What is Theravive?

At its heart, Theravive is Values Based Counselling.  We are an advertising network of professional and clinical counsellors and psychologists who uphold a common set values and principles in their practice.   Rich in content, our site has top search engine placement (Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc) and draws potential clients from all over the the US and Canada.  And because our site is personal, warm, and non-threatening, with themes of freedom, hope, forgiveness, and restoration, clients who are looking for a therapist to help them overcome various life struggles come to Theravive to easily find one.

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Who Can Sign Up?

To be a member of Theravive, you must be part of, and in good standing with, an officially recognized body that regulates the profession of counseling and/or psychology in your geographical area. Theravive is a legitimate site and prefers licensed, registered, and/or certified therapists who hold degrees and are bound by regulations that govern their practice. Unlicensed and pre-licensed therapists are still welcome, but you must be a mental health professional, have graduate level training in mental health, and a degree from an accredited institution. If you are unlicensed or pre-licensed, you must state that clearly in your profile. By default, all of our therapists are fully credentialed unless otherwise stated in your profile. You should also carry professional liability insurance, which is also a default assumption for all of our therapists. If you do not carry insurance, you must state that fact in your profile.

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Why should I sign up with Theravive?

• We draw potential clients across the internet through rich content contained on our site.
• Being listed on a quality website will greatly enhance your professional and business internet presence which can translate to an increase in clients.
• An attractive, yet highly professional listing of your practice prominently displayed on a popular site gives you a terrific web address that you can place on business cards and stationary promoting your practice to potential clients.
• Ability (if you choose) to be also listed as an “online provider” for e-counselling and potentially receive clients from all over the world.   Learn more about the possibilities of e-counselling at Theravive.
• The internet is rapidly becoming the single greatest mechanism people use to find a therapist.  The days of using a phone book to find a professional are winding down.  Being listed on a highly visible, and high quality site that is frequently returned at the top of Google, Yahoo, MSN, and other search engines is an essential component of advertising your business in today’s world.   
• Approachable, non-threatening friendly site reaches many clients fearful of counseling, who otherwise would not call a counselor off an impersonal, sterilized, plain list of names as on most other directories.
• In addition to your listing, you receive a dedicated page to your practice on which you can have an unlimited length bio, along with a link to your own website. With no limit to your professional biography, you have ample room to promote your practice, discuss your therapy, approaches...anything you want to say to a potential client.

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My City Isn't Listed Or Is Empty, Should I Wait?

If your city is listed and is empty, or does not yet exist, this is actually the best time to sign up as a premium member. There are two big reasons for this: #1, you will be the only person listed, and will have a "monopoly" on clients that visit your city. Being that there is no other therapist to choose from, you will naturally receive more client contacts than if client contacts were distributed across multiple therapists on your city page. The second reason is that premium members are listed in the order they sign up, not in alphabetical order, and can never be bumped down for as long as they are a member. Having an empty city means you get the first chance at the top spot on that city. You will always have the top spot, permanently, as long as you are a member. This is, naturally, a huge benefit as being at the top of a list has much more visibility among other advantages.

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But I Already Have A Website for My Business, Why Would I Need This?

Just because you have a website, doesn’t necessarily mean you are visible to clients.  There are over a hundred million websites on the internet.  How can a client possibly find you?  Put yourself in the shoes of a potential client, then go to Google.  How can they find you?  Test it out for yourself and see.   Unless your website is search engine optimized, it will be of little help to your business.  And if you are not sure what “search engine optimization” means, then unfortunately your website probably isn’t.   Basically SEO means being at the top of the Google, MSN, or Yahoo search results.  Theravive has the benefit of professional SEO (search engine optimization) consulting, a professional IT administrator, and web developer.  This means that the Theravive website is constantly being optimized for major search engines.  We do all the work on the internet to bring you high visibility.  You only need to focus on your clients.   

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Proof Of Theravive's Prominence

We receive, on average, over 350 unique visitors a day in British Columbia alone. Say you are looking for a counsellor in Surrey BC, a city in western Canada of 400,000 people. You type into Google "counselling Surrey BC" and this is what you see. If you were a counselor in Surrey, there would be great benefit in being listed on Theravive, as a client would see you on page one, before most anyone else. Or consider someone who lives in New York, with a population over 10 million. That person goes to google and types "counseling new york city ". This is what they see. Theravive is (at the time of this writing) #1. Consider there is competition for literally thousands of professional therapists in New York for top placement, if you were a therapist on our site in New York City, you would get a lot of views to your profile. That is what SEO is all about, and that is what we work hard to do for you.  Our goal is to be prominently listed on major search engines for every city we support. As theravive continues to grow, so will our prominence on the web. Being listed on a highly visible site can have an immense impact on your field of potential clients. Learn more about how we optimize for the internet. It is important to note that most people who search for a counsellor on the internet, will type in their local city in the search! Very few people would go to Google and type "counsellor" or "marriage counseling". You want to be listed on a platform that is optimized for your city. If you are on a directory that doesn't come up in Google with your city typed in the search term, its time to change.

