Your Therapist Needs Therapy 150 - No One Wants To Pay For Mental Health

This week Jeremy discusses some therapy business drama! Aetna and/or Alma are the worst and blaming each other for what is in effect a huge pay cut for a majority of therapists. Jeremy breaks down the comically evil way in which this pay cut will happen, who it all effects, and what therapists can do moving forward. He also rants about capitalism and therapists with bad business practices!

As always, Jeremy has all his practice info at Wellness with Jer, and you can find him on Instagram and YouTube. To show your love for the show you can pick up some merch! We appreciate support from likes, follows, and shares as well! None of my online work would be possible without my media maven Kenny, so check out their work as well at kenlingdesign.com

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Podcasts about therapy do not replace actual therapy, and listening to a podcast about therapy does not signify a therapeutic relationship.If you or someone you know is in crisis please call or text the nationwide crisis line at 988, or text HELLO to 741741. The Trevor Project has a crisis line for LGBTQ+ young people that can be reached by texting 678678.

Transcript

Hello, Internet.

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Welcome to another edition of Your

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Therapist Needs Therapist.

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I'm your host, Jeremy Schumacher,

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licensed marriage and family therapist.

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And this week we are talking about drama.

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We're talking about big news in the world

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of therapy, the business world of therapy.

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And I'm

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Well, to be fully honest with you,

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podcast listeners, YouTube viewers,

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this doesn't affect me at all.

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And I'm sort of gleefully proud of my

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hypervigilant,

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raised in a traumatic religious setting,

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neurodivergent brain to have seen this

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coming a long time ago and stayed away

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in a way where my business is insulated

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from this.

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But it is a big deal.

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And I'm not...

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I'm happy it's not affecting me and won't

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be affecting my clients,

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won't be impacting the way that I want

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to run my practice at all.

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It is bad overall.

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And the idea that other therapists didn't

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see it coming doesn't make it better.

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Although I do think it fits with part

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of the theme of what I've certainly maybe

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not started out the podcast with,

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but have shifted into some class

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consciousness and also calling other

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therapists out for their shitty business

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practices and

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This is all part of that.

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So yeah, if you're not a therapist,

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I still think this session could be

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interesting for you.

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And if you don't wanna listen,

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like and subscribe and leave me a review

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wherever you're listening and then don't

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listen.

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But it's gonna be on the business side

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of things.

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And we're also gonna talk about like how

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capitalism is of course ruining

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everything.

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And it'll be fun, I promise.

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In the way that this podcast about mental

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health is fun.

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The big news is Aetna,

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who is an insurance company, and Alma,

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who is like a therapy tech platform?

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Question mark?

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I don't use...

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Alma,

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and I'm not in network with any insurance.

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So again, this doesn't affect me.

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But Alma is sort of in that same

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vein as Headway,

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which is one of these sort of tech

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startup, whatever.

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We've got money,

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we're going to offer reduced rates,

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but we're going to pay our therapist

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really well, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

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said every disruptor of every industry

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ever,

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because when you have venture capital

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money,

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you spend to get a lion's share of

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the market,

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and then you make services worse,

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which is why I did not want to

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bother with any of this stuff when I

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opened my practice.

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And when I decided I wasn't going to

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take insurance,

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which was like the very correct call,

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Some of these things were still sort of

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new-ish.

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Again,

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the rise and fall of these things has

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been very fast.

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And basically, I'm not sure if it's Aetna,

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I'm not sure if it's Alma,

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they're pointing their fingers at each

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other, blaming each other.

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But this is a thing that's been coming.

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I think the insurance industry is going to

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collapse sooner rather than later.

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The way that it works here in America,

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we're the last game in town and the

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scam has run its course.

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And with any sort of scam of capitalism,

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when you can extract wealth,

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If there comes a point where like that

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stops working and then it becomes sort of

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a game of hot potato,

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somebody has got to be left holding the

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bag that isn't worth anything and eat the

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loss.

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And that's capitalism.

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It's just a shell game.

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And insurance is perhaps one of the

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biggest perpetrators,

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one of the worst of the worst of

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the shell game of, I'm sorry,

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how are you making any money off of

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this?

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Because it is just an outright scam in

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this country.

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But yeah,

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why would therapists then fall for this?

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Why would a lot of private practice owners

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who should know better and who have maybe

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moved away from the insurance model get

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sucked into this?

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And why would the insurance company and or

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mental health provider platform do this?

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I think that part's pretty

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self-explanatory in my diatribe about

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capitalism.

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It's for money.

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Basically what happened is they have cut

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rates across the board.

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Devastatingly so.

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Ends up being like a forty two percent

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decrease in payment to providers.

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And the other option for this week's

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podcast was about the mosque shooting in

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San Diego.

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So while everyone wants to like.

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talk about mental health whenever there's

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a shooting uh nobody wants to pay for

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it and that's a problem it's a problem

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when we've created a society that is crazy

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making and then nobody is there to support

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people when they feel crazy for being

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aware of how poorly things are happening

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um

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And so yeah, you know,

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when I opened my practice,

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headway was the thing Alma was new.

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And I was like,

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why would I want an external third party

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involved in my payment?

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That's specifically what I don't want and

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not taking insurance,

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but mental health provider for seven

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years.

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I started very young.

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If you're like, you don't look that old.

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Seventeen years of doing mental health.

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Some of it has been spent in higher

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ed.

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Most of it has been spent in private

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practice.

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When I started out,

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I worked at an agency, a larger practice.

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I had terrible splits.

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I was a ten ninety nine independent

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contractor, did a lot of work,

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worked a lot of hours,

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didn't get paid particularly well.

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No insurance, no nothing.

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I went into higher ed when I needed

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insurance because my wife was moving to

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part-time when we were having our first

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kid.

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And then when I left higher ed,

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I went back into private practice,

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a smaller practice that didn't take

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insurance.

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So I've worked.

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And then when I opened my own practice,

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I did take insurance.

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So I've worked in the setting where we

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took insurance and we're in network with

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all of the things.

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And again,

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my experience with that was really poor.

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I'm a licensed marriage and family

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therapist at LMFT.

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Generally,

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the billing code that I would use is

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the ninety eight four seven,

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which is family therapy with the patient

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present.

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You do that for family therapy,

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you do that for couples therapy,

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which is predominantly a majority of what

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my entire career has been.

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And then you have to diagnose, right?

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If you're using insurance,

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you have to diagnose.

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And so there are these things called V

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codes.

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This is how it's taught.

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This isn't necessarily what the DSM-V all

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has.

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but when i was taught and when i

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was taking insurance or v codes or a

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bunch of v codes for relationship issues

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insurances would not reimburse for a v

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code so you had to do a diagnosis

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that insurance would pay for whatever you

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picked it did not matter

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at some point you tripped some sort of

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algorithm that the insurance was using.

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This was before like AI and algorithms

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were common parlance.

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We've known about algorithms as therapists

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for a long time because you had like

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actuary and math nerds using them to

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decide who got covered and who didn't.

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And the insurance companies were employing

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these math nerds to maximize their profit

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by making sure that people didn't get

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insurance reimbursement,

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wouldn't cover things that were a loss for

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them.

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And again, healthcare is a cost.

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Healthcare is always going to be a cost,

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which is why it should be through one

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payer from the government,

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because the only person who has a vested

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interest in having a healthy population is

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the government.

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You cease to exist as the country if

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you don't have a population.

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And so...

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yeah uh single-payer healthcare which the

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global north has figured out except for

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america and the global north has then uh

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figured out that like it goes poorly so

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let's cut funding to it and they're like

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oh there is not a better option we

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need to fund the out of this let's

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fund it to the capacity that we can

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oh wow it runs a lot better when

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we fund it and again healthcare is going

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to be a cost so

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Whatever.

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So there's no way to turn a profit

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on it unless you are rejecting or not

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paying a fair rate for what people are

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seeing their providers for,

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which is why the hypothetical alleged folk

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hero Luigi Mangione is so popular because,

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again,

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whoever is running the major seven

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insurance companies are killing people.

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Allegedly.

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I don't know.

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I don't know.

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I'm allegedly there.

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By denying coverage to things that will

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have lethal consequences,

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they're killing people.

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And we have such a goldfish mentality in

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this country, which isn't true.

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It's mean to goldfish.

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They have better memories than that.

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uh that's a myth that goldfish have have

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short-term memories and goldfish and not

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raised in captivity even better so maybe

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we should treat wildlife better anyway

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that's beside the point i care about the

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goldfish and the therapists you know i

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just empathy off the charts he said pretty

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sarcastically i do i do though i do

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care um

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I'm so off topic.

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The health care is always going to be

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a cost.

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The CEOs who are declining coverage or

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saying we're not going to cover this or

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coming up with whatever convoluted

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legalese they need to deny coverage are

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killing people.

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That has real consequences.

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Lots of people die every year in America

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from preventable diseases.

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Lots of people die every year from mental

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health crises that lead to suicide every

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year because people don't have access to

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the resources they need.

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And insurance has been the number one

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culprit in that.

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Now, there is a therapy shortage.

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We know there are not enough providers for

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enough people who want to see a therapist.

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And more therapists are leaving the

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profession than are coming in.

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This is well documented.

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This has been a problem since before

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COVID.

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COVID made it worse.

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And the system is broken, right?

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We are the crumbling empire.

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Shit's falling apart.

00:10:37.982 --> 00:10:39.003
The institutions are failing.

00:10:39.583 --> 00:10:39.783
So...

00:10:41.177 --> 00:10:43.120
In light of all of this, and again,

00:10:44.140 --> 00:10:46.663
the other topic for this week could have

00:10:46.724 --> 00:10:50.707
been mosque shooting and the mental health

00:10:51.427 --> 00:10:53.450
of mass shootings.

00:10:53.910 --> 00:10:54.611
Maybe we'll do it next week.

00:10:54.731 --> 00:10:55.513
We'll save that for next week.

00:10:56.133 --> 00:10:57.654
I'm sure nothing of import will happen

00:10:57.674 --> 00:10:58.335
between now and then.

