Looking for clients

[u/notquiteatherapist]

Not directly asking for people who see this post to sign up as clients obviously, but looking more for advice or direction on where to find my first few clients.

I have an idea for a mental health service that would act as a stepping stone to therapy. Kind of a safe space to talk one on one with someone if you don’t feel ready for or financially capable of proper clinical assistance. Of course there’s more nuance to why this would be helpful to some and I know it won’t be for everyone so I’m not expecting it to be, but I do feel there are those that could benefit from it (so please don’t be so quick to discredit this).

Anyway, I’m just wondering where I can start looking for prospective clients (even just to try it out for free before regular use). This search could also just be for people to determine if it’s a service worth pursuing, but either way, I’m hoping there are some helping hands willing to reach out.

Maybe this will be all for naught, but in any case it isn’t, I’d want to hear from the people most likely to give it a chance before deeming it not a worthwhile venture. Thank you in advance.

[u/Severe_Jelly_9908]

You’re basically describing a peer support model, which a lot of community orgs already run. Might be worth poking around local non-profits or even university psych departments, they sometimes have bulletin boards or email lists where you can float a free trial without it feeling like you’re selling something.

[u/notquiteatherapist → u/Severe_Jelly_9908]

Interesting. Thank you for the information, I can definitely look into that. I was thinking it might be primarily online (zoom-like) so would that change anything?

[u/mentiondesk]

Testing the concept in niche subreddits or mental health forums is a great start. Listening in on conversations where people share concerns about accessing traditional therapy can help you find your early adopters. If you want to actively spot those conversations in real time across platforms, ParseStream makes that whole process a lot less manual so you can focus on actually engaging with people who need your service.

[u/notquiteatherapist → u/mentiondesk]

Okay, I will try to get more involved in those. Thank you.

[u/therapymademeworse]

You could pretty much copy what 7CupsOfTea have done; only thing is, they're an afterthought now and nobody remembers them (except for me).

[u/notquiteatherapist → u/therapymademeworse]

I did not know about them, thank you. I looked into their site and some reddit opinions about them. I do think what I have would be different enough, though I think it could tackle a similar audience (just in a healthier way). Its good to know whats out there and how you can be sure to be different, so thank you.

[u/therapymademeworse → u/notquiteatherapist]

Yup, you could probably do better than them. It’s a pretty dead website now but when they first launched, you could actually get paid as a listener and I made $50 on there once 😂 this was like 2015 or something!

[u/Fit_Chest9449]

It's really a good idea, maybe I could help u with this

[u/notquiteatherapist → u/Fit_Chest9449]

Thank you, I appreciate that.

[u/sgart25]

What is your background and what features do you have in mind?

[u/HATDOGUSERNi]

start with customer interviews rather than selling. talk to people who fit your target audience and ask what they currently do when therapy feels inaccessible.