English-speaking counsellor in Munich, online

I am an English-speaking counsellor offering online sessions to women in Munich. We meet by secure video for 50 minutes, the fee is £45 charged in pounds, and the approach is person-centred: you lead, I listen closely. I am a UK trainee counsellor under supervision, so this sits outside German healthcare and insurance.

How many people in Munich are from somewhere else?

Quite a lot. On 31 December 2025, Munich's statistics office counted 492,935 residents without German citizenship, 30.6% of everyone registered in the city. Add the people who have taken German citizenship, or who hold it alongside another, and the international side of Munich is larger still.

That doesn't mean support in English is easy to find. It does mean you are far from the only one looking, and that the woman next to you on the U-Bahn may be carrying a version of the same thing: a life built in a second language, and a home that is in two places at once. The free resources for expats and migrants are written for that double life.

Finding an English-speaking therapist in Munich

German statutory insurance does cover psychotherapy. The catch is the queue. The Federal Chamber of Psychotherapists looked at billing data and found that people waited an average of 142 days from a first consultation to the start of treatment. The data is from 2019, so the exact number may have moved, but it gives you a sense of the scale.

A few things that are worth knowing if you are starting from scratch in Munich:

• 116117 can book a first consultation. The national appointment service arranges a "psychotherapeutische Sprechstunde" without a referral, and appointments it arranges should be within four weeks. It runs in German.
• The title matters. "Psychotherapeutin" and "Psychotherapeut" are protected in Germany under § 1 PsychThG. If someone uses another title, it is reasonable to ask about their training and who they answer to.
• English narrows the field. A practice that works in English and has a free place is a smaller target than either on its own, so it can help to contact several at once. My guide on how to find a therapist abroad has questions worth asking each one.

One genuinely helpful local resource is the Krisendienst Psychiatrie for Upper Bavaria. It covers Munich city and district, answers free of charge around the clock, and says it offers phone counselling in more than 120 languages. If you are in a crisis and your German deserts you, that is a good number to have saved.

What life in Munich can be like for women who moved here

Munich can look settled and orderly from outside, and it often is. That can make loneliness feel oddly private, as if you are the only person who hasn't worked out how to belong.

Work is one strand. German law now says that anyone holding a residence title may work unless a specific law forbids it (§ 4a of the Residence Act). So if you followed a partner's contract here, you are probably allowed to work. Whether you can find work that uses your experience, in German, is a different and harder question, and the gap between the two can hurt. I write more about this on the page about being a trailing spouse.

Children are another. Munich allocates most daycare places through an online system, kita finder+. For the 2027/2028 year, the city's main deadline is 3 March 2027, with places allocated from 4 March. Offers arrive in your account, and if you don't accept within ten days the place lapses. Places that come free during the year are reallocated straight away. For a parent who is new to the city, still learning the language and doing this without family nearby, even a well-organised system can feel like one more test.

And there are the quieter things, like becoming a mother far from your own mother, or feeling grateful for a good life and still not quite at home in it. You might recognise yourself in the page on expat loneliness, or in the one on family duty and self. The free loneliness test is a quiet, private way to check in with yourself.

How online counselling in English works from Munich

• Format: secure video, 50 minutes. What to expect in your first counselling session explains how a first meeting usually goes.
• Language: English. Evening sessions are available, UK time.
• Time zone: Munich is one hour ahead of the UK all year, because Germany and the UK change their clocks on the same Sundays. Please check the time zone shown when you book.
• Fee: £45 per session, charged in pounds. A small number of lower-cost places are kept for students, trainees and people on a low income. The fees page has details.
• Booking: you can choose a time on the booking page. If you would rather ask something first, email is fine.
• Insurance: German statutory and private insurers are unlikely to reimburse counselling delivered from the UK, so please plan on paying the fee yourself.

Who I am: a trainee counsellor working from the UK

I am Michelle Fernando. I am a trainee person-centred counsellor and a BACP student member, and I work under regular clinical supervision. I am studying for an MSc in Counselling and Psychotherapy at Keele, and I currently counsel on placement at Axis Counselling in Shrewsbury. Before that I worked as a placement counsellor at FPA Sri Lanka and as an intern at Deep Haven Counseling in Colombo.

I chose the person-centred approach because it treats you as the expert on your own life. I won't hand you homework or a diagnosis. What I offer is attention, honesty and acceptance, and a space where mixed feelings are allowed. Being a trainee is part of why my fee is modest, and I would rather say that clearly than leave you to wonder. There is more about my background.

When to look for local help in Munich instead

Please contact local services rather than me if you are in danger, thinking about ending your life, or need urgent care. Call 112 or the Krisendienst on 0800 655 3000. The help centres in Munich page lists more local services, and the Germany helplines page covers national lines, including 116 016 for women affected by violence.

Online counselling with me also isn't suitable for psychosis, eating disorders, specialist trauma treatment, addiction, couples work or children. A Hausarzt, a psychiatrist, or a licensed psychotherapist found through 116117 is the better route there. The Germany overview collects more general information for English speakers across the country.