Open Path Collective Review for Therapists: Is It Right for Your Practice?

Open Path Collective Directory Review – Key Takeaways

• Open Path Collective is a non-profit therapist network that allows you to offer discounted therapy services to people in difficult financial situations. You must accept rates between $30 – $80 per session for all Open Path clients you accept.
• You must agree to see at least one Open Path client within 6 months of creating your profile, and must respond to all client inquiries within 4 business days.
• Open Path Collective members gain access to a number of benefits and discounts to other services such as EHR platforms, continuing education, and other therapist directories.
• If you are open to accepting discounted rates for clients, and feel that this is a good move for your practice, the free profile with Open Path Collective decreases barriers and may be worth considering.

What Is Open Path Collective?

Open Path Collective is a mental health practitioner directory designed to assist clients in difficult financial situations or without insurance. It is totally free to list yourself on Open Path Collective, however, you must agree to offer services at a rate of $30 – $80 per session. Other features include discounts on services such as EHR platforms and other directories.

Supporting Clients with Financial Barriers

Whether you’re looking to engage in a bit of altruism, or are simply looking for more clients and potential word-of-mouth referrals, joining Open Path Collective can open up a lot of opportunities. Unlike other therapist directories, Open Path Collective allows you to support clients that are often excluded from help. This can be very rewarding, and can also help boost the number of referrals coming into your practice.

While Open Path Collective can’t compete with the likes of the big directories in terms of traffic, being able to list your practice for free offers a great deal of value and would certainly be worth most practice’s time and consideration.

Gain Access to a Robust Community

Open Path Collective members gain access to a network of other therapists and many benefits and discounts. Free trials, discounts, and other offers from companies that we featured in our roundup of the best mental health EHRs, such as SimplePractice and TheraNest are included with your subscription.

Since you’re able to join for free, these added benefits really go the extra mile in improving the value offered by Open Path Collective. For instance, the $100 off offer for Brighter Vision, a therapist-specific website builder, completely removes the upfront cost that we described in our Brighter Vision review, making it much more accessible.

How Much Does Open Path Collective Cost?

Listing your practice with Open Path Collective is free. Being a no-cost option makes Open Path Collective a very alluring option to help boost the number of referrals coming into your practice if you are in a position to offer your services at their required discounted rates. Along with other member benefits, Open Path Collective offers a great deal of value.

Open Path Collective requires you to offer services at a discounted rate. If you are a fully licensed provider, you must agree to offer sliding scale therapy of $40 – $70 per session for individuals and $40 – $80 per session for couples or families. If you are a student intern, you must offer a fixed rate of $30 per session.

Additional requirements include responding to all client inquiries within 4 business days and working with at least one Open Path Collective referred client within 6 months of creating your profile.

Open Path Collective – Our Final Verdict

Overall, I found Open Path Collective to be a very impressive organization that is definitely worth your time and consideration. The mission statement is a great cause, and the free profile offers a lot of potential value.

While it might not have the same traffic as other directories, I would consider using it as a secondary source of referrals on top of one of the bigger options, if you are able to offer services at a discounted rate.

You should consider signing up for Open Path Collective Directory if you:

• Are looking for a secondary source of client referrals
• Would like to help make therapy more accessible for underserved communities
• Are in a position to offer services at their required discounted rate

You should consider looking for an alternative to Open Path Collective Directory if you:

• Aren’t comfortable offering services at a discounted rate
• Don’t have enough room on your caseload for at least one client
• Want to use a more widely known directory like Psychology Today or GoodTherapy
• Work in a field that is divested of licensure, such as wellness coaching

Who Is Open Path Collective Right For?

Open Path Collective is a great non-profit therapist directory. If you’re looking to help underserved populations, or are simply looking to increase your client referrals, a membership with Open Path Collective is likely worth your time.

Therapists Looking to Help Underprivileged Populations

Open Path Collective allows you to join a thriving network of therapists dedicated to helping people in difficult financial situations. Historically, those that are underinsured, uninsured, or in difficult financial situations have a very difficult time finding affordable therapy options. Joining Open Path Collective allows you to help make therapy more affordable and accessible for those people.

