Get Better, Together
Group therapy for Italy, without the twenty-week queue.
Grouport pairs residents across Italy with licensed therapists in small English-language groups of six to twelve members. Sessions cost $32 each ($140 monthly) and, you can join a group right away, giving Anglophones in Milan, Rome, or a paese in Basilicata an alternative to the twenty-week wait typical of an SSN psichiatra appointment through a Centro di Salute Mentale.
Consistently Recognized as the #1 Online Group Therapy pick
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The State of Mental Health in Italy.
Understanding the landscape of mental health care access and the challenges
residents face across the state.
Mental Illness Prevalence
Wait Time
Median Household Income
Percentage Who Need Therapy
Provider Shortage
Mental Health Providers per 100k Residents
Italy's Legge 180 (the 1978 Basaglia law) dismantled the manicomi and shifted care into community-based Dipartimenti di Salute Mentale, an internationally admired reform on paper. Four decades on, workforce numbers tell a starker story: records only 1.41 mental health workers per 100,000 residents in Italy, a fraction of the OECD average. Combined with 17% annual prevalence and $55,220 GNI PPP per capita, the country is high-income but structurally under-staffed for behavioural health.
UNDERSTANDING THE CHALLENGE
Understanding Mental Health Access in Italy.
The Problem
Italian mental health care runs through two barely-connected channels. The SSN's Centri di Salute Mentale (CSM), coordinated by regional Dipartimenti di Salute Mentale, deliver publicly funded psichiatra and psicologo consultations at nominal ticket cost, but capacity is famously constrained. The 2023 Corte dei Conti report on salute mentale flagged twenty-week average waits and a workforce that has contracted since the pandemic. In parallel, a private mercato of libero-professionisti charges €60-€120 per seduta, and the 2022 Bonus Psicologo, capped at €1,500 per applicant with an ISEE ceiling, was oversubscribed within weeks. English-speaking clinicians add a third filter that thins supply further.
The Impact
Twenty weeks is a season and a half. A ricercatore on a fixed-term contract in Trieste, a parent in the hinterland of Napoli, or a professional in Milano's Porta Nuova who reaches out in September will not sit with a clinician until la primavera. ISTAT's 2023 mental-health survey reported that only about one in four adults with depressive symptoms had discussed them with a health professional in the prior year; the Osservatorio Nazionale Salute Mentale attributes much of the gap to the mismatch between need and available appuntamenti. Waiting itself becomes clinical: symptoms consolidate, coping strategies erode, and the initial reach for help fades.
The Solution
Grouport addresses the two constraints Italian residents most often name: tempo and lingua. The model, six to twelve members meeting weekly via secure video with a licensed clinician, compresses intake to right away and delivers care in English by default. Groups are organised around specific concerns (anxiety, depression, DBT skills, grief, relationships, OCD, trauma) so a new member joins a room already calibrated to what brought them in, rather than waiting for the CSM to route them to a generalist first.
For someone based in Italy the practical wins are concrete: no trip to a poliambulatorio across town, no bureaucracy through the medico di famiglia to obtain an impegnativa, no need to negotiate English capability with a therapist trained principally in Italian. HIPAA-compliant video means a member in Trento sits in the same group as one in Palermo without either boarding a Frecciarossa. For expats, dual-national families, staff at multinationals with sedi in Assago or EUR, and English-medium university students in Bologna or Milan, the language match alone dissolves a barrier that the SSN cannot address at scale.
Access and Availability Across Italy.
At 1.41 mental health workers per 100,000 residents, Italy sits well below both the EU average and its immediate neighbours. That headline number understates the disparity, because the workforce that does exist clusters in the Centro-Nord, Lombardia, Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Veneto, while the Mezzogiorno operates with even thinner ratios.
Geographic Barriers
Extended Wait Times
Systemic Challenges
Urban-Rural Divide
Affordable Group Therapy Costs for Italy Residents.
Affordability and Income
Italy's 2024 GNI per capita PPP of $55,220 puts Grouport's $140 monthly membership at approximately 3% of average monthly income. For members of the Anglophone community in Italy who would otherwise pay Milan or Rome private-practice rates, commonly €80-€120 per weekly seduta with an English-speaking psicologo in Porta Venezia or Trastevere, the annualised difference exceeds €3,000. Unlike the Bonus Psicologo there is no ISEE cap, no annual ceiling, and no lottery-style application window; unlike SSN care there is no impegnativa or referral to obtain.
