My vision for Therapy Expanded grew out of the challenges I was experiencing in my own practice and what I was seeing change in the field of online mental health care.
I wanted a network that helped independent providers stay independent, while making it easier to connect, get found, and support one another.
When I Couldn’t Find What I Needed
As a therapist licensed in multiple states, I found that the tools available to me had not caught up with the realities of multi-state online care. I needed a way to make all my licensed states visible in one place. I needed professional connections beyond the state where I lived. And I wanted clients to be able to search based on where they might attend sessions—not simply the therapist’s office closest to their home.
Just as importantly, I wanted to preserve the provider-to-provider relationships that have always helped independent practices grow, without relying on another company that placed itself between therapists and their clients.
I knew what I needed as a private practice owner, but I didn’t start out intending to build it myself. I looked around, asked colleagues, and joined countless social media groups to connect. After searching and not finding what I was looking for, I decided to create it.
Bringing Different Perspectives Together
My clinical experience and those from my network shaped the foundation of what Therapy Expanded would become. I also knew that my clinical perspective was only one part of what would be required.
Therapists understand the needs of clients and providers, we understand the professional landscape and can share our business expertise with each other. For the community to be successful, we would also need to reach the right people, communicate clearly, and help small practices become visible in a crowded online environment.
That is why I partnered with my longtime friend Linda Bain.
Linda brings expertise in marketing, communication, website strategy, and helping small businesses explain what they do in a way people can understand. She understands how difficult it can be for a small organization or independent professional to compete for attention—especially when larger companies have far more money to spend on advertising and search visibility.
Our backgrounds are different, but we both understand the challenges independent professionals face. Together, we’re building something we hope will make those challenges a little easier to navigate.
Building Around What Providers Actually Need
For therapists, building a business is not as simple as marketing more aggressively. Providers need an environment designed around how online practice actually works.
That means helping providers:
- Show all the states where they’re licensed or authorized to practice
- Become visible to potential clients across state lines
- Clearly communicate their specialties, services, and practice details
- Connect with referral partners beyond their immediate geographic area
- Build relationships with clinicians and other professionals who offer complementary services
- Find opportunities for professional learning, consultation, and networking
- Share their expertise, services, and resources with other providers
For more than a year, we’ve been building Therapy Expanded, inviting providers to join, listening to feedback, and making changes based on how people actually use it.
Some of the most useful features have emerged through that process. Members have helped us identify confusing forms, improve search filters, and better understand what makes it easier—or harder—to connect and participate.
Putting the Vision into Practice
Today, Therapy Expanded has two main parts: a public provider directory and a private professional community. The directory allows providers to maintain one profile across multiple licensed states, while the community offers a place to build relationships, exchange referrals, and connect with colleagues across the country.
We’ve introduced member-led opportunities, peer groups, state networking meetings, Lunch & Learns, and opportunities to contribute through guest articles and other activities.
Providers have knowledge, ideas, and experiences worth sharing. We want to make it easier for them to do that without having to organize, administer, and promote everything themselves.
In addition to direct client services, many providers offer supervision and consultation services, continuing education, courses, business resources, workbooks, templates, and other tools based on years of professional experience.
We want to help those offerings become easier to discover, whether through our Marketplace or partnerships with provider-led businesses whose work could benefit the community.
Helping Independent Providers Stay Independent
Independent providers shouldn’t have to choose between managing everything alone and relying on large companies to manage major parts of their practices.
We believe there’s room for something in between: shared tools, resources, and professional connections that help independent providers stay independent.
That’s what we’re working toward with Therapy Expanded. In the next articles, we’ll take a closer look at how our provider directory helps therapists get found across state lines and how our community supports professional growth.
Continue the series
Next: One Profile, Every State You Serve: A Directory Built Around Fit Instead of Proximity