Only interested in getting those insurance dollars from clients - Therapist LifeStance Health Employee Review

1.0
13 Jan 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

There are some wonderful people who still work for this organization. Many of the individual therapists and supervisors I worked with were truly lovely people who in secret agreed that this is not a great company that put the clients first.

Cons

This was my first job out of grad school, and I was very excited to learn more about therapy and being a therapist and doing the work. From day one, this organization was not prepared. I had been hired for almost 4 months at this point, and when I arrived on my first day they didn't have anything ready for me. By the time I left the organization 9 months later I still had never received business cards or a phone number (I used Google voice to give to my clients). It took them almost two months to have my own office set up, and they did not have my work laptop ready to go to even be trained on for my first week. I spent the first week on payroll literally doing nothing. They had promised me that there was a huge waiting list and they were ready to give us clients immediately. I had one client in my first month of work. Once things got moving, I would regularly have clients put on my calendar that were well outside of my scope of practice or with little to no description at all only to find that they are again well outside of my scope of practice. All of this was very frustrating to me, however also manageable. I was able to work around this and it was fine. Then they started just pulling clients off my case load without telling me. I had to investigate with the admins to figure out what was going on. Turns out, the intake department was regularly putting clients on my case load with insurances I didn't accept. Instead of telling me, allowing me to have termination sessions with the clients and helping them find meaningful referrals, the intake department called the client to let them know that they would be transferred to a different therapist. I was furious. Thankfully the client was not suicidal or working through some significant trauma, however I made it abundantly clear that this was not ok. Then it happened again. And again. And again. The last two times it happened I was able to catch it before they reached out to the clients, and I was able to force them to pay for termination sessions. This was the last straw for me. I would hear regular stories from other providers there who were quitting or had quit of unethical behavior in terms of medication management and treatment of clients. Everyday I walked into work it felt like I was walking onto a sinking ship. This place is 100% a lawsuit waiting to happen, and it's all because the values of this company boils down to making money. All company wide communications were centered around taking on more clients and giving incentives to do so. I can honestly say I have never worked for a more unethical or greedy organization, and I've worked for a bank! Also to top it all off, you will definitely NOT get paid to the levels they advertise. They told me I would make $50 - $70 a year. I was making closer to $40. You have to be seeing 30+ clients a week to see that kind of money. That is also the unspoken expectation.

avatar
LifeStance Health Response
3y
Thank you for sharing your feedback. LifeStance is working hard to incorporate this feedback as we want to continue to foster great workplace. We appreciate all of the hard work you contributed to while you were here. We wish you much success in your career.

Explore other reviews about LifeStance Health

5.0
3 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

A close team that is supportive and collaborative Great work life balance Flexible schedule

Cons

No paid holidays for fee for service type work

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LifeStance Health Response
3w
Thank you for taking the time to leave this review, and for being a part of the LifeStance Health journey! It's an exciting time for our team. We’re thankful for all your hard work to make lives better, together.
3.0
22 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Incredible place to work to build experience, receive supervision while supporting a diverse client population. Extremely flexible hours, opportunity to either work from home or in office with administrative staff. Truly caring, intentional, experienced regional leaders that are open to feedback and value their employees.

Cons

Working in mental health in a publicly held corporation has its conflicts of interest. No paid vacation time for FT employees which is counterintuitive to the work we do as trauma informed providers. No paid training. Profitability and bottom-line results for shareholders should not be reason to think of long term needs and burnout potential of providers.

avatar
LifeStance Health Response
1w
Thank you for sharing your experience at LifeStance Health. We appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback and are actively working to implement these suggestions. We invite you to share more details of your experience to help us do better in the future—please reach out to globalrecruiting@lifestance.com. Thank you.
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