Expert 1:1 Care
Individual therapy in Cuba, without the twenty-week wait.
Individual therapy in Cuba shouldn't mean a six-week queue at the local polyclinic, a referral to a hospital psychology consulta, and then a brief appointment squeezed between dozens of others. Grouport gives English-fluent Cubans a different route: one-on-one therapy with a licensed clinician, delivered over HIPAA-compliant video, at $103 per session on a $448 monthly plan. A short intake, a therapist match right away, and a first session this week from Havana, Santiago de Cuba, or anywhere with a stable ETECSA connection. No hospital visit, no referral chain, and no waiting behind hundreds of names on a provincial list.
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The State of Mental Health in Cuba.
Understanding the landscape of mental health care access and the challenges
residents face across the state.
Mental Illness Prevalence
17.9% of Cuban adults live with a mental health condition each year, reflecting the ongoing need for accessible therapy options.
Wait Time
6 weeks the average wait to secure a first mental health appointment in Cuba's public system, an interval during which symptoms often deepen.
Median Household Income
$14,200 median household income in Cuba, shaping what households can allocate to private mental health care.
Percentage Who Need Therapy
55.0% of Cuban adults with a mental health condition do not receive formal specialist treatment.
Provider Shortage
99% of Cuba's mental health workforce falls short of what is needed to fully meet population demand for specialist care.
Mental Health Providers per 100k Residents
0.44 per 100,000 mental health workers in Cuba, a density that shapes availability, wait times, and access across the country.
Read together, the numbers describe a country where mental health need clearly exists but where formal one-on-one specialist care is scarce, slow, and geographically concentrated. WHO's 0.44 mental health workers per 100,000 residents translates to roughly forty-eight specialists across the entire island of nearly eleven million people, most of them working through the community mental health centers and provincial hospitals. Combined with a six-week average wait and a median household income around $14,200, the practical result is that many Cubans who could benefit from weekly individual therapy never actually reach a specialist. That is precisely the gap a HIPAA-compliant, USD-subscription, licensed-clinician video service is built to fill for the English-fluent share of the population that can meet its language and connectivity requirements.
UNDERSTANDING THE CHALLENGE
Understanding Mental Health Access in Cuba.
The Problem
Cuba built its mental health model around the family doctor and polyclinic system, which handles first contact well but funnels specialist demand to a very thin bench. WHO records 0.44 mental health workers per 100,000 people, so roughly 48 specialists for the entire 10.98 million. The economic squeeze of the past few years, the 2021 monetary reform and shortages of imported psychotropic medication have added pressure at exactly the moment household stress has risen. Provincial hospitals in Santiago, Camaguey and Pinar del Rio report the longest queues.
The Impact
Six weeks looks manageable on paper. In practice, for a Cienfuegos accountant with rising anxiety or a Camagüey teacher who has been struggling with grief since a family member emigrated, it means six weeks of trying to hold a full workload while sleep, appetite, and concentration slide. The pathway usually runs through the family doctor at the local consultorio, a referral to a psychology consulta at the polyclinic or provincial hospital, and eventually a first session that has to fit inside a heavily booked clinician's day. Many Cubans quietly drop out somewhere along that path and lean on family instead. Grouport collapses the whole sequence into a short intake and a scheduled hour with a licensed therapist, starting this week rather than in mid-autumn.
The Solution
One-on-one online therapy relieves the specific pressures Cuba's public mental health network struggles to absorb. With WHO counting roughly 0.44 mental health workers per 100,000 residents on the island, the polyclinic-to-specialist pathway funnels far more demand than the community mental health centers can carry. Grouport offers a private alternative that stays fully individual: a licensed clinician, a weekly forty-five minute video session, and the same therapist week over week so the work builds rather than restarts. Nothing shared, nothing overheard, and no referral paperwork. Cuban clients who use it treat it as a parallel channel to whatever primary care they already have, running quietly on their own schedule.
99% of Cuba's mental health workforce falls short of what is needed to fully meet population demand for specialist care.
Three frictions in the Cuban pathway loosen with Grouport. First, the public queue disappears: instead of a six-week wait after a family-doctor referral, intake and the first video session usually happen within the same week. Second, geography stops mattering, since a client in Bayamo or Guantánamo City no longer has to plan a guagua ride to a provincial capital when the session runs from a phone or laptop wherever ETECSA reaches. Third, Cuba Standard Time aligns exactly with US Eastern Time, so scheduling with a Grouport clinician is straightforward across morning, afternoon, and evening slots. Home internet has been legal since 2019 and 4G coverage is now nationwide, which makes weekly video sessions practical for far more households than they were five years ago.
Access and Availability Across Cuba.
Formal mental health care in Cuba runs almost entirely through one channel: the Ministry of Public Health network of family doctors, polyclinics, and community mental health centers, anchored by provincial hospitals and specialist units in Havana. Legal private practice barely exists, there is no employer-based mental health benefit tradition, and NGO or university clinics are limited to a few academic settings. Grouport is a distinctly different fourth option: individual weekly sessions with a licensed English-speaking clinician, delivered over HIPAA-compliant video, priced in US dollars, and available to any Cuban resident who can join a scheduled video call. It sits alongside the public system rather than trying to replace it, filling the weekly one-on-one slot that Cuba's formal landscape does not currently offer at scale.