00:10:59.172 --> 00:11:03.214
the um we like to talk about mental

00:11:03.254 --> 00:11:05.975
health as a scapegoat for like crises in

00:11:06.015 --> 00:11:07.876
a way that lets us bypass doing anything

00:11:08.277 --> 00:11:09.937
to do that again anybody who's been like

00:11:10.258 --> 00:11:11.458
any politician who's brought up mental

00:11:11.499 --> 00:11:13.899
health in the aftermath of a mass shooting

00:11:14.280 --> 00:11:16.841
has not then gone on to either ban

00:11:16.902 --> 00:11:22.004
guns uh or wartime fighter arms uh

00:11:23.207 --> 00:11:24.590
even though the Supreme Court has set the

00:11:24.610 --> 00:11:25.932
standard technically that there needs to

00:11:25.951 --> 00:11:26.852
be historical context,

00:11:26.873 --> 00:11:28.094
which would mean that you cannot have a

00:11:28.134 --> 00:11:29.956
firearm and gunpowder in the same

00:11:29.976 --> 00:11:30.417
building.

00:11:30.977 --> 00:11:32.279
That's the historical context.

00:11:33.500 --> 00:11:33.881
But again,

00:11:34.042 --> 00:11:35.322
reality doesn't matter to the Supreme

00:11:35.363 --> 00:11:35.563
Court.

00:11:36.284 --> 00:11:40.048
The politicians also are not funding

00:11:40.309 --> 00:11:41.051
mental health care.

00:11:42.859 --> 00:11:43.599
The state of Wisconsin,

00:11:43.619 --> 00:11:45.460
it came up just recently when I was

00:11:45.480 --> 00:11:48.301
talking about the episode on Wisconsin's

00:11:48.360 --> 00:11:49.822
mental health action plan.

00:11:50.802 --> 00:11:52.783
The state of Wisconsin is funding crisis

00:11:52.863 --> 00:11:55.104
hotlines and warm lines for people who are

00:11:55.124 --> 00:11:56.225
having mental health crises,

00:11:56.264 --> 00:11:57.384
but the state is funding that.

00:11:57.424 --> 00:11:58.865
We are not funding that on a federal

00:11:58.966 --> 00:11:59.886
level anymore.

00:12:00.246 --> 00:12:01.307
It's been one of the things that has

00:12:01.326 --> 00:12:04.229
been cut specifically because this

00:12:04.349 --> 00:12:06.990
administration hates living things,

00:12:07.570 --> 00:12:08.750
people and animals.

00:12:09.870 --> 00:12:11.110
which is why they're really,

00:12:11.150 --> 00:12:12.211
really bad for the environment.

00:12:15.432 --> 00:12:17.033
So we have a therapy shortage.

00:12:19.173 --> 00:12:20.813
We have multiple mental health crises.

00:12:21.553 --> 00:12:22.673
Mental health crises are up,

00:12:22.854 --> 00:12:23.854
have been since COVID.

00:12:24.153 --> 00:12:25.235
They have not gone back down.

00:12:25.254 --> 00:12:26.455
They have really leveled off.

00:12:26.995 --> 00:12:29.176
Again, it's bleak out there.

00:12:30.355 --> 00:12:30.676
And

00:12:32.881 --> 00:12:35.043
In the light of this,

00:12:35.743 --> 00:12:38.485
Alma and or Headway together both either

00:12:39.684 --> 00:12:44.486
decided to cut rates and sort of specific

00:12:44.807 --> 00:12:47.889
things that will affect nearly everyone.

00:12:48.928 --> 00:12:51.909
and they basically addressed some issues

00:12:52.551 --> 00:12:55.851
in the worst possible way they could uh

00:12:55.892 --> 00:12:57.352
they had options sort of a b and

00:12:57.452 --> 00:13:00.533
c a is like a and b were

00:13:00.553 --> 00:13:02.794
like fine not great didn't solve anything

00:13:02.835 --> 00:13:04.514
but would be a lot better and then

00:13:04.595 --> 00:13:07.015
c was like universally will make

00:13:07.096 --> 00:13:10.378
everything worse across the board and

00:13:10.398 --> 00:13:13.178
they're like c hundred percent uh

00:13:14.139 --> 00:13:17.581
so they cut reimbursement rates um which

00:13:17.721 --> 00:13:21.462
is again they have they have lowered the

00:13:21.482 --> 00:13:23.043
reimbursement rate for a fifty three

00:13:23.063 --> 00:13:25.525
minute session to a thirty eight minute

00:13:25.566 --> 00:13:28.326
session um which is basically saying

00:13:28.866 --> 00:13:32.188
either see more clients per day for less

00:13:32.249 --> 00:13:32.570
money

00:13:33.590 --> 00:13:37.313
or continue to see the clients for the

00:13:37.354 --> 00:13:38.914
amount of time you see them now for

00:13:38.975 --> 00:13:40.297
less money, right?

00:13:40.356 --> 00:13:41.798
So you either need to see more clients

00:13:41.817 --> 00:13:42.698
to make the amount of money that you're

00:13:42.719 --> 00:13:43.038
making,

00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:46.482
or you need to take a pay cut.

00:13:47.102 --> 00:13:48.224
And it's a pay cut either way,

00:13:48.264 --> 00:13:49.466
because if you see more clients,

00:13:49.485 --> 00:13:50.265
you're doing less good work.

00:13:50.306 --> 00:13:52.327
It has health costs and things for our

00:13:52.347 --> 00:13:53.850
mental health and for our physical health

00:13:53.889 --> 00:13:54.530
as therapists.

00:13:55.030 --> 00:13:57.332
So it's a massive cut either way.

00:13:58.313 --> 00:14:00.316
They're basically saying that you can do

00:14:00.735 --> 00:14:01.878
everything you need to do in therapy in

00:14:01.918 --> 00:14:02.577
thirty seven minutes.

00:14:02.878 --> 00:14:05.321
But again, like that's an obscure number,

00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:05.780
right?

00:14:05.921 --> 00:14:06.682
That's a prime number.

00:14:06.741 --> 00:14:07.883
We don't use it for anything.

00:14:07.942 --> 00:14:08.543
Thirty seven.

00:14:08.624 --> 00:14:09.664
It's not a popular number.

00:14:09.945 --> 00:14:11.586
It's not a thing we use as a

00:14:11.647 --> 00:14:14.068
measure, an increment for anything.

00:14:14.428 --> 00:14:17.072
This is some sort of algorithm based

00:14:17.272 --> 00:14:19.433
outcome that they're saying we can make

00:14:19.494 --> 00:14:21.375
profit up until this point.

00:14:23.207 --> 00:14:23.488
And again,

00:14:23.508 --> 00:14:24.868
they don't disclose those things.

00:14:24.888 --> 00:14:26.528
There's no transparency in who they're

00:14:26.548 --> 00:14:28.769
deciding is worth a certain amount of

00:14:28.808 --> 00:14:30.690
money and whose lives are expendable and

00:14:30.730 --> 00:14:33.250
we can kill through bureaucracy.

00:14:35.451 --> 00:14:37.530
When eventually, hopefully,

00:14:37.571 --> 00:14:38.991
there's accountability for things like

00:14:39.011 --> 00:14:40.751
this, those things will be made clear.

00:14:40.851 --> 00:14:42.072
And I'm sure it'll be a really terrible

00:14:42.111 --> 00:14:42.912
system they've employed.

00:14:44.033 --> 00:14:44.373
And...

00:14:47.856 --> 00:14:49.538
I do sixty minute sessions, right?

00:14:49.557 --> 00:14:50.639
Just for frame of reference.

00:14:51.480 --> 00:14:52.921
Fifty three is fine.

00:14:53.341 --> 00:14:54.942
Sort of the idea that you're doing an

00:14:55.042 --> 00:14:58.585
hour session in your schedule as a

00:14:58.625 --> 00:15:00.267
therapist and fifty three minutes of those

00:15:00.386 --> 00:15:01.086
are with the patient,

00:15:01.206 --> 00:15:02.107
which is the only time you get paid

00:15:02.128 --> 00:15:02.288
for.

00:15:02.649 --> 00:15:05.370
No notes, no bathroom break,

00:15:05.390 --> 00:15:06.211
no snack break.

00:15:06.932 --> 00:15:09.073
Only paid when you see somebody face to

00:15:09.094 --> 00:15:09.433
face.

00:15:11.095 --> 00:15:13.537
I used to when I started out,

00:15:13.857 --> 00:15:16.259
it was thirty minute sessions or I think.

00:15:16.919 --> 00:15:18.743
think it was i think it was fifty

00:15:18.783 --> 00:15:21.749
three then too um but again it was

00:15:21.828 --> 00:15:23.291
just sort of like we shorthand that to

00:15:23.312 --> 00:15:24.854
an hour you sort of just ate that

00:15:24.894 --> 00:15:26.035
cost as a therapist

00:15:28.102 --> 00:15:29.063
And as a marriage therapist,

00:15:29.104 --> 00:15:30.706
like sessions take longer.

00:15:31.346 --> 00:15:33.168
You have two people, you're regulating,

00:15:33.308 --> 00:15:34.330
co-regulating,

00:15:35.009 --> 00:15:36.392
letting each person have some time to

00:15:36.432 --> 00:15:37.753
talk, processing together.

00:15:37.793 --> 00:15:39.855
Like there's another person in the room.

00:15:40.676 --> 00:15:43.399
I understand in theory why therapists

00:15:43.438 --> 00:15:44.860
charge more for that.

00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:46.402
I don't because for me,

00:15:46.923 --> 00:15:48.565
you're paying for my time.

00:15:49.044 --> 00:15:50.546
whether one person or two people are using

00:15:50.625 --> 00:15:52.486
my time isn't a huge difference,

00:15:52.527 --> 00:15:55.447
but I was also trained as a LMFT.

00:15:55.508 --> 00:15:56.828
Like I started doing couples work.

00:15:57.129 --> 00:15:59.129
That's the first session I ever saw live

00:15:59.169 --> 00:16:00.009
was a couple session,

00:16:00.409 --> 00:16:02.390
which is not what most therapists do.

