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    FAQs for Therapists

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    You are likely to have some questions when considering listing your practice on SacWellness. You may have also found yourself here after running into some trouble with the site. The following are some of the questions we have gotten so far. If you are having trouble and/or can’t find an answer to your question, please feel free to contact me. I’m here to help ^_^.

    *Click any of the following to jump to the corresponding FAQ.*

    Signing Up

    Creating And Editing Listings

    Therapy/Process Group Listings

    Other Questions About Listings And Your Account

    Site Structure

    Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

    Guest Blogging

    General Questions about SacWellness

    Signing up

    Do I need a credit card or anything to sign up for a free listing?

    No! signing up for a free listing requires no payment information or any kind of obligation. It really is free ^_^

    Who Can Sign up for a listing?

    SacWellness is intended to be a resource to help connect mental health professionals and potential clients in the greater Sacramento area. For our purposes this includes the areas between Davis and El Dorado Hills and between Elk Grove and Auburn.

    Although we would like to include all those who work in mental health, SacWellness is currently only open to those who are Licensed mental health professionals, those who are pursuing licensure and receiving appropriate supervision to allow them to see clients, and certain substance abuse and addiction counselors (see next paragraph). As the site is focused on helping people find therapy, psychiatrists may register for listings if their practice includes psychotherapy and not solely medication management.

    We have noticed some of our competitors listing various credentialed addiction and substance abuse counselors. After consulting with our lawyers about this we have decided to include CADCs, LAADCs, and ICADCs with the added stipulation that they be limited to listing themselves only under the specialties of “addiction and substance abuse”, “video game and screen addiction”, “gambling addiction”, and codependency, and that they clearly identify themselves as addiction/substance abuse counselors. After further deliberation on this issue, we have decided that CADCs, LAADCs, and ICADCs may additionally list themselves under any other specialty they have received certification in. We recognize that it is common within addiction treatment to receive counseling through an addiction counselor and that the work of addiction counselors is valuable to those who need it.

    Why is my license and/or profession not included in SacWellness?

    This is complicated. The short answer is because we want to avoid the potential of people becoming confused about the difference between those who are licensed therapists and those who provide other services and/or carry credentials but no formal license. This brings into question what the general public considers to be a “therapist”. We have consulted with our lawyers and have been advised that the safest route for us to take at this time is to include only those who are licensed or pursuing licensure and receiving appropriate supervision.

    We have noticed some of our competitors listing various credentialed addiction and substance abuse counselors. After consulting with our lawyers about this we have decided include CADCs, LAADCs, and ICADCs with the added stipulation that they be limited to listing themselves only under the specialties of “addiction and substance abuse”, “video game and screen addiction”, “gambling addiction”, and codependency, and that they clearly identify themselves as addiction/substance abuse counselors. After further deliberation on this issue, we have decided that CADCs, LAADCs, and ICADCs may additionally list themselves under any other specialty they have received certification in. and that they clearly identify themselves as addiction/substance abuse counselors. We recognize that it is common within addiction treatment to receive counseling through an addiction counselor and that the work of addiction counselors is valuable to those who need it.

    Creating And Editing Listings

    How do I create a listing?

    To create a listing you need to create an account and then a listing. Simply click the link on the top right of the home page that says “Therapist Login/Register”. This will take you to the account registration page.

    Once you have created and signed into your account, the link on the top right of the home screen will change to saying “Add Listing”. Click this and follow the instructions on the following pages to create your listing.

    *We generally don’t advise creating a listing while on a tablet or cell phone, but if you do, you will find these links in the menu at the top left of the home page, not the top right.

    Why am I limited to 15 issues on my listing?

    We’ve intentionally limited the number of issues you can associate yourself with on your listing to 15. This is to encourage therapists to carefully consider and designate only the issues they have experience in, training in, and/or interest in working with. Many other therapist directory sites allow for an unlimited number of specialties/issues to be selected. This creates a problem of over saturation in some cases. Take the issues of anxiety and depression for example. How many of us do you think are listed on Psychology Today under depression and anxiety? It’s true that most of us do work with these issues, but how many of us would actually claim them as specialties if pressed to choose only 15?

    I for example am interested and slightly educated in working with adoption. If given unlimited options I might choose to list adoption as one of my issues. However, would potential clients in this case be better served by me or by someone who has been trained and has extensive experience in working with adoption?

    If somebody seeks me out and chooses to see me for issues related to adoption, that is one thing, but if someone is looking specifically for someone who works with adoption issues, we want SacWellness to be able to provide them with that. By requiring therapists to choose only 15 issues, they’re less likely to endorse options like depression and anxiety as a strategy of casting a wide net. This creates a better user experience for potential clients.

    How do I list myself as doing phone, video, or in home sessions?

    On the listing creation/edit page you will find remote services under the locations section where you are asked to indicate which city(s) your office(s) are in.

    How do I get to my user dashboard so I can edit my listing and see my stats?

