Thera-LINK: Is It A Good Fit For Your Counseling Needs?

Are you a therapist who’s looking for a safe platform to provide services for your clients who can’t quite walk into your office? Or are you a person who’s stuck on choosing between various online counseling platforms, all with good qualities?

Online therapy is a novel mental health service that is becoming quite popular—and with good reason. It’s convenient, affordable, and accessible to everyone. 

Unfortunately, you might find it hard to determine which platform is a good fit for you. It’s why we’ve conducted this unbiased review of Thera-LINK—one of the online counseling platforms that you might be considering. 

Thera-LINK At A Glance

Thera-LINK is on a mission to “extend the reach of therapists, one secure online session at a time.” Does the platform make good on this promise? Here’s what we determined from our Thera-LINK review:

About Thera-LINK Service

Founded in 2013, Thera-LINK is a platform built to connect providers and clients while maintaining international standards for quality assurance and affordable price points. It works internationally, serving therapists and users from all over the world. 

The platform’s founder, Lory Clark, has a background in social work and experience running her own successful company before coming together with a few partners to create Thera-LINK. 

As a service provider, the platform offers you the opportunity to reach clients that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to work with. You also get to see a different side to your clients when they are in their element at home

Conversely, users seeking therapy get access to a wide variety of experts to help them work through their mental health issues. 

Thera-LINK Features

One of the advantages of the Thera-LINK personal therapy platform is that it has plenty of valuable features. 

HIPAA Compliant

Thera-LINK meets the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) standards for the protection of health information. Some of the initiatives that make Thera-LINK therapy safe for both service providers and users are:

• Encrypted video chats
• Web traffic encrypted via HTTPS & TLS 1.2
• HIPAA certified support staff
• Restricted employee access to patient health information
• Credit card information and passwords are never stores
• Encrypted database and file backups

Client Scheduler

If you’re looking for a service that offers a complete scheduling solution for your practice, you’ll be impressed by Thera-LINK’s client scheduling feature. Not only does it allow you to schedule online appointments but offline ones as well. Additionally, you can allow clients to self-schedule based on your available hours. 

Secure Messaging

Therapists can use Thera-LINK’s secure messaging feature to continue communication with clients when they’re not in session. Instant notifications are sent for each message, and a follow-up email is sent 5 minutes later to prompt you to check your inbox. 

Client & Session Notes

You can type and format notes whichever way you like. You can also sign, lock, and download them. This feature comes in handy because the platform does not allow service providers to record video sessions. Maintaining electronic notes helps keep track of your clients and sessions. 

Custom Waiting Room

Thera-LINK believes that meeting with clients online should feel similar to what they would experience if they had walked into your office. The platform offers custom waiting rooms where you select your music and visual backgrounds to prep your clients for their sessions. 

Directory Listing

The online counseling platform maintains a comprehensive directory of all service providers. It is a great feature to use to advertise your practice and reach more clients. 

How Thera-LINK Works For Service Providers

Service providers sign up to work on the platform by creating an account. Use the details to log in to the therapists’ portal to view:

• Appointments
• Messages
• Scheduling calendar
• Payments
• Documents
• Reports

Configure Availability

Use the client scheduler to show clients when you’re available for online and in-office sessions. You can allow access to everyone, including users who don’t have a Thera-LINK account yet. If they choose you, they’ll receive an invitation to join your practice. 

At this stage, you can: 

• Customize the hours that you’re available
• Book online and in-office appointments
• Restrict customers’ choice of session lengths
• Set a minimum and maximum advance notice 
• Set a booking time zone
• Restrict booking

You’re allowed to create an “appointment type,” which applies a default length to an appointment. If your client schedule is configured to use appointment types, clients will pick an appointment type instead of setting the duration of appointments themselves. 

Configure Payment Details

To accept payment, you must set up Stripe connect

Post a Listing

Joining the platform adds you to the service provider directory. The directory is where potential clients find you, learn more about you, and hopefully contact you to schedule an appointment. 

You can post personalized listings to help your clients get to know you better. Some of the details to include in your listing include:

• A brief bio explaining your requirements
• Areas of expertise
• Licensure information
• Cost of services
• Contact information
• Whether you accept insurance

Set Up Appointments

You may set up both offline and online appointments on your dashboard. For online appointments, you must send an invite link to the client. They must accept the invitation for you to add them to your schedule. 

How Thera-LINK Works For Clients

Head over to the provider directory to find a therapist to work with. You may filter the counselors by category, region, or specialty. When you identify the one you think might be a good match, click “Contact Me” on their listing, and you’ll hear back from them directly. 

Thera-LINK Mental and Behavioral Health Providers

All the counselors working through the Thera-LINK platform are qualified in their areas of specialty. You can review their individual qualifications under the “licensure information” section of their listing. 

According to the Thera-LINK website, the majority of their service providers are mental and behavioral health experts. However, they have other types of professionals, including:

• Coaches
• Dietitians
• Hypnotherapists
• Occupational therapists
• Social workers
• Addiction specialists
• Physical therapists
• Marriage and family therapists
• Speech-Language Pathologists

Mental Health Conditions Treated By Thera-LINK

Thera-LINK covers a wide variety of mental health conditions, including:

• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Bipolar disorder
• Borderline personality disorder
• Codependency
• Compassion fatigue and burnout
• Depression
• Divorce
• Eating disorders
• Erectile dysfunction
• Family issues
• Grief
• Immigrant and refugee mental health
• Intimacy and sexual health
• LGBTQIA 
• Life transitions
• Motivation and goal achievement
• Narcissism
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Parenting
• Phobias
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Postpartum depression
• Relationships
• Self-esteem
• Sexual abuse
• Sexual addiction
• Spirituality/Faith

Thera-LINK Subscription Plans and Pricing

Signing up for Thera-LINK is free. You also get a 3-day free trial of the service. Every plan has some basic features, including:

• HIPAA Compliance 
• Quality customer support
• Customizable waiting rooms
• Group and individual counseling sessions

However, the exact benefits of each plan vary—paying more gives you access to more features. For therapists, there are four different subscription plans to choose from:

• BasicLINK – $30 per month for five sessions. 
• UltimateLINK – $45 per month for unlimited sessions. Included in this plan are an office manager account and client scheduler. You’re also allowed to request payments before completing each session.
• PracticeLINK– $65 per month for everything included in the UltimateLINK plan. Additional features are access to secure messaging and notes on all your clients and sessions. 
• TreatmentLINK – $100 per month for everything included in the PracticeLINK plan. Additional features include your own branded portal, data import, API access, and allowance for annual contracts.

For users, the price of a session depends on the therapist one chooses from the directory. To know how much a session costs, you must head to the therapist’s listing and review the pricing information. 

Thera-LINK Online User Experience

Thera-LINK has a professional website that is intuitive and easy to use. Therapists get a dashboard with a simple layout. All features they need are well displayed and easy to access. 

Similarly, the client portal is simple to use. Logging in shows a dashboard with the appointments, secured messages, payment history, and payment files. It has all the information users need to start or continue counseling sessions on the platform. 

The platform works on all devices and operating systems, including PCs, Mac computers, iPads, iPhones, and Android tablets & phones. Apps are available for different devices as well. 

The Verdict—Is Thera-LINK Right For You?

Thera-LINK is perfect for you if you’re looking to expand your practice on a HIPAA compliant platform that is feature-rich and easy to use. The pricing is flexible, and considering the number of features the platform has, it certainly offers value for money. That said, online counseling is not appropriate for emergencies. If you, or someone you know, are in a crisis, contact your local emergency services right away.