-They move the goalposts, a lot. The worst example - and the reason for so may of these negative reviews - is when Lyra changed our compensation and caseload expectations in January 2025. I came to work here and see 24-26 people weekly, as in the original agreement both parties signed, and they changed it to always having to be open for 30 people. The change was bad faith and leads to bad care.
-Client acuity is increasing. Sorry Rhonda, but we have to solve your PTSD, financial stressors, and Borderline tendencies in 8 sessions or less, otherwise it'll hurt my metrics and my annual review. But also I can't tell you that and instead I'll just die a little inside when you don't do your assessments or homework and I'm held responsible for that.
-Recording. They won't tell you this until onboarding, but... they record your sessions! Yup, just like when you were in grad school and dreaded it - imagine that feeling, every session of every day. How is this possibly ethical? They also use it for AI development, which has some real issues around ownership of that model, amongst a million other things.
-No shows don't count. Neither do client-side reschedules. Company charges clients for late cancellations and clinicians get zero credit for that, let alone any part of the fee. I had one client pay $300 (one session fee - keep in mind I see a small fraction of that amount), which felt extortionary.
-Zero opportunities for upward or even lateral mobility.
-Huge caseloads. Like I've had as high as 70 at one time, average is around 50ish
-PTO works in a weird way - hard to explain but the takeaway is that you have to take more time than you actually need because of the way hours are calculated. For example, if you have to block off two client appt slots at the end of the day for a Dr appt, you need to put in either 3 or 4 hours of PTO. So they say you have 4 weeks, but it really gets chewed up fast. And you only have 5 days of sick time, so good luck if you have any caretaking responsibilities, like young kids or elderly parents.
-It used to be great, but the company wants to make a lot of money and IPO off the backs of the therapists who were basically told, shut up and take the changes. I wouldn't apply here if I were looking right now and I hope this review saves you the stress and burnout.
-Benefits aren't good - no 401k match, their health insurance sucks.
-They want to be evidence based but also force everyone who comes in into that model. It makes it really hard to be a clinician.
-SO many metrics. Like the number of seconds it takes you to click a notification that a client indicated passive SI on their assessment. It is ticking even if you're in session, which you always will be. A few metrics are very helpful - this many, and about such mundane things, is suffocating. Did I mention 80% of your clients need to consistently fill out assessments and demonstrate clinical success or you are below expectations (luckily never had that issue, but it is stressful to have your performance be almost entirely determined by other people's choices)
