When I began working online, I gained geographic flexibility. But I also lost some of the natural opportunities for professional connection that come with working alongside other providers.
Therapists have traditionally built relationships through agencies, hospitals, shared offices, local associations, consultation groups, trainings, and community organizations. We get to know who specializes in what. We remember the colleague who works especially well with a certain population. We ask one another for resources and help clients transition when their needs change.
Working online can make those connections harder to maintain.
A therapist may spend the entire workday moving from one virtual session to the next without speaking to another provider. A clinician licensed in several states may have strong professional relationships in their home state but know very few people in the other states where they practice.
Without those everyday opportunities to connect, it can become harder to find the professional support we need to do our jobs.
We rely on colleagues when a client needs services outside our scope, moves to another state, needs testing or medication management, or would benefit from a different level of care. We also need people to consult with, learn from, and turn to when private practice starts to feel isolating.
The value of a multidisciplinary network
As a trauma therapist, I don’t just need to know other trauma therapists. In every state where I practice, I need connections with couples therapists, family therapists, child and adolescent therapists, medication prescribers, psychologists who provide testing, and other specialists whose work complements my own.
Clients sometimes need support beyond what one therapist can provide. That might mean working with an OCD specialist or a therapist who specializes in supporting a specific population. Having relationships with providers across different specialties makes it easier to find the right support when those needs arise.
Many online professional communities are organized around one diagnosis, population, treatment model, or professional identity. Those focused communities can be extremely valuable, especially when a provider needs depth in a particular area. But when most of our professional relationships develop inside a single specialty or modality, the field can become siloed. We end up talking mostly with people who share our training and perspectives, rather than learning from those who approach things differently.
A multidisciplinary community gives us a chance to build relationships across specialties, better understand each other’s work, and recognize when a different approach might benefit a client.
A community designed for connection
The Therapy Expanded community is designed to help licensed mental health providers build those relationships across geographic boundaries.
Members can introduce their practices, explain where they are licensed, identify the populations and concerns they work with, and share the kinds of professional relationships or referrals they are hoping to develop. The community is intended for therapists, psychologists, prescribers, and other licensed mental health professionals offering online care or seeking stronger professional connections across states.
These connections are especially valuable for multi-state providers, but they’re important for therapists licensed in just one state, too.
A therapist may need to find a new provider when a client moves, connect with a specialist in another state, or find a referral partner who can support a college student living away from home.
Our clients’ lives don’t always stay within state lines, and our professional networks shouldn’t have to either.
Building relationships beyond social media
The community is also intended to make online private practice feel less solitary. Events, peer groups, networking meetings, and everyday discussions give members opportunities to get to know one another and build relationships over time.
We are creating something different from the large social media groups many therapists rely on.
Facebook groups have been an important networking resource for therapists, and many generous professional communities exist there. At the same time, social media can blur personal and professional contexts. Conversations may become reactive, promotional, overly public, or less contained than clinicians would prefer for professional interaction.
Therapy Expanded is designed as a dedicated provider environment. The purpose is professional connection that maintains a collegial relationship.
Members can build familiarity over time, respond to referral needs, participate in events, and learn more about one another’s work. Referral relationships tend to grow through trust and repeated interaction, not simply by dropping a website link into a crowded thread.
We do not leave every connection to chance
We also actively help members make connections.
When a provider joins Therapy Expanded, we look at where they practice, their specialties, and the kinds of professional relationships they’re hoping to build. When we see a potential fit, we may recommend someone they should meet or help make an introduction.
That might mean connecting a therapist who works with neurodivergent clients to a psychologist who offers testing, or introducing a multi-state clinician to referral partners in a state where they’re newly licensed.
We also organize events around shared clinical interests, geographic areas, and practice needs. These gatherings make it easier to start conversations and help members move from recognizing names on a screen to developing genuine professional relationships.
We can’t guarantee that every request will lead to the right connection, but we don’t think building a professional network should depend entirely on members finding one another by chance.
That’s an important part of what we’re trying to build with Therapy Expanded.
Online therapists need opportunities for the same collegiality, consultation, referrals, and professional support that have traditionally developed through workplaces and local professional networks.
We just need to create those opportunities for the way we practice today.
Explore the community
Learn more about the professional community Therapy Expanded is building for online providers, including the ways members can connect across states, specialties, disciplines, and practice needs.
Continue the series
Next: Member-Led Opportunities: We Provide the Structure, Providers Bring the Expertise