Cost stops a lot of people before they start, particularly early in the year when the whole eigen risico (the mandatory annual deductible) still lies ahead. Several routes into support sit outside that deductible or well below market rates, but none of them are advertised anywhere obvious, so the full-price specialist route looks like the only door.
Your huisarts practice's POH-GGZ (praktijkondersteuner GGZ) — a mental health support worker embedded in the GP practice — is the first place to look, because that route sits under huisartsenzorg, and GP care in the Dutch system is entirely exempt from the eigen risico (the mandatory annual deductible). You can get several sessions of practical, short-term support this way without it touching your deductible at all, and the POH-GGZ can refer onward if you need more. If you do need specialist GGZ and the deductible itself is the blocker, ask your insurer about spreading it — most let you pay the eigen risico in monthly installments rather than as one lump sum when the bill lands. University towns often have low-cost training clinics — psychology master's programs at Leiden, Utrecht, Amsterdam and others run supervised treatment by students-in-training at a fraction of market rates. Municipal sociaal wijkteams can also point to subsidized local options, especially where income is a genuine barrier. Outside the insured system, some private therapists serving the expat community offer a sliding scale informally — it's worth just asking. None of these routes are heavily advertised, so the practical move is asking your huisarts directly what's available locally rather than assuming full-price specialist care is the only path.