    To get to your user dashboard you must first sign in by clicking the “therapist Login/Register” button on the top right of the home page. After doing this you will see your username displayed at the top of the screen. Click that to be taken to your dashboard.

    What image sizes should I use on my listing?

    Technically, the images you use on your listing can be any size you want, but there are some things you should keep in mind.

    • Try to keep your images as small as possible without them looking bad. The bigger your images, the bigger your listing page, and the slower it loads. Slow load speeds damage SEO rankings and may make your listing less likely to appear in search engine results.
    • The images that you add to be included in the carousel at the top of your listing will be automatically resized to fit the area they are displayed in. This is done by image height, so images are shrunk or stretched to meet the height of the space they are displayed in on any given screen. Generally any image with a height of 375px or more should display without any reduction in quality. If the height of your image is less than this, it may appear stretched/skewed.
    • As an alternative to the image carousel at the top of your listing, you may choose to upload one larger panoramic image that will appear as a header image at the top of your listing.
    • Our system resizes your featured image to fit the spaces it is displayed in. However, if you upload an oddly sized image, our system might do weird things to it to make it fit the spaces it needs to appear in. To prevent this, we have decided on optimal sizes for featured images. Please make your featured image either 450 x 300,  562 x 375 or 1125 x 750. You can easily do this in Microsoft paint or another similar program.
    • We like to keep featured images in the sizes above so that search pages display in a neat, organized way. If we come across images that are outside of these dimensions we may edit them to fit these sizes. Doing so may require some cropping. We will do our best not to significantly alter your image.

    Why does my image look weird in search results?

    Because its the wrong size. See the above question for optimal image sizes. We do our best to make images appear well in search results, but sometimes we can’t fix them. If we become aware of a problem we will let you know. There are 2 common problems: if your image looks really small in search results then your image is too small. If its chopped off in a weird way, then the dimensions are off. Usually we can fix the weird chopped off problem if the image is horizontally oriented.

    After a long wait I got an error message after submitting my listing. What’s the deal?

    Check your image sizes. If you try to upload images files that are too big the system may reject them. We have tested this and found that we have been able to upload a total of 12 mb. worth of images to one listing, but doing so resulted in a delay of one and a half minutes. We strongly encourage you to reduce image sizes to lower than 100k each. For reference, all of the office pictures on my listing page are 80-100k and my featured image is 18k. If you continue to have trouble after checking your image sizes, contact us.

    Therapy/Process Group Listings

    How do I create a therapy/process group listing?

    As of November 20, 2018, SacWellness now offers listings for therapy and support groups. Group listings are free with a therapist listing.

    Click here to go to our page detailing how to create a therapy/support group listing.

    What does it cost to have a group listing?

    Nothing! Group listings are free with any paid (or within a free trial period) therapist listing.

    How do groups appear on the site?

    The main search bar on SacWellness includes a tab that lets users select to search for either therapists or groups. If a user selects the “groups” option then all their search criteria will apply specifically to groups.

    Users can also browse through groups by finding them in the “browse by” button at the top or on the home page under the search bar.

    Additionally, any groups you have listed on the site will appear at the bottom of your therapist listing.

    Are there any types of groups that are ineligible to be listed on SacWellness?

    You can list any group that is facilitated by a licensed therapist or someone on the track to licensure who is receiving appropriate supervision. If you are a supervisor or run an agency, you may list any/all of the groups your agency may be running. You cannot list a group that you are not in some way responsible for.

    To be listed on SacWellness you must be licensed or pursuing licensure while receiving appropriate supervision. So theoretically, if you’re listed on SacWellness then any group you might have should be eligible to be listed….we just have this here in case anyone starts trying to add groups they’re not affiliated with….or peer groups they know of.

    Other Questions About Listings And Your Account

    How do I get to my user dashboard?

    To get to your user dashboard you first need to sign in by clicking the “Therapist Login/Register” button on the top right of the home page. After you sign in/if you are already signed in, your username will appear at the top of the screen. Click that to get to your dashboard.

    How do I change my notification settings for when potential clients contact me?

    visit this page to read all about notification settings and all of the statistics you’ll find on your dashboard.

    How can I tell if/how SacWellness is helping me?

    You can find lots of statistics about your listing on your dashboard. We wrote a whole blog post about this! Check it out here: How to tell if/how sacwellness is helping you

    Site Structure

    Why are listings separated into cities?

    Many other directories primarily rely on zip codes for users to search for specific locations. We plan on adding this function at some point, but it has some real downsides that we thought could be avoided by categorizing by city instead. When you really think about it, when someone is looking for a therapist, they may be unlikely to care about how close a therapist is, as long as they aren’t really far away. In some cases people might actually want to see a therapist that isn’t too close to home. In sorting by cities, SacWellness facilitates this.

    This brings up another problem I see with using zip codes. I live 2 miles away from my office, but that happens to be in another zip code. When I search my home zip code on some of the directories I’m listed on, my office doesn’t come up in the results even though it’s right down the street. There is usually a way to adjust the search radius, but it’s often hard to find, and I don’t think many people will bother with that. Categorizing by city makes for a more simple, browsable experience.

