An English-speaking counsellor for women living in Switzerland

If you are looking for an English-speaking counsellor in Switzerland, I offer person-centred counselling by secure video for women living anywhere in the country. I am a trainee counsellor based in the UK, a BACP student member, and I work under regular clinical supervision. Sessions cost £45, charged in pounds. This is counselling from the UK. It is not Swiss healthcare, and basic insurance does not cover it.

Finding an English-speaking therapist in Switzerland

In 2025, 2,528,117 of the 9,127,125 people living permanently in Switzerland were foreign nationals, according to the Federal Statistical Office. The office puts it simply: more than a quarter of the people living in Switzerland are foreigners.

Switzerland has four national languages, and which one you need depends on where you live. If you are in Zurich or Geneva, my pages for Zurich and Geneva go into those cities. This page is for the national picture, and for anyone in Basel, Bern, Lausanne, Lugano or a village where the nearest English speaker is a train ride away.

Life here can look very settled from the outside. The trains run, the salary is good, the lake is beautiful. And you can still feel that nobody here really knows you yet. If you are weighing up local and online options, my guide on how to find a therapist abroad sets out the questions worth asking.

Does Swiss health insurance cover therapy?

Since 1 July 2022, psychological psychotherapists in Switzerland can bill basic health insurance for their work, under what is called the prescription model. According to the Federal Office of Public Health, this needs a doctor's order.

A regular order covers up to 15 sessions. A further 15 are possible after the doctor and psychotherapist have exchanged information. After 30 sessions in total, the insurer must approve any continuation in advance. Only doctors with certain specialist titles can make a regular order, such as general internal medicine or psychiatry, but any doctor can order a one-off crisis intervention or short therapy of up to 10 sessions.

The usual rules of basic insurance apply, so only treatment of an illness is reimbursed, and your own deductible and co-payment still count. Supplementary insurance is a separate matter and depends on your policy.

In practice, the first step is usually your GP or family doctor. Whether you then find a psychotherapist who works in English, and how long you wait, depends a great deal on your region. I couldn't find a recent official national figure for waiting times, so I won't guess one.

Protected titles: why I call myself a counsellor

To practise psychotherapy on their own professional responsibility in Switzerland, psychologists need a cantonal licence. The Federal Office of Public Health says that licence depends on a federal, or recognised foreign, postgraduate title in psychotherapy. To bill basic insurance, they also need several years of clinical experience and admission from the canton.

I don't hold a Swiss licence or title, and I don't present myself as a psychotherapist. I am a trainee person-centred counsellor, studying for an MSc in Counselling and Psychotherapy at Keele University, and a student member of the BACP. I see clients online from the UK under regular clinical supervision. My fee is lower than a qualified practitioner's because I am still in training.

Your basic insurance won't reimburse my sessions. If you have supplementary or international cover, ask your insurer directly. For the wider question of how UK counsellors can work with people in other countries, see can a UK counsellor see clients abroad?

Online therapy in English in Switzerland: how it works

If you have been searching for an English therapist in Switzerland, or for therapy for expats in Switzerland without first finding the right doctor and the right practice, this is the practical side of working with me.

We meet by secure video for 50 minutes. You need a private space and a stable connection. Switzerland is one hour ahead of the UK all year, so a 6pm UK session is 7pm for you. Evening sessions (UK time) are available, which suits people who work standard Swiss office hours. If you have never had counselling before, here is what to expect in a first session.

The fee is £45 per session, charged in pounds. Your bank may add a conversion fee. I keep a few low-cost places for students, trainees and people on low income, and I ask for 48 hours' notice to cancel. You can read the fees page or book a first session.

What person-centred counselling with me is like

I work in a person-centred way. I won't diagnose you or give you a plan to follow. I'll listen closely, try to understand how your life feels from the inside, and trust you to find your own direction.

You might want to talk about feeling stuck, about loneliness after a move, about being far from family, or about a relationship that changed when you moved. If you would like a private moment of reflection first, the three-question loneliness test takes a minute, and my list of free mental health resources for expats and migrants has checked material you can use on your own. You don't need to know where to start. If you would like to know more first, read about online counselling for women.

When online counselling isn't the right support

I don't provide crisis care, and I don't work with active suicidal intent, psychosis, eating disorders, addiction treatment, specialist trauma treatment, couples or children. If any of these apply, please contact your doctor or the numbers below.

In Switzerland your GP or family doctor is usually the right first step, because they can order psychotherapy that basic insurance pays for and refer you to a psychiatrist if needed. If you live in one of the two big international cities, my pages of verified local services for Zurich and Geneva list emergency psychiatric and women's support services in more detail.

Crisis support in Switzerland

If you are in danger now, call 112 or the ambulance on 144. Both are free.

• Die Dargebotene Hand (La Main Tendue, Telefono Amico), 143. Always available. A call costs at most 20 centimes from a phone, or 70 centimes from a call box.
• Die Dargebotene Hand in English, 0800 143 000. Every evening from 6pm to 11pm, anonymous and confidential.
• 147. The free helpline for children and young people.

These numbers were checked on the official websites listed below on 19 October 2026. The full list, with opening hours and languages, is on my page of mental health helplines in Switzerland.