Pros
There was a time during the pandemic where you could make good money as a contractor here. There were hourly bonuses for states that were in great need. Now you're lucky to get a $5 bonus let alone any referrals. You can work from any jurisdiction where you are eligible to do so, and make your own hours. If you work full time there's a health benefit stipend. You are paid every Monday via direct deposit for the week before last. Providers are eligible to get free therapy on the platform.
Cons
The pay is low, and they work hard to reduce the amount of compensation by changing the rules. There's a cap if 45 minutes per day for live sessions, and 60 minutes per week for messaging. Clients are told the messages are unlimited, but you only get paid by the word. You get minutes by the word count and it needs to be 'balanced'. They don't tell you exactly how that's calculated. They aren't supposed to tell you how to practice but they do. You'd think they are a HIPPA compliant site but they specify clearly that they aren't required to meet those standards because they are a tech company. They make you sign an agreement that you'll store your notes there or you must notify them in writing if you're storing notes elsewhere. They want you to leave open slots for clients to schedule themselves but that doesn't work for all therapists. You are not given any information about the client so you have to ask the client. Sometimes the client will leave your caseload rather than share their full name, location, etc. Most will, but you have to ask. If there were an emergency and you didn't collect the information yourself, you would have to email support requesting the information and wait for a response. This might look like sending a form letter of sorts, but if you copy/paste something you don't get credit for the word count. If you paste from an external source, no credit, if you send the same block of text to more than one client, no credit. If you ignore this and paste anyway, you'll get an email telling you one of your clients complained about getting blocks of text. However, it is basically a form letter threatening you to not send form letters. They have kicked therapists off the platform for pasting, and have even taken away therapist's ability to paste at all if they say it's being 'abused'. There are no forms nor any way to send forms such as releases and policies other than pasting. You can upload forms but good luck getting those signed. You can send a link to your forms but redirecting to your private practice is violating your contract. If a client no shows, you can wait till later in the day and report it to get a credit of 15 minutes. You have to remember, it's not done automatically. They correct statistics from clients by asking for feedback. This information can be very upsetting as a therapist because you have no idea who is complaining so you can't remedy the therapeutic relationship. Overall, one could make good money during the pandemic, but not anymore. They have done settlements with the government for violations, look that information up before you apply to contract with them. They have some very unethical practices that could potentially put your license at risk. They reserve the right to review the information in the private client area and they have and do sell aggregate data from the therapy. Importantly, they put your information on several marketing websites. Even if you're not accepting clients, you could be listed. They do not remove you from all the sites they use to direct traffic to themselves, so if you leave, so you are competing for searches with a company that is very well marketed. In other words, if a client finds you on their sites, they will direct the traffic to themselves and provide the customer with someone else who is still on the Betterhelp platform.