Welcome to Rate My Therapist
This site is meant to allow clients to rate their experiences with their therapist. It is also possible to search for therapists with specific ratings for specific skills. Searches can be done; you can search by name, areas of expertise and location. At this point, this is a relatively new site. We are in beta form. Please feel free to provide ratings. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact us at [email protected].
What is the Purpose of this site?
The purpose of this site is to allow users of psychotherapeutic services to rate their experiences with specific therapists and counselors. Most businesses and professions have some mechanism to do this. The psychotherapy business does not have a widely used mechanism for this that is neutral, anonymous, and attempts to provide inter-rater consistency. The purpose of Rate My Therapist is to facilitate ratings by users of psychotherapeutic services. Ideally, others interested in the same services and providers can use the ratings to help select the best therapist. It is not intended to be the only selection tool. Those looking for a therapist should also consult with their primary medical professional, their insurance provider and perhaps others as well as others to make a final decision.
Approach & Values
There is an inherent risk of allowing people to provide unverified, invalidated and personal narrative based evaluations for professional support persons, be they doctors, lawyers and therapists. Our goal is to provide a standardized, consistent way to report on and review therapists. We believe this approach might be an ideal way for prospective clients to find useful information about therapists they may want to work with. Rate My Therapist provides user generated feedback on therapists based on accessibility, helpfulness, empathy, skillfulness, and overall client experience. Clients remain completely anonymous, and Rate My Therapist does not keep or track any user information other than the ratings provided.
FAQ
Rate My Therapist was established in 2020.
The intent of Rate My Therapist is to help clients and potential clients locate therapist that have high ratings provided by others who have used their service. It is not meant to endorse or disapprove of any therapist or the work they are doing. One should always consult with therapist, primary care physicians and others to help make the decision to pursue therapy with a specific therapist or counselor.
The questions and areas of inquiry are meant to be specific and useful enough to help somebody understand another person’s experience with that counselor. We do not allow a comment section in an attempt to provide some inter-rater reliability and avoid unhelpful personal and off-topic comments. Therapy is a highly personal experience. One person’s experience and rating don’t necessarily indicate the accuracy of another person’s experience or future experience. Nor does it imply the skill, education, or ethics of any particular therapist. It is merely a personal opinion expressed by clients for informational purposes only.
Only previous clients of a therapist may rate that therapist on Rate My Therapist. We shall attempt a validation process to ensure that clients providing ratings for therapist have in fact had a past professional, therapeutic relationship with the therapist.
Ratings are immediately added to the existing database of past ratings and become part of the averages for the rated therapist.
The intent of the site is to provide honest feedback from clients to help others make decisions about a therapist.
We have tried to make this site as intuitive as possible. Users can search for a therapist by name and see how they were rated by other clients.
Users can rate a therapist by using the Rate My Therapist chatbot.
Ratings can be removed after having been identified as originating from a source other than the client of the therapist they are rating (spamming of ratings, also called “astroturfing” for instance). Remember, rate the therapist only once!
If you’ve had a bad experience with a therapist, rating a therapist in all the categories in an honest fashion will help others know more about strengths and weaknesses of that therapist. Giving negative ratings in all areas because of one bad experience in one category may feel good but does not help prospective clients understand the complete experience clients have with that therapist.
We hope that both potential clients and therapists find the information useful.
Rate My Therapist Guidelines
Rate My Therapist is owned and operated by Rate My Therapist. These site guidelines are a part of our Terms of Use Agreement. The site provides user-generated feedback on therapists based on accessibility, helpfulness, empathy, skillfulness, and overall client experience. The questions and areas of inquiry are meant to be specific and useful enough to help somebody understand another person’s experience with that therapist. We do not allow a comment section in an attempt at inter-rater reliability and to avoid unhelpful personal and off-topic comments. Ratings should only be posted by clients of those therapists. We provide a feature to validate that reviews are from clients who have worked with the therapist they review.
Rate My Therapist Guidelines and Terms of Use:
Terms of Use Agreement
By using Rate My Therapist uses agree to:
Therapist FAQs
We remove ratings if one of our automated spam filters thinks there were multiple ratings coming from the same source. When we detect this, we will try to remove the duplicate ratings.
We generally do not remove ratings. This site is for people to report on their experiences.
“But one of these ratings is false and it's hurting my business. I want to send you a letter demanding that it be removed.” - We do not accept demand letters because it is not our role to determine whether a review is true or false. You might dispute the truth of a review, but just because you're disputing it does not necessarily make it false.
“If you won't accept a demand letter, I have no choice but to sue you.” - The Communications Decency Act (the “CDA”) protects the provider from liability for the statements of others on this website: “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” 47 U.S.C. § 230. Federal courts have applied this standard to its terms: “By its plain language, Section 230 creates a federal immunity to any cause of action that would make service providers liable for information originating with a third-party user of the service.” Reran v. AOL, 129 F.3d 327, 330 (4th Cir. 1997).
