What We’ve Learned From Therapists in Atlanta
The RightFit team has been hard at work for months talking to folks with private therapy practices in Atlanta. This is key to why we think we can build the best solution for you. We want to build the product with you and not for you. Here are a few things we’ve learned and a bit about what we plan to do about it:
Matching and Fit is a Big Problem
Matching and finding the right fit is one of the biggest problems in the mental healthcare industry. Across the board, individuals are finding that their personality just doesn’t match with the therapist they’ve reached out to. The therapy relationship is very personal so more factors come into play than your typical relationship with a care provider like a doctor. RightFit plans to solve for this by not just focusing on the individual’s therapeutic needs but also on what a client expects out of their therapist. A great example we heard from a therapist was that she wanted to feel comfortable cussing in front of her own therapist. To us, this highlights just how personal the relationship is. We will build considerations like this into our product to make sure we are covering both the art and science of therapy. What that means is a tailored survey to get to the bottom of how this personal relationship might work.
Psychology Today is Ineffective for Finding Therapists
Psychology Today is the elephant in the room. We recognize it and most people in the industry do as well. It certainly has its positives but we heard a lot of interesting thoughts on the notorious directory. Most therapists in Atlanta are not using it as a referral source. Instead, they feel it lends them credibility. One of their mentors at some point said they had to have a Psychology Today profile to be taken seriously. We hope to change that by making our #1 focus on both quantity and quality of client referrals. The ROI is obvious and we aim to bring you multiple right fit referrals a year. Maybe Psychology Today will never go away but we think we can coexist with them as the premier source of referrals in the mental health industry.
Bad Technology
Most therapist directories aren’t modern. Every therapist felt the same way. They look straight out of 2005 and don’t match consumer’s expectations in 2020. With that in mind, we aim to build a best-in-class software solution. A lot of our inspiration comes from modern platforms like handy, thumbtack, and home advisor. Keep an eye out for RightFit Therapy as the world’s most intuitive therapist directory in the world. And don’t worry, we’ll make sure it’s beautiful too.
Lack of Social Awareness
Psychology Today appears to be on the wrong side of a lot of social issues. We want to represent the entire therapy profession and its consumers. We plan to work with a diverse team of therapists to make sure this doesn’t become a blindspot. We want real content and images by real people. The RightFit program pledges to keep diversity & inclusion at the front of our mind as we grow both internally and externally.
Therapists Don’t Learn About the Business of Therapy
We learned that counselors and therapists in Atlanta don’t learn much about the business side of things in their schooling. That means we need to build a lot of that in to our platform. It means we need to function as the marketing arm of their company. We will focus on allowing therapists to build beautiful public-facing profiles in minutes. Don’t worry about spending time on marketing. We will make sure your profile tells your story perfectly and connects you with the right clients. We want the therapists on our platform to view us as the team that really gets the business of therapy. We’ll make sure to keep our ear to the ground on how we can continuously improve in this area.
Start Local
In particular, it’s important for us to focus on therapists in Atlanta first. We’ve learned just how important networking is to therapists so we want to really focus on getting therapists in Atlanta on our team first. We know therapists don’t like being sold to so we’re not going to spend a lot of time on that. Instead, we’re going to focus on relationships and getting involved with the Atlanta therapist community. This is how a great mental health community gets built.
Make It Simple for Consumers and Therapists
We want to make a product that makes your life easier, while also making the experience better for consumers. If we can keep these two ideas as guiding principles, we think we can build something special. It’s already hard enough for individuals to decide to seek therapy, we can’t add another set of barriers once they start searching. With our product, consumers will be able to reach out to therapists that are a good match for them in under 10 minutes. Because of our survey functionality, not only will they find you quicker but you’ll also find they are a better match for your therapy style. Instead of the industry writing articles with workarounds to teach people how to find a therapist, sign up with RightFit therapy to make it easier for consumers from the beginning.
These are some basic themes we heard from therapists in Atlanta and we are so excited to continue to build on this knowledge. This knowledge is what will allow us to grow with you and make your therapy practice a success! Stay tuned for more updates from us as we build the product. Also, we’re starting to create more and more content. We want you to come for the referrals and stay for the content. We plan to put out a mental health newsletter soon – think of The Skimm, but for therapists. If you have any questions for us or want to get involved, please feel free to reach out to us at info@rightfitcounseling.com. Thanks for reading!