Online Therapy

I signed up to be an online therapist. I mean, I do a lot of texting as it is, and often it’s good support for my friends. So why not get paid for it? I thought to myself when I saw the ad looking for therapists. Perhaps you can earn enough doing that alone but it’s also income in addition to your “day job.” So I signed up with very little “informed consent” up front, to see what the deal was.

The first thing was to send in a very short questionnaire – do you have a license to practice in your State? Yes. Do you have malpractice insurance? Yes. Okay, I passed the first test. The next business day, which may have been a Monday afternoon, I got the word that I was “moving on in the process.” Okay. I received another questionnaire with more specific information about me, requesting copies of my documents to support my claims of being a therapist. My resume, license, W9, insurance certificate. Stuff I have had handy for the last few months as I set myself up in private practice.

I was asked to join the Platform, aka virtual office, and I would get a trainer. This is App #1. I had to let a few particular people on staff know that I passed my first round of screening. I was told I would need a new headshot – a professional headshot that met their criteria – white background, black and white only, professional dress. Thinking that this was all imminent I ran up to JC Penny and dropped $100 on a headshot even though I really needed a haircut first. By the day’s end, I emailed them my digital copy. And waited.

Then I was told to email the Tech guy about some apps I needed to get a Therapist app, which is not the same as the one clients use. I needed an app to download the app, and an app to generate codes, after scanning the company’s bar code (this is for security and HIPAA compliance). This is now 4 apps. Okay… Now there is the training. These are 25 or so brief and basic reminders of what the therapy should look like and what to say in certain situations as well as some videos. They even have pre written scripts for these situations and staff to refer to if you, say, have a client who is suicidal. Because it is all digital, the corporate staff can locate and reach out to the clients no matter where they live. I did find out that clients are most often referred to someone in their own state or at least in their time zone, to make things a little more convenient.

I then received an email to a link for my criminal background check.

Once assigned to my trainer, I was invited to her training cohort and sent duplicate links to the trainings. The company stresses informed consent with clients, which I found really ironic because I spent weeks having no idea what the pay rate is for therapist or client, or how long the onboarding would take. They would keep sending me emails saying I had one more step before I could start working with clients. This was clearly not the case. Today I had my video/facetime hands on training to be walked through the software. I can now be added to the FIFTH app – the one where I browse clients waiting for an assignment.

I will start with one client – for 7 days, then be assigned another. My trainer will be reading everything I write for the next 30 days to make sure I am not a hack. These clients will only be messaging clients for now. The majority of clients have texting with an occasional video session. I respond twice a day, 5 days a week, as long as I say which days. It’s like taking a 50 minute session and stretching it across 5 days. They’re doing crazy amounts of research at Corporate and there are definite trends. And it is definitely working for people. For me, however, this is uncharted territory. There is money to be made as well, which is really helpful considering it’s just texting and it’s something I know how to do anyway.

I am still waiting for an assignment but the day is coming to an end so perhaps tomorrow someone “easy” will pop up who is right for me to start with, send out all the “right” language and documents to get them going. It’s all about going slow, engaging, validating, “listening,” when it boils down to it. The woman who gets me on the final app said she was first going to check if my headshot was on my profile. Yes, I already saw it. However, last week I did get my hair cut and I wish I had waited.