I completely agree. To add some details to this from the clinician side — a big part is because therapists in private practice are mostly gig workers. We have to pay for our own health insurance out of pocket, don’t have PTO and don’t have benefits. Insurance based therapists unfortunately end up with around $50k average before taxes (because insurance companies reimburse very little) — then have to pay about ~20-30%. Add the $100k of students loans and therein lies the conundrum.

Insurance? In the age of theleheath it gets easier to find a place.