i'm in australia, salty, but we have similar ethical guidelines. my T offers me therapy for free, with the understanding that if he needs help with certain things i have skills for (e.g., web design) that I will return it in the future.

it isn't unethical, but sometimes it has been a bit tricky to manage. like last year i got really, really depressed and couldn't do the work that he needed, and i felt like i had failed him. it made therapy very difficult because i felt so guilty. but he twigged that it was an issue for me and clarified that it wasn't an issue for him - that there would be plenty of opportunity to help in the future and so not to worry about it for now.

at the moment i'm not doing anything for him, but i know i'll start helping out again around august. the stuff i help out with isnt essential, and he's terribly busy too, so it's the sort of thing that can wait. it helps me out a lot to not need to pay him because otherwise i probably couldnt afford to go.