mental health therapist

therapist

clinical director

licensed clinical social worker

outpatient therapist

Ellie Mental Health

What is the best part of working at the company?
Flexibility in choosing when you work and what types of clients you see.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Ellie has grown very fast, and that has led to a real disconnect between senior leadership and the experience of clinicians. Senior leadership will say things like "people only think they are too busy because they aren't being efficient" in trainings and seem to have no idea how disrespectful and minimizing this seems.

Ellie is extremely bottom line focused and the emphasis is on seeing as many clients as possible. They will claim this is to "increase access to care" and speak of this as our "vocation" as therapists, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see this is doublespeak for them trying to increase revenue. Never have I heard a discussion from senior leadership in Ellie regarding the quality of care we are providing. It's always about numbers. This approach does not align with my values as a therapist, nor does it speak to the concerns of people who come to therapy. Personally I would rather wait for a therapist who has the mental capacity to be present with me in session than to get in quicker to see a therapist who has been pressured to see so many clients they feel they need to schedule seven clients back to back, and by the time they get to me they are in the midst of a migraine from the strain of being overworked.

This is to say nothing of the fact that Ellie attracts many therapists who are younger in their career, and how these developing therapists don't have the time nor the mental energy to work on professional development due to the high scheduling demands at Ellie. Ellie wants full time therapists to schedule 30 clients a week in hopes they will see 25, and this simply does not take into account the extra time a pre-licensed therapist needs to devote to supervision and professional development.

What makes the high volume of clients required to be considered full time extra difficult to manage is that Ellie's model is based on the idea of a group practice, only the split is much lower than a group practice. Furthermore, Ellie being such a large company leads to there being more work required to navigate this system. Unfortunately, this work is more often than not considered the clinicians' responsibility, which leads to a lot of time and energy spent doing labor that isn't directly compensated, such as being expected to act as a bill collector when former clients have a large unpaid balance or being tasked with navigating Ellie's cumbersome storehouse of PDFs to get guidance on issues with its EHR. This is to say nothing of the fact that Ellie will advertise that it offers PTO, but this PTO does nothing to account for the commission earned from insurance, instead it is at the low base pay for a billable hour. So it is impossible to take time off and be compensated the way you would be had you worked.

Ellie also feels like a very chaotic place to work, with senior leadership frequently making capricious decisions which disrupt clinicians' work environment. A classic example of this was the decision made by senior leadership to fire all of the Twin Cities metro-area clinic directors because they decided to have each clinic director now be in charge of two clinics rather than one. Other than inertia, literally the only thing keeping me at Ellie for as long as I was there was our amazing, supportive, and validating clinic director. Once I knew this person was being removed from a role they had excelled at in favor of Ellie's favored micromanaging type of clinic director -got to keep those numbers up after all - I knew I could no longer continue working for this company. 

Ellie has a very entrenched and permeating culture of toxic positivity, and this just adds salt to the above mentioned wounds. I have often felt gaslit in my attempts to bring up my frustrations and concerns. Ellie wants to talk about how it is "changing the culture of mental health" but at the end of the day it felt more like a therapy mill to me.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Toxic positivity and no interaction with senior leadership. Decisions that impact clinicians work environment are arrived at unilaterally without input from clinicians.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I go into the office, see my clients, and have minimal interaction with fellow therapists and my clinic director. Lots of emails and Teams messages. We are all overworked and constantly in session.

