Looking for a remote job in mental health as a therapist or counselor in Missouri?

Working for Aspire Counseling provides many of the same benefits for mental health clinicians as Better Help…but we’ll take better care of you AND your clients!

Are you looking for…

  • Reliable income?

  • And the ability to make good money?

  • Health benefits?

  • The ability to focus on providing great therapy?

  • The opportunity to choose your own clients?

  • A work from home job?

  • Work flexibility…so you can work from anywhere, anytime?

  • Reliable software and support so you don’t have to learn the “business” side of private practice?

  • A drama free workplace?

Better help markets to therapists by saying they provide these things. Established group practices like Aspire Counseling offer these to therapists and so much more!

Some of the problems with working for BetterHelp as a therapist….

We know BetterHelp seems really appealing to therapists and counselors who are burnt out and tired for working for an agency. At first glance, the idea sounds really attractive. But the truth is there are a multitude of problems with working for BetterHelp. Full disclaimer here that I’ve never personally worked for BetterHelp but this discussion has come up a LOT lately in the mental health world and some of what I’ve heard from credible sources (but again-no firsthand experience so I’ll include some sources you can reference below as well) is concerning.

What are people saying about the problem with working for BetterHelp as a Therapist?

We always encourage you to do your own research, so we want to share some sources you may find helpful.

As a Missouri group practice owner in private practice this got me thinking….

Honestly, all this controversy I’ve been hearing got me thinking. It makes perfect sense to me that therapists turn to BetterHelp….but as a private practice owner I offer our clinicians those same benefits but don’t come with these ethical issues.

Honestly, my vision for Aspire has always been that it will be a small, close-knit private practice focused on offering the absolute highest quality mental health services. I never intended for us to grow. But, Covid changed a lot of things and the truth is that we have more people seeking mental health services now than ever before. Great that mental health is valued, but it means that my practice has consistently stayed full. It’s heartbreaking to be turning away so many people who we know need the support counseling can provide.

I know people are often frustrated by the process of calling practice after practice to hear that they can be put on a waitlist. And meanwhile, clinicians trying to establish their own practices are frustrated with how difficult it is to learn the marketing and business side of things to get a steady string of calls. We’d love to be able to serve more people searching for care in Missouri while at the same time supporting clinicians moving into private practice.

I believe in the power of psychotherapy to change lives.

Truly, I believe this down to my bones. Furthermore, I believe therapists do their best work when they work with the clients they are most effective with and feel the best about treating. So…knowing there is such a huge need and knowing that so many mental health clinicians are in need of the benefits I offer my clinicians, I’ve decided to open my mind to growing just a little bit more. I still don’t want to be huge, but I figure we can add at least 2 or 3 more clinicians in 2022 so that a few more counselors or therapists have the steady paycheck, job satisfaction and supportive environment they’re looking for AND more Missourians are able to get in to get the mental health services that will help them move forward in their lives.

Aspire Counseling offers Mental Health Therapists & Counselors in Missouri the Same Flexibility as BetterHelp with a LOT more Benefits

At Aspire Counseling, we offer Missouri therapists, counselors & Licensed Clinical Social Workers the same flexibility as Better Help, so many of the reasons you may be considering working with them are available to you when you work with us….PLUS a whole lot more

Here are some of our benefits all of our clinicians enjoy:

  • Fair Pay - Your pay is based on what the client is charged, but we work hard to pay our clinicians as well as possible so they can make a good wage without working themselves into the ground.

  • Fast Caseload - In 2021, our new therapists filled up their caseload in a matter of weeks which is extremely unusual for a private practice!

  • The ability to work from home

  • The HIPAA compliant video conferencing platform, an EHR system to keep records, intake paperwork, etc. you need to start seeing telehealth clients right away!

  • Freedom to choose your own clients. Have a client who’s not a good fit? It’s ok to refer them to someone else!

  • Freedom to choose your own schedule.

  • Administrative support

  • Positive Work Culture (truly-we have an amazing team!)

  • Peer Support/Collaboration/Consultation (impromptu as well as a scheduled time each week)

  • A very steady steam of clients (it’s not unusual for us to have 150+ new client calls in a month but only a handful of openings!)

