Star Ratings

Ratings reflect the consumer-safety quality of the website. Criteria include the amount of consumer information the therapist provides, handling of payment, and security. I also consider depth of content, how easy it is to use the site, and the therapist's apparent communication skill.

The stars should not be considered a rating of the therapists themselves, or the quality of their counsel. An excellent therapist could have a lousy website; a lousy therapist could have an excellent website. The stars are a rating of the website, not the therapist.

		Meets all consumer-safety criteria and more
		Meets all consumer-safety criteria
		Meets most but not all consumer-safety criteria
		Significant consumer-safety gaps

When assigning star ratings, these are the qualities we look for:

• Identity and Credentials: The therapist provides enough information so that clients can (1) independently verify their identity and credentials before the first contact, and (2) can contact them offline if necessary. At minimum:
  • real name
  • city, state/province and country
    (not necessarily a street address)
  • professional office telephone number
  • enough details about their certification, license or other credentials, so that a client can independently verify this information, before initiating contact. (type of credential, who granted it, their location)
• This information is provided about every therapist working with the site who might be responding to inquiries.
• If more than one therapist responds to inquiries, the client is able to choose in advance which therapist they will work with.

• Services Offered: The therapist provides clear information about the services offered, including:
  • How they will interact - e-mail, chat, video or other.
  • Whether inquirers will receive a personal private response from the therapist, and if so, when they can expect the response (i.e. 24 hours, 72 hours, 3 weeks, etc.).
  • Secure communication - for instance, encrypted e-mail like ZixMail, or secured web-based messaging
  • The therapist provides accurate information about the level of confidentiality a client can expect, and accurately represents what they can and cannot do online.

• Fees and Payment: The therapist provides clear information IN ADVANCE about payment for their services, including:
  • The amount of their fee (for instance, US$20.00 per e-mail exchange).
  • If they plan to charge by the hour or minute, for an unspecified amount of time (for instance, charging per-minute for time spent composing e-mail replies), they clearly state up front what the total initial cost is likely to be, and set a maximum amount they will charge per e-session.
  • Payment arrangements accepted - check or MO, credit card etc.
  • If they accept credit cards or online checks, they either provide secure online payment, or a telephone or fax number for the client to call with the data (with enough information so that the client can be certain that the phone number belongs to the therapist). They do not ask clients to send credit card or check data by e-mail, or through a form that is not secure.

• We include a fairly subjective assessment of the therapists apparent communication skills - this could be important in your work with them.
• We look at the site for presentation, design, clarity of layout, ease of use, technical problems, etc.
• We acknowledge those sites that provide a little more, such as consumer mental health resources.
• We give extra credit to therapists who are members of ISMHO, since they operate under ISMHO's ethical guidelines, and participate in ongoing peer networking for e-therapists. (Information on ISMHO is given to therapists when they sign up for this directory.)

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