Lucas Volini, DMFT, LMFT

@Jamilah | Wellness Queen LMFTA I went down the Charlie Health rabbit hole. And what started with a therapist describing a brutal layoff turned into a much bigger question: What happens when a behavioral health startup scales faster than its clinical mission can keep up? Charlie Health began with a compelling story: founders with personal connections to recovery, focused on expanding access to intensive treatment for adolescents. Then it exploded. 40 states. Major payer contracts. A reported billion-dollar-plus valuation estimate. A leadership bench increasingly populated by people from investment banking, corporate healthcare, growth strategy, and big tech. Meanwhile, former clinicians and clients have publicly described a very different experience: intense utilization pressure, turnover, standardized care, abrupt terminations, disrupted therapeutic relationships, and a culture increasingly organized around operational efficiency. I want to be clear about one thing in the video: Charlie Health does not publicly disclose its later funding amounts or investors, and my theory about growth-equity involvement is exactly that—a theory based on the available evidence and operating pattern, not an established fact. But honestly, that makes the larger question more interesting. Because private equity doesn't have to be involved for healthcare to adopt the private-equity playbook. Hyper-optimize labor. Standardize the product. Maximize utilization. Expand aggressively. Reduce labor costs. Repeat. That model may work beautifully on a spreadsheet. Psychotherapy has one annoying complication: The labor is the product. And when the “labor” is a therapist building trust with a vulnerable kid, clinician churn isn't merely an HR metric. It's a clinical event. This is why clinicians speaking publicly about their experiences matters. One story creates another. Patterns become visible. And eventually somebody starts asking whether the economics of our healthcare companies are actually compatible with the care their missions promise. Big appreciation to Jamilah for being willing to speak first. That takes courage. #therapist #CharlieHealth #MentalHealth #therapytiktok #therapistsontiktok