  • The ability to give back - 15-20% of your caseload will generally be “reduced rate” clients who are charged $25-$35 depending on your licensure level

  • Transparency, Communication & Support from Leadership - Aspire Counseling is small enough that if you have a concern you’ll be heard quickly and if a decision is made it’s explained with the time taken to answer questions so you have a clear understanding of the why and how a decision was made. Example: Covid precautions discussed briefly each month at staff meeting with a time for all therapists to contribute their thoughts and each decision about precautions made with a transparent explanation to the team.

  • Traditional Benefits for *Full Time Clinicians

    • Health Insurance

    • PTO & Holidays paid at your administrative rate

    • Paid bereavement leave should it ever be necessary

    • High pay for any clients you see beyond 23 per week

    • A small CEU stipend

A “Full Time” clinician is someone who regularly has at least 90 paid client sessions a month which is about 22-23 client sessions per week.

The Option to to Work From Home As a Therapist Through Telehealth

Seeing clients in person at our office is completely optional. Therapists always have the choice to work from home and some of our clinicians choose to be completely remote. Should it be your preference to work remotely, we will fully support you and have other clinicians at our practice who are 100% virtual. We offer a HIPAA compliant platform for virtual sessions, can have you join our monthly meetings by '“zoom,” offer an optional virtual consultation weekly via Zoom to discuss your cases and promote the benefits of telehealth throughout our marketing.

And the option to see clients in person….

We know sometimes clinicians and clients would prefer to meet in person for counseling or therapy appointments. For this reason, our therapists have the option to see clients online, in our Columbia counseling office or a hybrid of both!

The comfort of both our clients and staff is a top priority at Aspire Counseling and we pride ourselves on offering a welcoming office environment that contributes to the healing experience for you and your clients.  A full hospitality table with both warm (coffee, hot chocolate, hot tea) and cold (water & gatorade at a minimum) drinks as well as some small snacks are available for both clients and staff. Elements of nature including pictures and live plants encourage peace and healing.  Other things to encourage self care such as a sand mandala, self help books, zen gardens and adult coloring pages make our office even more healing.  Counseling offices themselves each have a distinct personality based on the therapist(s) who most frequently see clients. Most counseling offices have large windows, comfortable desks, adequate light, nice pictures and small details meant to promote comfort. In June 2018, Aspire Counseling moved to a beautiful new office directly behind the Grand Cru restaurant. Our location is especially convenient for Rock Bridge High School students, University of Missouri students, or anyone coming from downtown or Southern Columbia.

Don’t live in the Mid Missouri Area but interested in offering therapy sessions in person?

Right now, our only physical office location is in Columbia, MO. However, we are open to the idea of opening an office in another part of the state (potentially in the Kansas City metro area or Jefferson City?) if we have a Full Time therapist/counselor in that area who becomes a valued member of our team and expresses an interest in offering in-person mental health services. Additionally, we have a Walk & Talk therapy release so you always have the option of having clients sign that and meeting outdoors. Our clinicians have had some really powerful sessions outdoors with clients!

Your Time is Spent Completely Focused on Providing Quality Counseling

Aspire does a lot of the "business" part of private practice for you so you can focus on doing what you went to school to do: Serving your clients.  The clinic director and support staff do the following time consuming activities (and so much more!) so that you don’t have to:

  • Answering initial client inquiries

  • Marketing

  • Budgeting

  • Making business decisions

  • Problem solving internet problems, etc.

  • Keeping up an awesome website

  • Paying Bills

  • Marketing

Our goal is to free our caring, skilled clinicians up to focus fully on your clients. We want you to have minimal stress, a steady flow of your ideal clients, maximum job satisfaction and ever improving clinical skills!

Part Time vs. Full Time Counseling

We’re all about giving you choices and control so you can make the decisions best for you and your family. Then, we want to give you the support it takes to be your absolute best. Sometimes, therapists want to work for us part time to dip their toes in the private practice world. If so, we ask that you see 12-20 clients per week. On the other hand, if you’re looking to make this your primary source of income we’re doing everything we can to add to our benefits package in addition to your pay. We want to make it as easy as possible for clinicians to make the move to private practice and we understand benefits makes that move easier. But we also don’t want you to have to see so many clients you quickly burn out. We’d rather you see a reasonable number of clients and have time to do outside research, consult with colleagues and just do everything. you need to be able to provide the best possible care to your clients. For this reasons, we’ve kept the “Full Time” requirement to a very reasonable 90 sessions per month. This means you only have to see about 23 clients per week to maintain full time status and be eligible for benefits such as health insurance, PTO, CEU stipend, holiday pay & more!

