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NEW PERSPECTIVE

Disrupting Mental Health For The Good

The pandemic has magnified the need for mental health access, we responded

Mental health is not a funny thing; but finding the help one needs when facing mental health challenges is a challenge all in its own. To a point where it starts to become funny, when it shouldn’t be funny one bit.

Seeking a counselor is a journey to say the least. Most common first steps are Google and reaching out to people whose opinion you respect most. Next step may be the local Facebook groups, I’ve witnessed those mom groups assemble with all might. They will make some great recommendations of counselors they have experience with in the past, simply for you to find out their calendar is full, or they’re not a good match. Word of mouth in this case rarely works out.

Google provides a headshot and maybe a brief bio. Perhaps you find some dated rolodex style website that really doesn’t answer any of the questions you seek. Yes, I used the word rolodex, and it couldn’t be more fitting. That’s the amount of info you get on a potential counselor, almost like looking for new tires. Sounds silly, but it’s true.

The real question in people’s heads is, is this a good fit for me personally? Long term? Do they specialize in my needs? Are they local? Do they offer in-person or telehealth services? Is this the type of person I would like to get a beer with after a session? Although that last step is not recommended, it certainly shows the warmth one would hope for before disclosing personal issues to someone they just met.

Personality compatibility is a real deal thing, ask anyone combing this earth for love. The right match can make all the difference, and it’s a needle in a haystack scenario, that often ends in frustration, and right back where you started. Not to mention the money that goes into this fruitless adventure.

All of the issues mentioned above are ongoing problems in the mental health space. Then came Covid-19 that rocked the world. It shook almost every person to the core on this planet. It magnified the unknown and disrupted everyone’s routine. In result, the demand for mental health services sky-rocketed, and sadly went unanswered. The thought of a huge portion of our community not getting the mental health access they need is scary.

On average it takes a client 4-6 months to find a compatible counselor, which is why I use the love metaphor intentionally. Although not the point of counseling connections, it displays the level of connection that should be prevalent in today’s mental health industry. Like a dating app, one should be able to get to know a counselor ever before committing to a session.

A counselor should have a platform to express themselves, their culture, methodology, specialties, modalities, and personality traits. Perhaps even their personnel interests could lend towards compatibility. One thing was certain, today’s technology should and could assist with this issue in a big way.

This is the concept that kept lingering in the heads of co-founders Collen Hilton, Practice Owner of Acuity Counseling, and marketing guru’s Greg Brumann and Josh Dirks.  When we all finally met up for coffee and got this conversation moving, it became clear to me how strong this tool had the potential to be, and that nothing of its kind existed.

I was delighted at the opportunity to be brought onto the Thrivelution team, and one thing was clear, there was an instant mountain of work to do, and we needed to start at the core.

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"Have a dream, chase it down, jump over every single hurdle, and run through fire and ice to get there."

Whitney Wolfe \ Bumble CEO

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Our Robust Matching System is Revolutionary

At the heart of the concept laid the engine to it all. The vision was a proprietary matching algorithm that would match a client and counselor based on specific criteria that was important to them specifically, such as gender, age, culture, location, specialties, experience, modalities, as well as financial considerations.

The results of the algorithm is proudly displayed in a design lockup next to each counselor; and relates directly to the specific user. In doing so, we’re disrupting the antiquated, referral-based, systems for getting clients by fostering meaningful relationships. The weight of this algorithm is the core of the concept, the engine that allowed us to start gaining traction.

Once our system matches a client with compatible counselors, the client is able to search through matching profiles, watch videos that display personality, learn about their values, preferences, and more. This should clear the water of poor counselor matching, and the exhausting process of finding a great match. Treat it like a dating app and let both sides really take a moment to get to know one another, see if the match works both ways. It takes two to tango, and counselors would like long term business. They are just as interested in not wasting time as the client, if not more.

Yes, the issue is two-sided. Sometimes a client simply is not the right fit for a specific counselors’ ways. The counselor may spot it from the get-go, but the client not so much. Our tool hopes to level the playing field for both parties and heighten the ‘courting’ portion of the familiarization process. This will result in long-term, successful mental health relationships.

Once a connection has been made, the client can simply reach out to start the conversation.

