In this episode of Therapists Unchained, Sivie Suckerman interviews Sharon Harper, a licensed clinical social worker and the founder of the Therapist Resource Institute (TRI). The conversation explores and emphasizes the necessity of reclaiming professional autonomy and building sustainable careers through authentic human connection and systemic advocacy while also delving into the Therapist Resource Institute as a national platform designed to unify mental health professionals across all licenses and career stages. Harper explains that she created the organization to combat the fragmentation of the field and the growing influence of venture-backed tech platforms that often exploit clinician labor and client data. The sources describe TRI as a supportive professional community that offers practical tools, such as referral networks and business vetting, while aiming to provide a collective political voice through future lobbying efforts. 

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Sharon Harper, LCSW, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, private practice owner, and the founder of the Therapist Resource Institute (TRI), a national platform created to connect therapists across all states, licenses, and career stages. TRI focuses on strengthening referral networks, providing practical resources, and building collective voice in a field that is often fragmented.

Sharon is also the owner of Sharper Counseling and Sharper Practice Consulting, where she provides therapy, supervision, and consulting to clinicians looking to grow sustainable practices and better navigate the business realities of mental health care. Her background includes work in an acute psychiatric setting, child and family services, and intensive in-home care, giving her a broad view of the system from multiple angles.

Known for her direct and practical approach, Sharon speaks openly about the challenges therapists face—from burnout to business confusion to industry shifts and is focused on building solutions that are grounded, collaborative, and actually useful.

Please check out the Therapist Resource Institute's website! https://therapistresourceinstitute.com/

This episode was produced and edited by Sivie Suckerman, MA, LMHC, ACS

*The audio in this episode is not my favorite. Thanks for your understanding!*

In this episode, host Sivie Suckerman welcomes her first-ever return guest, Nicole Sartini. Nicole is a licensed professional clinical counselor, integrated mental health professional, and a fierce advocate for social justice and health insurance reform based in Louisville, Kentucky. Following up on their previous conversation from August, Nicole shares vital updates on her macro-level advocacy work within the Mental Health Insurance Reform Taskforce, to challenge corporate greed and the monopolization of the behavioral health profession. Sivie and Nicole dive deep into the newly formed 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Build Better Health, and explore a groundbreaking, cooperative alternative to traditional health insurance known as the People Solidarity Fund.

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Nicole Sartini is a licensed counselor, mental health leader, systems reform advocate, and social impact entrepreneur working to transform how healthcare is structured, funded, and delivered in the United States.

She is the Founder and Executive Director of Build Better Health, a nonprofit advancing equitable, transparent, and sustainable healthcare systems, and leads the Mental Health Insurance Reform Task Force, a national, multi-discipline coalition of provider advocates spanning more than 40 states. Through this work, she focuses on enforcing parity laws, challenging harmful insurance practices, and advancing structural reform that protects both clinicians and the communities they serve.

Nicole is also the Founder of the People’s Solidarity Fund, a cooperative healthcare model being developed as an ethical, community-centered alternative to traditional insurance, designed to bring care, funding, and decision-making back into right relationship.

With over two decades in the mental health field, including building a large integrative group practice called Bridge Counseling and Wellness based in Louisville, KY, Nicole has transitioned from clinical care to focusing her work on advocacy, coalition building, and system design.

Her work is rooted in the belief that healthcare can be mutually respectful, collectively minded, and heart-led in a way that puts people over profit and truly serves the whole.
 
Links:

MHIRTF is currently conducting a national provider survey to better understand how insurance practices impact clinicians and the communities they serve. This data supports ongoing advocacy efforts and helps inform more just and equitable policy solutions.

Take the survey: https://forms.gle/bRNdaLhfk9mYZTok6

Clinicians who are interested in learning more or participating in this work are invited to complete the Get Involved form and attend our monthly national meeting. Meetings are held via Zoom on the second Wednesday of each month at 11:00 AM ET and include updates, shared learning across states, and opportunities for deeper engagement.

Get involved: https://bintake-formbh.zapier.app/get-involved

Register for meetings: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/9a3WuXZmRjyxPXNlHRU0-A

Build Better Health website: www.buildbetterhealth.org

Bridge Counseling and Wellness website: www.bridgemndbody.com

Mental Health Insurance Reform Task Force on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MentalHealthInsuranceReformTaskForce

This episode was produced and edited by Sivie Suckerman, MA, LMHC, ACS

In this episode, Sivie sits down with Shannon Thompson, LMHC, Executive Director of the Washington Mental Health Counselors Association (WMHCA), the state chapter of the American Mental Health Counselors Association, to explore and dismantle the typical narrative around professional organizations. Shannon explains how the WMHCA has evolved into a "unicorn" in the field by employing a paid leader who is also a licensed clinician. They discuss the role of professional associations for clinicians, limitations and challenges of state advocacy, the myth of the workforce shortage, how to be more engaged in your local chapter, and why "neutrality" is no longer an option for organizations committed to equity. 

