We the undersigned ask the American Counseling Association (ACA) to end its advertising relationship with Betterhelp and its subsidiaries. Currently, the ACA's website directs individuals to Betterhelp and its relationship therapy spin-off, ReGain. 

Betterhelp has recently attracted criticism, with reports of poor pay for therapists, overworking of staff, pairing a gay man with a therapist who used conversion therapy tactics despite him asking for an LGBTQ+-friendly therapist, reports of poor quality services and privacy violations, paying advertisers a kick-back for each client they referred to Betterhelp, charging clients for an entire course of therapy up-front or continuing to charge them on a subscription plan after services ended, and reportedly sharing client information with Facebook, among many other concerns. 

Most recently, Betterhelp was found to have been advertising using information of providers who were not actually working with their site, telling potential clients that those providers were not taking clients, and then referring those clients to Betterhelp providers. Many of the therapists in question had not given Betterhelp permission to use their information to advertise, and were actually accepting clients, but Betterhelp reportedly referred those potential clients to other providers. 

This scandal lead the National Association for Social Workers and the Clinical Social Workers Association to take numerous actions to protect Social Workers. The American Psychological Association also took action to protect Psychologists. In contrast, the ACA continued to accept money from Bettehelp to continue advertising.

The American Counseling Association's continued advertising and support for Betterhelp is inappropriate, unprofessional, embarrassing, and makes Counseling look bad compared to closely related disciplines. We believe it is beyond time for the American Counseling Association to end its relationship with Betterhelp.

For signers: 

Counselors, members of the public, current/former clients, and other mental health professionals are all welcome to sign this petition. If you are a current or former member of the ACA please mention so below.