00:16:02.490 --> 00:16:04.072
I would argue very few therapists start

00:16:04.091 --> 00:16:05.852
out by just doing systems work,

00:16:06.513 --> 00:16:08.653
couples or family work from the get go.

00:16:08.693 --> 00:16:09.495
That's odd.

00:16:09.534 --> 00:16:11.215
That's rare that I did it that way.

00:16:12.635 --> 00:16:14.157
And so for me doing couples is,

00:16:15.511 --> 00:16:16.091
in a lot of ways,

00:16:16.192 --> 00:16:17.413
easier than individual work.

00:16:17.572 --> 00:16:18.052
That's not true.

00:16:18.092 --> 00:16:19.053
It's not easier.

00:16:20.094 --> 00:16:21.774
I'm just as comfortable with it.

00:16:21.894 --> 00:16:22.816
So I charge the same rate,

00:16:22.836 --> 00:16:23.956
which is not what a lot of therapists

00:16:23.995 --> 00:16:24.135
do.

00:16:25.216 --> 00:16:30.240
Another sort of bugaboo of mine is fine.

00:16:33.020 --> 00:16:35.221
We'll get to my issues with therapists in

00:16:35.261 --> 00:16:35.501
this.

00:16:35.761 --> 00:16:38.062
I'm going to take the insurance companies

00:16:38.082 --> 00:16:38.724
to task first.

00:16:39.563 --> 00:16:41.044
The other big thing they did that's a

00:16:41.105 --> 00:16:42.765
huge cut that I don't really...

00:16:44.249 --> 00:16:45.649
I have a problem with how they did

00:16:45.690 --> 00:16:46.971
it more than I disagree with it.

00:16:47.350 --> 00:16:49.591
They took doctoral level people, PhD,

00:16:49.631 --> 00:16:50.852
PsyD providers,

00:16:51.253 --> 00:16:52.134
and are going to pay them the same

00:16:52.173 --> 00:16:53.575
level as master's level providers.

00:16:54.235 --> 00:16:57.437
They acknowledged that that discrepancy

00:16:57.476 --> 00:16:58.336
was problematic.

00:16:58.496 --> 00:17:00.658
And instead of raising what they were

00:17:00.678 --> 00:17:02.360
going to pay master's level therapists,

00:17:02.820 --> 00:17:04.080
they lowered what they're going to pay

00:17:04.121 --> 00:17:04.681
PhDs.

00:17:06.321 --> 00:17:08.563
I have been outspoken about this topic and

00:17:08.583 --> 00:17:09.523
have talked about this a lot.

00:17:11.786 --> 00:17:13.406
People who get their PhDs are not

00:17:13.467 --> 00:17:14.587
inherently better providers.

00:17:15.388 --> 00:17:18.872
The way that we do PhD education in

00:17:18.951 --> 00:17:22.414
America in higher ed here in this country

00:17:22.974 --> 00:17:23.776
is poor.

00:17:24.175 --> 00:17:25.896
Those people cost more because they're

00:17:26.137 --> 00:17:27.439
paying off their loans.

00:17:27.999 --> 00:17:28.740
That's all it is.

00:17:30.882 --> 00:17:32.522
I have my master's and my postgraduate

00:17:32.542 --> 00:17:32.962
degree.

00:17:32.982 --> 00:17:34.443
Somebody with their PhD does not have more

00:17:34.503 --> 00:17:36.226
schooling than me.

00:17:36.266 --> 00:17:38.688
They just have different letters after the

00:17:38.708 --> 00:17:38.827
name.

00:17:39.671 --> 00:17:40.211
Um,

00:17:40.332 --> 00:17:43.054
arguably the dumbest person I've ever been

00:17:43.094 --> 00:17:47.557
in school since, since high school.

00:17:47.757 --> 00:17:48.457
I mean, I exclude.

00:17:49.498 --> 00:17:51.380
Eighteen year olds and under in my

00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:54.422
experience in high school college forward,

00:17:54.481 --> 00:17:55.702
the dumbest person I've ever went to

00:17:55.742 --> 00:17:56.383
school with, uh,

00:17:57.223 --> 00:17:58.924
went on to get their PhD and is

00:17:58.964 --> 00:18:00.746
like, has their PhD.

00:18:01.686 --> 00:18:02.827
I don't think they see clients.

00:18:02.847 --> 00:18:04.048
I think they're in academia.

00:18:04.368 --> 00:18:07.490
Um, but yeah.

00:18:10.929 --> 00:18:13.670
I don't have a ton of respect for

00:18:13.710 --> 00:18:16.691
PhD level academics as somebody who has

00:18:16.730 --> 00:18:19.531
been in higher ed for a long time,

00:18:19.632 --> 00:18:22.133
both as a student and as an instructor.

00:18:22.893 --> 00:18:24.913
Your PhD doesn't mean anything to me other

00:18:24.933 --> 00:18:29.674
than like you're either super nerdy about

00:18:29.734 --> 00:18:34.356
research or you're insecure and needed the

00:18:34.376 --> 00:18:35.537
letters after your name to feel good about

00:18:35.557 --> 00:18:35.896
yourself,

00:18:35.958 --> 00:18:36.938
but you're not actually that good at your

00:18:36.958 --> 00:18:37.137
job.

00:18:37.662 --> 00:18:38.982
And I'm being like grossly over

00:18:39.022 --> 00:18:39.542
simplistic.

00:18:39.682 --> 00:18:41.463
I'm not like antagonistic to people of

00:18:41.483 --> 00:18:42.104
their PhDs,

00:18:42.384 --> 00:18:43.724
but it has always been a problem that

00:18:43.765 --> 00:18:44.684
people who,

00:18:45.424 --> 00:18:47.226
the way that we compensate therapists is

00:18:47.286 --> 00:18:48.807
different based on their licensure,

00:18:48.987 --> 00:18:51.548
even though there is no compensation for

00:18:51.607 --> 00:18:53.388
things like postgraduate degrees,

00:18:53.729 --> 00:18:55.148
special trainings you get.

00:18:55.789 --> 00:18:56.690
And again,

00:18:57.250 --> 00:18:59.250
the whole system is rife with

00:18:59.931 --> 00:19:00.491
exploitation.

00:19:01.352 --> 00:19:03.532
I also am outspoken about the cannibalism

00:19:03.613 --> 00:19:05.333
of therapy where therapists are charging

00:19:05.393 --> 00:19:07.693
other therapists as a main source of their

00:19:07.773 --> 00:19:10.914
income for business-related things that

00:19:10.934 --> 00:19:12.315
they can't guarantee their outcomes.

00:19:13.335 --> 00:19:14.655
So that's business coaching.

00:19:14.756 --> 00:19:15.756
Let me teach you how to fill your

00:19:15.796 --> 00:19:16.476
practice.

00:19:16.935 --> 00:19:17.957
Yada, yada, yada.

00:19:19.076 --> 00:19:21.278
There's a lot of grossness out there that

00:19:21.938 --> 00:19:24.618
I think really lovely people and

00:19:24.898 --> 00:19:27.298
high-quality therapists fall prey to

00:19:27.358 --> 00:19:29.400
because they are not really...

00:19:30.597 --> 00:19:33.382
well informed on things like economics and

00:19:33.422 --> 00:19:34.222
business practices.

00:19:34.683 --> 00:19:36.005
And the ethics that they hold for their

00:19:36.045 --> 00:19:37.547
clients are different than the ethics that

00:19:37.586 --> 00:19:39.630
they hold for themselves as a business

00:19:39.730 --> 00:19:39.990
owner.

00:19:40.411 --> 00:19:41.333
And that, again,

00:19:42.114 --> 00:19:43.675
deserves to be criticized.

00:19:45.618 --> 00:19:48.040
I don't hold any illusion that I get

00:19:48.080 --> 00:19:50.343
it all right or that my setup is

00:19:50.942 --> 00:19:52.304
perfect and great.

00:19:53.404 --> 00:19:55.507
I will say my setup is fairly intentional.

00:19:56.047 --> 00:19:57.248
I do feel like it's very values and

00:19:57.307 --> 00:19:58.808
ethics aligned for me as a person.

00:19:59.769 --> 00:20:00.951
I do think it is ethical in the

00:20:00.971 --> 00:20:02.893
way that I provide for my clients.

00:20:03.353 --> 00:20:04.773
And I'm a sole provider.

00:20:04.894 --> 00:20:06.154
I don't have employees.

00:20:06.295 --> 00:20:07.516
I don't want employees.

00:20:07.576 --> 00:20:08.737
I'm not set up for that.

00:20:08.896 --> 00:20:13.141
I could not do that well because there's

00:20:13.161 --> 00:20:14.162
no system for that.

00:20:15.557 --> 00:20:17.578
There's no system for me with that.

00:20:17.618 --> 00:20:20.259
There are practices that are W-tos,

00:20:20.279 --> 00:20:21.161
that have employees,

00:20:21.181 --> 00:20:22.320
not independent contractors,

00:20:22.681 --> 00:20:23.922
that they run their practice well,

00:20:24.221 --> 00:20:25.702
that people are compensated well,

00:20:25.903 --> 00:20:27.383
everybody is happy and winning.

00:20:27.722 --> 00:20:29.324
Again, that exists.

00:20:30.325 --> 00:20:32.226
I often will have those people on my

00:20:32.266 --> 00:20:32.625
podcast.

00:20:32.645 --> 00:20:33.605
But I've got a bunch of therapists on

00:20:33.625 --> 00:20:34.707
my podcast who I think are great

00:20:34.747 --> 00:20:35.146
therapists,

00:20:35.166 --> 00:20:37.847
who I think are utter shite business

00:20:37.928 --> 00:20:38.208
owners.

00:20:38.587 --> 00:20:39.388
Yeah.