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Shannon is a licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) and a child and adolescent mental health specialist (CMHS).  Shannon graduated from Argosy University with a Master's in Mental Health Counseling in 2006.  She spent many years in community mental health before opening a private practice in 2013.  Her career has primarily been focused on serving children, adolescents, and their families.  Shannon has been part of the WMHCA board since 2016.  She joined originally as a volunteer and was the workshop chair.  In 2018 she became the Education and Advocacy Director and more recently has been promoted to Executive Director of the WMHCA board.

Learn more about the Washington Mental Health Counselors Association (WMHCA) by visiting their website:

www.wmhca.org

This episode was produced and edited by Sivie Suckerman, MA, LMHC, ACS

In this episode of Therapists Unchained, host Sivie Suckerman sits down with Jeanine Rousso, a licensed clinical mental health counselor and registered play therapist supervisor based in North Carolina. They discuss the harsh financial realities facing mental health professionals today—from staggering student loans to the rising costs of private practice—and introduce a beacon of hope: The Therapist Resource Network. Jeanine shares how her 501(c)(3) nonprofit is providing emergency grants to therapists in crisis and building a community to combat burnout and isolation.

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Jeanine Rousso is a licensed counselor in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina as well as an Approved Clinical Supervisor. A helper to her core, Jeanine maintains a private practice in addition to being the founder of Therapist Resource Network. Jeanine recognizes how often therapists themselves are left without the time, space, or financial stability to receive the support they deserve, especially during times of burnout or personal emergencies. In response, she founded TRN to create new, accessible ways to support mental health professionals.

Website: www.therapistresourcenetwork.org

Email: [email protected]

Therapist Resource Network mission: To provide emergency financial support, burnout prevention and recovery, and advocacy for mental health clinicians.

This episode was produced and edited by Sivie Suckerman, MA, LMHC, ACS

In this episode of Therapists Unchained, host Sivie Suckerman, LMHC, ACS sits down with Kim Kabar, LMFT, to discuss the hidden dangers of the "uberification" of mental health care. 

The conversation highlights a harrowing security breach where Kim’s deactivated Psychology Today account was hacked and altered, raising urgent questions about HIPAA compliance, data retention, and the vulnerability of private practice clinicians. Drawing on her background in investigative journalism, Kim exposes ethically concerning policies at venture-backed platforms like Grow Therapy, including requirements for client reviews and unauthorized management of therapist profiles.

Sivie and Kim conclude by discussing the necessity of legislative advocacy and how therapists can reclaim their autonomy through direct networking and independent contracting.

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Kim Kabar is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California and Arizona specializing in trauma, attachment issues, and gender identity. An EMDR and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy provider, Kim is also a second-generation therapist. Her mother, now 87, is a practicing Jungian analyst in Chicago. Growing up immersed in conversations about mental health, trauma, and the therapeutic process profoundly shaped Kim’s reverence for the sanctity of the therapeutic relationship. Before becoming a clinician, Kim spent over a decade as a
journalist, a background that continues to shape her insistence on truth-seeking, pattern recognition, and asking uncomfortable questions about power, systems, and whose interests are really being served. Her current advocacy work focuses on how venture-backed mental health platforms and insurance-driven systems are reshaping therapy—often at the expense of client privacy and clinical integrity. When she’s not working, Kim loves to cook, go on bike rides, and play with her dog, Babette. 

Kim also maintains a blog where she explores the ethical, emotional, and systemic realities of modern mental health care. Drawing on both her clinical work and her background in journalism, she writes about privacy, platform power, trauma-informed practice, and what happens when therapy is shaped by corporate and technological forces rather than human need. 

Website: https://www.kimkabar.com
Blog: https://kimkabarlmft.wordpress.com

This episode was produced and edited by Sivie Suckerman, MA, LMHC, ACS

In this episode of Therapists Unchained, host Sivie Suckerman, MA, LMHC, ACS sits down with Michael Clifton, MA, LPC, LAC, NCC, a brave clinician willing to speak openly about what it’s actually like to work inside the very VC-backed mental-health platforms this podcast has been warning about. Drawing on what he calls “footage from behind enemy lines,” Michael walks us through the shifting terrain of corporate-controlled therapy, including the parts that have helped clinicians survive, the parts that have trapped them, and the parts that should concern every future counselor entering the field. 

With a decade of private-practice experience, a long history of publicly challenging unethical business practices (including a notorious 2017 dispute with BetterHelp’s founder), and his 2025 open letter to Psychology Today about the rise of venture-capital middlemen, Michael offers a rare and nuanced perspective. He breaks down the defining features of these platforms, names some of the unexpected benefits, and talks frankly about why some clients treat therapy like “McTherapy” when they believe they’re interacting with a corporation rather than a practitioner. 

Throughout the conversation, Michael emphasizes compassion for therapists navigating this landscape. He refuses to condemn any clinician who turns to VC platforms to survive. Instead, he names his own daily wrestling with the ethical, economic, regulatory implications of working within systems he critiques. 

Michael lives and practices in Colorado. The majority of his private practice clients are disabled veterans like him. He explicitly does not endorse or condemn any company or service discussed in this episode. He likes poetry, flowers, and long walks on the beach.

