Therapick: Online Profiles of Therapists

We all know them from Woody Allen films and New Yorker cartoons: psychotherapists. They’re earnest, often bespectacled brainiacs who quietly listen and nod in the background as their patients pour out their hearts. Now the tables have been turned by Therapick.com, a Los Angeles startup that lets shrinks do the talking.

The company is shooting video interviews with licensed therapists and compiling an online directory of short profile clips. People can use the site to look up psychologists, psychiatrists, mental health counselors, and clinical social workers by Zip Code and specialty, then watch their videos before deciding whether to schedule a session. “They know right off the bat from watching the therapists talk—their mannerisms, their intonation, those intangible things—whether this person appeals to them,” says David Brundige, Therapick’s founder and chief executive officer. “People have compared it to online dating.”