00:20:40.615 --> 00:20:42.236
And it honestly, after a time,

00:20:42.276 --> 00:20:45.136
like does shade the way that I think

00:20:45.156 --> 00:20:46.616
about them and want to refer to them

00:20:46.717 --> 00:20:48.517
to sort of understand that they're like

00:20:48.616 --> 00:20:50.857
material analysis of how they participate

00:20:50.877 --> 00:20:54.617
in capitalism is so poor that like I

00:20:54.738 --> 00:20:56.578
loathe their business practices.

00:20:56.999 --> 00:20:57.558
Therapists,

00:20:57.838 --> 00:20:59.459
stop having people be ten ninety nines.

00:20:59.519 --> 00:21:00.739
They're not.

00:21:00.778 --> 00:21:02.859
You cannot have an independent contractor

00:21:02.900 --> 00:21:04.519
therapist underneath you if you're not

00:21:04.559 --> 00:21:06.359
having them do a new contract for every

00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:07.401
single client they have.

00:21:07.721 --> 00:21:09.500
And I know none of y'all are doing

00:21:09.520 --> 00:21:09.721
that.

00:21:12.309 --> 00:21:13.750
Every employment lawyer I've ever

00:21:13.790 --> 00:21:15.553
interacted with has said therapists cannot

00:21:15.613 --> 00:21:17.253
be independent contractors like that.

00:21:18.035 --> 00:21:20.676
If you are at a practice regularly,

00:21:21.257 --> 00:21:23.038
you could probably see clients for like

00:21:23.098 --> 00:21:24.440
three months and do that under one

00:21:24.500 --> 00:21:25.359
contract, I suppose.

00:21:25.641 --> 00:21:28.083
But again, like nobody does that.

00:21:28.103 --> 00:21:29.703
Therapists are at their practices for

00:21:29.763 --> 00:21:31.305
years as independent contractors.

00:21:31.565 --> 00:21:33.166
That's not how that works.

00:21:34.332 --> 00:21:35.973
And then you don't get to say, oh,

00:21:36.054 --> 00:21:37.355
capitalism is bad.

00:21:37.434 --> 00:21:38.777
The system is really shortchanging our

00:21:38.817 --> 00:21:39.758
clients, blah, blah, blah.

00:21:40.097 --> 00:21:41.500
Why do you refuse to pay into the

00:21:41.539 --> 00:21:42.381
social safety net?

00:21:42.401 --> 00:21:44.903
Because you do not pay taxes the way

00:21:44.943 --> 00:21:46.365
that you would if you were an employer

00:21:46.704 --> 00:21:48.067
instead of somebody who has independent

00:21:48.106 --> 00:21:48.586
contractors.

00:21:48.988 --> 00:21:53.393
So therapists, be better.

00:21:53.752 --> 00:21:56.155
Y'all drive me crazy with that bullshit.

00:21:58.539 --> 00:22:00.622
So again, my system works well for me.

00:22:00.942 --> 00:22:01.702
I do think it is ethical.

00:22:01.782 --> 00:22:02.823
I do think it's great.

00:22:02.843 --> 00:22:05.244
There are things that I don't do in

00:22:05.285 --> 00:22:07.586
my practice because I couldn't, right?

00:22:07.946 --> 00:22:09.208
I couldn't run it the way I wanted.

00:22:09.548 --> 00:22:10.990
I couldn't do the things that I wanted.

00:22:11.250 --> 00:22:13.991
I couldn't exist as a member of society

00:22:14.372 --> 00:22:15.432
without doing it the way that I do

00:22:15.452 --> 00:22:15.613
it.

00:22:15.653 --> 00:22:17.273
So I don't have employees because I don't

00:22:17.294 --> 00:22:18.494
think there's an ethical way to do that

00:22:18.815 --> 00:22:19.976
with the amount of money that you can

00:22:20.016 --> 00:22:20.797
make doing therapy.

00:22:21.778 --> 00:22:23.999
I only view that as wealth extraction and

00:22:24.019 --> 00:22:24.519
that's shitty.

00:22:24.539 --> 00:22:25.641
Therapists should stop doing that.

00:22:26.461 --> 00:22:28.582
um it's cannibalizing our own profession

00:22:28.701 --> 00:22:30.622
and we have to be held to account

00:22:30.882 --> 00:22:32.623
as a profession for part of the reason

00:22:32.643 --> 00:22:34.462
that so many therapists are leaving is we

00:22:34.482 --> 00:22:36.523
make it so hard and expensive to get

00:22:36.644 --> 00:22:38.884
into the business and that doesn't mean

00:22:38.923 --> 00:22:40.345
that i think we should lower standards it

00:22:40.365 --> 00:22:41.684
doesn't mean that i think we should do

00:22:41.744 --> 00:22:43.346
some of those things it's not the wild

00:22:43.385 --> 00:22:45.346
west let's not let everybody in we should

00:22:45.385 --> 00:22:47.446
have standards there should be education

00:22:47.866 --> 00:22:50.287
accreditation all of that stuff but like

00:22:50.626 --> 00:22:52.048
stop making it so hard for people to

00:22:52.688 --> 00:22:54.489
open a practice stop charging everybody

00:22:54.528 --> 00:22:56.690
for every little thing selling them some

00:22:56.730 --> 00:22:58.250
sort of mythical business thing that just

00:22:58.310 --> 00:23:00.633
happened to work for you but cannot work

00:23:00.653 --> 00:23:02.753
for everyone because if it worked for

00:23:02.814 --> 00:23:07.936
everyone it would just be common knowledge

00:23:08.017 --> 00:23:09.258
i don't i don't do a lot of

00:23:09.298 --> 00:23:10.638
episodes like this because i get angry

00:23:12.469 --> 00:23:13.930
There's just a lot to be angry about

00:23:14.049 --> 00:23:16.511
when like you can sort of peel back

00:23:16.551 --> 00:23:18.374
layers on things and understand some of

00:23:18.394 --> 00:23:18.993
the complexity,

00:23:19.034 --> 00:23:20.815
but also see like there's an obviously

00:23:21.336 --> 00:23:22.876
easier system available.

00:23:23.336 --> 00:23:24.278
And it's not capitalism.

00:23:24.597 --> 00:23:25.118
I can tell you that.

00:23:25.419 --> 00:23:29.182
I need a drink break here.

00:23:29.642 --> 00:23:32.124
The bad part of doing solo episodes is

00:23:32.203 --> 00:23:33.305
it's probably not great for my mental

00:23:33.325 --> 00:23:36.788
health from a sustainability perspective,

00:23:36.847 --> 00:23:38.648
not on an episode by episode basis.

00:23:39.529 --> 00:23:41.250
But also I can't take drink breaks when

00:23:41.270 --> 00:23:42.271
I let my guests talk.

00:23:43.617 --> 00:23:45.299
So yes,

00:23:45.819 --> 00:23:49.103
PhDs did not ever really deserve a

00:23:49.123 --> 00:23:50.644
significantly more amount of money.

00:23:51.105 --> 00:23:54.647
It is like laughably evil and like comic

00:23:54.688 --> 00:23:57.431
book bad guy hilarious that instead of

00:23:57.611 --> 00:23:59.492
raising the rates for master's level

00:23:59.532 --> 00:24:00.012
providers,

00:24:00.313 --> 00:24:02.335
they lowered the rates for PhD providers.

00:24:04.045 --> 00:24:04.285
And again,

00:24:04.944 --> 00:24:06.826
in sort of peeling back the layers of

00:24:06.846 --> 00:24:07.046
this,

00:24:07.125 --> 00:24:09.027
understand that there's an attack on

00:24:09.106 --> 00:24:11.867
education from the Trump administration.

00:24:13.388 --> 00:24:15.369
Linda McMahon is coming for your A-one

00:24:15.390 --> 00:24:16.029
steak sauce.

00:24:16.549 --> 00:24:18.090
That's a deep cut.

00:24:19.611 --> 00:24:22.074
for people needing to be online a lot

00:24:22.094 --> 00:24:23.575
to understand the reference I just made,

00:24:24.076 --> 00:24:25.797
but I hope somebody laughed about it.

00:24:26.657 --> 00:24:30.721
The Trump administration has also

00:24:30.821 --> 00:24:34.246
basically said that like people have their

00:24:34.286 --> 00:24:36.147
masters of divinity and like are,

00:24:37.491 --> 00:24:39.833
in some sort of like ministry,

00:24:40.012 --> 00:24:44.234
those degrees matter more than nurses and

00:24:44.295 --> 00:24:44.915
law degree.

00:24:45.195 --> 00:24:47.116
I think they left law degrees alone.

00:24:47.217 --> 00:24:47.557
Cause again,

00:24:47.576 --> 00:24:48.557
that would hurt their bottom line.

00:24:49.337 --> 00:24:51.159
But they basically have messed up

00:24:51.199 --> 00:24:52.700
licensure across the board.

00:24:53.160 --> 00:24:54.359
It was an executive order.

00:24:54.420 --> 00:24:57.442
So every like functional licensing agency

00:24:57.481 --> 00:24:59.063
has sort of ignored it because you can

00:24:59.103 --> 00:25:00.482
actually do that with executive orders.

00:25:00.502 --> 00:25:01.304
They're not laws.

00:25:02.910 --> 00:25:03.769
a stupid America.

00:25:05.632 --> 00:25:06.412
But yeah,

00:25:06.432 --> 00:25:08.952
that was a thing that I think flew

00:25:08.972 --> 00:25:10.653
under the radar for a lot of folks

00:25:10.834 --> 00:25:14.135
is their recategorization of licensure.

00:25:15.037 --> 00:25:17.458
Basically saying that, yeah,

00:25:18.219 --> 00:25:22.621
the person down the street who's a pastor

00:25:23.141 --> 00:25:25.303
has more credibility than somebody who has

00:25:25.323 --> 00:25:27.503
their master's in counseling psychology.