The Aspire Counseling Story

Aspire Counseling was founded by me, Jessica Tappana, in May 2017.  I started Aspire Counseling shortly after having my second child.  In fact, I sat in the bank signing a business loan and made phone calls to get a business license when my daughter was only weeks old!I decided to contract with additional therapists when my caseload filled up in only a couple of months. There was clearly a huge need for quality mental health services in Columbia, MO. I realized that a group practice would benefit my colleagues (they could try private practice without taking on as much risk), myself (I get awesome people to work with and consult with), and my clients (Aspire could serve more people). I’ve brought on amazing therapists who have different training, skills and expertise from myself.  They’ve given me honest feedback and together we’ve built something amazing.  We have a unique, positive, supportive and no drama counseling clinic. Aspire Counseling has an amazing team that I fully trust, caseloads full of the clients we each want to serve and are constantly expanding our contacts in the local community.

What Aspire Counseling Expects of Mental Health Therapists

Evidence Based Practice

Every single clinicians at Aspire Counseling is trained in and able to provide at least one well researched treatment for their ideal client population.  However, evidence based practice is truly about the balance and THAT is what sets Aspire Counseling apart.  Our clinicians make treatment decisions based on balancing clinical expertise (including your own training, personality & experience), the best available research and the values/needs/preferences of your individual client.

Clinical Expertise & Focus

Every single therapist we have on staff is different.  We each have a different personality, different strengths and different ideal clients.  You bring your training, experience and personality to the table each time you meet with a client. We aren’t interested in cookie cutter therapists.  We’re interested in compassionate, skills therapists.

Ideal Team Player

We cannot overstate how important it is to us that we have a supportive, collaborative team environment. We want everyone to feel welcome in our team, be able to communicate with one another as needed and generally like interacting with our colleagues. To be more specific, an ideal team player has three important characteristics:

Hard Working. This means that everyone is a hard worker and self starter.  Our therapists are self motivated to seek out training and constantly improve, grow their own caseload, start new groups/projects/services, complete paperwork in a timely manner and consult with other therapists.

Humble.It is important that all of our team members be able to admit their own mistakes and weaknesses.  We need to know when we need some support and to be able to seek out the consultation of other therapists.

People Smart. All of our therapists are considerate and kind to one another.  They have a basic understanding of people and a general awareness about how their own actions impact others.However, every single Aspire Counseling team member has at least two of these important character traits.  It is essential that we bring on true team players to keep that drama free, supportive culture described above.

Open Communication

At Aspire Counseling, we value open communication. This means that we expect therapists to be self aware enough to acknowledge their own weaknesses or struggles.  We ask that you attend monthly staff meetings as often as possible and participate in both formal and informal consultation opportunities.  It’s essential you be able to reach out and ask for consultation when needed.  

We also ask for open communication about non clinical issues.  You might talk to your office mate about re-arranging furniture or point out during a staff meeting that the carpet isn’t getting vacuumed often enough. Problems are addressed openly and respectfully.  Being able to discuss these issues helps avoid resentment among team members or larger problems down the road.

Apply to Join the Aspire Counseling Team!

If you are looking for a position as a mental health counselor in Missouri and think you’d go a good fit for Aspire Counseling, please let us know!  Even if we’re not looking to expand at that exact moment, we will always consider bringing on the perfect candidate. Please e-mail Jessica Tappana at Jessica@aspirecounselingmo.comwith your resume and cover letter.  

From there, our hiring process will include some or all of the following components:

  • A supplemental application you fill out to provide us additional information

  • A phone screening with one of our team members

  • A full interview (can be conducted over Zoom) with Jessica & another Clinician

  • Reference & Background Check

Aspire Counseling ~ Healing starts here!

Aspire Counseling provides you what you need so you can help your clients.