Money for Counsellors: 10 Ways Email Counselling Boosts Your Earnings Without Burnout
- Chloe Foster
- Dec 19, 2025
- 5 min read
If you’re a qualified counsellor/therapist, you probably didn’t enter this profession to push yourself to the limit, work evenings and weekends, or let chronic health issues cut into your income. Yet many therapists find themselves in exactly that position, with earnings capped by chronic pain, energy, voice, and availability.
Email counselling offers a different way. By using your clinical skills through written communication, you can work more flexibly, maintain consistency, and ultimately earn more money without compromising your wellbeing.
Below are 10 ways training in email counselling can make that possible.
1. You can still work when you can’t speak
There's nothing worse - as a counsellor - than an annoying cough! You know the kind that tickles away. You're not actually ill, so you continue working. But when you start a session you feel the intense urge to cough! The more you talk, the more you need to cough. Maybe you think to yourself "should I take a few sick days?" or "will I be ok as, I don't want to lose the income?"
Have you ever worked with a cough? Ouch it hurts. I'm reflecting on how relieved I am that last winter when I had a crazy cough all of my clients were for email counselling meaning I didn't need to cancel any paid work due to my cough that lasted weeks, because email counselling means I don't have to talk!
No cancellations meant no money lost.
2. You don’t have to cancel clients for short-notice life admin
Emergency dental appointment? School phone call? Last‑minute delivery that can’t be missed?
With live sessions, these moments often mean lost income or awkward rearranging.
Email counselling allows you to pause and return. You’re not tied to a fixed 50‑minute slot, so you can honour your commitments without cancelling paid work.
That flexibility protects your earnings.
3. You can adjust your working hours based on how you feel
Wake up with a headache? Low energy morning? Hormonal dip?
Instead of forcing yourself to perform on the clock, email counselling lets you start later, take breaks, or work in shorter focused bursts. Likewise, if you want to finish early for a birthday lunch or personal plans, you can front-load your work and log off guilt-free.
Working with your capacity means you can work more consistently, and consistency supports steady more reliable money.
4. You don’t have to turn clients away due to availability clashes
Because I offer email counsellling I now don't have to turn clients away if we can't find a time that matches both our diaries. This means I can book in as many clients as I have space for in my diary and not wait for the person who fits the only time slots I have left.
How many potential clients have you turned away because you couldn’t match diaries?
Email counselling removes the need for matching availability. Clients don’t need to be free at the same time as you.
That means:
Fewer missed enquiries
A wider client pool
More filled spaces
No more phone tennis trying to reach each other for a first call
All of which directly increase your earnings.
5. You can pause if your body needs it
As I approach peri-menopause I am so grateful I can pause and delay my work when get sudden waves of anxiety and hot flushes. It can be so hard to plan in advance when my low energy days and times will be.
In a live session, you have to push through. With email counselling, you can step away, regulate, and return when you're grounded, without the client ever being impacted.
That makes it possible to work at time times that work for you.
If you live chronic illness, are perimenopausal or menopausal then the flexibility of email counselling offers is key to helping you earn a more reliable income.
6. You never have to work evenings or weekends again (unless you want to)
Jane (a therapist who's completed my email counselling training) got in touch with me a couple of weeks ago to tell me this ...
"I just wanted to tell you I finally finished up working on Saturday mornings last week. I was beginning to think offering Saturdays would be the only way for me to get enough clients, such a relief to have found your course - thank you. Now I can see my grandchildren more!"
Sadly it's common for many counsellors to feel pressured into unsociable hours to fit clients in. Email counselling allows you to set clear boundaries around when you write responses, while still supporting clients asynchronously.
You can build a full practice within school hours, daytime slots, or whatever suits your life.
Boundaries reduce burnout, and burnout is one of the biggest threats to long-term earning.
7. You can still work if your partner or child is at home sick
My partner struggles with a lot of chronic pain and so is often off work sick. In the past this would have been a struggle with confidentiality as my home office backs onto the bedroom.
However, now as an Email Counsellor I can continue to work and not worry about being over heard because I am not speaking with my clients I am writing. So my partner can't hear me and also won't get woken up!
Keeping working when my partner is ill means fewer lost days and more financial stability for us both.
8. Email Counselling supports therapists with IBS and other unpredictable conditions
If you live with IBS or another condition where flare-ups are unpredictable, being “on time” for live sessions can be stressful. Email counselling removes that pressure. You’re no longer racing against the clock or worrying about interruptions, which makes it possible to maintain work during periods that would otherwise force cancellations.
9. You can charge more because you offer specialist skills
Email counselling isn’t just “therapy by email”.
It requires:
Specialist clinical skills
Skilled therapeutic writing
Ethical boundary management
Clear contracting
These are specialist competencies, and specialists can charge accordingly.
In my private practice Sussex Rainbow Counselling I charge premium client fees to reflect my specialist skills and experience as an Email Counsellor. I am often full with a waiting list!
10. You build a more sustainable, longer-lasting career
Earning more isn’t just about charging higher fees.
It’s about:
Fewer sick days
Less burnout
Staying in the profession longer
Email counselling supports therapists to work for decades, not just a few intense years.
Longevity is one of the most overlooked factors in earning more over a lifetime.
A final word about Email Counselling
Email counselling isn’t a compromise.
For many counsellors, it’s the model that finally allows their skills, health, money, and life to coexist.
If you’re curious about developing this specialist skill and building a more flexible, financially sustainable practice, find out more here.
If this way of working speaks to you, I’d love to support you to do it ethically, confidently, and professionally.
Apply for the Professional Certificate in Email Counselling and take the next step towards a practice that works for you.