00:25:28.413 --> 00:25:30.693
um great news everybody i'm covered for

00:25:30.753 --> 00:25:36.557
both i am a uh certified um what's

00:25:36.577 --> 00:25:37.377
the word i'm looking for i want to

00:25:37.397 --> 00:25:39.339
say cleric but that's obviously like dnd

00:25:39.380 --> 00:25:45.563
terminology not um reverend uh i'm an

00:25:45.623 --> 00:25:47.484
ordained minister there we go that is that

00:25:47.525 --> 00:25:48.805
is the thing i just need to get

00:25:48.825 --> 00:25:50.766
like an honorary judge and i'm pretty

00:25:51.086 --> 00:25:54.148
pretty set up for my degrees i could

00:25:54.409 --> 00:25:56.430
i could marry and divorce people then

00:25:57.730 --> 00:25:59.513
I don't know if honorary judges actually

00:25:59.534 --> 00:26:00.556
can do that.

00:26:00.737 --> 00:26:01.657
I can marry people,

00:26:03.923 --> 00:26:04.824
which I've only done once.

00:26:06.075 --> 00:26:08.576
I don't particularly enjoy weddings as a

00:26:08.615 --> 00:26:10.056
licensed marriage and family therapist who

00:26:10.415 --> 00:26:12.395
spends a lot of time with relationships on

00:26:12.435 --> 00:26:12.916
the brink.

00:26:14.957 --> 00:26:17.877
I'm not one to romanticize the wedding

00:26:17.917 --> 00:26:19.377
ceremony and certainly not the modern

00:26:19.438 --> 00:26:20.758
capitalism involved in that.

00:26:20.857 --> 00:26:22.019
If you can believe that much,

00:26:22.118 --> 00:26:25.118
I'm critical of the capitalistic nature of

00:26:25.378 --> 00:26:26.359
the wedding industry.

00:26:27.039 --> 00:26:30.441
Don't get me started on funeral costs.

00:26:31.260 --> 00:26:32.101
I'm fun at parties.

00:26:33.395 --> 00:26:33.836
I'm joking.

00:26:33.895 --> 00:26:34.676
I don't go to parties.

00:26:34.737 --> 00:26:40.641
I'm an introvert.

00:26:40.681 --> 00:26:42.762
The way that the insurance companies cut

00:26:42.803 --> 00:26:51.528
this is so broad that I can't envision

00:26:51.769 --> 00:26:54.131
a practitioner who isn't affected.

00:26:55.872 --> 00:26:59.295
People who take insurance are...

00:27:00.454 --> 00:27:02.275
to be affected by this basically the only

00:27:02.296 --> 00:27:03.476
people who won't be affected by this

00:27:03.536 --> 00:27:04.996
people who were never in network with

00:27:05.016 --> 00:27:08.057
aetna and people who didn't work with alma

00:27:08.237 --> 00:27:10.397
which is like a minority of therapists

00:27:10.458 --> 00:27:12.778
again uh aetna was a big enough insurance

00:27:12.798 --> 00:27:15.239
provider where a lot of people are

00:27:15.278 --> 00:27:19.680
networked with them um the the tinfoil hat

00:27:21.580 --> 00:27:25.201
version of this is there is a big

00:27:25.582 --> 00:27:27.622
uh sort of venture capitalist company that

00:27:27.662 --> 00:27:29.423
came in and purchased alma recently

00:27:31.050 --> 00:27:32.671
And again, like venture capitalists,

00:27:33.010 --> 00:27:35.511
capitalism is bad and always has been.

00:27:35.932 --> 00:27:36.731
And if you're wondering about the

00:27:36.771 --> 00:27:38.912
acceleration of how much stuff is like

00:27:39.292 --> 00:27:40.952
gotten shittier in your lifetime.

00:27:41.492 --> 00:27:42.732
And again, for millennials,

00:27:42.772 --> 00:27:47.953
at least this is an objectifiable fact.

00:27:49.394 --> 00:27:51.674
This is not old man shouting at clouds.

00:27:51.755 --> 00:27:54.795
Things are worse because venture capital

00:27:54.815 --> 00:27:57.256
keeps buying things up and then making it

00:27:57.355 --> 00:27:57.776
worse.

00:27:58.549 --> 00:27:58.630
Now,

00:27:58.650 --> 00:28:00.631
this is not a new concept for capitalism.

00:28:00.691 --> 00:28:02.171
I've talked about this in the past where

00:28:02.230 --> 00:28:04.250
Kellogg's very famously ran a study to see

00:28:04.270 --> 00:28:05.491
how much sawdust they could put in their

00:28:05.531 --> 00:28:08.211
cereal before people noticed a difference

00:28:08.231 --> 00:28:08.672
in taste.

00:28:09.232 --> 00:28:12.492
Corporations will never run their business

00:28:12.553 --> 00:28:15.394
model on doing the best service possible

00:28:16.314 --> 00:28:18.115
if there's a shortcut to more money.

00:28:20.491 --> 00:28:22.012
Capitalism provides lots of shortcuts to

00:28:22.053 --> 00:28:22.432
more money.

00:28:23.733 --> 00:28:24.154
So again,

00:28:24.335 --> 00:28:27.376
there's big money behind Alma and there's

00:28:27.416 --> 00:28:30.419
sort of various theories out there about

00:28:31.279 --> 00:28:32.560
how this all connects.

00:28:32.780 --> 00:28:35.603
I don't think it's conspiratorial per se.

00:28:36.003 --> 00:28:38.505
I don't think we actually know for sure

00:28:39.786 --> 00:28:41.367
what the goal and some of the end

00:28:41.407 --> 00:28:41.887
game is,

00:28:41.907 --> 00:28:45.330
but to suggest that big money investment

00:28:45.471 --> 00:28:47.211
in this and people who are worried about

00:28:47.271 --> 00:28:49.693
stock prices and shareholder making money

00:28:51.673 --> 00:28:53.292
That's the reason this is happening.

00:28:53.913 --> 00:28:55.554
Sure, I don't think that's conspiratorial.

00:28:55.894 --> 00:28:58.094
The how and where all the dots are

00:28:58.114 --> 00:28:59.015
going to connect, I think,

00:28:59.055 --> 00:29:01.855
is still at least not apparent,

00:29:01.974 --> 00:29:04.115
if not still up in the air.

00:29:04.256 --> 00:29:05.895
This could backfire.

00:29:06.036 --> 00:29:07.016
Again,

00:29:07.175 --> 00:29:11.396
it might cause enough people to leave

00:29:11.517 --> 00:29:13.057
Aetna that they either have to course

00:29:13.097 --> 00:29:13.857
correct or...

00:29:14.869 --> 00:29:16.891
other providers actually raise their

00:29:16.931 --> 00:29:17.351
rates,

00:29:17.631 --> 00:29:20.652
insurance providers raise their rates in

00:29:20.731 --> 00:29:23.733
order to like attract a large swath of

00:29:23.753 --> 00:29:25.974
the therapy population as clients.

00:29:27.335 --> 00:29:29.536
I'm guessing that it's gonna be probably

00:29:29.576 --> 00:29:30.715
the course correction.

00:29:31.257 --> 00:29:31.517
Again,

00:29:31.916 --> 00:29:33.978
I don't like to prognosticate and I get

00:29:33.998 --> 00:29:35.057
a lot of things wrong.

00:29:36.538 --> 00:29:37.999
It's not great to be somebody who has

00:29:38.019 --> 00:29:40.460
a podcast and does weekly episodes.

00:29:40.839 --> 00:29:43.201
It's hard to not get into the,

00:29:43.521 --> 00:29:44.201
let me guess,

00:29:45.338 --> 00:29:45.839
business.

00:29:45.880 --> 00:29:46.861
But I try and stay out of that.

00:29:47.060 --> 00:29:47.201
One,

00:29:47.221 --> 00:29:49.143
just because I don't want to jinx the

00:29:49.202 --> 00:29:50.064
universe like that.

00:29:52.747 --> 00:29:54.147
But also,

00:29:54.588 --> 00:29:56.009
I do think it's hard to know for

00:29:56.049 --> 00:29:57.991
sure right now what the goal was.

00:29:58.211 --> 00:30:01.955
Certainly the cynical side of me thinks,

00:30:02.076 --> 00:30:03.518
well, this is a money grab.

00:30:03.597 --> 00:30:03.978
They're going to

00:30:05.031 --> 00:30:07.233
slash that and then either sell it off

00:30:07.334 --> 00:30:09.795
or the people who who making are making

00:30:09.815 --> 00:30:11.195
money off of this are going to bail

00:30:11.236 --> 00:30:13.258
quickly and get it to somebody else to

00:30:13.278 --> 00:30:15.138
hold the bag again i think capitalism

00:30:15.439 --> 00:30:17.280
late-stage capitalism is sort of this this

00:30:17.361 --> 00:30:19.402
game of hot potato at the end here

00:30:20.282 --> 00:30:20.482
um

00:30:22.122 --> 00:30:23.663
It's probably the taxpayers who will end

00:30:23.682 --> 00:30:24.563
up paying for it.

00:30:24.683 --> 00:30:25.364
How fun.

00:30:29.246 --> 00:30:32.248
The other idea is that, yeah,

00:30:32.928 --> 00:30:35.630
they'll get away with it and...

00:30:37.403 --> 00:30:39.684
That sucks.

00:30:40.464 --> 00:30:42.026
Uh, I don't think a ton of,

00:30:42.346 --> 00:30:43.887
you know, it's so hard to say because,

00:30:44.248 --> 00:30:45.328
because again, because of the,

00:30:45.489 --> 00:30:46.849
our problems as a profession,

00:30:47.130 --> 00:30:48.090
not insurance companies,

00:30:48.371 --> 00:30:49.372
because of the way that we make it

00:30:49.412 --> 00:30:51.673
difficult for new providers to get started

00:30:51.772 --> 00:30:53.315
in a way where they can make livable

00:30:53.414 --> 00:30:53.775
money.

00:30:53.974 --> 00:30:54.494
Uh,

00:30:54.575 --> 00:30:56.636
it won't surprise me if people sort of

00:30:56.717 --> 00:31:00.339
cut rates and try and see as many

00:31:00.380 --> 00:31:01.580
people as they can in a day.

00:31:01.901 --> 00:31:02.141
Um,

00:31:02.693 --> 00:31:04.255
That's not new.

00:31:04.375 --> 00:31:05.496
I just don't think that will ever be

00:31:05.516 --> 00:31:06.957
a majority of the profession.

