate, the pace, being direct rather than hinting, or anything else, and we’ll adapt how we work with you where we can. If something about the way we work wouldn’t suit you, we’ll be honest about that too.

A couple of things worth knowing. We don’t carry out autism or ADHD assessments and we don’t diagnose; for an assessment, start with your GP, and in England you can use “Right to Choose” to pick your assessment provider, which can cut the wait considerably. The National Autistic Society also has helpful information and support, including on getting assessed.

That’s increasingly common, and it often brings a real mix of feelings: relief, grief, even anger, along with a lot to re-understand about your past. Therapy is a good place to process that, ease years of self-criticism, and work out what genuinely helps you now. We don’t diagnose or assess (for that, start with your GP), but we offer affirming therapy for the impact of being neurodivergent, whether or not you have a formal diagnosis.

For most common difficulties (anxiety, low mood, stress, grief, relationships, self-esteem) online therapy can work very well. It isn’t the right setting for everyone, though: if you’re in acute crisis, having thoughts of harming yourself, or living with needs that require more intensive or specialist care, a weekly online session may not be enough on its own. We’ll always be honest about this at assessment and help point you toward the right support. If you ever need urgent help, please use the crisis services listed at the foot of this page.

It’s a 25-minute conversation with an experienced clinician, over a secure, encrypted Zoom telehealth link, for £26. A chance to talk through what’s bringing you to therapy and what you’re hoping for, and for us to help find the right therapist for you. If the clinician feels Hora isn’t the right fit for your needs, we won’t leave you in the lurch: we’ll give you an information pack pointing you to where you can seek further help and care. There’s no pressure to continue.

There’s no lengthy waiting list. Once you’ve had your assessment and been matched, you and your therapist agree a weekly time that’s then held for you.

Sessions are weekly, at the same day and time each week: a set-apart hour held for you. That regular rhythm is part of how the work does its work, so we don’t offer fortnightly or monthly sessions.

Both your assessment and your weekly sessions take place over a secure, encrypted Zoom telehealth link.

Yes. Much of therapy lives in embodied expression and the small cues you and your therapist read without thinking. So we ask that your camera stays on for your assessment and your sessions, just as it would be if you were together in a room. If that feels daunting, please say so. It’s a very normal thing to feel, and something you can settle into together.

A private, indoor space where you won’t be interrupted, a reasonable internet connection, and a phone, tablet or computer with a camera. That’s it.

Yes. Hora runs seven days a week, so evening and weekend slots are available, subject to your therapist’s availability. Your weekly time is agreed with them and then held for you each week, so once you have a slot it stays yours.

For most common difficulties (anxiety, low mood, stress, grief, relationships, self-esteem) there’s good evidence that online therapy helps, and many people find it works well for them. What matters most in any therapy is the relationship between you and your therapist, and that builds just as genuinely over video. It isn’t the right setting for everyone or for every difficulty, and we’ll always be honest at assessment if we think you’d be better served another way. But for a great many people, meeting from somewhere they already feel safe makes it easier, not harder, to do the work.

Hora is open-ended. There’s no fixed number of sessions. You and your therapist review how things are going and decide together when it feels like the right time to end. Some people come for a defined stretch; others stay much longer.

Because Hora is open-ended, ending is something you and your therapist decide together, not a fixed finish line. Often it becomes clear on its own: the thing that brought you feels more manageable, sessions start to feel like a review rather than a need, or you simply feel more yourself. When that time comes, it’s worth ending well rather than just stopping, so you’d usually take a few closing sessions to reflect on the work and finish it properly. No pressure either way, and no penalty for staying or for going.

Not as a formal pause, no. Therapy does its work through regularity, the same time each week, so an open-ended break tends to undo the rhythm that helps. The odd week away for a holiday or illness is completely fine, and you’d simply arrange that with your therapist. But if you stop altogether and more than four weeks pass, you’d begin again with a short assessment, so we can pick up from where you are now rather than where you were. You’re always welcome back.

For practical things, yes: to rearrange a session or pass on something administrative. Your therapist won’t offer therapy or support by message between sessions, though, and they aren’t a crisis service. The work happens in your weekly hour, which is part of what keeps it a safe, boundaried space. If something urgent comes up before your next session, please use the crisis services listed at the foot of this page.

Life happens. We ask for at least seven days’ notice to cancel or rearrange a session; with less notice, or a missed session, the session is charged. Your therapist will talk you through the agreement at the start, so everything is clear and there are no surprises.

We don’t diagnose. Hora offers therapy, not psychiatric assessment, so if you need a formal diagnosis we’d point you toward your GP or a psychiatrist. Letters and reports are sometimes possible, depending on your situation and what’s needed, so do ask your therapist and we’ll be honest about what we can and can’t provide.

A one-off £26 assessment to begin, then £40 for each 50-minute weekly session. You pay for the assessment when you book it. For sessions after that, your card is kept securely on file, held by Stripe so neither Hora nor your therapist ever sees it, and charged after each session. No membership, no hidden fees.

Private therapy usually runs from about £65 to £100+ a session. Low-cost and trainee-led services tend to sit around £35–£50. Hora is a £26 first assessment, then £40 a session: genuinely affordable, and with the therapist paid fairly rather than working for free.

Not by cutting corners on who you see. Our therapists are psychotherapists in advanced UKCP-accredited clinical training, delivery is lean and fully online, and there are no clinic overheads, so we can keep the price low while paying every therapist fairly. Affordable because the model is honest, not because someone works unpaid.

There’s one honest price for everyone, with no income testing either way. If cost is a barrier, please do get in touch. It’s also worth knowing that NHS Talking Therapies are free and you can refer yourself, and that some private therapists keep a few quiet reduced-fee places, so it never hurts to ask around.

Yes. An invoice is emailed to you automatically each time a payment is taken, for your assessment and for every session, so you always have a record for your files or to claim on insurance. Nothing to request.

Yes. NHS talking therapies are free, but waits can run to many months, and sessions are often capped and focused on shorter-term, structured work. Hora has no lengthy waiting list: once you’ve had your assessment and been matched, you agree a weekly time and begin. It’s a complement to the NHS, not a replacement, and never an emergency service.

Some insurers cover therapy with registered practitioners: it’s worth checking your policy. Many clients simply pay as they go, since at £40 a session there’s no membership or minimum commitment.

Hora isn’t an emergency service. If you’re in immediate danger, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. For urgent support, these free services are there any time: Samaritans on 116 123, Shout by texting SHOUT to 85258, NHS 111 for urgent mental-health advice, and Switchboard for LGBTQIA+ people on 0800 0119 100. If you’re not in crisis but things feel heavy, booking an assessment is a good next step.