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Open Path Psychotherapy Collective is a non-profit mental health service that makes quality therapy accessible to underserved populations.
Open Path’s project is to “provide those in need with transformative and affordable intellectual fitness care,” according to the company’s website. Their directory of therapists is extensive and open to the public, but a session has not yet been booked, a lifetime club fee of $65 is required. Membership is open to Americans with an annual household income of $100,000 or less.
According to the company’s website, Open Path Collective is proud to provide intellectual fitness care available to uninsured and underinsured individuals, and Open Path therapists are not permitted to make presentations to insurance corporations on behalf of their members. Therefore, members will have to pay out-of-pocket for all treatment sessions booked through the platform.
Therapy seekers can search Open Path’s extensive network of therapists, the company’s online directory, and clear the search features of their providers based on criteria that fit their desires (i. e. , location, specialties, race, etc. ). By registering, members can schedule a consultation with a therapist of their choice licensed to practice in their area. As long as members are eligible to be lifetime members, they can book electronically with Open Path therapists at any time at the company’s advertised rates.
Founded in 2012 and launched in 2013, Open Path also offers a series of online wellness courses geared toward people who may need to meet court requirements (i.e., for anger management, domestic violence, etc.) or who want to expand their mental health knowledge.
Finding a provider through the Open Path directory is simple. “Find a Therapist” is the first tab you see in the most sensitive menu on the homepage. By clicking on it, users are directed to the site’s therapist database where they can delete the providers found. depending on your favorite treatment approach (i. e. , individual, group, couples, or family therapy), your budget per session, and the therapist’s zip code, race/ethnicity, and specialty areas of treatment.
Open Path’s network of therapists is comprised of licensed intellectual fitness providers who specialize in a diversity of remedial areas, from burnout and anxiety to addiction and domestic violence. To learn more about a therapist, users can click on their profiles and view indexed details. , adding your qualifications, consultation pricing, skills, and experience. Each provider’s profile also includes their name, photo, availability, accepted payment methods, remedy orientations, and race/ethnicity.
After narrowing your search, click the “Join Open Path” button on your preferred provider’s profile. Open Path prompts all first-time registrants to submit a member application before booking an initial session. Upon acceptance and payment of the lifetime membership fee, new members receive an Open Path Member ID via the email address they used to register. Users can then forward this Member ID to their therapist and, from there, discuss a per-session fee, confirm the selected therapist’s availability and schedule the first appointment.
If you replace your brain and need to work with another therapist after booking, Open Path allows members to replace therapists after booking, after filling out a specific form.
“The initial intake procedure for an Open Path consumer would look like any other intellectual aptitude intake interview, regardless of the referral source,” says Katherine Mahan, a licensed professional counselor and Open Path provider serving consumers in Virginia, Texas, Vermont, and Colorado. .
When it comes to an Open Path treatment session, “clients can expect to spend about 50 minutes with their therapist, sharing foundational facts about their history and current daily life (childhood, educational/work experiences, meaningful appointments, daily functioning, symptom descriptions), and begin to identify a dating [of] what will become a meaningful healing dating,” Mahan continues.
Open Path’s free directory allows users to freely browse its database of therapists. However, booking a consultation requires a one-time payment of $65, separate from the actual payment consistent with the consultation. The $65 payment brings life to the Open Path club and lowers fees.
“The consumer will pay the therapist directly [for the sessions],” confirms Paul Fugelsang, founder and executive director of Open Path Collective. As a non-profit organization, Open Path does not collect a consistent percentage of payments per session. “We don’t practice what’s called payment splitting, where the company takes a portion of the payment that the consumer will pay to the therapist,” he adds.
Open Path clients also pay out-of-pocket for session costs, as the company doesn’t permit its therapist network to accept insurance as payment. However, individuals can pay their therapists with health savings account (HSA) and flexible savings account (FSA) funds.
All Open Path providers are privately operated and are happy to offer their facilities at discounted prices. A 50-minute consultation typically costs between $40 and $70 for Americans and $40 to $80 for couples and families, and Open Path’s network of therapists includes student interns. they charge $30 per consultation. Sessions should last at least 50 minutes. Additionally, $80 is the maximum fee Open Path therapists can charge for a 50-minute consultation. For consultations longer than 50 minutes, a prorated consultation fee may apply (for example, $126 for a 90-minute consultation).
If a client’s monetary situation changes and they are no longer eligible for Open Path’s discounted consultation rates, the therapist they contracted through Open Path could increase their payment per consultation from $40 to $80 without interference from the company . increase the payment [in this case],” Fugelsang shares.
Open Path’s online wellness categories are billed separately, but a one-time purchase of $4. 99 will give you unlimited online access to all of them. Certificates are also presented at the end of the course, ranging from $17 to $115 per certificate plus additional shipping costs.
“Open Path offers an undeniable solution for finding a therapist qualified in a variety of specific values and actively accepting new clients,” says Mahan. “When I worked in school counseling centers and met with students who needed or liked off-campus services, I would introduce Open Path as an option to find a therapist that was more affordable for a student’s budget,” says Mahan.
Open Path also offers an undeniable and easy-to-follow pricing structure, he adds. “Open Path provides transparent rules for therapists and clients to be on the same page about how the sliding scale experience will work. “
Although Open Path strives to be an option, the quality of therapists can vary, notes Emily Guarnotta, Psy. D. , a licensed clinical psychologist founded in South Carolina. “Interns supervised by a licensed intellectual fitness professional also offer treatment through Open Path Collective at a discounted price,” she says. “Because as a therapist you have to charge lower fees, Open Path Collective [can] attract counselors or therapists new to the field, however, some experienced therapists [may] take the opportunity to offer a few hours of their time. to consumers who want it. “
However, Dr. Guarnotta still recommends Open Path Collective to others who may not be able to follow classical therapy. “Sometimes clients experience changes in their financial situation or health insurance that make it difficult to process their current therapist,” she says.
Open Path has garnered overwhelmingly positive responses on social media and on customer review websites like Trustpilot. Online evaluators appreciate the intellectual fitness care available to others with affordable treatment.
Reviewers also highlight the website’s ease of use in locating the right therapist for them, its sign-up process, and the company’s simple, sliding-scale payment structure.
Bad reviews about the service are few and far between, and they’re a bit outdated. For example, a Facebook review from 2020 expressed court cases about delays they experienced while waiting for a therapist’s response. Three years ago, a reviewer on Reddit expressed dissatisfaction with a provider. he had discovered it through Open Path, expressing that it was possibly due to his lack of credentials.
However, for the most part, Open Path enjoys a favorable overall reputation.
Open Path is a non-profit organization that percentages the fees of its network of therapists. Therefore, the company uses the proceeds from the dues to cover the costs of the website, staffing, and hiring therapists, according to its website.
Open Path prioritizes serving the uninsured, underinsured, and those with a household income source of less than $100,000.
Costs according to the diversity of consultations range from $40 to $70 for Americans and between $40 and $80 for couples and families. Student interns who provide consultations on the platform charge $30 per consultation.
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