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I am Already Listed in an Internet Counselor Directory.  Should I Still Sign Up?

If you uphold the same values we do, most definitely yes!  For one reason, we are not a directory, but the next step beyond. The way we market therapists is unique to any "directory". A standard directory will attempt to take you single bio and optimize it on search engines. Theravive takes not only your single bio, but also all of your specializations and markets them all individually and uniquely.

Also, one visit to Theravive.com and you will quickly see how unique we are.  Quite unlike any other counselor directory, we are very focused and because of this, we draw in numerous potential clients who greatly prefer committing themselves to a counselor who shares their values over one found randomly out of a phone book or an internet list. If you also notice, our site is very warm and non-threatening. Clients can see photos of their counselors taken outdoors, hinting at the freedom that awaits them. Colors, pathways, and themes on the site bring subtle suggestions of hope, moving forward, discovery, forgiveness, acceptance, and restoration. Many other directories simply present themselves as a list of names on a plain background, having a very "clinical" feel, like a patient sitting within four white walls of a sterilized doctor's office. The personal and caring feel of Theravive, along with our commitment to values, is a significant reason why potential clients choose a counselor with us.

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What is “Values Based Counseling”?

There is no such thing as “Value-Free Counseling”.  No matter who the counselor or psychologist, his or her values will be reflected, in varying degrees, in their practice.  And in the professional world of counseling, the range of moral values among all counselors and psychologists is a vast spectrum.  There is no universal agreement.  Theravive extracts from this spectrum those professionals who uphold a common set of values and principles to provide them as an accessible and life-changing resource for clients who seek the same.   

A major difference with Values Counseling is the transparency of the therapist's values to the client. Our therapist's values are right there for all to see, they are not hidden from the client. We believe this creates great safety for clients who are much more open to a therapist whom they can connect with over one who tries to keep their beliefs a secret. For example, a couple with children desperately trying to save their marriage would be very disappointed to learn that secretly, their therapist held the view that marriage is merely a legal contract, and divorce is always an option for mere unhappiness.

We are sad to say that we have received some (not a lot, fortunately) hate mail from both licensed counselors and psychologists. Some of the language used in these letters would probably shock any of their clients. We are sometimes quite surprised at the secret beliefs of many professional therapists, as some of these emails are rather stunning to us. When we get one of these "letters", we are left to wonder what would their clients think if they somehow found out about these secret beliefs and hidden views of their therapist? At Theravive, we are transparent. A client knows our values walking into the session, and that is a great benefit for the client. There is nothing hidden.

When it comes to clients, as counsellors we accept anyone and hope that all counsellors on Theravive would never discriminate on the basis of the values of the client. A client may have any set of values, and we would accept them as clients. Our values guide our practice, and we let our clients know what our values are, allowing for better and more effective therapy. Learn more on our values here, and their importance in counseling.

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Is There a Difference Between Values-Based Counselling and Regular Counseling?

If you are a counselor who upholds the same values as we do, there is no difference at all.  You already are doing values-based counseling.   Theravive is not about changing how counselors practice.  Your methods and theories of practice are yours.  Our goal is to simply find counselors who share the same values and connect them with clients.  We draw potential clients from the internet, and connect them to you.  That is our purpose.   We do not interfere in any way whatsoever with your therapeutic practice.

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Why Values Based Counseling?

The primary reason is to increase the effectiveness of therapy. It is a sad truth and well known in the world of psychotherapy that often times success rates can be low. Deep down, we know that therapy can change a life, yet for many clients, they see a therapist for many months and in the end, see only scant improvement, or simply drop out after a few sessions. What are some ways to increase the success rate of therapy? We believe very strongly that transparent values does this. A client who knows in advance the values of the therapist is empowered. People today, more than ever, are taking health care into their own hands. The old notion that having transparent values is "imposing" is simply false (see our values page for a more detailed explanation of this). It is not uncommon for a client to first "interview" a therapist before committing to him or her. Knowing the values of the therapist in advance and still booking that initial session gives the client a head start in a collaborative relationship with the therapist. There is already a positive connection between the client and therapist before that client even walks through the door. Secondly, people really do prefer a therapist who identifies with their values, over one that does not.

