Your role as a psychologist at Instahelp

You fill out our online form and submit your documents to us. After we review your qualifications, we’ll schedule a personal meeting to discuss the details of your self-employed work. Once you’ve decided to partner with us, you’ll sign an open-ended partnership agreement with Instahelp and register for the mandatory “Online Counselling” certification course offered by Sigmund Freud Private University (SFU). In parallel with the SFU course, you’ll be introduced to the platform and quality management through three Instahelp tutorials. After approximately 10–12 weeks (including completion of the course and up to 5 supervised sessions), your Instahelp profile will be fully activated for counselling sessions. You can find the start date for the next course in the information folder.

Yes, you are self-employed. An open-ended cooperation and partnership agreement will be entered into between you and Instahelp, which either party may terminate at the end of any month with two months’ notice. You are also responsible for obtaining the professional liability insurance required before you begin providing counselling.

You have complete freedom to set your own work hours and schedule your time off. You simply enter your availability and time off on the platform. Clients can take a break during your time off or be temporarily supported by other psychologists through the Instahelp platform.

Clients choose their own psychologists based on areas of expertise and availability. Once a client has selected you, you’ll contact them within 24 hours to begin online therapy or psychological counselling; the initial session usually takes place within 7 days. Psychologists typically work with between 5 and 35 clients through the platform. We estimate an average minimum availability for 5 clients, but you can adjust your availability at any time in your profile.

Instahelp’s goal is to facilitate lasting change for clients through online therapy and psychological counselling. This change generally does not result from a single session, but rather (when professionally appropriate) from a structured counselling/treatment process spanning multiple sessions, which enables lasting success through process-oriented solution-focused work. That is why we view online therapy and psychological counselling at Instahelp as a supportive process rather than a one-time interaction, and we expect you to plan your counselling sessions with a process-oriented approach from the start and to support your clients continuously over an extended period of time.

Online therapy and psychological counselling are provided in compliance with the GDPR via the Instahelp tool, flexibly through video calls or phone calls. You can also use text chat for supplementary communication. In addition, digital interventions are available to you, and you can, for example, provide your own exercises.

Your fee is based on the number of clients you serve. We focus on scientifically proven, sustainable change through long-term support (at least 6 weeks or longer) rather than one-time sessions. Since we don’t assign clients, your workload is entirely up to you: By actively and independently supporting your clients and creating an appealing profile (a friendly introductory video, a compelling brief description, and a professional overview of your areas of expertise), you’ll ensure a steady workload and a financially reliable fee structure for yourself.

You’ll receive a detailed monthly statement, and your fees will be transferred directly to your bank account. Instahelp retains a fair service fee. This covers platform usage, client acquisition (marketing), automated billing, support, and continuing education and supervision services.

Important: Psychologists based outside of Austria must provide a VAT ID number for the reverse-charge procedure regarding the service fee; psychological counselling services themselves are exempt from VAT in Austria.

You’ll use a platform developed in-house by Instahelp that is GDPR-compliant and features state-of-the-art end-to-end encryption, with servers located in the EU - and you won’t have any ongoing costs for running your own (online) practice or for marketing. In addition, you can use the secure Instahelp online practice free of charge for your private clients.

You’ll become part of a network of over 400 psychologists. The support team is available to help with technical questions, and for professional inquiries, you can turn to the group practice forum as well as intervision and supervision.