How I Became A Therapist Nomad At BetterHelp
By: Daniela Marin
Tags: Therapist, Therapy, Digital Nomads, Lifestyle, Beyourself

After seven and a half years of school and two years of being a Registered Intern, I became a Licensed Therapist in January 2021.

If you have been following my Medium page, you know that in February 2021, my boyfriend and I decided to travel and leave our life in Miami behind for a few months (or maybe a year or two — still assessing). With my License in hand and opportunities to work remotely (due to COVID19), I felt more confident to follow through with this dream. I applied to a few jobs, but no one would support me outside of the US. Thus, I decided to explore BetterHelp.

Although BetterHelp seemed very promising and convenient, I became pretty skeptical of the platform after seeing some YouTuber therapists speak poorly about BetterHelp. However, I decided to give myself the chance to judge it with my own eyes (and I am glad I did). I did my research, assessed the pros and cons, and took the venture.

The application process took about seven days. The first step entailed filling out a form of personal information to give you more details. Once they verified my information, they sent me a “counselor clinical quiz.” This quiz includes seven questions where they present you with different client scenarios, and you have to respond to the best of your abilities. The next day, they approved my quiz and gave me access to my counselor account.

Once in the counselor’s account, I had to continue filling out some personal and professional information. In this part, they request your NPI number. If you do not have one, they let you type”0" for the sake of completing the application. However, I recommend you to apply for it right then and then.

Afterward, they ask you to read the counselors guide — which is pretty long, but I highly recommend reading every detail of it. The guide serves as a training guide to use the platform, and it also explains all of the company’s consents, rights, disclosures, and policies. If you are in disagreement on any of these terms, this platform might not be for you.

I know that some therapists have not liked to work with this BetterHelp because of their approach to recruiting clients and therapists. Another critic is around certain language that the company uses in the “rights and terms” (i.e., they claim to provide counselor services instead of counseling services). Other people dislike the amount of work that you have to put into it to make desirable profits — and so on.

The last step in the application process is to have a live interview with a BetterHelp Agent. I thought this would be a formal interview, so I was prepared to go to the battlefield. Yet, it was a pretty chill and honest interaction where the interviewer guided me through the platform. He made sure I knew how to use all the features. He clarified questions for me. Finally, he ensured that I was going ready to rock and roll.

At this point, I was able to “open my availability” for new clients. They let you have a “slow,” “medium,” or “high” caseload growth. I chose to start with “slow,” and I have noticed that at this rate, I get 3–4 new clients a day. I have not attempted to grow any faster, as I think that has been enough for me.

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Other incentives within BetterHelp include a referral program and bonuses for keeping clients long-term.

Currently, I am on my third week of doing BetterHelp, and I am at 35 clients. I absolutely love it and have no complaints so far!