The Problem:
It would be great to have a therapist anytime, anywhere. So often I would simply like to run something by someone and/or get some feedback.
The Business
Instant therapist via phone or skype. An attentive social worker helps any customer with a phone.
You pay $40 an hour, the therapist, who can work remotely, makes $20. Calls or chats would be a minimum of a tenth of an hour.
Doableness
Present day therapists will say, “Therapy is a process…it takes time…the therapist needs to form a relationship with the patient to get maximum benefit.” You will get a lot of shit from a lot of therapists about how this isn’t real therapy. And, in truth, it’s not real therapy. It’s just someone to talk to. But that’s okay.
You would need everything a good hub needs. Scheduling. Good website. Payment processing. Call matching. Call/customer tracking.
You would also need to hire good people, listen to enough calls to confirm they are good, and reward them for remaining good.
My Thoughts
I think this idea, though I describe it as instant therapy, is best branded as “someone to talk to.” I think we underestimate the degree to which, so often, people just need someone to talk to.
No phone sex, no adult dating, to funny business. Just someone to talk to. Someone with a degree in social work.
I think the senior set, ironically the subset of the population least likely to engage in therapy, would be some of the best customers. Hence it goes into my aging population category.