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Comment by zeroq

2 years ago

Looks like the same bait and switch Dr. K (Healthy Gamer) did. Put a real MD on the poster, and once they sign up hook your customers with people with 3 weeks of "professional training".

25 comments

zeroq

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dr_dshiv  2 years ago

But honestly, that can be a win. A good process (with a person you resonate with) can go further than a medical degree. Personal opinion, based on lots of experience.

  • christalwang  2 years ago

    Thanks for this comment—you've nailed it. The service we're providing in it's very nature is not medical and instead encompasses support functions like accountability, celebration of the member, helping the member feel "seen and heard", etc. Many of our members have not got that from their doctors, nor do they expect it given the doctors role. We advocate for layering the services you need together (e.g. I have a doctor, psychiatrist, coach, right now.) and our coaches work hard to communicate the role of a coach and the boundaries.

    • uoaei  2 years ago

      Providing "not a medical service" but advertising it using explicitly medical terminology appears to be the root of the problem, don't you think?

      If a fitness trainer started throwing around things like "clients reported reduction of sciatica symptoms" you would of course assume they are licensed physical therapists and that you are treating sciatica. They could just as easily say "pain management through exercise" and not get caught in that kind of credential limbo.

haliskerbas  2 years ago

I think calling Dr. K a bait and switch is a bit unfair. They make it very explicit before signing up that it’s not medical care and that it’s just a coach and not a mental health professional.

Unless they changed the onboarding process, it’s made obvious to the user what it is.

  • mollybee  2 years ago

    You're absolutely right about the onboarding process. It's very clear that Shimmer does not provide medical care. I think some people just don't realize that doctors exist outside of medical practices. "MD" is a title earned by completing a medical degree, not a job title. There's no reason to assume someone with an MD is acting in the capacity of medication-dispensing doctor at all times. Medical expertise is clearly relevant for the position of "clinical advisor" for an ADHD-related service. Many, if not most, Shimmer users use coaching as an add-on to first line medical treatments and/or therapy. It makes perfect sense to have someone on board who's well-versed in the medical side of ADHD treatment. Operating an ADHD coaching program without someone knowledgeable in that area would be downright dangerous. I'm glad Shimmer has a MD on their team to cover all the bases.

christalwang  2 years ago

We definitely are not trying to pass as a medical service. However, we do our due diligence to make sure we have medical staff on board to advise us on our protocols, services, train our staff, supervise our staff, and to stand in if there is any escalation needed. We hope it's clear Dr. Anil himself is not coaching and very happy to make things more clear by adding his title to the front of the card.

  • NegativeLatency  2 years ago

    It's absurd to claim that you're not trying to pass as a medical service when you're offering coaching for a neurological condition.

    You can argue medical vs healthcare or whatever semantics you want but if it quacks like a duck it's a duck.

    • pxc  2 years ago

      It's a totally coherent position to hold that the name 'ADHD' gestures at a real thing, but also reject the medicalization of that thing (or, more weakly, that that thing can/should be addressed solely medically). The predominance of the 'medical lens' in addressing cognitive differences is reflected in the language available for naming and describing those things, whether you actually agree with it or not.

      The notion that ADHD 'really is' a neurological disorder and 'really isn't' anything else misunderstands the purpose of psychiatric diagnostic categories like ADHD in the first place. Psychiatrists and psychologists aren't in the business of ontology, and clinicians especially aren't.

      Take it from someone who has it: this is a stupidly narrow way to think about ADHD.

      2 replies →

    • lazyasciiart  2 years ago

      A good school would provide this. Does that make them a medical service? Or is this actually educational?

  • mike_d  2 years ago

    > We definitely are not trying to pass as a medical service.

    > HSA/FSA-eligible.

    Try harder?

    • munk-a  2 years ago

      I don't think that's a particularly fair point - HSA/FSA eligibility is a billing related question. There are plenty of counseling services that aren't run by formally accredited folks that can achieve HSA/FSA eligibility. The billing arrangement isn't particularly relevant - I do agree that it'd be good to be more forward about the fact that you'll be talking to someone without formal accreditation.

      1 reply →

syncbehind  2 years ago

Just recently found about his youtube channel and have found his content to be quite beneficial. Did not know that he'd done this. Can I read about this anywhere? There seems to be a lot of folks who are critical about him.

  • Apocryphon  2 years ago

    I don't know about the details, but even simply from watching HealthyGamerGG videos (which are quite good), the way he pushes his group counseling service(?) using essentially volunteers(??) who are licensed through him does seem suspect. Guess enshittification applies even to internet individuals.