Question 1

How much does OOTify cost?

Accepted Answer

For Providers, there is no long-term contract to use OOTify! To be listed and use the community forum, there is also no charge. For the telehealth, business development and creative tools provided, OOTify charges a low monthly subscription fee of $50/month. Send inquiries to iris@ootify.com to see if you can get a 40% discount for the first year and only pay $30/month.   For clients, they get the first 15 minutes one-on-one initial consultation at no charge and then pay a 7% booking fee, which pays for the credit card and hosting fees.   For more information, please visit our Compensation page.

Question 2

Do I need to be licensed to provide services?

Accepted Answer

If you are providing services as a therapist, yes you must have an active license to do therapy. Coaches and Mentors are not expected to be licensed.

Question 3

What kind of credentials do the Providers have?

Accepted Answer

At OOTify, you may be connected with therapists, social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists. counselors, coaches or other Providers.   Each Provider may have specific types of specialities that they have been trained in and can treat. Here are some common examples of what their credentials mean:   LMFT: Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist is board-certified to treat a variety of mental health concerns with the emphasis on family therapy, couples therapy and sex therapy.   LCSW: Licensed Clinical Social Worker is a mental health professional with a MSW (Master of Social Work) and an additional 3000 hours of supervised practice. They are trained to examine psychological issues in a more social context.    MD/Psychiatrist: A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who has specialized in mental health. A psychiatrist goes through medical school like everyone else and then does a psychiatric residency.   LPC: Licensed professional counselors hold a master's-degree in mental health service and are trained to work with individuals, families, and groups in treating mental, behavioral, and emotional disorders.   LMHC: Licensed Mental Health Counselor is a board certified professional that treats children, adolescents, and adults suffering from adjustment issues, relationship conflicts, or mental illness.   Ph.D: A Psychologist who has a doctorate in philosophy. This is a more research oriented degree with a less clinical focus.

Question 4

How do I become a Provider?

Accepted Answer

All Providers must go through OOTify's onboarding process.  There are three components to the onboarding process:   1) mobile screening process 2) online questionnaire and interview 3) on-going monitoring process   For more information or if you are interested in becoming a Provider, please email us at here. You can also learn more at OOTify Providers.

Question 5

How many hours a week do I need to provide services?

Accepted Answer

It's up to you! We have providers building full time online practices (30-40 hours a week), while others just start by listing a 3-4 hour block to start. You can set your available hours within the app.

Question 6

What if someone wants to take the conversation in person?

Accepted Answer

No issues. Some providers conduct office sessions and so offer the options of meeting in person or online through OOTify. Online sessions through OOTify offer the options of flexibility and convenience, as well as being a HIPAA compliant platform.

Question 7

What are my communication options?

Accepted Answer

You can communicate with your Providers via chat, audio, and video conferencing through OOTify’s mobile application.  All protocols are completely private, safe and secure (and HIPAA compliant).

Question 8

What happens if I don't get matched right away?

Accepted Answer

Because our platform is still in its early growth stages, we cannot guarantee that you will be matched right away. We will try our best to match you with clients and help you find new clients with our content series and corporate and university accounts   Many Providers post content on the Fabric (free community mental health forum) to gain exposure to our growing community. Let us know how we can help you.   For more information on this, please email iris@ootify.com for your personal concierge service.

Question 9

What if I lose connection in the middle of a session?

Accepted Answer

You can leave a message for your Provider by visiting their Profile and clicking "Leave a Message."    Those seeking help can re-engage their Provider for the remaining time by clicking on their profile, then clicking talk now, and finally entering a custom rate for the remaining time.   Please send an email to iris@ootify.com or report the issue under the menu under "Give us Feedback" for any questions, comments or concerns.

Question 10

How do I deal with consent forms?

Accepted Answer

By agreeing to the Terms of Service, clients agree to comply with any consent forms requested by you. We are working on streamlining this process, but please work worth your client to get any consent forms relevant to your scope of services and as required by law.

Question 11

Can I talk to client if I live in a different state than them?

Accepted Answer

Currently, OOTify is only available within the State of California to connect with licensed professionals. Details below:   Licensed Mental Health Professionals: Interstate Telehealth is not allowed, meaning your client may not connect with you if you are not licensed in the state of his/her residence. For more information regarding Interstate Telehealth, please click here. Mentors and Life Coaches: Because there are not any legal barriers, you may connect with a client outside of your state lines.

Question 12

What if someone wants to use another platform?

Accepted Answer

Of course we want you to stay, and are always working to improve our platform to work better for everyone. However, should you and your client (seeker) want to change platforms, we'll support whatever allows for everyone to get the most help.

Question 13

Can my clients under the age of 18 (e.g. minors)?

Accepted Answer

No. As per the Terms of Service, your client must be 18 years of age or older.

Question 14

How does OOTify protect my privacy?

Accepted Answer

We take protecting your privacy seriously and adhere to the highest available standards.   Our one-to-one sessions are HIPAA-compliant. The Fabric is a community forum and not HIPAA compliant.  If you are sensitive about posting on the Fabric, please use an alias by updating your profile.   All data is stored on Amazon Web Services (AWS) via a Business Associate Agreement.   For our detailed Privacy Policy, please click here.

Question 15

What is Social Enhancement?

Accepted Answer

The therapeutic experience of connecting with one another through an uplifting community.

Question 16

What is OOTify's Cancellation Policy?

