TherapyCloud: An Answer to our Mental Health Care Crisis (and an Opportunity to Put More Money in Your Pocket)

Especially after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we all know that the need for mental health care remains unprecedented. Even the state and federal government’s outlook on our mental health care system’s crisis is grim. Reporting via the federal Health Resources and Services Administration report in 2023, it is recognized that “Increasing the supply of the behavioral health workforce is not enough to address systemic, provider, and patient-level barriers.”  The National Conference of State Legislatures echoes this concern in their 2023 report with the admission that the “large caseloads” of those providing therapy is not a sustainable solution to meet our nation’s current level of need.

It is easy to feel hopeless with long waiting lists, burnout, and insurance headaches. This is all the more frustrating when all therapists really want to do is help as many people as possible. At TherapyCloud, though, we believe we have found a solution to the many missing gaps in our current mental health care system! Our interdisciplinary, collaborative community makes mental health support better and easier for all, supporting both therapists and those whom they help. Through our platform, we believe we can change the face of mental health care. Won’t you join us in making the world a better place?

What Therapists Know - a Mental Health Care Crisis Reality Check‍

Because TherapyCloud has been created for someone like you by someone like you, we know how hard it is to be a therapist. Here’s what all therapists know:

• Therapists are overworked
• Therapists don’t want more client paperwork to complete
• Secondary trauma is real
• Therapists are burned out (with a recent report by the the National Council for Mental Wellbeing documenting that this affects specifically nine out of ten therapists and that 62% of therapists report suffering from even “moderate or severe” burnout) 
• Therapists would prefer having the responsibility of less clients, as opposed to more
• Administrative tasks, like scheduling or billing, take precious time from serving clients and, therefore, directly impacts income
• There are areas of the country that are inherently significantly underserved (e.g. many rural areas and economically stressed cities have few, if any, therapists; The Commonwealth Fund reports that 160 million Americans live in areas with mental health professional shortages and that, in 2018, more than half of the counties in the U.S. did not have a practicing psychiatrist)
• Although therapists offer essential healing services, as physicians do, therapists are paid a fraction of what doctors are paid
• Therapists can’t even keep up with the referrals they are getting, often not having time to return initial inquiries via phone or email
• Waiting lists are long (documented by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing to be a national average of between two and three months)
• Because every mental health care office’s waiting list is long, it is hard to even find an office to which therapists can refer clients who are in need of immediate support
• Everything related to insurance is frustrating
• No one wants to interact with insurance companies if they can avoid it
• Because therapists are spread so thin, it’s hard to find a work/life balance
• It’s also hard to try and support as many clients as possible while also trying to run a successful therapy practice
• Being in private practice is inherently isolating
• Therapists care deeply about people and the human condition and want to help as many people as possible

Institutions like the American Psychological Association also do not anticipate the barriers to mental health care - wait times, therapist burnout, retirement, the amount of providers not taking new clients, etc. - to be significantly reduced anytime soon, even following the resolution of the global health crisis of COVID-19. We know, then, that we, as a society, cannot solve the problem of reduced access to mental health care by simply adding more therapists to the field or by adding more clients to our therapy schedules. The demand is far greater than the supply even will be in the future!  

How We Can Change the World‍

If addressing our mental health care crisis cannot be done simply through increasing the workforce, particularly given the rates of mental health provider burnout and retirement, we must find another solution. Even legislative measures to remove certain barriers for mental health care, like allowing for telehealth across state lines or removing restrictions on limited-licensed therapists to help meet the need for therapy (e.g. the Social Work Licensure Modernization Act), is not enough. Data trends suggest, to make an impact on our collapsing mental health care system, we must simply make therapy services more accessible. But, how can we do that if both the therapists and our mental health care system are already so overwhelmed? We are, then, faced with creating something out of nothing. That’s where TherapyCloud comes in!

Therapists do amazing work. And, the Internet is an amazing place. So, why not support therapists to be more collaborative on a platform that allows you to have everything in one place and that allows you to create content that people are desperately searching for and can access on demand? What if you only had to make a little more effort to create something that could change someone’s life without that effort impacting any other aspect of your life other than adding more money to your bank account?

You have important things to say. Every day you work as a therapist, you are changing lives. And, you know what things you say and do that change lives. You have gotten feedback from your clients. You have observed changes in behavior. You have made mental notes of what has worked and have returned to practices and techniques that you know help produce positive outcomes. 

