Cortica ABA therapy program is using robots to ignore people's boundaries

So first, Niloufar Far of Cortica sent me three unsolicited e-mails within two weeks, including one containing the line, "I hope you take my persistence as a compliment."

Screenshot of e-mail reading: Niloufar Far <nfar@corticacare.com> Hello again! I hope you take my persistence as a compliment. We are still searching for a Licensed Mental Health Therapist who is passionate about supporting children and families navigating autism, ADHD, and related differences.

No, I don't take your persistence as a compliment! I don't have any illusions that you aren't sending your obsessive spam to every clinician whose information you have been able to locate. 

Today, I received an e-mail from Alexa Goodrich of Cortica, clearly written by a robot. It appears that this robot scanned my profile, pulled up certain keywords that don't have anything to do with the job, and wrote this bizarre message. Yes, my work with "low-cost virtual programs and community engagement" certainly aligns with their mission. What? 

Screenshot of LinkedIn message reading Hi Erika, I hope you’re doing well! I came across your profile and noticed your work in evaluations and consultations. It seems like you have a strong background in supporting queer youth, which is really impressive.I’m currently hiring for a part-time ABA Therapist position at Cortica in Quincy, Massachusetts. This role involves working with individuals in crisis, and I believe your experience could be a great match. Your work with low-cost virtual programs and community engagement aligns with our mission. If you’re open to it, I’d love to chat more about this opportunity. Let me know if you’re interested! Best regards, Alexa Alexa Goodrich Senior Talent Acquisition Associate @ Cortica

Once again, I will remind people that the headline of my LinkedIn profile is "recruiters please do not contact." You can't miss it. Well, unless you are a robot. Those generally discard language they have not been programmed to understand.

Screenshot of my reply, stating: Hi, thanks for your message. I'm curious; is there a reason your company uses robots to look for certain terms in profiles, but hasn't programmed them to look for clearly stated boundaries? My headline is "recruiters please do not contact" and the first line of my "about" section is "I do not provide ongoing individual or group therapy services at this time. Recruiters, please do not contact me with job offers for types of services I do not provide." I can only assume that your organization similarly ignores boundaries with clients, families, and collaterals. I will be keeping this in mind when making referrals in the future.

Those who have talked to me about such things (or read my blog) know that I like to remind folks that while I don't support the ABA Autism Industrial Complex, I am also aware that ABA is currently often the only way for families to pay for an aide for their child, or sometimes the only service that will include autistic kids in much programming, especially if they have Masshealth. Until it is abolished and replaced with more affirming services, we will have kids who need to receive some services through ABA and will need to find the least-problematic provider.

Cortica is clearly not in the running for this. They're stalking clinicians and using robots to ignore boundaries. I am assuming they are run by finance people, not people people, and they have decided it's a worthwhile risk to stalk and alienate clinicians in their community if it means they manage to fill a few more slots so they can make money. 

I can't imagine that a company run this way would have any sort of willingness or skills in collaborating with a child's other providers and their community supports. I imagine they've probably stalked most of these providers and sent them disjointed robot messages. As a professional, I of course attempt to communicate and collaborate with all of the professionals and community connections my clients provide me, as this is in the client's best interest. But I am first and foremost a human, and I'm not really sure how charitable and open-minded I am going to be when I inevitably need to contact someone from this organization. I certainly won't be referring anyone there unless there is some reason why it is only provider that will fulfill a particular need. 

Grow Therapy recruiters don't read profiles and don't respect boundaries

Emma Beachy of Grow Therapy has sent me multiple e-mails to the contact info harvested off of LinkedIn (I am using different e-mail addresses for LinkedIn, insurance credentialing, NPI/CAQH, etc. so as to enable me to track such things).

My LinkedIn profile states I do not provide therapy and am not interested in hearing from recruiters. These recruiters are just harvesting profiles that contain certain credentials and are not reading the profiles at all. At least this one doesn't say they read my profile and are sure I would be perfect for their practice! 

I probably wouldn't have posted this one, since it's minimally obnoxious as far as recruiter spamming goes and I get that people gotta make the money and pay the bills, except this person also located a phone number for my practice, which is a bit of a chore to track down. I discovered today that several weeks ago they left a voice message on a mailbox that clearly states it is an information-only line, messages will not be returned, and directs people how to reach me via my website. The service I use unfortunately does not have an option for a true outgoing-only message, so I periodically discover people have left messages that do not acknowledge the outgoing message whatsoever and just say to call them back.

