Hey @GlenM !
Really exciting news! I'm super curious to see how these will develop and become part of our community for good.
Now I have one super important question. I myself am a psychologist in my offline life. I'm curious ... with this new directory coming along in our community, what will happen with Listeners that are professionals and not just volunteers? Will they have 1 profile as a Listener and 1 as a health professional or ... I'm curious to visualize better in my head these news.
@cristiana33
Great question! Listeners who are also therapists will have the option to also create a therapist profile. This will not impact your listener profile, as these will remain distinct. Thanks for asking! Feel free to be in touch with any other questions, concerns, or suggestions you have!
@Lara
Thank you a lot for such a fast reply!
It makes sense for sure. I am super interested to see this and having the opportunity to grow more in both the community & my career. I believe the two profiles should be somehow connected so that your volunteer work to be easily viewed by potential clients. I don't have this very clear in my head but I do know it's going to be AMAZING for 7 Cups!
@cristiana33 I see pros and cons to both ways. I feel like a chatter being able to see my listener background can be quite helpful in progressing the chat but I also don't really want there to be big red letters on my profile that make me feel like I have to function in a professional capacity at all times. For that reason, I'd prefer separate profiles even if it means starting from scratch.
I'm more curious about issues like malpractice insurance, Tarasoff, mandatory reporting, credible suicide threats, and the other accountability factors that come with licensure/credentialing. Then there are questions like insurance billing. I also am curious about the factor of income taxes and whether I would need to report it as dual employment to my current employer.
I work in government so the red tape and all the covariates that could go wrong and result in lawsuits or other serious issues tend to immediately run through my mind. Given the complexity of it, I would probably shy away from taking payment from any chatters unless 7C had a pretty solid, clear, and transparent foundation for legal guidance and support. I've already been in a situation in my offline employment as a LPC where a very unstable client tried to take me to court over allegations that were completely baseless. It didn't go anywhere but when you factor in all the other things with a global chat service, it can get pretty messy even if you are doing everything ethically and correctly. That's a lot of risk after years of hard work, training, and tuition to get this far.
@YouCanHas. Great questions!!!!! I asked some of these months ago but wasn't well received. Hope you get some answers.
@YouCanHas
Many of your concerns would be some of my concerns as well. I am sure that 7cups will have a legal department work out all of these questions before going ahead with any type of expansion. I think it is great that it is being put out there for us to contemplate how these types of changes will affect us in the future and give us an opportunity to raise relevant questions that they might now have thought of previously.
The more questions we ask, the more answers they will seek and finally when implemented, the smoother it should run.
So let us all write down our concerns and wait for the answers. I want to be an ongoing part of 7 Cups, even after my internship is finished, and I look forward to being able to continue helping out in different areas of this company as it expands. My main concern is liability insurance, as was yours. Buying it as an individual is unrealistically expensive, so hopefully, as a company, 7 Cups will be able to negotiate an affordable liability package with a AAA insurance company down the road.
@MsJessica55 i am very interested to see if you get a response. dont assume anything:]
@MsJessica55 and @mutter3 Yeah, exactly. Especially about the cost of having each provider purchase their own insurance; that's quite expensive and it's not like we (well, most of us) take home much pay as it is, on or off-site. I'll be curious to see how management handles this rollout.
@YouCanHas. Be careful there are so many fine lines here. Take care
@MsJessica55
Thanks for your response. Most providers carry their own liability insurance, especially if they are already in private practice. We will be working to make sure that providers are covered, and that accessing 7 Cups will be affordable and as easy as possible.
@Lara
In my state, it is not required of state workers to carry liability/malpractice insurance while practicing. It is required of the private sector, yes. But there are a lot of very good providers in the public sector too who would not be willing to take out liability insurance for something like 7C. I am not certain how the federal and local governments are covered but if VA providers, for example, are not required to carry it for their jobs at the VA then you would be missing out on most of the people who are highly qualified to treat veterans specifically. If local and federal government employees have the same rules as state workers do in my state regarding liability insurance, that's actually a very large pool of highly qualified people ruled out if the expectation would be for individual providers to purchase their own insurance to practice on 7C. It's something that really should be researched significantly.
@YouCanHas You bring up some great points, and we are working to ensure that we take all of these issues into consideration. Please know that I am more than willing to talk with you, or anyone who has concerns, and welcome your thoughts and feedback. If you have ideas or suggestions, please send me a message. We're shaping the program now, and it will be evolving over time, largely based upon feedback.