00:31:07.436 --> 00:31:08.938
I think people get into this profession

00:31:08.958 --> 00:31:10.078
because they want to be helpful.

00:31:10.398 --> 00:31:12.000
And it's really hard to be helpful in

00:31:12.080 --> 00:31:14.602
thirty seven increments on the clock every

00:31:14.642 --> 00:31:16.344
single day of the week on repeat.

00:31:16.864 --> 00:31:18.464
It just that gets exhausting.

00:31:21.115 --> 00:31:22.895
So I don't think that'll become the norm.

00:31:22.996 --> 00:31:24.375
So I do sort of think they'll course

00:31:24.395 --> 00:31:24.676
correct.

00:31:24.696 --> 00:31:26.436
But there's some version of this where

00:31:26.497 --> 00:31:28.817
certainly they just get away with it.

00:31:29.138 --> 00:31:31.400
There's also maybe the idea that people

00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:34.161
are going to move away from some of

00:31:34.181 --> 00:31:35.421
the insurance companies,

00:31:35.520 --> 00:31:36.602
move into private practice.

00:31:36.682 --> 00:31:38.221
And then by investing in Alma,

00:31:38.982 --> 00:31:40.423
this venture capitalist is going to sweep

00:31:40.462 --> 00:31:42.304
up a lot of those people and potentially

00:31:42.344 --> 00:31:43.664
make more money that way.

00:31:44.404 --> 00:31:44.785
Again,

00:31:45.244 --> 00:31:47.746
I don't know that the red threads on

00:31:47.786 --> 00:31:49.666
our pin board are quite there on the

00:31:49.707 --> 00:31:50.446
conspiracy,

00:31:50.847 --> 00:31:53.308
but I don't think it's super far-fetched.

00:31:53.909 --> 00:31:55.950
I just think that would be a gamble.

00:31:57.029 --> 00:31:58.871
But to suggest that venture capitalists

00:31:58.971 --> 00:32:00.411
never gamble would be a lie.

00:32:01.311 --> 00:32:02.632
That's all the stock market is,

00:32:03.132 --> 00:32:04.212
and a way to get rid of people

00:32:04.333 --> 00:32:07.634
ever having pensions.

00:32:07.713 --> 00:32:09.914
America's been at this for a while.

00:32:11.056 --> 00:32:15.818
um now for my fellow therapists why would

00:32:15.838 --> 00:32:19.181
they do this well i think if you're

00:32:19.201 --> 00:32:20.340
a therapist why would you work with

00:32:20.381 --> 00:32:22.423
headway why'd you work with alma again i

00:32:22.442 --> 00:32:25.044
think a lot of therapists uh get into

00:32:25.064 --> 00:32:26.285
the profession because they want to be

00:32:26.305 --> 00:32:28.286
helpful and it's sort of the bleeding

00:32:28.365 --> 00:32:31.847
heart that says i need to offer reduced

00:32:31.948 --> 00:32:34.108
rates in order for people to be able

00:32:34.128 --> 00:32:34.789
to afford me

00:32:35.549 --> 00:32:37.791
And if this company says they will defray

00:32:37.832 --> 00:32:39.393
some of the cost or help my clients

00:32:39.432 --> 00:32:41.453
pay for it or never get their insurance,

00:32:41.473 --> 00:32:43.595
then I don't have a problem with that.

00:32:43.815 --> 00:32:45.796
I always had a problem with that because

00:32:45.977 --> 00:32:48.498
you can't fix the broken system by

00:32:48.597 --> 00:32:49.598
operating in the system.

00:32:53.300 --> 00:32:54.882
For those who are waiting for the eventual

00:32:54.902 --> 00:32:55.782
collapse of America,

00:32:55.923 --> 00:32:57.163
let me repeat that out loud.

00:32:57.663 --> 00:33:01.405
You can't fix the system by operating

00:33:01.425 --> 00:33:02.247
within the system.

00:33:04.519 --> 00:33:07.039
And so Alma, Headway,

00:33:07.099 --> 00:33:08.300
some of these things might have been great

00:33:08.401 --> 00:33:10.142
ideas and better than the evil

00:33:11.521 --> 00:33:13.784
counterparts of United Healthcare,

00:33:14.663 --> 00:33:17.605
of the seven big insurers, Humana, Cigna,

00:33:18.645 --> 00:33:19.267
the other ones,

00:33:19.326 --> 00:33:20.666
the ones that have all made billions of

00:33:20.727 --> 00:33:24.849
dollars in profit while we regular

00:33:24.990 --> 00:33:27.711
peasants can't afford to take a ride in

00:33:27.750 --> 00:33:29.172
the ambulance to the hospital when we're

00:33:29.192 --> 00:33:30.271
having a mental health emergency.

00:33:36.209 --> 00:33:39.549
So it's extraction of wealth in the sense

00:33:39.569 --> 00:33:41.250
that this doesn't need to be a thing.

00:33:41.609 --> 00:33:42.690
The system is broken,

00:33:42.910 --> 00:33:44.411
not in that we need Alma and Headway

00:33:44.431 --> 00:33:45.250
to come in and fix it,

00:33:45.270 --> 00:33:46.730
but that we just need a new system.

00:33:48.211 --> 00:33:49.152
And so it was sort of,

00:33:49.271 --> 00:33:49.892
in my opinion,

00:33:49.932 --> 00:33:51.791
always inevitable that whatever services

00:33:51.832 --> 00:33:53.112
we're providing would either get more

00:33:53.152 --> 00:33:55.813
expensive for us as providers or would

00:33:56.053 --> 00:33:58.813
start to cause harm to the clients we

00:33:58.853 --> 00:34:00.973
serve in how we could do care.

00:34:01.134 --> 00:34:02.253
And yep.

00:34:02.983 --> 00:34:03.704
both those things.

00:34:04.005 --> 00:34:04.204
Again,

00:34:04.424 --> 00:34:06.046
it's almost laughably evil how they

00:34:06.086 --> 00:34:09.568
decided to go about this in truly the

00:34:09.688 --> 00:34:12.710
worst fashion for everyone,

00:34:12.911 --> 00:34:15.233
for mental health providers and for the

00:34:15.273 --> 00:34:16.153
patients that they serve.

00:34:16.795 --> 00:34:19.717
And so it's not a surprise to me

00:34:19.737 --> 00:34:20.036
at all.

00:34:20.217 --> 00:34:20.577
And again,

00:34:20.637 --> 00:34:22.219
that's not to pat myself on the back.

00:34:22.778 --> 00:34:24.501
I'm happy it does not affect me,

00:34:24.721 --> 00:34:25.081
certainly.

00:34:25.862 --> 00:34:26.461
And it's a bummer.

00:34:26.541 --> 00:34:29.103
It's a bummer for people who are now

00:34:29.204 --> 00:34:30.164
stressing in,

00:34:30.264 --> 00:34:31.405
are they going to keep their clients?

00:34:31.485 --> 00:34:32.766
Do they need their clients for less?

00:34:33.976 --> 00:34:35.117
Are they going to lose their clients?

00:34:35.197 --> 00:34:37.137
They need to revamp their whole business

00:34:37.157 --> 00:34:37.538
practice.

00:34:38.418 --> 00:34:38.759
And again,

00:34:38.978 --> 00:34:41.239
if you're running your practice in a way

00:34:41.260 --> 00:34:41.539
that says,

00:34:41.679 --> 00:34:43.760
I want to serve clients this specific way,

00:34:44.360 --> 00:34:46.902
you're probably best served doing that

00:34:47.362 --> 00:34:48.782
outside of the insurance industry.

00:34:48.983 --> 00:34:50.184
Like I'm a big proponent of private

00:34:50.224 --> 00:34:50.684
practice.

00:34:51.385 --> 00:34:52.644
If you want to have employees or be

00:34:52.704 --> 00:34:53.565
part of a big practice,

00:34:53.606 --> 00:34:55.306
then you all need to be W-toos.

00:34:56.141 --> 00:35:00.661
ranted about that earlier um again it's

00:35:00.722 --> 00:35:02.541
not sort of all is lost but like

00:35:02.561 --> 00:35:04.161
you know i still struggle as somebody

00:35:04.181 --> 00:35:05.523
who's pretty confident in the way that i

00:35:05.543 --> 00:35:07.202
run my practice and like i just raised

00:35:07.242 --> 00:35:09.443
my rates recently and i'm still cheaper

00:35:09.483 --> 00:35:10.423
than a lot of people who have been

00:35:10.443 --> 00:35:12.224
doing the therapy game less long than i

00:35:12.264 --> 00:35:13.903
have and don't have the specialties that i

00:35:13.943 --> 00:35:15.985
have um because i try and keep it

00:35:16.105 --> 00:35:19.585
affordable in a certain rate but also my

00:35:19.644 --> 00:35:21.585
affordability is dictated by factors

00:35:21.646 --> 00:35:22.985
outside of my control like

00:35:24.382 --> 00:35:28.126
rent like inflation like housing costs and

00:35:28.166 --> 00:35:30.068
healthcare costs i have a family i have

00:35:30.108 --> 00:35:32.409
to just pay for things and the amount

00:35:32.630 --> 00:35:34.831
of people i see in a week is

00:35:34.931 --> 00:35:39.556
finite uh both by literal time but also

00:35:39.596 --> 00:35:41.157
like for me to provide the care that

00:35:41.197 --> 00:35:42.358
i like to provide in the way that

00:35:42.378 --> 00:35:44.820
i like to provide i have about people

00:35:44.860 --> 00:35:46.402
a week that i see i used to

00:35:46.422 --> 00:35:48.123
see twenty six i wasn't doing as good

00:35:48.143 --> 00:35:50.405
of work as i am now um

00:35:51.501 --> 00:35:53.842
not everybody got the best version of me

00:35:54.023 --> 00:35:55.362
when I saw that many people in a

00:35:55.384 --> 00:35:55.664
week.

00:35:56.603 --> 00:35:57.884
I know therapists who see over thirty

00:35:57.903 --> 00:35:58.545
people a week.