The pay structure is confusing and many new hires feel mislead about the “hourly pay” part. You can only maintain your healthcare benefits if you hit your billable hours, and PTO does not count toward your billable hours so if you’re sick or take a vacation then you have to make that time up somehow. PTO is earned at an abysmal rate; you have to work for a couple months just to earn a day off, especially if you are part time. The earned administrative time barely covers the time you spend on notes and treatment plan updates, so you end up doing a lot of extra work that you’re not getting paid for (more on this later). The only benefit I really like is free the access to all the CEUs. 
Despite touting flexibility, you are micromanaged. Even your time in your office is tracked and compared to scheduled client sessions. By the way, you as the clinician are responsible for tracking this, but you have to use a certain app that is by no means user friendly, so there goes a bunch of unpaid time. You are also micromanaged about hours. You have to fill out a god-awful form before each meeting with your supervisor (again, more unpaid time) that seems designed to shame you if you’re not meeting your hours.
There are so many different apps and programs you have to keep track of just to do your job. Plus there are multiple points of communication that make it feel impossible to keep up. It’s distracting and requires, again, more unpaid work time to manage it all.
It feels like there are constant big changes. People get hired/promoted to a role and then they eliminate that role a few months later. Processes change all the time and so do the people in charge of managing those processes, so you spend a ton of (again) unpaid time trying to figure out how to do just a portion of your job correctly. They give the impression that a lot of changes are half-baked when they are rolled out, so it is hard to feel a sense of safety/security in your position most of the time.
The EHR they use is clunky and difficult to use. It experiences frequent issues that prevent you from doing your job. The client portal is terrible and randomly stops allowing clients to log in sometimes, even when they have all the correct sign-in information. You end up spending - you guessed it! - unpaid time trying to help clients get logged in so they can access their telehealth session or pay a bill.
Some of the people in senior leadership don’t seem to be in those positions because of their ability to be responsive leaders. Rather, their main goal is to force people into compliance through vague threats while offering little support and collaboration. 


I worked for Ellie Mental Health for a year and a half. Unfortunately, this company has gone in a terrible direction and I don’t see it getting any better.

The first and most common issue is pay. They provide an hourly base rate and a very low commission rate depending on your licensure and year of experience. And because the billing system is so awful, you never really know what you’re going to get paid until payday. The company will not pay you your share until they are paid, so that means if there are issues with pending claims, then you will need to wait for an indefinite amount of time. You will also not get paid if your client does not pay an outstanding balance, even if they have ended service. PTO has a low hourly base rate and I was too stressed about finances to take time off. Full-time employees do not have paid sick time, so good luck using all your PTO if you get covid or have a chronic illness.

Second issue is billing, which is closely tied to pay. Long story short, billers work remotely and are not assigned to your clinic, so you will have to communicate with a different person each time something comes up, even if it’s about the same issue or client account. Mistakes with billing happen constantly and if you don’t catch it, it probably won’t get resolved and you won’t get paid accurately. You have to have some understanding of how insurance and billing work for this job and you will get very little support with this. Clients’ insurance benefits are verified as active and that’s it - you won’t know what their deductible is, how close they are to hitting it, their copay amount, etc.

Speaking of support, building a caseload is tough for both new and old clinicians. New clinicians are given priority for new clients, and old clinicians are encouraged to go out into the community and network. The company has a matching system for intakes, but again, mistakes are frequent - from scheduling with two different therapists, scheduling outside of the therapist’s age range, scheduling in-person sessions on virtual days, coding an intake incorrectly, etc.

The EHR system is also non-functional. The treatment plan tool is a nightmare, the system goes down frequently, the note templates are medical instead of for mental health, there are separate tabs for a client profile and client chart, and the client portal is broken.

So yeah, if you’re a therapist here, you’re also a biller, scheduler, and receptionist, and most of your money will go to the company so they can open more locations all over the country faster than they can manage.

I cannot stress enough not to work for one of Ellie's franchises!

A typical day at work involved providing therapy services to clients, which was the most fulfilling aspect of the job. However, the administrative side was frustrating, as therapists often had to handle claims themselves due to billing staff not fulfilling their responsibilities or refusing to talk to clients. Warm phone lines frequently failed to book sessions, often due to confusion around insurance, and verifications were slow or inaccurate, causing delays.

I learned the importance of evaluating franchise agreements and leadership support before committing to partnerships. It also highlighted the risks of relying on poorly managed administrative systems.

Management was disappointing, imposing hidden fees such as high percentages for billing and warm phone lines. They revoked written promises to waive fees for struggling franchise owners and showed little support during financial hardships.

Therapists worked hard to maintain a positive culture and provide quality care, but management’s lack of transparency and organizational support made it difficult to sustain morale.