@Lara Will do.
Hi @Lara
I'm really excited to see 7 Cups moving forward in this way. We should probably wait before bombarding you with questions ... but it's exciting 
The first question I have is, will this apply outside the US from day one? I'm in the UK. European Union rules do allow billing for online treatments as far as I'm aware. I'm not an expert on that, but I am in touch with experts if this would be any help to you.
@RarelyCharlie
Hi there! Yes, this will be available internationally. And, I'd love any tips on the UK mental health delivery system that you can provide to make sure that we are making this useful to you.
Hi @Lara
That's even better news, because it makes it sound like you want to promote this proactively in the UK. Yes, I'll be very happy to help in any way I can.
I'm thinking that a good approach would be to enter into some kind of partnership with an existing membership organization for professionals so that they market it for you as a benefit for their members—affinity marketing, in the jargon. Not an exclusive benefit, of course, but at this stage they'd have the prestige of being first. I'm not sure how that would align with your thinking.
Next week I'll raise this in discussions about online strategy in a UK-wide organization where I have some contacts, in the hope of starting a conversation with them about the possibilities. This is likely to be confidential at first, but I'll try to get you into the conversation if and when it becomes possible.
Feel free to e-mail me about any of this, by the way.
@RarelyCharlie
Thanks! Great suggestions! I may be in touch to learn more.
How will this work with insurance? Will people be able to get the costs reimbursed?
@AffyAvo
This is tricky. At this time most insurances do not reimburse for online therapy services. I recommend checking with your insurance carrier about their policy regarding online therapy.
@Lara I guess the better question to ask is what type of documentation will be provided by 7 cups for health benefits that do provide online coverage for such a service?
A proper receipt and a professional identification number are common requirements for any type of reimbursement.
Also, is there any plans of joining on with an EFAP type of benefits?
@AffyAvo
Great question! Here's some links with a bit of insight.
The short answer is that some states allow for online therapy to be covered by insurance. 7 Cups would be the platform but it seems the onus is on the particular counselor to behave according to the code of ethics and code of conducts they are given. This would be no different than a hospital (or any building for that matter) providing the space but the counselor being responsible for everything else.
That's my impression at least.
ETherapi's blog site shows that a number of states mandate that telemedicine service be reimbursed the same as in-person visit.
There are differences between Licensed Clinical Social Workers and Licensed Professional Counselors when it comes to coverage, but it looks like there are some states that are covered.
Looking through other online therapy resources, I found that places like Breakthrough do take insurance (depending on the state and health care plan of course).
TalkSpace has a nice introduction to online therapy that I like :) they do a good job describing why (or why not) online therapy.
@AdVictoriam What I'm asking is what is going to be occurring on 7 cups end for helping to facilitate this.
I understand that the insurance/benefits plan will have their own rules, but if an online service can be used will 7 cups be providing the necessary items to allow the reimbursement or even processing the payment through the provider themselves if that's an option with the insurance group?
@AffyAvo Direct billing is the term I meant by the payment processing. Cognitive fog gets in the way at times!
@AffyAvo
Just to clarify...7 Cups will not be direct billing insurance companies. That will be up to the provider or the client.
@AffyAvo
We're still working out all of the details, so I don't yet have a definite answer for you. It's likely that a provider will be responsible for providing their own invoices for reimbursement, just as they do in private practice. We might be able to provide templates or something along those lines, to make it easier. Our goal is to make this as simple and easy to use as possible, and make care as accessible and affordable as possible.
As for EAP, we would love to be able to offer something like that, and are certainly exploring options and opportunities.
Feel free to be in touch with me directly, and we can hash out some of the details.
@Lara
Thanks for explaining! I look forward to seeing how this works!
Excellent post! I am really excited to see where this takes us!! Keep up the amazing hard work and know it doesn't go unnoticed!!
If I'm not a licensed therapist, but am a therapist in training, can I have the option to create a therapist profile stating that I'm in training and receive pay as well? Let me know. Thank you. Looking forward to how this update unfolds.
@MaddieTheTherapist
Good question. For now, I think only licensed providers will be listed in the therapist directory. That being said, there may be room in the future to create space for budding new therapists, too. :)
@Lara
What counts as a "licensed therapist" for these purposes? I am a current MSW student and will take a licensing exam in the fall. However, it will not be for independent licensure, i.e. I still need supervision and would not be allowed to open a private practice. However, it is possible for people with that license to become therapists in clinics where there is supervision.