For example, one of Theravive’s values is the importance of the marriage relationship.  A client on the brink of divorce, who strongly believes that marriage should last a lifetime, would not be happy to learn that she put her entire future in the hands of a counselor who views marriage as merely a “contract,” who refuses to marry his live in girlfriend because he doesn't "believe" in marriage, and rapidly sees divorce as a positive option when the going gets rough.  It is self evident, that a client trying to save her marriage, if she knew about such "hidden beliefs" within the therapist, would not even be walking through the door. The Values Statement of Theravive is nothing more than a simple set of beliefs.  Yet even so, they are not our beliefs at all, they are, rather, foundational common values that are shared by millions of people throughout North America.  The values listed on Theravive do not represent a fraction of people.  They represent the majority. 

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What About Clients Who Do Not Share Your Values?

We do not believe in discrimination of any kind, whether by sex, religion, race, creed, lifestyle, orientation, past choices, or in any other form. If a client is made aware of your values, and still wants to see you, that person should not be turned away. Clients need not share any of our values at all. We believe it is healthy for a counselor to have his or her values disclosed to the client. Surprisingly, many people still hire counselors even after they fully understand a difference in values. For example, we have seen numerous times people who are living together, unmarried, come to Theravive for help in their relationship knowing full well our stance that marriage is preferred over co-habitation. They come to us anyway because they seek a better way in their lives. We do not turn people away simply on the basis of their personal beliefs, lifestyle, or values. All clients deserve the same non-judgmental, safe, compassionate therapy no matter who they are.

While Theravive does not condone any form of discrimination, we also do not mandate to our therapists since we are not an enforcement body. For example, a female therapist may refuse to see male clients for reasons personal to the therapist. Some therapists refuse to see children because of the great difficulty in resisting emotional involvement. Some therapists may refuse to see criminals or child molesters, etc. We completely respect each therapist's right to refuse clients according to the standards and guidelines set by that therapist's local regulatory bodies. We do not interfere in any way whatsoever in the professional practice of therapists listed on our site. We are a listing service only. We connect clients to therapists who profess our values, and it is at that point that our involvement ends.

We also must mention, that if we have good reason to believe a therapist does not uphold our values to clients he or she is receiving from our site, we will remove that therapist's listing. We require all of our therapists to uphold our values for any client they receive from our site. Clients, however, need not share any of our values at all and still feel welcome and receive safe, non judgmental therapy.

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What About Ethics?

The field of counseling and psychology is regulated by official bodies, including the regulation of ethics in practice. Values counseling is not a replacement of professional ethics and is something different entirely. Learn more about ethics and values here.

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How much does it cost to be listed?

Advertising on Theravive is very affordable, less than Psychology Today, and significantly less expensive than most other advertising, (i.e. the Yellow Pages).  And we come with a guarantee.

For our current listing prices, please see our sign-up form.

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Memberships

What is included in membership?

• All counselors on Theravive receive a professional and attractive listing advertising their business and practice.
• A guaranteed paying client
• Placement in at least one city of choice in North America.  If the city desired is not currently listed on Theravive, then it will be created. 
• Up to 15 individually marketed specializations for each city you list in (this means VIP therapists will have up to 75 unique listings!)
• A prominent photo of self.
• Up to 8 areas of practice and specializations.
• Full Biography of unlimited word length.  Theravive does not limit any of its counselors in what they want to say about themselves in their practice.
• Link to your own private practice website.
• Unlimited updates to your information.
• Unlimited therapeutic approaches
• Ability to post workshops and events free, and unlimited.
• Ability to write blog posts, free.
• Free listing in our e-counseling section.

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Discounts:

For counselors who already have websites, if you are willing to place Theravive on your homepage, we may apply a permanent discount, but this is only for select websites, so please contact us to see if you would qualify.  In addition, counselors who submit original article(s) that get posted on our site may further receive discounts, again please let us know if you are interested: contact@theravive.com. 

Learn more about our link discounts here.

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A Note About the Spelling On Our Site:

Some may have noticed the words "counselor, counsellor, counseling, counselling" on our site. These are not spelling errors. Theravive reaches both Canada and the United States. In Canada, the proper spelling is to use two "l's" for counsellor and counselling. In the United States, counseling and counselor are properly spelled with one "l". We have taken the liberty to freely intermingle these spelling variations so that clients in both countries will easily find us when they search for help on major search engines.

What Are Your Terms Of Service?

You may read our terms of service here.

It is our pleasure to have you become a part of our team. We will work hard to do all we can to promote your practice on the internet.

 

If you have any questions, please e-mail listing@theravive.com or call us at 604-626-1329 (Canada), or 360-350-8627 (United States)

Counselors and Therapists Sign Up Form

*If your city is not currently listed, it will be created for you upon signup.

 

 

Learn more about the possibilities of E-Counseling

*For a few select major metropolitan cities with populations greater than 1 million people, such as New York and Los Angeles, premium members may be displayed in a random order, but still above all basic members.

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