Unethical, unprofessional, dishonest company. Patients and clinicians should avoid at all costs. - Licensed Psychologist LifeStance Health Employee Review

I worked at Lifestance for a total of 3 months, with the intent of this being a full time, long term position. From day one, I experienced significant lack of and misleading communication throughout all levels of supervisors at Lifestance. Before I accepted the position, I was assured I would be able to continue to see (billing through Lifestance) some of my long-term patients from my private practice. I have documentation between myself and my direct supervisor assuring this was not a problem. In this correspondence, supervisor informed me "If you have clients, you'd like to bring with you, we just need to make sure you are credentialed on our end with the insurances they use, if they use insurance. Once you are in-network, the clients can call our Intake Team and get set up with services, and they can tell them they saw you and are going to see you here now." Subsequent emails between supervisor and myself included her asking me for and me sending her their specific insurance companies for credentialing, and detailed instructions on how my patients should contact Lifestance to become patients. One of my private practice patients actually was successful in becoming a Lifestance patient, however the remainder of my patients informed me that when they have followed supervisors instructions, they were treated rudely by Lifestance staff, and informed they had to be residents of CO (patients were from different state- I am dually licensed). When I again brought this concern up, this time escalating it to a higher level supervisor, she informed me this has "been on her radar," however is not likely to happen. This was an issue I first brought up two months prior, and repeatedly since that time, to ensure my patients would have no break in treatment when my "no compete" agreement with Lifestance would begin. Due to their non-response to this situation, and subsequent erroneous information regarding my ability to continue to see my private practice patients through lifestance- 20 people I had worked with-some for years- would have been left with no mental health treatment in a matter of 2-3 weeks. This constitutes patient abandonment and is unethical. A significant reason Lifestance was initially attractive to me was the promised ease of administrative tasks- less paperwork, Lifestance does the credentialing and scheduling, I don't have to deal with patient's payments. Absolutely none of that is true. Paperwork requirements were more at this organization than anywhere else I have worked. I had to complete hours of documentation for insurance credentialing. I was responsible for scheduling my own patients (front desk only schedules intakes), I was responsible for collecting co-pays. Another example of unethical patient care/unprofessionalism: the front desk scheduled an intake patient with me 1 week post suicide attempt (not her first). I completed the intake and attempted to schedule a next appointment with her. The patient told me when she scheduled her initial appointment, she specifically asked the front desk person if I offered evening appointments-and was reportedly told I had "many." My schedule was 730-3. She was crestfallen. After the appointment, I contacted my supervisor to figure out how to proceed, to see how this can be remedied so it doesn't happen again. I expressed my frustration as well as conveyed my patients frustration and sadness. The essence of supervisor's response was "that happens" and that it was my responsibility to find her another therapist. Despite the crisis nature of this patient's needs, it took several weeks before she was able to schedule another appointment with a therapist. In written correspondence between supervisor and myself, I indicated to her that I only see women in therapy. She told me how to communicate this to the intake team (front desk scheduling), and I do so- no problem. However, a few weeks later she informs me "corporate" says this cannot happen, I will have to see men. Of all places of employment, a business that specializes in mental health should be able to accommodate this request; should understand why a highly trained woman might be unable to work with men in an intimate relationship such as therapy. Upon my exit with Lifestance, I was scheduled to meet with a higher up in HR to discuss my concerns. The first zoom appointment scheduled with him, he no-showed. I attempted to reschedule another one via email- he never responded.