How does this work with 7 Cups? When might someone be able to have a therapist account?
And also, what about liability? Would therapists need to have liability insurance?
Is 7 Cups (or will 7 Cups be) HIPAA compliant?
@DeniseB
Hi Denise, Stay tuned! There may be opportunities for students to get involved. More info to come!
@Lara
Hi Lara, I saw that students might not be able to be involved, but that didn't really answer my question about the level of licensure needed. Do you know the answer to that question?
Also, what about HIPAA compliance?
@DeniseB
To provide clinical services through 7 Cups, providers will need to be licensed at the level for independent practice within their jurisdiction. And, of course, all therapy services will be HIPAA compliant.
@Lara Darn! But at least there's hope for the future to create a space for people like me who are transitioning towards their careers! Thanks for considering that.
@MaddieTheTherapist
There will likely be other resources available for therapists in training--like, possibly ways to connect with other therapists and soon-to-be therapists. Again, stay tuned...
@Lara That sounds great! Let me know.
Look forward to hearing more about this
Thank you @Glen
I'm so excited about these new developments and look forward to being part of the Life Coach initiative and Life Coach Academy.
Thanks for this @GlenM ! <3 This is super exciting :D
@GlenM which guests? weren't they banned from the site?
@HopeSolo
Guests are still on the site. They have removed access for all but one of the group support rooms, and they can still seek 1-on-1 support
@MonBon - they can also take steps on a growth path, read guides, do mindfulness meditations, read forum posts, and read feeds!
@KrinkTheMellowUnicorn How can you not see the discrimination ?
@HopeSolo - actually you said "banned" and I explained how they are not banned.
now you are saying discrimination so you'll have to explain what you mean by that if you want me to understand.
i mean, guests are not a class or race of people! "guest" is a role on our site. the same person who is a guest at one moment might be a member or a listener at another time.
where is the discrimination?
@KrinkTheMellowUnicorn they are not allowed in the chat rooms because people think they're trolls.....
@HopeSolo - no, sorry, that's not quite right.
guest accounts are allowed in the welcome group chat rooms.
it's true that you can no longer participate in the other rooks without making a member account but this is not because we think guest are trolls.
Guests can be anyone. That's the whole point.
People who are interested in trolling and harassing others were finding it too easy to do so by hiding behind guest accounts, so we had to take steps to protect our members.
Becoming a member is not a huge commitment but it does mean being a tiny bit more accountable for your actions, and we don't think it's an unreasonable requirement for participating in the group interactions we host here.
I think you'll find that most websites and organizations extend only limited or passive access to guests.
What about for members and listeners outside the US? Are there any restrictions on that?
It won't be long until I am a Certified Master Life Coach... I hope. I don't know that it qualifies as a mental health professional but 7Cups was the inspiration for the move to go back to school. Will there be a category for those of us who do something like life coaching or personal training?
@magicallySmiles50 - 7 Cups is pursuing a coaching initiative as well. I don't have the link to the thread but perhaps @glenM or @twish can fill in the blanks.
@KrinkTheMellowUnicorn
I'd love to know more about being a life coach too, I've done really well helping people move in the right direction. :)
@life0203 - I'm not fully on top of that plan but I believe either @GlenM or @Twish can fill in some more details on the coaching initiative.
@KrinkTheMellowUnicorn They never got back to us? :(
@life0203 - The coaching program is a work in progress. I believe @Twish is working on defining it and will share an update with the community when she can.
@KrinkTheMellowUnicorn Yes Krink that's what put me in mind to get a life coaching certification. I thought it was totally suited to my gifts and to my situation.
@magicallySmiles50 - makes sense! i have not been directly involved with that effort so I cannot speak about it with authority.
@KrinkTheMellowUnicorn Its all good. Once this all shakes out I'm sure there will be a good many people who have specialties involved in the effort to make mental health help more accessible.
@magicallySmiles50 Life coaching academy is in the works! You can read more here.
@Twish i've already paid for my school. In my current situation, disabled, but still wanting to be active. The Life Coaching only made sense. Even if I can't officially use my skills on 7Cups Life coaching is a way I can help people and I don't necessarily even have to leave home.
@magicallySmiles50 we will post updates on that program soon!
@Twish Okay.