There is also no other therapist like you in the world. You have certain credentials, experiences, and specialties that someone somewhere is looking for. We believe that each therapist has the ability to make a life-changing impact by being the best therapist they can be. And, we want others to know how awesome you are! (This is why we have created a client-attracting rating system as an integrated feature for each therapist who joins our community.)

However, you cannot be in two places at once. No problem! Keep doing the awesome work that you are doing as a therapist and also create some content that will allow you to not only change lives of people you are seeing during your work day but will also offer you some passive income as a reward for your extra time, energy, and expertise! Best of all, no insurance claims! No client billing! TherapyCloud only takes a small commission of each purchase to help make your content available to others. 

Such content can even be created from your phone. You are already using your phone on social media to create posts and view and make videos. The content doesn’t have to be lengthy. The content doesn’t have to be expensive (you will be in charge of your pricing for any content posted on the TherapyCloud Marketplace). And, you don’t have to be perfect. Content that is genuine, relatable, and authentic resonates more than highly polished work done by a professional videographer or graphic designer.

Even if you want to be involved in our growing community but are not sure what to create that would help others, we have that covered! We are doing the hard work for you in analyzing the data on what people are searching for and will consistently share this information with our members so that they can be inspired for their own content creation to help offer accurate and therapeutic resources. You can even check out our “Tips for Content Creation” Guide here or join our community to participate in our private, collaborative and interdisciplinary professional forum to get those creative juices flowing.

Think of all of the “social media influencers” out there on platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikToc. Think about how many times your clients say that they saw a video, heard a podcast, or took a course they randomly found online and how much of an impact it had on them. Think, also, about how usually these “influencers” are not even licensed therapists and that often their information is incomplete, inaccurate or even outright harmful. How much more could you change the world of others, as a licensed therapist with accurate things to share based on your training and expertise?

‍You are the Perfect Therapist for Someone‍

Being in the field of therapy ourselves, at TherapyCloud, we understand the frustrations with insurance, telehealth coverage, and interstate provider restrictions. We also believe that whether or not a client is able to interact with the therapist they believe is the perfect fit for them should not be dictated by one’s location or insurance coverage. We also recognize that cost is listed as a central reason for why people say they do not participate in therapy, as is outlined by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing.

If someone finds you using our find a therapist search feature and wants to work with you, we believe they should be able to. If you are not located in the same state, do not offer telehealth therapy, or their insurance will not cover services with you, this would traditionally be a challenge. However, with our Therapeutic Marketplace, where on demand content to support mental health is available 24/7/365 in any state, we have removed that and many other barriers. With our Therapeutic Marketplace, we transcend the barriers of insurance coverage, interstate licensure legislation, telehealth restrictions, scheduling challenges, multiple visit costs, therapist burnout, and the lack of availability of therapists that are contributing to our current mental health care crisis. 

Think about the client who has searched the internet and asked around for what feels like forever to find that perfect fit in a therapist - someone with whom they will share very intimate details of their life. Then they find you. But, you are on a waiting list (as are all the other therapists). As opposed to having to wait the national average of months to receive services (assuming you are in the same state and are in network with their insurance so you could actually work with them in the first place), they can receive life-changing support immediately and indefinitely based on the content you have available on demand for purchase for a one-time fee on your therapist profile. 

No multiple insurance claims, scheduling, papework, copay collections, payment delays, or visits to take up more time. All you had to do was create one video; one recording; one worksheet; one journal prompt; one upload. You have just helped someone’s mental health on demand by sharing the important things you have to offer the world! The best part is that it took such little effort on your part that you simply get to enjoy the passive income that shows up in your bank account as a result of that bit of extra effort! That’s a win for everyone!

Imagine!

Imagine how many more lives you could change if your wisdom and therapeutic experience was able to be captured and played on demand by others when they need the most help! Imagine how you may be able to change more lives by simply taking some extra time out of your day one time to create a meditation, course, or tool for others that you can share on the Internet for anyone, even fellow therapists, to find! Imagine how many hours it would save you if you could simply download the perfect therapeutic tool for that client that had already been created by a fellow TherapyCloud therapist. As long as you have an active monthly membership with us, every piece of content is free to post! No hosting or course publishing costs. Just TherapyCloud’s small commission fee to help manage your educational resources. We also partner with Loom, who offers a free video creation package, to give you all the tools you need to create what you are passionate about. Even sites like Canva offer easy to use free design templates. 

We’re here for you. We’ve done the work to create a supportive, interdisciplinary, and collaborative community that includes on demand content through our Therapy Marketplace. We believe this will help make the world a better place. But, we need you. With you, we can change the face of mental health care by removing barriers to mental health care so that everybody wins. Won’t you join us?