Geographic Barriers
Extended Wait Times
Systemic Challenges
Urban-Rural Divide
Affordable Individual Therapy Costs for Cuba Residents.
Cuba residents get immediate access to individual therapy at $103 per session (billed at $448 per month), 50 to 60 percent below the global average of $150 to $250 per session that private one-on-one care typically runs internationally. Inside Cuba, private consulta is rare and informal, prices vary widely between provinces when it exists at all, and public therapy is free but rationed by long queues. Grouport slots between those two realities, priced in USD as a flat monthly subscription with a licensed clinician, weekly sessions, and no session-by-session invoicing to negotiate.
Affordability and Income
Against a median household income figure of roughly $14,200 for Cuba, $448 per month for weekly one-on-one therapy is a real commitment, and Grouport's $224 per month every-other-week option () is often the more realistic entry point for clients who don't have regular remittance support. Either plan sits well below the global $150 to $250 per session norm for licensed private therapy, and the USD subscription structure fits how many Cuban households already handle discretionary spending through MLC accounts or remittance-fed dollar budgets. What the flat monthly rate buys is predictability: the same line item every month, in dollars, with no session-by-session invoice to interpret and no cash-only surprises at the consulta. That predictability is what makes it feasible to plan a full course of therapy rather than a few isolated appointments spread across a year.
Hidden Cost and Barriers
Public therapy in Cuba is nominally free but rarely costless. A rural resident may spend 200 to 500 pesos on shared transport to a provincial hospital for a single appointment, plus a full day away from work or caregiving. Urban patients avoid the travel bill but often lose half a workday between the ride to the polyclinic, the waiting room, and the ride home. Repeated visits during the assessment and follow-up phase compound quickly. With Grouport there is no commute, no lost work hours, no cash-only surprises, no currency-conversion friction, and no hunt for a licensed English-speaking clinician with open availability. Pricing is one predictable monthly line in USD, cancel anytime, and the session runs from wherever the client already is.
Immediate Availability
The cost argument only works if the service is actually available when the client needs it, and this is where Grouport diverges most sharply from Cuba's public pathway. Instead of a six-week wait after a family-doctor referral, matching to a licensed clinician happens right after intake and the first session typically runs within days. There is no referral form, no medical justification to draft, and no rotating provincial list to wait behind. For Cuba clients ready to start now, a licensed Grouport therapist is available this week.
How it Works
Explore Virtual Mental Health Services
With plans tailored to you, it's easy to choose the right mental health care plan. Simply sign up today!
Personalized match
We’ll get in touch with you to get brief context to make sure we match you with the therapist that best fits your needs & schedule. (Typically match in 24-72 hours)
Start Online Therapy
Meet weekly with a licensed mental health professional for 45-minute video sessions. With consistent online therapy services, you can start seeing meaningful results.
Mental Health Conditions We Treat in
Cuba
Meaningful Results
Check out how our online therapy 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."
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.
Every Grouport session is led by a licensed clinician: psychologists, LCSWs, LMFTs, LMHCs, LPCs, PsyDs, and PhDs with graduate-level training and years of practice behind them. Sessions run in English and clinicians are experienced with internationally based clients, which includes Cuban adults navigating the daily texture of life on the island, dual-currency budgeting, family split across borders, and the ordinary rhythms of resolviendo. Therapists are not required to have lived in Cuba, but they work with cross-cultural context rather than assume a US framework applies wholesale, and they adapt pace and approach to what each client actually brings into the session. All sessions are HIPAA-compliant and fully confidential.
Affordable Individual Therapy & Care Options in Cuba.
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.
Individual Therapy
$112/session
billed at $448/month
Get Started
Group Therapy
Couples Therapy
Family Therapy
IOP Therapy
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Teen Therapy
Common Questions About Individual Therapy in Cuba.
If your internet disconnects during a group session, rest assured your therapist will still be there as it's a group session with other group members, so they will be there when you rejoin. For private sessions, like individual therapy, your therapist will wait 20 minutes for you to reconnect. Try refreshing your browser, using a private or different web browser, restarting your device, switching to a different device, or switching to mobile data if wifi isn’t working. If you can’t resolve the issue contact our technical support team at support@grouporttherapy.com and they will work with you on resolving.
We recommend joining from a computer, laptop or tablet in a private setting as that typically provides for a better therapeutic experience. If you’d prefer to join from a smartphone, you can absolutely do so as our platform works well on smartphones (both iPhone and Android). Using your phone can be convenient as it allows you to attend therapy from anywhere private. However, we recommend using WiFi rather than cellular data when possible to ensure stable video quality and avoid data charges. Consider using headphones for better audio quality and privacy, and position your phone so your therapist can see your face clearly (many clients use a phone stand). While phones can work well, many clients prefer larger screens like tablets, laptops, or computers for a more immersive experience.
