Read on Twitter
Given how sensitive therapy sessions are, I started looking into start-ups that do therapy via text & then keep the transcripts. But the investigation turned up so much more than I expected: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/07/technology/talkspace.html
Talkspace, a text therapy app made famous by Michael Phelps ads, keeps transcripts for about 7 to 10 years because they're medical records—and data-mines them, of course. But all the other stuff going on there was WILD. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/07/technology/talkspace.html
A Talkspace employee who later sued the company had his therapy logs read aloud at an all-hands meeting "anonymously" but soon everyone knew it was him. Basically your workplace nightmare. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/07/technology/talkspace.html
Former employees said they were asked to write fake positive reviews of the app in app stores, and that the company offered burner phones to do it. The company said it would never do that and that the idea of burner phones was "nonsensical...."
One of the former Talkspace employees still had his burner phone with the fake identity he was supposed to use to give the company's app 5 stars on the App store.
And there was the time Talkspace said that Trump's election had resulted in a "7x spike in sales" because everyone was going into therapy. @Aaron_Krolik pulled the stats on Talkspace downloads. They actually declined after the election.
Talkspace was started by a couple whose relationship was “saved” by marriage counseling. He was a marketing guy, she was a software developer who studied psychotherapy & is now head of clinical practices there. But my story caused a change to her LinkedIn. Didn’t get that degree.
Talkspace's chief medical officer said, “Talkspace has democratized access to therapy & psychiatry by meeting patients where they are in their lives and making treatment more affordable." Former employees say they admired the mission but not its execution. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/07/technology/talkspace.html
Talkspace did not like the story. I have not heard from the company but the founders have a response on Medium: https://medium.com/@founders_22883/talkspace-founders-respond-to-a-new-york-times-article-78d6f5c45c59
And a response from Ricardo Lori who worked for the company and had his therapy transcripts read aloud at a company meeting. https://medium.com/@unloadedone/a-response-to-talkspaces-response-from-the-guy-that-sued-them-bb2245fe87d9