The ratings on this site are provided by our users, not by us. Thus, under the CDA, we are not the “publisher or speaker” of the ratings, even if they contain false information, and we are not liable for defamation, libel, fraud or any other tort claim based on such activity.
“I think my demand letter would put you on notice that the review is false and defamatory. That makes you liable.” -
Zeran,129 F.3d at 227, and the cases following it uniformly hold that it is not up to us to determine whether your demand letter is correct or the review is correct.
“But you lost your CDA immunity by aggregating the user ratings into an average.” - The most instructive case on aggregate ratings is the California Court of Appeals decision in Gentry v. eBay, which held that such ratings do not transform a site into an information content provider. 99 Cal. App. 4th 816, 834 (Cal. App. 2002).
“I'm going to sue you anyway. Taking down the review is cheaper than paying a lawyer.” - Twenty-eight states have passed strict anti- SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) Laws, authorizing expedited motions to dismiss and giving rise to counterclaims seeking attorneys' fees and liquidated damages.
“I'm not in the United States, and I'm going to sue you in my own jurisdiction.” - The United States has enacted strict laws protecting US companies from lawsuits brought in foreign jurisdictions. Even if you win a judgment under your local laws, it will not be enforceable in the United States. See, SPEECH Act of 2010.
“I'm planning to pose as a client and rate myself to increase my overall rating.” - We use automated algorithms and human moderators to detect and remove phony reviews. Also, posing as a client or hiring a firm to post ratings is a practice known as “astroturfing,” and is illegal. If you are caught, you could be liable for damages.
The Supreme Court of the United States has held that anonymity of speech is protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution (see McIntyre v. Ohio, 514 U.S. at 337; Talley v. State of California, 362 U.S. 60), also see here.
United States courts have consistently recognized that the right to speak anonymously extends to speech on the Internet (see Doe v. 2theMart.com and Doe v. Cahill).
Rate My Therapist does not keep records of individuals providing the ratings.
Privacy Policy
Effective date: July 5, 2024
Psychtech, Inc., LLC ("us", "we", or "our") operates the www.ratemytherapist.com My Therapist website and the RateMyTherapist Chatbot applications (the "Service").
This page informs you of our policies regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of personal data when you use our Service and the choices you have associated with that data.
The Service does not collect or store any personal or identifying data of the users.
We use your ratings to provide aggregate information to others about therapists. By using the www.ratemytherapist.com My Therapist, you agree to the Guidelines and Terms of Use Agreement.
Definitions
Counselor and therapist are used interchangeably and represent any licensed professional providing counseling or therapy services to individuals.
"Service" and "Site”. Service and Site mean the www.ratemytherapist.com website and the RateMyTherapist chatbot applications operated by RateMyTherapist, Inc., LLC.
Information Collection and Use
Rate My Therapist does not collect Personal Data of the users.
Rate My Therapist automatically receives and records information on our server logs from your browser, including your IP address.
Usage Data: We may also collect information that your browser sends whenever you visit our Service or when you access the Service by or through a mobile device ("Usage Data"). This Usage Data may include information such as your computer's Internet Protocol address (e.g., IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.
When you access the Service by or through a mobile device, this Usage Data may include information such as the type of mobile device you use, your mobile device unique ID, the IP address of your mobile device, your mobile operating system, the type of mobile Internet browser you use, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.
Tracking Cookies Data - We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our Service and hold certain information. Cookies are files with a small amount of data, which may include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are sent to your browser from a website and stored on your device. Tracking technologies also used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyze our Service.
You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Service.
Examples of Cookies We Use:
Session Cookies. We use Session Cookies to operate our Service.
Preference Cookies. We use Preference Cookies to remember your preferences and various settings.
Security Cookies. We use Security Cookies for security purposes.
Advertising Cookies.
Advertising Cookies are used to serve you with advertisements that may be relevant to you and your interests.
Use of Data. We use the collected data for various purposes, including:
To provide and maintain our Service
To allow you to participate in the interactive features of our Service when you choose to do so
To gather analysis or valuable information so that we can improve our Service
To monitor the usage of our Service
To detect, prevent and address technical issues
Your consent to this privacy policy, followed by your submission of such information, represents your agreement to that transfer.
We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of your data will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate controls in place, including the security of your data and other personal information.
Service Providers
We may employ third-party companies and individuals to facilitate our Service ("Service Providers"), to provide the Service on our behalf, to perform Service-related services, or to assist us in analyzing how our Service is used. These third parties have access to Service Data only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.
Analytics
We may use third-party Service Providers to monitor and analyze the use of our Service.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. Google uses the data collected to track and monitor the use of our Service. This data is shared with other Google services. Google may use the collected data to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network. For more information on the privacy practices of Google, please visit the Google Privacy Terms web page.
