The psychologists 'riders' after La Llorería de Malasaña: "I charged 37 euros a month and lived attached to my mobile like an Uber"

• Opinion I would cry by Juan Diego Madueño

Sunday, October 17, 2021, Malasaña: groups of young people wait in one-hour queues to enter an establishment with neon lights and fuchsia lighting that has become the fashionable place. This is not a bar or a nightclub. It is "a space to make mental health visible and normalize going to the psychologist" that TherapyChat has set up to promote itself. An application backed by a capital of 5 million euros that

Glovo

with six years of university behind them.

March 2020, Usera.

Ana receives a transfer of

with TherapyChat.

The amount is for 4 hours of consultation that the platform has paid

.

Some sessions for which patients paid between 176 and 136 euros (between 44 and 34 euros per session, depending on whether they are contracted individually or with a voucher, as recorded on their website).

On average, according to a study by Mundo Psicólogos, one hour of a psychologist costs 50.50 euros in Madrid.

"That was my worst month," he laments.

.

Job offers with salaries that multiply in recent days

Meanwhile, sources from

explain to EL MUNDO that, "the fees that psychologists receive from their patients for their services are around

". A remuneration higher even than the price at which each consultation paid with a "Bimonthly Plan" is offered (34 euros per session) and that of each consultation in the "Monthly Plan" (39 euros per session), according to the figures on its own website .

However, they

that "

, similar to the expenses incurred by a psychologist in traditional offline therapy, such as renting an office, supplies, etc." without specifying the amount of said cost.

A

between 36 and 48 euros per hour currently shown in an offer available on infojobs.

An offer that, however,

.

On the first Saturday of La Llorería (as of October 16) the offer showed a salary range between 12 and 24 gross euros per hour. However, on October 17, said offer was updated

and by two at the upper end. A

that

on Twitter and other networks about the working conditions of these psychologists, during which the minimum experience required for the position was also changed from "at least one year" to "at least 3 years. ".

Likewise, from the application they assure that "psychologists use TherapyChat as an

c

in which to treat their patients, since many also offer their services on other online platforms, or work in a psychology center or in their own private practice ".

It is forbidden to "limit professional fees"

Ana - who has asked to use a pseudonym - has a degree in psychology and has a two-year qualifying master's degree, like all the professionals on the platform. After the media success of

, he spoke with EL MUNDO to tell how he experienced this business model firsthand for almost six months:

he laments. A testimony that coincides with the one that other employees and former employees have expressed to this newspaper and on social networks.

"The job offers in

are in the bag of the College of Psychologists of Madrid. They caught me after the process and told me that it was mandatory for

employed person, to pay

and my fees of collegiate ", remembers.

In this sense, the College explains that

adheres to its code of conduct and recalls that, since 2010, the National Markets and Competition Commission "

" on understanding that it goes against the free market.

Likewise, from TherpyChat they indicate that on their platform "the figure under which psychologists offer their services to their patients is that of an

, similar to how a significant number of them carry out their activity outside of TherapyChat".

Notification system

After all the interviews and the bureaucracy completed, the psychologists are registered on the platform.

From that moment, like Uber drivers, they should be

warning that there is a new patient.

"Notifications can jump at any time.

. Sometimes days go by without jumping and sometimes 8 jump in three hours. Notifications that show us several at the same time, so you have to be stuck to the mobile all the time like an Uber and run to be the first to accept, "recalls Ana.

When a psychologist accepts the patient, he knows very little about him: name, sex, age and self-diagnosis of what he thinks is wrong.

"For not knowing,

because if you do not manage to retain him and pay for future sessions, you do not see a euro," he says.

Upon completion of consultations, patients must rate their therapist.

"They have to give you from one to five stars according to their degree of satisfaction. Based on that score and

and they offer you new notifications or they block you," says Ana.

On the contrary,

assures that they are "a complementary platform to the face-to-face activity" and that "there is no obligation to be aware of the mobile, but it

and attend them or not at the times when it is available" .

Five million euros of capital increase

In addition to its cheap prices and the convenience of telematic consultations, the success of the TherapyChat model corresponds to a skillful use of marketing (with coups such as La Llorería and the support of

) and a

.

In fact, the TherapyChat platform itself is a registered trademark.

, which is the one who makes the payments to the self-employed psychologists.

Altania del Mar SL, in turn, belongs to NextChance Invest SL, behind which

, who has carried out famous operations in La Nevera Roja or Billionhands.

The business behind the Llorería awakens the investor appetite.

In fact, TherapyChat received a

euros

three months ago

with the intention of expanding internationally.

"My self-esteem is not measured in likes"

Meanwhile, TherapyChat's commitment to opening La Llorería in Malasaña seems to have paid off: the queues exceeded one hour and the opening of this space was received with a trending topic on twitter, more than 1,000 posts on Instagram and

.

An impact on social networks that is partly explained by

.

"After eating an hour in line, a friend and I entered to

whom we did not know," the psychologist and illustrator Pablo de Occimorons told EL MUNDO.

"Upon arrival they explained to us who they were on TherapyChat and they

but at the same time you found messages like

written on mirrors in which to take photos".

During the tour there were different rooms with objects to interact with accompanied by messages such as

"being bad is fine", "6 psychologists for every 100,000 inhabitants" or "I also have anxiety" along with which the visitors were photographed.

"The messages weren't bad but they were meaningless.

. It was strange and I think they could even generate frustration among some people," says Pablo.

One of the things that surprised him the most is that, instead of finding a reflective or didactic

,

.

"The

throughout the visit, it seemed like a theme park to take photos. One of the boys who was with us jumped into the ball tub and we laughed. We laughed throughout the visit," he says.

A jovial atmosphere of which the photos uploaded by users to Instagram testify and that Pablo, as a health professional, was surprised.

"

. An exhibition of this type should not be to laugh or fool you. We are in a country with

" he recalls.

Some criticisms of frivolity that other users also expressed through digital platforms and that were expressed by many users on networks when La Llorería became a Trending Topic.

Meanwhile, from TherapyChat they state that "

: that is, the visibility and awareness of the importance of mental health today" through an experience that intended to "normalize asking for psychological help ".

A help provided by professional psychologists with a degree and a master's degree behind them.

The first consultation is free.

For the rest of the sessions, the psychologist will charge

for the use of its platform and technology" that the app keeps), depending on the version of

or

, depending on

.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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