If you are any type of mental health business, you really should be doing better at respecting people's stated boundaries. Also, do you know how many clients I have who absolutely cannot do voice calls due to hearing or other disabilities, who have this stated on their voicemail along with how to text or e-mail them, and who also have people leave messages that just say they need to call back? And how many of the people who do this are healthcare providers? We gotta do better.

(BTW, I do have a line with monitored voicemail that I can give out to the very infrequent client or caregiver who does best with voice calls. But I overwhelmingly find that: 1. People of all ages and disabilities prefer texting/e-mailing for scheduling and reminders and 2. Large healthcare providers in particular seem to be stuck on voice calls as the only way to reach people, which is ironic, since they also are seeing people all day and wouldn't be able to pick up a call.)

 

Screenshot of e-mail from emma.beachy@growtherapy.com, which says: Hey Erika​, Providers we work with share that gaining new clients is their biggest headache when growing their private practice. In Massachusetts alone, providers averaged 7 new intakes from our marketing efforts last month! But growth isn’t just about referrals— it’s about ensuring clients have the coverage to access care consistently. I’d love to share more about Grow’s mission and how we’re helping increase access to mental health services! Would you be open to a quick call? Feel free to find time on my calendar

Naming and shaming: Mental health companies using obnoxious spammy recruiters

Like an increasing number of us, I have added to my LinkedIn profile that I do not wish to hear from recruiters. For years, I have had in my "about" section that I do not provide ongoing therapy and do not wish to hear from recruiters regarding therapy jobs. I do also of course explain what types of services I do provide, and that I am happy to discuss sliding scales and creative solutions for those who, you know, actually have some idea what I do and are looking for something in that ballpark.

The recruiters don't actually read the profiles though, despite sending messages stating they are extremely impressed with my profile and thought I would be a good fit. 

Since the "about" section text wasn't working to get them to stop, I moved my message to recruiters to the headline: 

Image: My LinkedIn profile, showing a white middle-aged person with pink hair. Text reads Erika Shira (Ask me my pronouns) LMHC, MT-BC. Not interested in hearing from recruiters about services I do not provide. Messages from individuals or businesses who ignore boundaries will be reposted publicly.

They kept messaging, so I added "messages from individuals or businesses who ignore boundaries will be reposted publicly" and now will be doing so. I certainly would not want to seek mental health care nor employment with a company that doesn't know how to treat humans like humans, so I will be calling them out when I see them. Honestly, doesn't it seem like basic human decency to browse someone's social media or public online presence a little bit before contacting them? I make it a habit to always do this when messaging people with whom I do not have regular contact; more than once, I have seen that someone I was considering messaging has posted about a loss in the family or something similar that is occupying their mind. I've been grateful to see this so I knew not to message them some annoying question, but rather to send them a message of support if we have that sort of relationship and to leave them in peace if we do not. Some of these recruiters apparently don't even read people's headlines before spamming them, and may be using bots.

Here's one I got recently:

LinkedIn message from Ali Turin, asking me to apply for a job at Charlie Health

Ali Turin, a Senior Clinical Talent Acquisition Specialist at Charlie Health, messaged me with a job listing. The message reads, in part, "Our Creative Arts Programming Leadership flagged your profile as a great fit for Charlie Health..." 

How? They saw the headline that says I don't provide therapy and don't wish to hear from recruiters, yet thought they'd try anyway? Interesting. 

LinkedIn message with my response, which is in the text below

I replied, stating "Is there a reason you are ignoring where my profile clearly states I do not provide therapy and not to contact me with such offers?" I did not receive any reply.

I did, however, receive not one but two e-mails from Ali Turin of Charlie Health, apparently just wanting to make sure I was not interested in working for such a ridiculous organization:

E-mail from Ali Turin, which I detail below

The e-mail reads, "Hey Erika, I hope you're well! I just shot you a note on LinkedIn but also wanted to follow up via email in case you don't check your LinkedIn often," then proceeds to discuss the job listing and has a Calendly link to schedule a 30-minute chat in case I just hadn't gotten enough of Ali Turin.

Another e-mail from Ali Turin and my response, which I detail below

This e-mail reads "Hey Erika, Wanted to quickly double down on my last note, in case it slipped through the cracks. I'm excited to share more about how we have built a world-class clinical team and model. It would also be great to learn more about you (your online profile can only tell me so much!). Are you up for a call?"

My response reads, "Hi, I responded to you on LinkedIn. I don't appreciate the spamming and ignoring of boundaries, though it does let me know something about your company's values in case anyone asks."

So yeah, if anyone is interested in knowing more about Charlie Health, there you go.