Advertising
We may use third-party Service Providers to show advertisements to you to help support and maintain our Service.
Google AdSense DoubleClick Cookie
Google, as a third-party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on our Service. Google's use of the DoubleClick cookie enables it and its partners to serve ads to our users based on their visit to our Service or other websites on the Internet. You may opt out of using the DoubleClick Cookie for interest-based advertising by visiting the Google Ads Settings web page.
Google AdWords
Google AdWords remarketing service is provided by Google Inc.
You can opt out of Google Analytics for Display Advertising and customize the Google Display Network ads by visiting the Google Ads Settings page.
Google also recommends installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on for your web browser. The Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on provides visitors with the ability to prevent their data from being collected and used by Google Analytics. For more information on the privacy practices of Google, please visit the Google Privacy Terms web page.
Links to Other Sites
Our Service may contain links to other sites that are not operated by us. If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that third-party's site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of every site you visit. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third-party sites or services.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us by email at [email protected].
Terms and Conditions
Last updated: July 5, 2024
Please read these Terms and Conditions ("Terms", "Terms and Conditions") carefully before using the www.ratemytherapist.com website and the Rate My Therapist mobile application (together, or individually, the "Service") operated by Rate My Therapist ("us", "we", or "our").
Your access to and use of the Service is conditioned upon your acceptance of and compliance with these Terms. These Terms apply to all visitors, users and others who wish to access or use the Service.
By accessing or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you disagree with any part of the terms, then you do not have permission to access the Service.
Content. Our Service allows you to post certain information. You are responsible for the content that you post on or through the Service, including its legality, reliability, and appropriateness. By posting Content on or through the Service, You represent and warrant that: (i) the Content is yours (you own it) and/or you have the right to use it and the right to grant us the rights and license as provided in these Terms, and (ii) that the posting of your Content on or through the Service does not violate the privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, contract rights or any other rights of any person or entity. We reserve the right to terminate the account of anyone found to be infringing on copyright. You retain any and all of your rights to any content you submit, post or display on or through the service, and you are responsible for protecting those rights. We take no responsibility and assume no liability for Content you or any third-party posts on or through the Service. However, by posting Content using the service, you grant us the right and license to use, modify, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, and distribute such Content on and through the Service. You agree that this license includes the right for us to make your Content available to other users of the Service, who may also use your Content subject to these Terms. We have the right, but not the obligation, to monitor and edit all Content provided by users.
In addition, Content found on or through this Service is the property of Rate My Therapist or used with permission. You may not distribute, modify, transmit, reuse, download, repost, copy, or use said Content, whether in whole or in part, for commercial purposes or for personal gain, without express advance written permission from us.
Intellectual Property. The Service and its original content (excluding Content provided by users), features and functionality are and will remain the exclusive property of Rate My Therapist and its licensors. The Service is protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws of both the United States and foreign countries. Our trademarks and trade dress may not be used in connection with any product or service without our prior written consent.
All provisions of the terms that, by their nature, should survive termination shall survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity and limitations of liability.
Indemnification. You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Rate My Therapist, its licensee and licensors, and their employees, contractors, agents, officers and directors, from and against any and all claims, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs or debt, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees), resulting from or arising out of a) your use and access of the Service, by you or any person using your account and password; b) a breach of these Terms; or c) Content posted on the Service.
Limitation of Liability. In no event shall Rate My Therapist, nor its directors, employees, partners, agents, suppliers, or affiliates, be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, including without limitation, loss of profits, data, use, goodwill, or other intangible losses, resulting from (i) your access to or use of or inability to access or use the Service; (ii) any conduct or content of any third party on the Service; (iii) any content obtained from the Service; and (iv) unauthorized access, use or alteration of your transmissions or content, whether based on warranty, contract, tort (including negligence) or any other legal theory, whether we have been informed of the possibility of such damage, and even if a remedy set forth herein is found to have failed of its essential purpose.
Disclaimer. Your use of the Service is at your sole risk. The Service is provided on an "AS IS", "AS AVAILABLE", and "WITH ALL FAULTS" basis. The Service is provided without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement or course of performance.
Rate My Therapist, its subsidiaries, affiliates, and its licensors do not warrant that a) the Service will function uninterrupted, secure or available at any particular time or location; b) any errors or defects will be corrected; c) the Service is free of viruses or other harmful components; or d) the results of using the Service will meet your requirements.
Exclusions. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, so the limitations above may not apply to you.
These Terms constitute the entire agreement between us regarding our service and supersede and replace any prior agreements we might have had between us regarding the Service.
Changes. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to modify or replace these Terms at any time. If a revision is material, we will provide at least 30 days notice prior to any new terms taking effect. What constitutes a material change will be determined at our sole discretion.
By continuing to access or use our Service after any revisions become effective, you agree to be bound by the revised terms. If you do not agree to the new terms, you are no longer authorized to use the Service.