Any Practice Looking to Increase Client Referrals

Since Open Path Collective is free to use, any practice that is looking to increase client referrals can benefit from an Open Path Collective membership. If you’re looking to gain new clients, and are in a position to offer services at their required discounted rate, membership is likely worth your time.

Who May Want an Alternative to Open Path Collective Directory?

Open Path Collective is a fantastic, and free, directory option. While it’s great to use in conjunction with other directories, some might not find it to be the perfect fit. If you are an unlicensed professional, or you do not wish to offer services at a discount, you may want to look for an alternative.

Unlicensed Professionals

Open Path Collective requires all of its therapists to be licensed in the state that they practice. You can also list yourself if you are pre-licensure and have appropriate supervision. If you practice in a field that does not offer licensure such as life coaching or alternative healing, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

An alternative directory that allows unlicensed professionals to list themselves is Therapy Finder, by SimplePractice. Read more about how you can list yourself by reading our review of SimplePractice’s Therapy Finder.

Those Who Do Not Wish to Offer Sliding-Scales or Discounted Rates

Open Path Collective is designed for clients that are in difficult financial situations and requires therapists to offer services at a discounted rate. If you are not comfortable offering services on a sliding scale, then other options would be better for you. Keep in mind that while you might not be charging full price, you will likely gain additional referrals simply from word-of-mouth after working with Open Path clients.

If you do not wish to offer sliding scale pricing, a more traditional therapist directory is GoodTherapy. Read more about this directory in our review of GoodTherapy.

Open Path Collective Vs. Psychology Today

Open Path Collective and Psychology Today are both therapist directories, but they don’t share much in common. Psychology Today is a more general directory where you pay a fee to market your practice to a large audience. It is a for-profit company and does not share the same mission as Open Path Collective.

Where Open Path is totally free to join, Psychology Today costs $30 monthly. Psychology Today offers a much larger audience of potential clients and also includes a telehealth platform. These two directories are great to use in conjunction with one another to improve your visibility.

Read more about the differences between these directories in our comprehensive Psychology Today review.

Open Path Collective Vs. TherapyDen

TherapyDen is another free directory that is worth your time to explore. TherapyDen and Open Path differ slightly in their mission statements – TherapyDen is focused on inclusivity and has detailed filtering for groups that have been traditionally ignored such as sex workers and folks in the LGBT+ community. However, TherapyDen does not have the discounted rate requirement that Open Path Does.

Both directories are free to join, however, TherapyDen also offers a premium membership that boosts the visibility of your profile. The costs for this are on a pay-what-you-can scale ranging from $10 – $30 monthly. Both platforms offer a handful of discounts on other services that have partnered with them.

Read more about the differences between these directories in our comprehensive TherapyDen review.

How to Get Started with the Open Path Collective Directory

To get started with Open Path Collective, simply navigate to the Open Path Collective sign-up page. Then, you will fill out a brief application and verify some details about your practice. Once everything is confirmed, your profile will be ready to publish.

The steps for getting started with Open Path Collective Directory are:

1. Fill out the application. Fill out the application for Open Path, including your licensure details, practice details, and your profile listing. This is where you will enter details such as skills and expertise, and other elements that will appear on your profile. (20-30 minutes)
2. Wait for verification. Open Path Collective will review your application and verify your credentials within the next business day. If there are any issues, they’ll reach out via email. (1-2 days)
3. Publish your profile. After Open Path verifies your information, your profile will go live for new clients to view.

History of Open Path Collective

Open Path Collective was founded in 2012. It is a very mission-oriented non-profit that focuses on making therapy more affordable and accessible for people in difficult financial situations.

Open Path Collective is still a rather small organization, listing between 2-10 employees on its LinkedIn profile. It is headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina.

FAQs for Open Path Collective

Is Open Path Collective Free to Use?

Yes, it is totally free to list a profile with Open Path Collective.

Do You Have to be Licensed to Use Open Path Collective?

Yes, you must be a licensed or provisionally licensed professional or a student intern with proper supervision. All licensure and credentials are verified and peer-reviewed during the application process.

Is Open Path Collective Legit?

Yes, Open Path is a legitimate and well-known, and trusted non-profit therapist network. Open Path Collective has been covered in multiple publications such as The New York Times and Forbes.