The hardest part was handling the financial strain from hidden fees, broken promises, and poor administrative support. The abrupt foreclosure of the Cedar Park office with only a week’s notice, while keeping the clinic’s website active to redirect clients, added to the frustration.

Working directly with clients and seeing the positive impact therapy had on their lives was the most rewarding part, despite the many administrative and managerial challenges.

What is the best part of working at the company?
I have had a very positive experience working at Ellie Mental Health. The culture is supportive, collaborative, and much more human-centered than many behavioral health settings. There is a strong emphasis on authenticity, flexibility, and helping clinicians build caseloads that fit their strengths and interests.

One of the things I appreciate most is that leadership genuinely cares about both clients and clinicians. There is room for humor, openness, and real conversations, while still maintaining professionalism and high clinical standards. The team environment feels warm and approachable, and clinicians are encouraged to consult, ask questions, and support one another.

The work can still be demanding, as therapy always comes with emotional weight, documentation, scheduling needs, and productivity expectations. However, the difference is that the expectations feel clear and the support is there. Clinicians are not expected to figure everything out alone.

Overall, Ellie has been a refreshing and positive place to work. It feels like a practice where people are valued as humans, not just as providers, and where there is genuine effort to create a healthier, more sustainable work environment.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful part is balancing clinical leadership with the operational demands of running a growing practice. In a smaller clinic, leadership often wears a lot of hats, including supporting clinicians, responding to client concerns, reviewing documentation, managing compliance needs, troubleshooting billing or scheduling issues, and handling urgent situations as they come up.

The work can feel heavy at times because there is a lot of responsibility involved in making sure both clients and clinicians are supported. However, the stress feels connected to the complexity of the role and the growth of the practice, rather than an unhealthy or toxic work culture. The team is supportive, the mission is meaningful, and there is a genuine effort to create a healthy environment.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work culture at Ellie feels supportive, collaborative, and human-centered. There is a strong emphasis on authenticity, flexibility, and helping clinicians grow in a way that fits their strengths and interests.

The company does a great job at selling the narrative during interviews for therapist positions. But this marketing narrative does not reflect the reality of the organization or the job. Many therapists are very disappointed and feel duped by management. The pay model sounds okay, but essentially impossible to earn the estimated hourly billable rate / salary. EVERYTHING is poorly managed. Clinical directors at some sites are totally incompetent, old school, misinformed, create disharmony, and seldom on-site.  
Therapists are required to complete so many administrative tasks, with NO TRAINING, using iPads for documentation, responsible for billing and collecting payment, and manage constantly changing policies and procedures that no one follows. 
Some therapists are making as little as annual salary of $20,000 because the pay model is not actually feasible. It often seems it’s intentionally complex to rip off actual pay for therapists. 
Right now, the executive leadership is conducting one more re-structuring, once again re-hiring friends and planning changes with no input from therapists. The organization sounds innovative and entrepreneurial, but it’s actually top-down, big salaries and big offices for management and clinic directors, and a confusing & disorganized mess for everyone else. This is just one more poorly managed mental health care organizations that has little respect or regard for therapists, counselors, providers.
If Ellie was serious about providing best care for clients, the leadership team would pull together a team from broad cross-section, beginning with clinic level therapists, the key workers at the foundation of the organization.
Well, in brief, don’t believe the hype, and look elsewhere.

While the pay is good, it is not worth the stress. Do not be fooled by the franchise side of this company as a client access team specialist. You are never done work when you’re supposed to be. They claim to be “flexible” but are not. You will be working in a call center. The calls are non stop. If you think this work from home job would have great work life balance, think again! You may as well go work in an Office. The emailing back and forth between the CATS and providers is is too much. You do not have a direct line to any of the providers so you have to wait for an email. Sometimes they don’t email back at all. They have a lot of quirks to figure out. 
The calls that come in take precedent over any work you have to catch up or follow up on. 
They have this ridiculous policy of not scheduling insurances that are not in the “insurance box” you cannot go by the provider profile notes. The credential team lacks the urgency to keep these profiles updated. Guess what? MORE EMAILS, MORE CALL BACKS to clients.