00:35:58.684 --> 00:35:59.844
I know, again,

00:36:00.786 --> 00:36:02.686
I think different therapists do things

00:36:02.706 --> 00:36:03.186
differently,

00:36:03.246 --> 00:36:07.047
but certainly I can go up to twenty

00:36:07.108 --> 00:36:08.467
still and be okay,

00:36:08.528 --> 00:36:10.228
but I try not to do that regularly.

00:36:11.250 --> 00:36:15.891
That's the thing that fifteen's fifteen's

00:36:15.911 --> 00:36:18.592
like my fairly hard cap.

00:36:19.652 --> 00:36:20.092
It's not

00:36:21.268 --> 00:36:22.250
rigid forever.

00:36:22.891 --> 00:36:24.233
I think I saw sixteen people a few

00:36:24.273 --> 00:36:24.773
weeks ago.

00:36:25.494 --> 00:36:26.596
So again, there's some exceptions.

00:36:26.615 --> 00:36:28.077
Sometimes it's on my calendar.

00:36:28.097 --> 00:36:29.740
It's because I have something different.

00:36:30.461 --> 00:36:31.623
And sometimes you make exceptions as a

00:36:31.682 --> 00:36:33.164
therapist because somebody calls you and

00:36:33.184 --> 00:36:34.266
they're in crisis and you're going to see

00:36:34.286 --> 00:36:34.407
them.

00:36:35.289 --> 00:36:36.731
But again,

00:36:37.152 --> 00:36:38.652
and then we as therapists spend a lot

00:36:38.693 --> 00:36:40.375
of time doing documentation and paperwork

00:36:40.394 --> 00:36:41.675
and all this other stuff that we're not

00:36:41.717 --> 00:36:43.177
paid for that isn't directly client

00:36:43.217 --> 00:36:45.820
facing, but is for our clients benefits.

00:36:45.840 --> 00:36:48.382
And then, you know,

00:36:48.503 --> 00:36:49.583
I do stuff like this, right?

00:36:49.724 --> 00:36:52.586
For me putting out free content regularly,

00:36:53.869 --> 00:36:55.210
isn't an important part of practice.

00:36:56.110 --> 00:36:57.612
My practice in the sense that like, yes,

00:36:57.652 --> 00:36:59.032
not everyone can afford to see me.

00:36:59.072 --> 00:36:59.994
And that's a bummer.

00:37:00.313 --> 00:37:02.094
That's not because of how I set my

00:37:02.155 --> 00:37:02.416
rates.

00:37:02.456 --> 00:37:04.056
That's because of how expensive it is for

00:37:04.117 --> 00:37:07.500
me to also live under the dark cloud

00:37:07.539 --> 00:37:08.900
that is late stage capitalism.

00:37:10.442 --> 00:37:12.063
So, you know,

00:37:13.739 --> 00:37:17.043
this is bad in a way that was

00:37:17.083 --> 00:37:20.664
like entirely predictable and is part of

00:37:20.724 --> 00:37:21.425
the collapse.

00:37:21.505 --> 00:37:24.047
I think like that so many people are

00:37:24.088 --> 00:37:24.367
like,

00:37:25.889 --> 00:37:27.510
I don't think therapists are surprised.

00:37:27.530 --> 00:37:28.612
I don't want to throw shade at people

00:37:28.632 --> 00:37:29.472
for being surprised.

00:37:29.592 --> 00:37:29.913
I think,

00:37:30.672 --> 00:37:32.114
I think by and large therapists are just

00:37:32.173 --> 00:37:32.954
disappointed that,

00:37:34.092 --> 00:37:36.293
And we're all pretty aware of like the

00:37:36.373 --> 00:37:38.255
mental health crisis going on, um,

00:37:38.735 --> 00:37:41.257
both for the population at large and for

00:37:41.277 --> 00:37:42.697
our profession that like, again,

00:37:42.777 --> 00:37:43.798
where there's a therapist,

00:37:43.918 --> 00:37:45.460
there's a shit therapy shortage.

00:37:46.199 --> 00:37:47.061
And, uh,

00:37:47.460 --> 00:37:49.242
we don't have enough people coming in to

00:37:49.262 --> 00:37:49.382
me,

00:37:49.461 --> 00:37:50.742
believing I don't know people coming in.

00:37:51.262 --> 00:37:52.443
So this is bad.

00:37:52.784 --> 00:37:54.364
This makes a bad situation worse.

00:37:54.385 --> 00:37:57.186
Uh, again, it's sort of laughably evil.

00:37:57.387 --> 00:38:00.768
It's it's like, who was the,

00:38:00.789 --> 00:38:02.769
who was the Senator who was like, again,

00:38:04.085 --> 00:38:04.244
uh,

00:38:04.264 --> 00:38:06.367
Joe mansion is in West Virginia or

00:38:06.407 --> 00:38:06.726
whatever.

00:38:07.266 --> 00:38:08.047
Uh, he was a Democrat.

00:38:08.068 --> 00:38:10.548
Uh, and he, he voted like two issues,

00:38:10.608 --> 00:38:11.949
Democrat and everything else is basically

00:38:11.989 --> 00:38:12.411
Republican.

00:38:13.291 --> 00:38:14.331
But at the time he was a very

00:38:14.351 --> 00:38:15.211
important figure because he,

00:38:15.351 --> 00:38:16.213
he could sort of be,

00:38:16.253 --> 00:38:18.994
it was like him and Kristen cinema, uh,

00:38:20.617 --> 00:38:22.619
independent from arizona or whatever sort

00:38:22.659 --> 00:38:23.818
of had a lot of power and it

00:38:23.838 --> 00:38:26.139
was like at any point somebody who's like

00:38:26.179 --> 00:38:28.661
basically an oil baron and like spends

00:38:28.721 --> 00:38:30.240
majority of the year on his yacht while

00:38:30.260 --> 00:38:31.581
he doesn't work because he doesn't need

00:38:31.601 --> 00:38:33.302
the money but somehow he's an elected

00:38:33.342 --> 00:38:35.222
official hopefully going to save democracy

00:38:35.262 --> 00:38:37.523
for us all is like right this guy

00:38:37.563 --> 00:38:38.603
who's made a shit ton of money off

00:38:38.623 --> 00:38:40.224
of oil and polluting the planet and

00:38:40.264 --> 00:38:42.864
regularly backs big oil and owns a super

00:38:42.905 --> 00:38:45.306
yacht like is is a bad guy

00:38:46.420 --> 00:38:48.242
In any cartoon show as a kid,

00:38:48.402 --> 00:38:51.083
I watched that guy probably needs an eye

00:38:51.103 --> 00:38:51.503
patch.

00:38:51.784 --> 00:38:53.065
But even without the eye patch,

00:38:53.186 --> 00:38:55.148
he's overtly the evil person.

00:38:55.987 --> 00:38:57.550
That's sort of the insurance companies

00:38:57.590 --> 00:38:57.750
here.

00:38:57.769 --> 00:38:58.489
I mean,

00:38:58.510 --> 00:38:59.771
insurance companies have always been evil.

00:39:01.612 --> 00:39:05.155
But yeah, it's almost comically evil,

00:39:05.275 --> 00:39:06.416
almost laughably,

00:39:06.958 --> 00:39:11.340
absurdly nonsensical how this is being

00:39:11.380 --> 00:39:12.061
handled here.

00:39:14.239 --> 00:39:14.842
And it's bad.

00:39:15.605 --> 00:39:16.467
So I think...

00:39:20.938 --> 00:39:22.119
Yeah,

00:39:22.139 --> 00:39:23.320
I think those were all the talking points

00:39:23.380 --> 00:39:23.900
I want to talk about.

00:39:25.202 --> 00:39:25.481
You know,

00:39:26.322 --> 00:39:28.884
I will continue to call out therapists and

00:39:28.903 --> 00:39:29.764
their bad practices.

00:39:29.824 --> 00:39:30.025
Again,

00:39:30.905 --> 00:39:33.045
I don't know that private practice solves

00:39:33.146 --> 00:39:33.666
everything.

00:39:33.827 --> 00:39:36.367
I think therapists who are running a

00:39:36.387 --> 00:39:37.728
private practice that they put a lot of

00:39:37.768 --> 00:39:39.789
time and effort into having it set up

00:39:39.809 --> 00:39:41.030
to be ethical and the way that they

00:39:41.050 --> 00:39:42.572
want to run it are going to provide

00:39:42.612 --> 00:39:43.592
better service to people.

00:39:43.932 --> 00:39:45.434
You will get a better bang for your

00:39:45.474 --> 00:39:46.914
buck with that.

00:39:47.755 --> 00:39:49.958
um and i've been poor for a majority

00:39:49.978 --> 00:39:52.581
of my life i'm certainly not wealthy now

00:39:53.121 --> 00:39:56.827
i am a millennial who like most people

00:39:56.887 --> 00:40:00.072
is a major healthcare issue away from

00:40:00.112 --> 00:40:01.833
having no money um

00:40:03.231 --> 00:40:03.630
But again,

00:40:03.871 --> 00:40:05.612
I built my practice in a way where

00:40:06.291 --> 00:40:09.914
I wouldn't say that's like dire straits.

00:40:10.634 --> 00:40:13.215
I have more money now than ever before.

00:40:13.896 --> 00:40:14.956
And also it doesn't feel like it goes

00:40:14.976 --> 00:40:16.536
very far because shit's so expensive.

00:40:16.556 --> 00:40:17.597
And I got kids.

00:40:19.217 --> 00:40:20.458
Those gosh darn kids.

00:40:20.818 --> 00:40:22.039
I would say my kids are not nearly

00:40:22.079 --> 00:40:23.840
the expense that like having Donald Trump

00:40:23.860 --> 00:40:24.581
in office has been.

00:40:26.001 --> 00:40:29.262
Thanks, MAGA Republicans, you idiots.

00:40:31.382 --> 00:40:33.423
And to all the uninformed voters who hook,

00:40:33.463 --> 00:40:34.704
line, and sinker on the propaganda.

