Why Choosing a Therapist-Owned Practice Is Better for You Than a Venture Capitalist-Owned Practice
In recent years, the mental health field has seen a rise in therapy practices owned by venture capital (VC) firms. These companies often promise fast access to care, but clients are increasingly finding that the reality doesn’t match the marketing. When your mental health care is driven by profit rather than purpose, your well-being can become a secondary concern. Here’s why choosing a therapist-owned practice is a better, more personal, and ultimately more effective choice for your mental health care.
1. You Are More Than Just Data
VC-Owned Practices: Venture capitalist-owned platforms often rely heavily on data collection and digital tools to "match" you with a therapist. Their goal isn’t just to help you but to gather valuable personal data, which can be used to create targeted ads or sold to third parties. In fact, several popular therapy apps have faced lawsuits for sharing sensitive client data without proper consent. They have million dollar budgets for ads and marketing. Its likely how they found you in the first place- you searched for therapy in your area and now you are inundated with ads.
Therapist-Owned Practices: At a therapist-owned practice, your privacy is paramount. The focus is on your care, not on your clicks. Your personal information stays between you and your provider, protected by ethical standards, not marketing strategies.
2. Quality of Care Over Quantity of Clients
VC-Owned Practices: When profit drives the model, speed often outweighs quality. Clients may be paired with therapists who are overbooked, underpaid, or poorly matched for their needs. High turnover rates among clinicians are common due to burnout, meaning you may find yourself repeating your story to a new therapist every few months. They focus hard on value driven outcomes meaning lots of questionnaires and forms to fill out as well as pushing you to complete services in a predetermined amount of time that doesn't take into consideration your individual needs or progress.
Therapist-Owned Practices: In a therapist-owned practice, care quality comes first. The therapists set their own schedules, ensuring they can fully focus on your treatment without pressure to meet quotas. Therapists stay longer because they are valued, supported, and treated fairly, which means you benefit from continuity of care. Therapists in private practice direct your care baseds on your needs. They are often more seasoned, experienced, have access to immediate supervision, peer support and resources that VC Practices do not have.
3. Ethical Standards Without Compromise
VC-Owned Practices: When financial returns are the priority, ethical concerns can take a back seat. Stories abound of clients being pressured into long-term subscriptions they don’t need or being charged for services they didn’t use. VC-backed platforms are also more likely to cut corners, such as hiring underqualified providers or automating responses in place of real human interaction. Have a question about your bill? You are likely to be able to talk to a person, not wait days to weeks to email with a bot somewhere overseas who has no relationship with you.
Therapist-Owned Practices: Therapist-owners are guided by professional ethics, not profit goals. The practice is built around principles of confidentiality, informed consent, and client-centered care. Decisions are made based on what’s best for you—not what’s best for shareholders. You can talk to a live person who works in the practice and is focused on helping you solve the issues you are experiencing whether clinically or with billing or payment.
4. Actual Human Connections, Not Just Algorithms
VC-Owned Practices: While some VC platforms rely on automated tools and digital dashboards for care management, this can leave clients feeling isolated. Have you ever tried reaching customer service for a VC-owned app only to get lost in a sea of chatbots? Now imagine that experience when you’re in crisis.
Therapist-Owned Practices: When you call, email or text a therapist-owned practice, you reach real people. You get support from a team that knows you by name and cares about your journey. Your therapist is invested in your progress, not just your payment history.
5. A Personal Story: When Therapy Becomes Transactional
A friend of mine, Sarah, sought help for anxiety through a popular VC-owned therapy platform. She was quickly matched with a therapist, but her sessions felt rushed—45 minutes in and out. When her therapist left the platform, she wasn’t informed until she logged in for a scheduled session and found her therapist gone. She tried reaching customer support, but after several automated responses and a week of silence, she gave up. The experience left her feeling more anxious and unseen.
When Sarah later joined a therapist-owned practice, the difference was night and day. She had an introductory call with the practice owner, who matched her thoughtfully with a therapist based on her needs and preferences. Her therapist had time to listen, care, and adjust her treatment plan as she grew. Sarah wasn’t a number—she was a person.
The Bottom Line: You Deserve Better
At a therapist-owned practice, the priorities are clear:
✅ Privacy: Your data stays safe and confidential.
✅ Quality: Your care is provided by experienced, supported clinicians.
✅ Ethics: Your well-being comes before profit.
✅ Connection: Your therapist knows you—not your “customer profile.”
✅ Continuity: Your care is consistent, not transactional.
Choose Care That Puts You First
At MACS PLLC, we believe that mental health care should always be personal, ethical, and focused on your well-being—not on profit margins. As a therapist-owned practice, we are driven by a deep commitment to providing care that is guided by integrity, compassion, and clinical excellence.
At MACS PLLC, our mission is to create a space where you are more than a number, more than a billing code, and more than a data point. You are a person deserving of care that is professional, personal, and deeply meaningful.
Therapy should be about you—your needs, your healing, and your growth. At MACS PLLC, it always will be.
Choose MACS PLLC, a therapist-owned practice—because your mental health deserves nothing less.
MACS PLLC is a therapist owned practice as well as a female and minority co-owned practice in Charlotte NC serving clients in the local area in person and throughout NC via telehealth. You can learn more about us as www.mccloudacostaclinicalservices.com
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