Digital mental health company 7 Cups has come under fire for its practice of creating profiles of therapists in its online directory without the therapist’s knowledge or permission.

7 Cups Founder Glen Moriarty told Behavioral Health Business that the establishment of therapist profiles on the company’s local support service provides a vital connection between therapists and people seeking services. Therapists and other mental health professionals contacted by BHB say they find the practice ethically questionable at best and potentially harmful at worst.

“The local support service is a way of connecting users to local support resources,” Moriarty said. “Local support includes shelters, food pantries, faith organizations, treatment centers and therapists. Therapists are just one part of the local support service.

“We think it is important and a good thing to connect clients to local resources for additional support.”

7 Cups pitches itself as an emotional support service and facilitator of digital therapy. Specifically, it offers conversations with trained “volunteer listeners,” self-guided tools via a website and app, including an AI counselor called Noni, and its directory of therapists.

The company, founded in 2013, is a prominent example of the proliferation of online emotional support and nonclinical services in the digital health space. This and other clinically focused mental health startups have long been a favorite of venture capitalists.

However, the development and the apparent function of the local support service have raised some eyebrows among therapists, who have taken to social media to voice their concerns and frustration.

“Therapists, Google your name and 7 Cups to see whether they’ve farmed your information too,” one therapist wrote. “I emailed them demanding my information be removed and that appears to have occurred. Who knows how many people they’ve diverted from licensed professionals to their ‘listeners.'”

The core concern expressed across the therapists BHB has spoken to, many of whom asked not to be named for fear of repercussions, is that the creation of such a network that is potentially full of unclaimed profiles is that patients will not eventually reach the therapist, further frustrating the already potentially frustrating experience of securing outpatient mental health.

Some have likened this to the “ghost networks” that have popped up within the directories that payers give plan members that are supposed to detail the contact information for in-network or preferred providers.

Moriarty says 7 Cups uses “several sources for therapist emails,” confirms the email before sending the referral, and asks “therapists to confirm that they are the intended recipient.”

“If we are not able to confirm, then we refer the client to another directory where they can reach the therapist in this manner,” Moriarty said without detailing the other directory. Therapists can have their profile deleted by request, he added.

Other therapists, especially those in small or solo practices, fear that their brand and reputation may be hurt if they don’t get the referrals of people who engage with 7 Cups, leaving care seekers with the impression that they were disregarded.

Others say that they have tried to send messages to themselves through their unclaimed profile. Kathryn Ambeau, a forensic psychologist, told BHB that she has done so and that she has had others try to send her message. She says that she has received no message via 7 Cups. She also said that the information on the 7 Cups profile was very similar to her long-deactivated Psychology Today account, another therapist directory, adding that both profiles include her previous last name.

BHB reached out to several therapists through the platform. Only one responded and expressed confusion about what 7 Cups was and said he had no idea he had a profile there.

This isn’t the first time that 7 Cups has faced scrutiny. Last year, media reports highlighted concerns about the safety of the platform after it contracted with California-based public health entities.

Some have pointed to echoes of this kind of a network of mental health professionals in a previous controversy involving BetterHelp. The large digital therapy service facilitator had a partnership with a company called CareDash that engaged in what the National Association of Social Workers called “potentially deceptive” marketing practices involving reviews and referrals for social workers.

“This feels incredibly wrong, and I’m deeply concerned about the ethical implications of this practice,” another therapist said online.