This episode was produced and edited by Sivie Suckerman, MA, LMHC, ACS

Hey folks,

This is a very short episode to recognize and acknowledge the current oppressive systems we are facing in the United States. This episode is meant to connect and offer mutual aid to those looking for community during these unprecedented times. Please join us for our next Collective Care Lab on January 28th. If you would like a link to join us, please email me at [email protected], and you can read more about the Collective Care lab by visiting the Therapists Unchained website at therapistsunchained.com

Thank you for being a part of this community.

In solidarity,

Sivie

This episode was produced and edited by Sivie Suckerman, MA, LMHC, ACS

This week's conversation dives into a long-standing issue in the mental health field: the gap between clinical training and real-world practice. Host Sivie Suckerman, MA, LMHC, ACS is joined by clinician and academic Janice Murphy Rising, Ph.D., LMHC, CMHS to unpack why so many graduate programs leave students unprepared for the practical demands of private practice. They discuss counseling education’s leadership gaps, the value of soft-skill development, and systemic support for emerging clinicians.

Janys M. Murphy Rising (she/they) is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Olympia, Washington with two decades of experience. Her counseling modalities include Psychodynamic Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing and trauma informed approaches (EMDR and LI). She is a certified Enneagram teacher and uses their knowledge of The Enneagram to help people understand their wholeness, their deepest motivations, and their soul level resources. She taught yoga for over a decade and is a certified yoga therapist which provides a foundational mindfulness lens to both her teaching and therapy. Her credentials include a Doctorate in Counselor Education (Ph.D.), a Mental Health Counselor License, (LMHC), and Child Mental Health Specialist (CMHS). Janys is also a qualified Clinical Supervisor of post-masters’ candidates in pursuit of licensing. They have over a decade of experience teaching graduate level counselors. Janys has extensive experience with adolescent transitions, developmental trauma, substance use, eating disorders—including binge eating (informed by intuitive eating and an anti-diet approach). Neurodivergent clients, and folks navigating perimenopause and menopause transitions are her current primary clinical focus.
 
www.janysmurphyrising.com
 
Janys has her own podcast where she explores common myths about going to therapy, knowing and caring for therapists in your life, and practices that help people to heal. 

https://ohmygodimatherapist.buzzsprout.com/

This episode was produced and edited by Sivie Suckerman, MA, LMHC, ACS

In this mini-episode of Therapists Unchained, Sivie Suckerman, MA, LMHC, ACS, provides updates about the Therapists Unchained community and thanks listeners for their support. A core focus is building community and facilitating engagement, including promoting past events and two monthly "labs": the Liberated Practice Lab, focusing on business and practice issues, and the Collective Care Lab, offering mutual aid for navigating shared traumatic realities. Sivie outlines equitable, tiered membership options for accessing the labs, including per-lab and subscription models, emphasizing flexibility and affordability to ensure broad participation. Additionally, she encourages listeners to engage with the Mental Health Professionals Equity Alliance (MHPEA), a new 501 (c) (6) professional organization focused on policy and advocacy, in which she is a founding board member.

Please check out Therapists Unchained's website: www.therapistsunchained.com

Please check out MHPEA at: www.mhpea.org

You can also reach out to me at: [email protected]

This episode was produced and edited by Sivie Suckerman, MA, LMHC, ACS

In this episode of Therapists Unchained, host Sivie Suckerman, MA, LMHC, ACS, sits down with Jack Register, LCSW, LIASC, CCS, ICAADC, ICCS, a seasoned advocate and clinician with experience in public policy and systemic change. Together, they discuss Jack’s journey as a registered lobbyist at both the state and federal levels, unpacking the nuanced difference between advocacy and activism.

Jack shares how therapists and other mental health professionals can use their relational and communication skills to influence policy, shape legislation, and drive lasting change in the systems that impact their clients. The conversation also spotlights the work of the Mental Health Professionals Equity Alliance (MHPEA), which brings together professionals across disciplines to promote equity-centered, collaborative policy engagement in the mental health field.

Jack is a licensed clinical social worker and independent clinical addiction specialist licensed in multiples. Jack is also a clinical supervisor, adjunct professor, policy specialist, and community organizer. Jack is the Founder and Clinical Director of Catharsis Counseling Center. Jack is a PhD Candidate at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work at Yeshiva University. 

Jack has been in the field for over 20 years and combines knowledge of direct policy practice with clinical skills and helps to translate for policy makers what the life is of the average everyday clinician. Jack has received awards for advocacy as well as for being a professor. In 2007 social work today magazine named him one of today's most influential social workers. In 2019 other voices, a chamber of commerce program through the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce, named Jack a change agent in the community.

Jack lives in Arizona with his partner and their fur children, the oldest of which, Belle is 30.  

⚠️ Tiny audio gremlins alert! You may notice a bit of mic rustling and a soft ring in and out of this episode. If you are sensitive to noise like me, you might want to turn your volume down a smidge or not use headphones while listening to this episode. 

This episode was produced and edited by Sivie Suckerman, MA, LMHC, ACS