Psychologists report free appointments without receiving payment

Um group of psychologists who joined the government program of free consultations for young people denounced today that professionals are providing the service without being paid and cases of young people waiting months for follow-up.

“I did not receive payment for any consultation,” Lusa lamented one of the psychologists of the group who denounced the situation in a statement, a position endorsed by 493 professionals.

This is a government measure that started on 2 July and provides for the provision of psychologist and nutritionist checks for free consultations for young people aged 12 to 35.

Rosana Milhomens told Lusa that it was expected that the consultations would be paid, EUR 40 per consultation with the adherent professionals, within 90 days and that deadline has already been exceeded, since it has not received any payment since June.

The psychologist said that she has already conducted about a dozen consultations without issuing checks so that young people do not spend more than 30 days without follow-up.

In relation to psychological follow-up, after the first two consultations, psychologists can ask for a new set of checks for the young person, but according to the psychologists' statement, there are cases of young people who have had the first two consultations and are waiting to resume psychological follow-up since August and others who still wait for the first two checks, without knowing when they will be able to start the consultations.

“ This delay may require the interruption or postponement of ongoing psychological follow-up, regardless of the clinical needs of the beneficiaries. These interruptions compromise the continuity and quality of therapeutic work, can weaken the bond established with the psychologist and hinder the progress achieved in consultation ", denounced the professionals in the statement.

According to psychologists, the entity that manages the measure, the Portuguese Sports and Youth Institute (IPDJ), admitted that it has not yet started issuing the follow-up checks and did not give time to do so.

The statement states that the IPDJ, admitted to users that “there are errors with the requests of some young people, but these errors are only solved if the young person himself contacts the entity”.

To resolve the situation, professionals called for “the provision of more clear, complete and accessible guidance on all administrative and financial procedures associated with the measure and the definition of predictable and short deadlines for issuing and making available new sets of cheques”.

Professionals also called for “the reduction of payment deadlines and the guarantee of greater predictability in payments to professionals”.

The measure is part of the ‘Take care’ program, an IPDJ program aimed at promoting youth health and healthy lifestyles.

Checks must be requested through the gov.pt platform with the Digital Mobile Key to check the age of young people.

The measure, originally launched in September 2024, was suspended in the last school year for evaluation and identification of improvements, having been resumed in June this year.

In previous editions, only psychologist and nutritionist checks were made available to university students.

Rosana Milhomens added that in last year's edition there were no problems with payments, which psychologists received in less than a month.

Lusa asked for reactions to the IPDJ, the Order of Psychologists and the Order of Nutritionists and awaits response.