00:40:35.425 --> 00:40:40.847
But yes, I'm not much harmed by this.

00:40:40.987 --> 00:40:41.387
And again,

00:40:41.427 --> 00:40:45.588
I would love to offer therapy for free

00:40:45.927 --> 00:40:48.489
because all of us everywhere at all our

00:40:48.509 --> 00:40:49.670
basic needs met.

00:40:50.440 --> 00:40:51.780
We have enough food to feed everybody in

00:40:51.800 --> 00:40:52.121
the world.

00:40:52.141 --> 00:40:53.422
We have enough housing to house everyone

00:40:53.442 --> 00:40:53.942
in the world.

00:40:54.882 --> 00:40:55.722
Let's just do that.

00:40:56.262 --> 00:40:56.942
Let's just do that.

00:40:58.661 --> 00:41:00.422
And then my particular skill set,

00:41:00.463 --> 00:41:03.063
which is being very calm and co-regulating

00:41:03.083 --> 00:41:04.943
to people and my knowledge base,

00:41:04.963 --> 00:41:07.844
which is psychology and a bunch of other

00:41:07.864 --> 00:41:09.744
stuff that isn't psychology because it's

00:41:10.465 --> 00:41:12.164
also deeply colonial.

00:41:14.304 --> 00:41:16.286
Psychology, not my knowledge base,

00:41:16.565 --> 00:41:17.485
but probably that too.

00:41:20.224 --> 00:41:22.286
can be put to use without needing to

00:41:22.306 --> 00:41:25.009
pay my bills but until then here we

00:41:25.068 --> 00:41:28.472
are and until such a time as that

00:41:28.572 --> 00:41:29.972
i will continue to put out free content

00:41:29.992 --> 00:41:32.554
like this which is not therapy but is

00:41:32.594 --> 00:41:34.657
hopefully good information and maybe it's

00:41:34.677 --> 00:41:37.179
sometimes entertaining and it's it's

00:41:37.219 --> 00:41:40.021
better than listening to joe rogan so i'm

00:41:40.061 --> 00:41:43.103
gonna keep doing it uh

00:41:43.672 --> 00:41:45.672
Yeah, I do have guests coming up.

00:41:46.532 --> 00:41:48.333
This is exciting.

00:41:48.532 --> 00:41:49.833
It's a good little break for me.

00:41:50.293 --> 00:41:51.853
Doing an episode where I interview

00:41:51.893 --> 00:41:54.534
somebody and just have a conversation is

00:41:54.775 --> 00:41:56.454
always so much easier than doing solo

00:41:56.494 --> 00:41:56.875
content,

00:41:57.876 --> 00:41:58.936
except for the part of my brain that

00:41:58.976 --> 00:42:00.655
really loathes scheduling,

00:42:00.836 --> 00:42:01.956
and it's really hard for my brain.

00:42:03.175 --> 00:42:03.817
Um,

00:42:03.916 --> 00:42:05.958
if you are a local to the Milwaukee

00:42:06.039 --> 00:42:07.240
area, uh,

00:42:07.280 --> 00:42:08.983
in a couple of weeks is pride.

00:42:09.422 --> 00:42:10.925
I will be out at pride fest in

00:42:10.965 --> 00:42:11.666
Milwaukee.

00:42:11.925 --> 00:42:12.425
Um,

00:42:12.445 --> 00:42:14.909
we will be taking the signups for a

00:42:14.949 --> 00:42:16.530
retreat that I'm running later in the

00:42:16.570 --> 00:42:17.371
year, uh,

00:42:17.492 --> 00:42:18.972
August fourteenth through sixteenth.

00:42:19.693 --> 00:42:23.735
in the beautiful uh tiny little locale of

00:42:23.815 --> 00:42:25.257
princeton wisconsin it's about ninety

00:42:25.297 --> 00:42:27.237
minutes outside of milwaukee ninety

00:42:27.277 --> 00:42:30.119
minutes outside of madison um for

00:42:30.179 --> 00:42:31.780
survivors of religious trauma i'll be

00:42:31.800 --> 00:42:33.422
doing a retreat there but at pride we

00:42:33.442 --> 00:42:35.483
will be taking signups for it and taking

00:42:35.523 --> 00:42:38.085
donations for it i have grant money going

00:42:38.105 --> 00:42:40.025
towards that already which is great and

00:42:40.045 --> 00:42:41.425
we're gonna see if we can raise some

00:42:41.445 --> 00:42:44.967
more money for that specifically so if you

00:42:45.007 --> 00:42:47.110
are a local uh please come out to

00:42:47.150 --> 00:42:48.831
pride uh say hi

00:42:49.510 --> 00:42:51.331
maybe get a shirt or I don't even

00:42:51.351 --> 00:42:52.331
know what else I have.

00:42:52.731 --> 00:42:54.253
Other people are in charge of things.

00:42:55.152 --> 00:42:56.094
I will be, you know,

00:42:56.313 --> 00:42:57.614
busy talking to people about religious

00:42:57.634 --> 00:42:59.375
drama and also dressed as Jesus.

00:42:59.594 --> 00:43:01.916
So it's funny.

00:43:02.788 --> 00:43:05.130
And Pride is awesome and always a great

00:43:05.170 --> 00:43:06.092
celebration to be a part of.

00:43:06.112 --> 00:43:08.074
So if you're local, come out to Pride.

00:43:08.735 --> 00:43:11.460
If you're not a local, not this week,

00:43:11.500 --> 00:43:12.201
but next week,

00:43:13.121 --> 00:43:15.264
we'll have an update in the links in

00:43:15.284 --> 00:43:16.907
the show notes where you can donate to

00:43:16.947 --> 00:43:18.228
that if that is a cause that you

00:43:18.248 --> 00:43:18.969
would like to support.

00:43:19.773 --> 00:43:20.233
which is great.

00:43:20.293 --> 00:43:22.514
I'm just sort of moved away from Patreon,

00:43:22.574 --> 00:43:24.213
moved away from some of the other stuff.

00:43:25.313 --> 00:43:26.333
I think I still have a link for

00:43:26.434 --> 00:43:26.713
merch.

00:43:26.773 --> 00:43:28.534
We'll be closing some of that stuff out

00:43:28.635 --> 00:43:29.994
and just doing a straight donation link

00:43:30.014 --> 00:43:31.956
for people to support religious trauma

00:43:31.976 --> 00:43:32.516
survivors,

00:43:32.815 --> 00:43:34.876
just to sort of streamline some of that.

00:43:34.996 --> 00:43:37.657
And because I switched some of my billing

00:43:37.677 --> 00:43:39.237
stuff recently, it's a whole thing, right?

00:43:39.396 --> 00:43:39.936
It's a whole thing.

00:43:39.976 --> 00:43:41.597
It's therapists and a business owner.

00:43:42.498 --> 00:43:43.217
But yes, if you're local,

00:43:43.237 --> 00:43:45.358
come out to Pride and keep an eye

00:43:45.378 --> 00:43:46.277
out for some cool stuff.

00:43:46.338 --> 00:43:47.958
We will be back next week with another

00:43:47.998 --> 00:43:48.659
new episode.

00:43:49.119 --> 00:43:51.882
We will be back this summer with various

00:43:51.961 --> 00:43:53.623
guests talking about various topics.

00:43:53.643 --> 00:43:55.324
So it's not just me ranting and raving

00:43:55.344 --> 00:43:57.487
about the impending collapse,

00:43:58.268 --> 00:44:00.269
which is good for my mental health to

00:44:00.309 --> 00:44:01.010
have guests.

00:44:01.552 --> 00:44:03.833
So some cool stuff coming up.

00:44:06.275 --> 00:44:07.336
That's what I got.

00:44:09.001 --> 00:44:10.141
If you don't follow me on YouTube,

00:44:10.202 --> 00:44:12.164
go like and subscribe.

00:44:12.184 --> 00:44:13.746
It's Wellness with Jer is the YouTube

00:44:13.766 --> 00:44:14.045
channel.

00:44:14.726 --> 00:44:16.728
My channel is like at a weird sort

00:44:16.748 --> 00:44:17.530
of growth point.

00:44:18.751 --> 00:44:20.393
So it's not monetized in the way that

00:44:20.413 --> 00:44:21.333
like big YouTubers are,

00:44:21.353 --> 00:44:22.755
but it's monetized in the way that small

00:44:22.775 --> 00:44:23.496
YouTubers are.

00:44:23.976 --> 00:44:25.378
And we could get up to that other

00:44:25.577 --> 00:44:25.978
thing.

00:44:26.057 --> 00:44:26.898
That'd be cool.

00:44:27.360 --> 00:44:28.181
Because, you know,

00:44:28.340 --> 00:44:30.282
I got to keep doing capitalism too.

00:44:33.378 --> 00:44:34.059
It's not my favorite.

00:44:34.079 --> 00:44:35.199
It's not my favorite.

00:44:35.980 --> 00:44:37.681
If you're just a podcast listener and not

00:44:37.760 --> 00:44:38.501
a YouTube person,

00:44:40.161 --> 00:44:42.141
rate or whatever podcasts do.

00:44:43.063 --> 00:44:44.443
I listen to like three podcasts.

00:44:45.623 --> 00:44:47.684
But I've rated all of them because that's

00:44:47.704 --> 00:44:49.585
the thing that you're supposed to do to

00:44:49.644 --> 00:44:52.987
let our corporate overlords and tech

00:44:53.007 --> 00:44:55.447
bosses know that we like a thing.

00:44:55.487 --> 00:44:55.648
So...

00:44:56.670 --> 00:44:57.329
Do that.

00:44:57.389 --> 00:44:58.331
And then tune in next week.

00:44:58.431 --> 00:45:01.413
We'll be back with more mental health

00:45:01.913 --> 00:45:03.014
content for y'all.

00:45:03.554 --> 00:45:04.574
Until then, take care of yourself.

00:45:04.594 --> 00:45:06.115
Take care of somebody else.

00:45:06.135 --> 00:45:08.217
It's tough out there, y'all.

00:45:08.398 --> 00:45:08.677
Peace.