Good Intentions, Poor Execution - Mental Health Therapist Headlight Health Employee Review

In reading the reviews here, I feel like my experience has already been said, especially the phrase “bait and switch.” That’s exactly what I’ve told friends and family since I started at Headlight. I didn’t take this job out of desperation, I joined because I wanted more stability and benefits that my private practice didn’t always provide. The interview process was excellent: my interviewer was warm, knowledgeable, and laid-back, all green flags. Unfortunately, that wasn’t reflective of the actual day-to-day experience. From the start, I struggled with panic attacks and migraines (which are unusual for me). The onboarding process was overwhelming. The EHR is severely outdated and has been a constant barrier to treatment. Despite months of reassurances that improvements were coming, nothing has changed. The model here is volume-based: more clients, more sessions, more documentation, with little real support. Yes, the base salary is better than some competitors, but in my area, it’s still below average. The promise of performance bonuses is inconsistent at best, and in my experience, not reflective of actual effort or quality of care. The bonus structure is misleading, you're required to hit 100% compliance just to be eligible, yet 100% compliance is already the contractual expectation. That’s not a bonus; that’s doing your job. In my interview, I was told the expectation was to see 25 clients per week, not 25 billed sessions. That distinction matters, and it’s where the bait-and-switch became clear. Once I started, it quickly became apparent that the bonus was tied to billed hours only, regardless of cancellations, no-shows, or other factors outside of the clinician’s control. So even if I scheduled 25 clients and saw every one of them, I wouldn’t qualify for the bonus unless all 25 were hour sessions. That’s a major shift in expectations. It places unnecessary pressure on clinicians to overbook and internalize blame for normal attendance variability. Their proposed solution? Carry a caseload of 30 clients. That’s a significant leap from what was originally discussed and a very different level of workload and emotional labor.