Hidden Cost and Barriers
In-person therapy in Italy carries costs that never appear on the ricevuta. A Milano ATM abbonamento, a regional trenitalia biglietto, ZTL fees or parking near a studio in centro storico compound across a year of weekly sessions. Time off work matters especially for lavoratori dipendenti on rigid orari and for freelancers on partita IVA whose hour is their income. For residents of piccoli comuni, the arithmetic can be forty minutes each way to a CSM that then reschedules for want of staff. Online sessions from home or a private ufficio erase the entire transit ledger.
Immediate Availability
Where the CSM pathway asks a patient to wait roughly twenty weeks for a first evaluation and often longer before regular psychotherapy begins, Grouport's matching runs on a right away clock. For someone who has already crossed the internal threshold of deciding to seek help, that difference, a day or two versus most of a semester, determines whether momentum carries into treatment or dissipates before care begins.
An SSN psichiatra consultation through a CSM is largely covered by the ticket sanitario (typically €0-€36 depending on regione and ISEE), but access is bottlenecked by the twenty-week queue. Private-practice sedute with a psicologo run €60-€120 in northern cities, and psychotherapy schedules generally require weekly attendance. At $32 per session (roughly €29 at recent EUR/USD rates), Grouport sits below the out-of-pocket cost of nearly every private option.
How it Works
Choose your online therapy group
Choose your desired online therapy group and sign up for our weekly plan. Most of our groups are $35/session, but our skills groups are $25/session.
Personalized match
We’ll ensure you're matched to an online therapy group that best fits your mental health challenges and schedule. Don’t worry if you’re not entirely sure which group is right for you, as after signing up, a care coordinator can help make sure you get started in the group that’s right for you. We typically match you to a group right away!
Meet weekly with your group
Join your group over video chat at the same time each week for 60-minute sessions. You’ll meet with the same members & therapist with a group of up to 12 members. Additional membership perks can include weekly handouts, symptom tracking, and one-off workshops.
Mental Health Conditions We Treat in Italy.
Grouport runs groups for anxiety, depression, DBT skills, grief and loss, relationship issues, obsessive-compulsive patterns, trauma processing, teen concerns, and men's issues. The presenting concerns most frequently cited in ISTAT's mental-health indicators and Ministero della Salute reporting, depressive disorders, generalised anxiety, and workplace burnout (sindrome da burnout), map directly onto Grouport's core group offerings. Members choose the group aligned to the material they want to work on, without being routed through a generalist first.
Get Help for:
Anxiety Disorders
Mood Disorders
Trauma & Stress Related Disorders
Obsessive-Compulsive & Related Disorders
Personality Disorders
Eating & Body Disorders
Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Life Challenges
Relationship Issues, Codependency, Attachment Issues, Divorce, Loneliness, Anger Management, Self-Esteem, Grief & Loss, Chronic Illness, Gender Dysphoria, Infertility, Fertility Treatment & IVF Support, Pregnancy Loss & Miscarriage, Couples Issues, Parenting, Supporting a loved one, LGBTQIA Support
Other Disorders
Self harm
Self-Harm, Suicidal Ideation, Self-injury, Suicide Survival
Common Treatments
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Exposure Response Prevention (ERP), Exposure Therapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR), Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT), Psychodynamic Therapy, Motivational Interviewing (MI), Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), Trauma-Focused CBT (TF-CBT), Narrative Therapy, Schema Therapy, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), Somatic Therapy, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Prolonged Exposure (PE), Interpersonal Therapy (IPT), Behavioral Activation
Meet Our Therapists
Our therapists represent a wide range of clinical specialties & diverse backgrounds. They all undergo the most stringent credentialing process. Grouport therapists are caring, expert mental health professionals with years of experience helping people get the tools they need to see long-lasting change.
Grouport's clinicians are licensed psychologists, social workers, and marriage and family therapists who conduct sessions in English and work regularly with members outside the United States. For clients in Italy this means a therapist accustomed to hearing about Italian workplace culture, la famiglia allargata dynamics, the particular loneliness of a relocation to a country whose language you speak only functionally, and the practical realities of an SSN that cannot meet demand. Training reflects US graduate standards; cultural fluency comes from ongoing caseloads across expatriate communities in Europe.
a healthier future starts right here
Grouport’s Results
80% of our members start with moderate to severe mental health symptoms
70% of our members feel significantly better within just 8 weeks
50% of our members achieve remission levels within just 8 weeks
80%
of our members start with moderate to severe mental health symptoms
70%
of our members feel significantly better within just 8 weeks
50%
of our members achieve remission levels within just 8 weeks
Find your Group
Affordable Group Therapy & Care Options in Italy.