    Why is my city not listed?

    Because SacWellness works by sorting therapists into cities, I have chosen to omit cities smaller than 15,000 residents. Doing this avoids therapists in those cities getting diminished coverage in search results. For example Gold River is a city of 7,912 (2010). A therapist listed as being in gold river would then theoretically have a potential client exposure range of about 8,000 while someone with an office right next door in Fair Oaks would have a potential client exposure range of 31,000. In cases like this I thought it would be best to just blend the two. If your office is located in an area outside of any of those listed in SacWellness you can choose the option that you feel most people would associate with your location. If you think your area should be included or we’ve made a mistake in omitting it, please contact us at info@sacwellness.com to let us know.

    How are the “featured therapists” on the front page selected?

    The “featured therapists” shown on the front page of SacWellness are selected at random each time the page is loaded.

    What determines the order that therapists appear on search result pages?

    The order in which therapists appear on search result pages is determined at random. As such, each therapist has a chance at appearing on the first page of search results every time a potential client searches for a therapist on SacWellness.

    Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

    Can SacWellness help my search engine rankings?

    Yes! Most other therapist directories do things to prevent you from getting any SEO credit for your listing. We don’t do that. SacWellness can help your site to rank better in search engines in a couple of ways. Click here to read more about this.

    Why do some categories use the word “therapy” and others “counseling”?

    When writing any web content you should do some keyword research to discover what keywords are being searched for. In some cases counseling is searched for more frequently than the word therapy. For example, I ran a search today and Google says that the average monthly search volume for premarital counseling is 9,900, while premarital therapy has an average monthly search volume of 40. So I chose counseling.

    Why do you use LGBT throughout the site instead of LGBTQ, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, or LGBTQIA+?

    According to Google, the keyword “LGBT” is searched for much more frequently than LGBTQ, LGBTQIA, or LGBT+…which I don’t like. It feels like LGBT might leave some people feeling unincluded. But for the purpose of coming up in search engine results, LGBT is currently the best keyword choice.

    If you are niching in LGBTQ or sex positive related issues you will bump up against things like this in your advertising. I’ve had several occasions where my content was flagged or advertisements were rejected because they contained the words queer, kink, or sex.

    Guest Blogging

    How can I write a guest blog post?

    If you are interested in writing a guest blog post, contact us and let us know what you’re thinking. We’re generally open to people writing about anything mental health related and we welcome anybody in the mental health community to contribute, even if you aren’t a SacWellness member.

    Read more about writing a guest blog post

    How can guest blogging benefit me?

    Guest blogging can benefit you in a variety of ways. Essentially guest blogging amounts to free advertising. When you write a post for SacWellness we will feature it on our front page for 15 days and include it in our social media advertising for 5 days. Current statistics as of 12/5/18 are putting us at an average of around 200 views per guest post in the first 5 days. This potentially drives traffic to your site, your listing, and can increase awareness of you and your practice.

    Read more about writing a guest blog post

    Where will my guest blog post appear?

    When you write a guest blog post for SacWellness it will appear:

    • On the front page of SacWellness for 15 days
    • In all of our social media accounts
    • In our social media advertising for 5 days
    • At the bottom of your SacWellness listing

    Read more about writing a guest blog post

    General Questions About SacWellness

    Why is SacWellness so cheap?

    Because barring unforeseen circumstances I’m doing this whole thing myself! That’s a large part of why I made SacWellness. I have accumulated lots of know how over the last several years of building my practice. This is something I can do with all of the internet marketing knowledge I have gained.

    How does SacWellness handle security?

    Security is really important to us. We take several measures to protect the security of the site, our members, and the people who use our site.

    • Our site uses a secure socket layer (SSL) to protect data transferred between users’ computers and the website. Have you ever noticed that some websites start with HTTP, while others start with HTTPS? the “S” on the end of our HTTP indicates that we use SSL. Our site using SSL basically means that every time a person visits our site, their browser and our website talk to each other to decide on a unique encryption code and use that to encode and decode information sent between the user and the site. Essentially SSL means that your computer and our site come up with their own freakin language and use it to talk to each other! Crazy!
    • We use a powerful security program called Sucuri. It protects our site from malicious code, brute force attacks, hacks, DDOS attacks, and other security issues. Sucuri is really awesome in that it scans our site every 6 hours and notifies us of any problems that we can then fix right away. It also provides us with a sophisticated firewall that keeps out potential threats.
    • We use direct methods for handling payments. Payments are handled directly through Stripe or Paypal. This means that we don’t collect or keep any of your payment information.
    • We use multifactor authentication to protect the heart of our site….so somebody would literally have to torture or otherwise coerce one of us to get unauthorized access to the backend of our site.

    Will you consider making _____change to the site?

    Yes! tell us about your ideas ^_^. For an up to date account of the things we are working on, have completed, and are planning on working on, please see our SacWellness updates and changes page