When I started Two Chairs in 2017, we were a team of three non-clinical staff and a handful of clinicians with one clinic in downtown San Francisco, and our headquarters was a therapy room. It was my hope that one day we'd be able to provide exceptional care for a diverse population of clients across the country, but there were certainly moments when this felt a long way off.
Today, I’m proud to announce that Two Chairs has expanded our hybrid therapy model into Washington State—it’s the first time we’re able to provide therapy outside of California, which is a big milestone for us to celebrate. Anyone residing in Washington can start teletherapy now, and once our downtown Seattle clinic opens later this year, clients will have the option of continuing teletherapy or combining virtual and in-person sessions.
Our mission has always been to build a world where everyone has access to exceptional mental health care, and this expansion is a major step toward furthering that mission. Before we take a look at where we’re going, I want to take a moment to reflect upon where we’ve been.
Diverse care for diverse clients
In our early days, we were limited to serving a smaller group of clients who could easily access therapy at our San Francisco clinic.
Now thanks to our expansion into teletherapy, employing a diverse clinical team, and partnering with various health systems, we have noticed a positive change. Since 2019 alone, our client base has evolved in a number of ways:
- 63% more of our clients are students
- 143% more of our clients are seniors
- 152% more of our clients identify as trans, genderqueer, or questioning
- 13% more of our clients identify as BIPOC (and now make up more than half of our clients)
- 20% more of our clients identify as Black or African American
- 162% more of our clients identify as Native American or Indigenous
- 83% more of our clients identify as Latinx, Chicanx, or Hispanic
Over this same period, we’ve also more than tripled the size of our business, enabling us to provide care to dramatically more people from underrepresented communities and getting us closer to a world where everyone has access to exceptional mental health care.
However, our ability to provide high-quality care to a diverse population of clients can only be as strong as our clinical team.
Since Two Chairs opened its doors in 2017, we have grown to a team of more than 160 clinicians with over 90 areas of expertise, working across 32 modalities and 21 clinical styles. And with 45% of our clinicians identifying as clinicians of color, we are dedicated to continuing to grow and diversify our clinical team to ensure representation, so that every Two Chairs client can be matched with the best therapist for them.
Investments in our clinicians
It goes without saying that the past two years have been extremely difficult on our mental health and well-being, and that is especially true for providers. We believe that high-quality care starts with taking care of clinicians, and we’re building a mental health system that does so by prioritizing their personal well-being, providing opportunities for growth and connection, and empowering them to do work they enjoy.
Clinicians can only take care of others when they’re taken care of themselves. So we make sure they have a manageable caseload, flexibility with when and how they practice, and built-in time for wellness and dedicated programming. We also offer them a wellness stipend to make it easier for them to take care of themselves.
Additionally, we provide clinicians with abundant opportunities for growth. We’ve developed an APA-sponsored Clinician Development Program, which allows clinicians to earn Continuing Education credits, expand and improve their practice, and bring new learnings directly to clients immediately.
And finally, our research-backed matching methodology enables our clinicians to work with clients they enjoy. Because we take care of business, clinicians have a reduced admin burden so they can focus on their clients. And being part of the Two Chairs clinical team allows them to work in community toward a bigger mission.
A focus on quality of care
With our tremendous growth over the past couple of years and our expansion throughout California and into Washington, we have a responsibility to expand thoughtfully and with an eye to quality. Growing quickly in a way that compromises on quality would be a disservice to our clients and steer us away from our mission.
Research shows that a strong client-therapist relationship is the key to great therapy, so our philosophy of care starts with the match. We’ve invested in our matching methodology to ensure clients can work with a therapist who’s just right for them, and 98% of our clients report that the alliance with their therapist is strong.
A strong alliance results in better outcomes: Right now, 80% of our clients are reporting symptom reduction for anxiety and depression in 12 sessions, and we’re investing in increasing that number so that more of our clients can start feeling better faster.
As we celebrate this important growth and progress, I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that we still have a lot of important work to do to realize our mission—and our expansion into Washington is a pivotal step in getting there. We aim to continue expanding to more regions and providing mental health care where it’s needed most.
Entering Washington State marks an important moment for Two Chairs; one that gets us one step closer to building a world where everyone has access to exceptional mental health care. And I can’t wait for what’s next.
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If you or someone you know would like to know more about therapy at Two Chairs, schedule a call with someone from our Care Team today. If you’re a clinician interested in practicing at Two Chairs, check out our open positions.
