This page is written for therapists considering joining Feel Validated. Curious clients, you're welcome to read on — or search for a therapist.
The landscape has shifted. The directories you pay for are letting big-tech therapy companies play by different rules. AI is changing how clients search. And if everyone's an expert in everything, no one looks like an expert in anything. Feel Validated is here to change that.
On most directories, a therapist with years of advanced EMDR training and a therapist who watched an EMDR YouTube video check the same box. A clinician with deep couples expertise earned through supervised practice and formal certification looks identical to someone who saw a post on social media and decided to give couples work a try.
When a directory gives you unlimited checkboxes and no verification process, the rational response is to check everything you've ever worked with. It's not dishonest, it's what these models incentivize. But it means clients can't distinguish between depth and exposure, and your real expertise gets buried under everyone else's identical claims.
50, 60, even 79 checked specialties. No evidence. No way to tell who has deep training and who added it yesterday. Every profile looks the same.
5–6 validated areas, each backed by visible evidence — verified certifications, documented training, and clinically reviewed narratives. Depth you can see.
You know the consultation that goes nowhere — the one where it's clear within five minutes that this person needs something different from what you offer. That's not a bad client, it's a bad system. It happens more often when the directory that sent them to you couldn't distinguish your real expertise from everyone else's identical claims.
Client search behavior is getting more specific, not broader. People are filtering by specialty, identity, and specific presenting issues. And increasingly, they're asking AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity to recommend therapists by name.
Clients who search "therapist near me" are browsing. Clients who search "EMDR therapist Berkeley PTSD" are ready to book. And increasingly, they're skipping search entirely, asking AI assistants something like "I need help with panic attacks that are affecting my work." The AI has to figure out which therapists actually match. Verified credentials and structured specialty data — the foundation of every Feel Validated profile — are exactly what these systems can read. A directory of unverified checkboxes gives them nothing to work with, because the system can't distinguish depth from exposure.
This is where referrals are heading. Feel Validated is built for it.
Some large therapy platforms push clinicians toward caseloads beyond what ethical guidelines suggest is sustainable, and the directories you're already paying for are partnering with those same companies. Feel Validated is built for independent practitioners who want to stay independent.
Not another directory asking you to fill out a dozen narrative boxes. We research what's already public, draft language that captures your actual expertise, and structure your profile to be read. You review, refine, and upload documents to back it up.
Search results are based on fit, not fees. Every therapist who meets our verification standards gets equal visibility. We don't sell top spots, boost profiles for extra money, or let anyone buy their way to the front of the line.
Feel Validated is a directory, not a managed marketplace. We don't set your rates, control your scheduling, or take a cut of your sessions. You run your practice. We make your expertise visible.
Feel Validated is built by Jacob Donnelly, an LCSW with more than 15 years of clinical experience, including clinical leadership roles in homeless services and non-profit veterans work. Every profile is reviewed by Jacob personally — not an algorithm, not an anonymous reviewer.
I'm a therapist. I actually care about ethical standards of practice. I believe high-quality client care — the kind clients need now more than ever — comes from therapists who have invested in advanced training, built relevant clinical experience, and practice with integrity. Therapists face growing pressure from systems built to boost corporate margins, while client care and therapist well-being pay the price. Directories are pushing us toward managed-care platforms with documented client data breaches and caseload models that compromise care. At other directories and even on Google, search results are increasingly sorted by who paid more, and even other therapists can't tell who has real expertise anymore because everyone's been told to claim expertise in everything. Therapists and clients both deserve better.
— Jacob Donnelly, LCSW
Every therapist on Feel Validated is asked to agree to five public commitments. They're written so clients know what to expect, and so therapists who join us are joining people who practice the same way.
Commit to a weekly client maximum that supports quality care for every client you see.
Use approaches with documented training and experience for the conditions being treated.
Complete verified professional development annually, beyond licensing minimums, in your claimed specializations.
No back-to-back overload, no distractions, no shortcuts on care. Every client gets the focused session they're paying for.
Only claim expertise in areas with documented training and experience. Refer out when appropriate.
Founding members join free. When paid plans launch, founding members will be grandfathered at a rate lower than both Psychology Today and Zencare. At Bay Area session rates, one therapy session covers the cost for months.
But founding membership is more than early access. You're helping shape how independent therapists compete against managed marketplaces and outdated directories. Your feedback on profile design, the verification process, and evidence types is directly shaping what this becomes. We're building this with clinicians, not just for them.
And we're starting with therapy because that's where the problem is most visible, but the model works anywhere credentials are opaque and people have no way to tell who's truly qualified. Healthcare. Legal. Financial advice. The directory we're building for clinicians is the prototype for something larger.
It starts with just your name. We'll research your public credentials, build a profile draft, and you tell us what we got right and what we missed.