Blogging on Good Therapy

Dear Members & Newsletter Subscribers:We’re writing with two important announcements:

1. This week we’re celebrating GoodTherapy.org’s 5 month anniversary.  In this short time we’ve grown tremendously and have become highly visible on the web.  With nearly 1200 therapists in our directory, our site is viewed by over 8000 people each month and our directory is searched by 6000 independent users every month.  We have hundreds of pages targeting specific cities which are listed in the top 1, 2, and 3.  

2.  In addition to tooting our own horn, we’re celebrating this anniversary by providing you with more ways to promote your practice.  Here are some new ways to draw client to your practice:

1. Publish an Article on GoodTherapy.org  This is an excellent way to draw attention to your practice.  Click here to learn more about the benefits.

2. Advertise your Workshop or Training, FREE of cost, in our Workshop Directory

3. Post a comment to our Blog.  This is a great way to create a backlink to your website or your goodtherapy.org profile.  Here are some recent topics you can comment on, click on any of them to read the post and to comment:

Do you believe “Personality Disorder” diagnoses are pathologizing?

Why do We Use Personality Disorder Diagnoses Anyway?How to Choose a Counselor or Therapist

What are the Warning Signs of “Unhealthy” Therapy?

Thanks to all of you who have linked back to us and have told others about our site,

Noah Rubinstein, LMFT and the GoodTherapy.org Team :)

www.GoodTherapy.org

Hi Team,

GoodTherapy.org received an email from a mental health provider concerned about how we allow unlicensed people to list on our site.  We very much respect his concern for the various professions represented by our members and for the people we aim to help.  This was a decision we did not make casually.   We do allow prelicensed, registered, certified, and unlicensed providers to list, in addition to licensed providers.  Our reasoning is explained below.  If you’d like to comment on this, feel free to post your comment to our blog by clicking here but please read the following first:

First, we are not a licensing board and don’t have the resources to certify that each member is licensed correctly.  If we were responsible for validating members’ license we could, in our effort to help, inadvertently contribute to the harming of others.  What if we mistakenly certified a member as licensed when they actually were not?   And imagine if a person was harmed in therapy because they were treated by someone verified as licensed who was actually inexperienced and unlicensed.  Because of this possibility, we believe it’s actually safer for consumers to do their own homework by checking with an actual licensing board.  And frankly, there’s much less liability for Goodtherapy.org to shoulder by doing it this way. 

Second, licensure laws differ from state to state and country to country; and we are an international directory. 

Third, we believe that there are many unlicensed folks who are good therapists and knowledgeable enough to “do no harm.”  Certainly we believe that in general licensed therapists are less likely to do harm than unlicensed therapists because of the supervision hours and continuing education required of licensed individuals. 

Fourth, we make efforts on our site and in our blog to inform consumers about the differences between licensed and unlicensed therapists and how to choose a “good” therapist.  We encourage consumers to check the credentials of any therapist or counselor they see and to be familiar with basic ethical guidelines. 

Fifth, we are very clear to the users of our site that we do not verify that the mental health care providers listed in our directory are currently or properly licensed, nor do we examine, determine, or warrant their competency.  All users of our directory are required to certify that they have read our Terms and Conditions which includes the above information. 

Sixth, we believe that people generally have the ability to do their own homework and to choose wisely for themselves if they are informed. 

Seventh,  GoodTherapy.org DOES require new members to certify, using the honor system, that:  A) they are a Mental Health Professional (Counselor, Psychotherapist, Social Worker, Marriage & Family Therapist, Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Physician, Nurse Practitioner, or other related professional); and B) that they have graduate level academic training in psychotherapy and mental health counseling and a degree from an accredited institution. 

Eighth, we review every new listing and delete one’s that are suspect.  In some cases, when profiles look fishy, we require the new member to certify their graduate level education.

Finally, I would say that what makes our site more credible than our competition is that we are the only site that requires its members to certify that the therapy they provide accords in orientation and attitude to our philosophy as defined in the Elements of Good Therapy document.  Sure, this does not guarantee that every therapist listed truly works in a healthy, collaborative, and nonpathologizing way, but it comes closer to the ideal than any other directory.  We put more work into supporting healthy psychotherapy than any other directory.  We believe that given a choice between GoodTherapy (a directory of empowering and collaborative therapists) and any other directory where you don’t know what kind of therapist you’ll get, consumers will choose us every time. 

 Open to everyone’s thoughts.  Feel free to comment by clicking here. Noah :)