Accepted Answer

OOTify does not take any percentage of client cancellations or no-shows. Providers can set their own cancellation and no-show fees and work with the Client directly for any issues and email the client as they would in their typical online practice. The email address can be found in their profile. Our recommended policy is as follows:    -Clients can cancel a session 24 hours in advance, with no fee.    -If Clients do cancel a session less than 24 hours in advance, they should be charged $15 per late cancel.    -If Clients don't cancel and/or don't show up to a session, they should be charged $20 per no-show.   If you do have issues with certain Clients or Providers, we are happy to help. Please email us at iris@ootify.com. We can make no assurances or representations that we will be able to recoup any fees, but we will remove Clients or Providers that show a behavior that is consistently resulting in cancellations or no-shows.   This is meant to create a fair and respectful community.

Question 17

Will clients be able to schedule appointments with me if I don’t use Google calendar?

Accepted Answer

OOTify is actively working on incorporating other calendars to the platform. but as of right now you need to use Google calendar.

Question 18

Does OOTify connect with my EHR or Simple Practice account(s)?

Accepted Answer

No. OOTify is not connected to Simple Practice.OOTify is a consolidated platform so you may or may not need other platforms to help with your EHR, business development and marketing needs.

Question 19

How will I know my account has received payment?

Accepted Answer

You will receive notification through whatever you have set up in your stripe account. We also have a listed account balance within the OOTify app, before it's transferred to your bank account. Should there be a concern, reach out to our team at iris@ootify.com.

Question 20

Can I bring my own clients on to the platform?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely! Our search engine allows seekers to look for a specific provider and receive services, so your current clients just have to download the app and select you as their provider. Our search engine allows seekers to look for a specific provider and receive services.

Question 21

Can I set different hours for different days?

Accepted Answer

This is not available yet. You can update your calendar daily, which takes a couple minutes or sync another google calendar. We are working on updating this.

Question 22

How do I deal with high severity cases?

Accepted Answer

This is at the discretion of the provider.   First off, we recommend that providers recognize their scope of practice, and not try to handle cases that might be more severe than they're prepared to manage.   Mentors and coaches should not be attempting to manage mental illness alone, for example. Teletherapy has some limitations as well.   Should someone be acutely suicidal, psychotic, or potentially medically unstable, we recommend that you refer them to their nearest emergency room for evaluation or use one of the OOTify-provided options for referrals (Crisis Text Line, Suicide Hotline, 911, etc).

Question 23

Can I provide referrals for my client to receive a higher level of care?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Depending on the level of care required, you can refer directly within the OOTify app to a higher/alternative level of care provider (such as a psychiatrist). OOTify also has options for directing seekers to crisis resources such as emergency services or the crisis text line. We do not currently have direct referrals to treatment centers, such as hospitals, though that may be included in future versions of our app.

Question 24

Do you operate on a sliding scale? How does this work?

Accepted Answer

OOTify does not set rates for providers. Providers are free to set whatever their standard rate they want for clients. In turn, clients can request a lower rate or time window (eg $20 for 15 minutes). The provider then has the ability to accept or reject that proposed rate.

Question 25

How do I enter notes? What happens if I leave the platform, but want to keep my notes?"

Accepted Answer

We have consultation notes within the app. You swipe right and can enter your notes and refer back to them at anytim within the app. Unfortunately at this time, you cannot transfer your notes out of the system. The OOTify team is discussing developing an internal EHR within the app that would include billing options to payers such as insurance. If you have interest or requests on this, drop a note to our team at iris@ootify.com.

Question 26

Do I need liability insurance?

Accepted Answer

Providers should have the same level of insurance that is legally required for them to practice in person. To our knowledge, it is not legally required to have liability insurance to provide care in California, though the prepoderance of providers do.

Question 27

Which modalities may I use on OOTify?

Accepted Answer

OOTify does not limit the types of therapy modalities offered on its platform, aside from strongly recommending providers to use their best judgment and consider limitations of teletherapy and the possibility that sessions could cut out in the middle of a session (such as from a problem in someone's wifi reception). Therefore modalities such as hypnosis, which usually requires continuous monitoring and feedback within a session, is inadvisable.

Question 28

My client is coming up as anonymous on OOTify. How do I do therapy with someone anonymously?

Accepted Answer

Similar to phone consultations, OOTify allows Clients to be anonymous during their 15 minute consultation. If it translates into an ongoing realtionship, the Provider can require the Client to disclose any and all information needed to establish the relationship and in accordinace with applicable laws and best practices.

Question 29

So I'm offering 15 minutes free. What's to keep a seeker from jumping from provider to provider for free mini-sessions?

Accepted Answer

Excellent question. We consider the 15 minute consultation to be comparable to the first phone call with a potential client, which is usually free and used to determine if the therapist is a good fit. Sometimes people do jump from consultation phone call to call as they seek out the best match. We aim to minimize this through our matching algorithm as we improve the app, as well as engaging with seekers who shop around to determine what keeps them engaging. This may reflect the difficulties of someone initiating therapy in the first place, ie learning to trust enough to open up about themselves.

Question 30

Can I use my own intake forms within OOTify?

Accepted Answer

OOTify does not replace the intake process, but rather supplements it. We highly recommend Providers work directly with clients beyond their 15 minute consultation to get all consent forms and intake forms in place in a satisfactory manner.

Question 31

How can I stand out or promote myself?

Accepted Answer

There are a myriad of things that successful Providers are able to do for visibility on our application:   1) post content to the Fabric community on our website; 2) work with our creative team to co-create content; 3) request to be featured on our social platforms; 4) hyperlink OOTify to your websites and other public domains to make it easier for clients to schedule consultations instantly with you on the app; and  5) reach out to our concierge service at iris@ootify.com to help in other customized capacities