Review methodology
How Therapist Front Page marks evidence.
This publication reviews tools for therapy practices. A review is only as honest as the evidence label on it. We use four levels. If we cannot support a stronger one, we do not print it.
The four evidence levels
- Used in practice. Mason (or this publication) uses the tool in a live practice, and we can point to that. As of 2026-08-19 that includes Headway, Alma, Rula, and Grow, plus Psychology Today (Mason keeps a public clinician listing for Advantage Mental Health). Using a tool is not a winner, a ranking, or a per-product verdict.
- Hands-on tested. Someone here has clicked through the product as a reviewer, with notes, and is willing to say so. We do not have a dated hands-on test file for the other named tools yet. Until we do, those pages stay at Vendor documentation verified. We will not print Hands-on tested as decoration.
- Vendor documentation verified. We are describing what the company says it is, at a high level, and what Mason’s referral materials state. Default for tools Mason refers but has not personally verified in writing as tools he runs.
- Research comparison. A side-by-side of a category using the same questions for each name, without inventing a score. The Headway vs Alma vs Rula page is this.
If none of those apply, the page will say Vendor documentation verified, or it will not use an evidence label. It will not say “best,” “#1,” or “we tested this” as decoration.
What we will not invent
- Subscription prices, claim take-rates, or payroll fees.
- Whether a vendor will sign a BAA, or what that BAA covers.
- Star ratings, testimonial quotes, or composite “therapists love this” lines.
- Commission or bonus dollar amounts from referral links. We disclose that a link is a referral. We do not publish what Mason earns.
- Mason’s firsthand experience with a tool he has not said he uses.
The affiliate disclosure is the public list of referral URLs. Referring a tool is not the same as using it.
Right now we publish flagship pages only where vendor documentation plus Mason’s approved links exist: the tools hub, the Headway / Alma / Rula comparison (Grow named as a fourth used-in-practice option), SimplePractice, Psychology Today, paneled networks, and the disclosed practice-tools list. Standalone reviews of Heard, Gusto, Chase, and Mentalyc wait on facts we do not have. Grow is used in practice; it does not yet have its own review page, and that is not a ranking.
How we handle money from those links is on the affiliate disclosure. How we correct a page is on corrections.