If your sessions happen through our member portal, then no, Grouport's therapy platform works directly through your web browser, no downloads or installations are required. Simply click the session on your home page within your member portal, and you'll join your session from there. If your sessions happen outside of our member portal, then you should download Zoom on your device which can be downloaded for free. If your sessions happen outside of our member portal, you’ll receive an auto session reminder email 24-hours before each session with a unique HIPAA compliant Zoom link to join that week’s session. Our care coordinators and technical support staff will assist you with anything you need, to ensure you know how to smoothly access your sessions.
The group itself becomes practice for connection, communication, conflict resolution, boundaries, and vulnerability. Some people join individual therapy specifically for the social skills component. You're learning through doing and practicing in real time. The skills learned in group transfer to outside relationships and help you form healthier friendships beyond therapy. Many people think of group sessions as a practice for relationship skills they can apply elsewhere.
Bringing outside experiences into individual therapy is central to therapy. Whatever's happening in your life is material for group. However, dominating every session with outside content without engaging within the confines of group process limits benefits so it’s important to balance between bringing outside issues, listening to others in the group, and participating in group's here and now interactions. The therapist facilitates using outside examples productively, focusing on relevant skills that require time to go over, while maintaining group cohesion. Your life outside group is always relevant material and you should certainly incorporate things that happen in your life into group as that is why you are there.
Grouport's online individual therapy is already one of the most affordable therapy options out there at $25 - $35 per session ($448/month), depending on the group you’re in. That's significantly cheaper than almost any other type of therapy out there. Maybe you can use receipts to get out of network insurance reimbursement, or use HSA/FSA funds. When paying quarterly or biannually, you also do receive discounts. While we try to make our services as affordable as possible, we understand that cost is a reality that people face and everyone's financial situation is different. Sometimes taking a planned break with the intention to return when finances improve helps. The goal is supporting your treatment access with what is financially viable for you.
For some people, yes. For others, online individual therapy and individual therapy work best together. Depends totally based on what you need. Group gives you connection and perspective while individual gives you focused personal attention. Neither is inherently better, they just serve different purposes. Many people start with online individual therapy at first and add individual therapy later on, or attend group and add individual therapy when specific issues arise. A care coordinator or your therapist can help you determine whether group alone, individual alone, or both best serves your needs and ultimately you can decide that and your needs may adjust over time.
Work culture varies by country. Some countries have intense work demands, limited worker protections, or expectations that harm mental health. Whether you're dealing with burnout, toxic workplace, career pressure, or unemployment stress, therapy addresses work-related mental health impacts regardless of where you live.
Financial stress affects mental health everywhere. Therapy helps you cope with the anxiety and depression that come with economic insecurity. If money is tight, group therapy costs less than individual therapy so that might be a great way to affordably access therapy. Through our platform, we want therapy to be accessible.
No long-term commitment required. Grouport operates month-to-month. Try it for a month, see if it helps, continue or cancel. Most therapists recommend giving therapy at least 8-12 sessions to really assess whether it's working, but you're not locked into contracts. Month-to-month flexibility makes it lower-risk to try. Additionally you can always switch therapists or groups at any time, so we’ll work with you to make sure you're happy with the fit.
Yes. Cuba Standard Time (UTC-5) aligns directly with US Eastern Time, so scheduling with Grouport clinicians is straightforward whether you work standard daytime hours in Havana or shift work in tourism, healthcare, or academic roles. Weekly 45 to 50 minute one-on-one video sessions with a licensed clinician (psychologist, LCSW, LMHC, LMFT, LPC, PsyD, or PhD) can be booked in early mornings, lunch windows, or evenings. After a short intake you match with a therapist and start right away, at $103 per weekly session or $448 per month.
Yes. Grouport clinicians work with clients from a wide range of religious, spiritual, and secular backgrounds, and you decide how central faith is to your sessions. In your one-on-one weekly video sessions, 45 to 50 minutes with a licensed clinician, you can name what matters to you and ask that it be respected in how goals and coping strategies are framed. Sessions are confidential, HIPAA-compliant, and conducted in English at $103 per weekly session or $448 per month. You can match and start right away after intake.
Individual Therapy Available Across Cuba.
Regions
Pinar del Rio, Artemisa, La Habana, Mayabeque, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Villa Clara, Sancti Spiritus, Ciego de Avila, Camaguey, Las Tunas, Granma, Holguin, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo, Isla de la Juventud (special municipality)
Cities
Havana, Santiago de Cuba, Camaguey, Holguin, Santa Clara, Guantanamo, Bayamo, Las Tunas, Cienfuegos, Pinar del Rio, Matanzas, Ciego de Avila, Sancti Spiritus, Manzanillo, Cardenas
Zip Codes
10100, 10200, 10300, 10400, 10500, 10600, 10700, 10800, 10900, 11000
If you have an address in Cuba, 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.