The counselor verification process is just as unique

Thrivelution stands behind the counselors utilizing its service, and protects both the counselors and client’s privacy. The system works hard to follow all HIPPA and verification processes within the industry, and each counselor is required to submit a user NPI number, as well as personal information. This enables the platform to go beyond just verifying an email address, it third party verifies all medical credentials and achievements affiliated with the user.

This ensures the services offered on Thrivelution are authentic and confidential. There is zero tolerance for imposters or anyone with catfishing intentions, and the focus is to protect these values.

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Helping Counselors Increase Visibility

Counselor profiles are customizable and offer much more than you might see at first glance. They are set up to follow a counselor throughout their career and grow with them as their career progresses. If they change cities, jobs, or even decide to start their own practice, their profile will reflect it, and continuously be a marketing tool to highlight the current stage of their career.

The backend of each profile is SEO driven and setup for maximum online visibility, equipping each profile with a unique link that will never change. The sharing potential is immense, and this allows our counselors to tap into other major markets, even across state lines. This feature alone has been tremendously impactful during 2020, telehealth, just like Zoom, has tremendous potential in the mental health space, and it opens more doors for potential outreach and ongoing relationships.

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The Connection Center

Once a client sees potential in a counselor, and they commit to reaching out, now what?

We certainly wouldn’t want the connection to fizzle. Connections and follow up can all be managed within the dashboard of our Connection Center. This provides the office administrator or sole proprietor the ultimate control. They can choose from simply accepting or declining a connection, to reaching directly out to the client with the hopes of assigning the connection to another worthy inhouse counselor. This flexibility provides businesses the option to run things their way.

With today’s technology, response time is something to always keep in mind, and our Connection Center is fully equipped with notifications and alerts to keep things moving. Every morning counselors can view the new activity on their dashboard and learn about the potential connections they have earned. If they feel like the client could be a good fit, they simply accept the connection which unlocks the clients contact info and moves them onto scheduling. Some prefer phone, some prefer email, our system is flexible and ready for your workflow.

Multi-Provider

Everything explained so far sounds great for a sole-proprietor’s practice, but what about the bigger practices with an army of counselors, like cofounder Collen Hilton’s Acuity Counseling. Her team is diverse and well rounded, and it’s important they be showcased well to highlight their personalities. Colleen understands that the human side is the main missing ingredient to all of the existing directories that exist today. She often refers to them as the ‘yellow-pages’, and she couldn’t be more correct. In today's standards, this is unacceptable.

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Thrivelution is equipped for volume and has the multi-provider practices covered. With a master admin feature that allows management of the entire team, including their connections, profiles, specialties and more, this allows for the ultimate office flexibility, and central hub. If a specific counselor is garnering more interest than another, they now have the information to learn why and adjust the other team members accordingly. The key to data is to learn and adjust, and to utilize it for improvements.

Can a resource center really provide lift-off?
Thrivelution was also designed to help young professionals who desire a practice of their own. When it comes to establishing a young business the chore list can feel daunting, particularly in the mental health space. It can feel like a mountain in front of you, with an endless list of things to accomplish before a dollar is ever made.

Look at some of these items: Processing documents, financial agreements, consent forms, a relevant website for marketing, conversion scripts, email set up, a logo and a brand, a mentor … the list could go on. Hard to say where to even start, and none of this even covers the elephant in the room, how do I find paying clients?

Yup, that’s a mountain of concerns. No wonder young professionals decide to commit their time to job applications versus building a practice of their own. It shouldn’t be this hard, and the Resource Center responded with forms, templates, scripts, tips & tricks, and more. Thrivelution’s active contributors know what it takes to run a practice and are ready to pass this knowledge down.

See for yourself

We launched Thrivelution’s Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in January 2021, and in perspective, it’s just a baby that needs a lot of love and nurturing. We have learned at every turn, for this product had a unique set of challenges unlike any other MVP our team has ever stood up. The user metrics we are receiving are priceless and assist us heavily with future decision making and prioritizing of updates.

The counseling onboarding mission continues, and the focus remains crystal clear.

It has been a long journey that has just gotten started, and I am truly grateful to be a part of it, and for the partnerships we have made along the way. There is a lot of intelligence and hustle on this small team, and I am excited for what’s to come for Thrivelution’s future.