The patient portal they push on these clients has a lot of bugs and always has an issue with the set up you have to do. Oh and then if they don’t set that up, FOLLOW UP to send the paperwork out.

The job description leads you to think this is something other than what it is. If you like call centers, then maybe you will like it. just want to put out there that this job description is misleading.

Their turn over is usually about 3 months by the way. So that should tell you enough.. 
health insurance is CRAZY expensive. $340ish a month for just health.

The managers talk to you like you’re stupid when you have a question or they don’t answer the question to its entirety. 

I have a lot more complaints but this should be enough. 

While the role offers schedule flexibility, the operational structure, compensation model, and corporate culture present significant challenges for sustainable employment and professional growth.

Key Concerns:  Health  benefits and auxiliary benefits are contingent upon maintaining a high clinical volume of 25 to 27 client hours per week, which can be difficult to sustain due to caseload fluctuations.

Compensation Structure: Pay is tied directly to insurance reimbursement. Delays in internal claim processing significantly extend the timeline between rendering services and receiving compensation.

Paid Time Off (PTO): The accrual and value of PTO are highly restrictive, with compensation rates falling near minimum wage, reducing its utility as a true benefit.

Leadership & Communication: Corporate management lacks proactive communication, frequently leaving emails unanswered. Interpersonal dynamics often feel dismissive rather than supportive of the clinical staff.

Caseload Management: The organization prioritizes aggressive hiring over caseload stability. Clinicians are entirely responsible for their own marketing and business development, often resulting in an oversupply of staff relative to active client demand.Mentorship & Development: The practice targets recent graduates seeking supervision hours. However, the lack of structured mentorship and clinical support makes it difficult for entry-level therapists to develop foundational clinical skills.


Ellie Mental Health is a franchise and different people own them. I can only attest to my experience in this particular location under the ownership of the franchisees. A typical day can be telehealth or in-person. Depending on your availability, you can see up to 8-9 clients a day. You are assigned an office space that you will have to share with another clinician. You have admin meetings once a week with the clinical manager and team meetings twice a month, both paid. If you need supervision for licensure, this time will be unpaid. Administrative time is given 1 hour per 15 clients seen a week, but you may find yourself still working off the clock to get things done. The expectation for full-time is 27 clients weekly or more. You are hourly, not salaried. It is basically a fee-for-service structure, with admin and admin supervision paid. You get paid CEUs and outreach hours you can use to fill your schedule if not full. You get two free T-shirts and a water bottle during orientation. Orientation is only for 3 half days and it is paid. The communication between leadership and clinicians is vague and inconsistent. The location is not secured all of the time and people can literally walk off the street and walk through the building unnoticed through the front door. The back door and alarm system sometimes are not set overnight. You will only see a full caseload if you love seeing kids, can see Medicare clients, or fully licensed and can see Blue Cross clients. Since you get paid an hourly wage plus commissions, if the insurance claims are not filed in a timely manner, you will not see that reflect immediately on your paycheck. 

I'm very lucky to be working under practice owners who are knowledgable, collaborative and continually express gratitude for the work being done by the therapists on our team. Although the Ellies outside of Minnesota are individually owned and operated by different people, I can confidently say that the day to day work being done in my Ellie is deeply rooted in the mission and values of this organization. At the heart of it all, it really is about filling in the gaps of care, destigmatizing mental health and improving accessibility to mental health care; that all started and is consistently encouraged by the corporate team that supports all of the franchises. They walk the walk, and talk the talk. It has been a massive undertaking to branch out to other states through a franchise model. It appeared early on that they bit off more than they could chew and it has been a wild ride being part of a start up group with the backing of a corporate team that had never really worked in this capacity. HOWEVER, in the last year and a half I have seen the efforts to right wrongs, forge new paths and develop smoother systems so that we can all be successful. There are hard days. This is a job, after all. Yet, there are even more really beautiful days. Find your people - meet the director, the other therapists, the practice owner(s) - to be sure that your local office is the right fit for you!!!

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