Group, individual, couples, family, IOP, and teen therapy — all online, all therapist-led. Mix and match care options to fit your needs — and get discounted pricing when you bundle.
Group Therapy
$35/session
billed at $140/month
Get Started
Individual Therapy
Couples Therapy
Family Therapy
IOP Therapy
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Teen Therapy
Meaningful Results
Check out how our services have helped our members see life-changing results
Stephanie
“Grouport is time flexible and affordable and if it didn’t exist, I don’t know where I would go. I had looked into other places before Grouport and there really wasn’t any option like it.”
Michael
“I highly recommend this to anyone who is struggling with anxiety or depression. The therapists are top notch and have made me feel really comfortable and my anxiety has improved tremendously in only a few sessions!”
Isabel
"I joined Grouport to work on myself and to heal. I’m learning so much at every session! The change I see not only in myself but in my fellow group members is abundantly encouraging and profoundly fulfilling. Group therapy with Grouport is a powerful healing tool."
Sheldon
“I was feeling very down at the end of 2020 and I was ready to do something drastic that I know I'd likely regret. The group definitely helped show me that there are people who feel the same way as I do.”
Nancy
“The therapy from Grouport is high quality and convenient. I am becoming much more self aware and am liking myself more. My relationships at work are better and I’m much happier.”
Emily
“I like the connection you can make with total strangers and the confidentiality it comes with.”
Danielle
"Grouport can help you with your issues. Their therapists are well trained to work with you on your issues. I felt my anxiety greatly improve after only a few sessions. I highly recommend it!"
Glenn
"Grouport's approach to DBT is a real strength. This approach provides tools and methods for working with difficult emotions and getting a handle on them. It has given me hope where other approaches have failed."
Common Questions About Group Therapy in Italy.
Private therapy in Italy typically runs EUR 60-100 per 50-minute individual session with a psicologo and EUR 100-150 or more with a psichiatra in Milan, Rome, and other major cities. The Bonus Psicologo can reimburse up to EUR 50 per session against a capped annual total (means-tested by ISEE), but the funding pool is limited, allocation is competitive, and ongoing weekly support quickly moves back to fully out-of-pocket once the credit is exhausted. Private health insurance and casse professionali reimbursements for psicoterapia are inconsistent and usually exclude non-convenzionato providers. Grouport's weekly group format is priced at a flat monthly rate in USD that generally works out to less than the weekly out-of-pocket cost of a single private seduta in Italy, even after any partial rimborso. You get a weekly 60-minute session with a licensed therapist plus the therapeutic benefit of peer support that individual therapy cannot replicate. Note that Grouport is not eligible for SSN or Bonus Psicologo reimbursement, so budget it as a private-pay wellness expense.
Italy's mental health system is under real strain: roughly 1.41 psychologists per 100,000 workers in the public network and average waits of about 20 weeks for a first appointment at a Centro di Salute Mentale (CSM) or ASL psicologo. The Bonus Psicologo helps a limited number of applicants offset private fees each year, but the allocation runs out quickly and the reimbursement caps out well before ongoing weekly care is covered. Finding an English-speaking clinician or an evening slot that fits a working schedule is especially difficult outside Milan, Rome, Turin, Bologna, and Naples, and even harder across the Mezzogiorno and the isole. Grouport removes those constraints: you can typically join a group within days rather than months, sessions run in English with a licensed therapist, and the small-group format connects you with peers navigating similar challenges instead of working through them alone. For clients anywhere from Lombardia to Sicilia who want structured weekly support without waiting out a public queue, online groups are a practical complement or alternative to the local system.
Group Therapy Available Across Italy.
Counties
Lombardia, Lazio, Campania, Sicilia, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Piemonte, Puglia, Toscana, Calabria, Sardegna, Liguria, Marche, Abruzzo, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige, Umbria, Basilicata, Molise, Valle d'Aosta.
Cities
Roma, Milano, Napoli, Torino, Palermo, Genova, Bologna, Firenze, Bari, Catania, Venezia, Verona, Messina, Padova, Trieste, Brescia, Parma, Taranto, Prato, Modena, Reggio Calabria, Perugia.
Zip Codes
Grouport serves all zip codes across Italy. If you have an address in Italy, Grouport can serve you regardless of your zip code.
Ready To Get Started?
Let’s find the right therapist match for you, so you can get consistent & effective care.
