Partner With Us
Overview
Suffer Out Loud’s Mental Healthcare Scholarship Program has helped over 250 Montanans access therapy since 2019, but growing demand has outpaced funding, prompting a temporary pause on new applications.
We are shifting our approach to support more people and reduce scholarship wait times.
Partnering with pre-licensure candidates and sliding scale providers allows us to award more scholarships to Montanans in need, reduce providers’ marketing needs, and support the next generation of mental health professionals.
How It Works
Scholarships will cover 12 sessions at $50 each, for $600 total. Partnering providers must accept this per-session rate for scholarship recipients for all 12 sessions.
Providers must be licensed, or pre-licensure and working under a licensed provider.
Benefitting People and Providers
Allows program funds to reach more individuals and reduce scholarship wait times
Increases accessibility of ongoing mental healthcare by connecting scholarship recipients with providers they are more likely to be able to afford working with after their scholarship is used
Makes it easier for pre-licensure providers, or those offering sliding scale services, to spend less time marketing their availability and more time making a difference in the lives of others
Connects more people to more providers who may be a good fit—even outside of the scholarship program
Next Steps
If you are interested in partnering with us, please follow these steps:
Review this memo that contains all of the details about partnering with Suffer Out Loud to support our scholarship program
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NOTE: If you are completing this form on behalf of a practice, use these modifications:
“Full name and credentials:” Write the name of your practice, and all credentials held across the team
“Please select all licenses you currently hold in the State of Montana:” Check all the licenses held across the full team
For the rest of the questions, answer with the full practice in mind and feel free to expand where needed in the space provided to share any additional information you would like to share with the Suffer Out Loud team.
FAQs
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No. Scholarships cannot be used for more than 12 sessions, even if a provider would otherwise charge less than $50 per session.
This ensures that scholarship funds have equal impact regardless of a recipient’s chosen provider or the provider’s fee scale, frees recipients to choose a provider based on their specialty and personality fit versus their fee structure, and helps us to accurately forecast program costs when awarding scholarships.
Providers with lower rates will be asked to unused scholarship funds.
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Providers must be licensed, carry malpractice insurance, and remain legally able to provide psychotherapy via in-person and/or telehealth sessions
OR:
Must have completed a graduate education program, are in the process of a post-grad pre-licensure experience employed or contracted by an agency or group practice, and are being supervised by a Montana licensed therapist carrying malpractice insurance.
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Every three months, Suffer Out Loud staff will ask partnering providers to report the number of sliding scale spots they have available as we prepare to release the next round of scholarships.
We understand that this number will fluctuate for each provider throughout the year, and that sometimes the answer will be ‘none.’
We will award scholarships based on the total number of spots available.
We will then send scholarship recipients an updated roster of partnering providers with current availability, including their general specialities, location, and contact information.
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Scholarships will be paid out in one lump sum to providers after the recipients’ first session with that provider.
Providers are responsible for returning any unused funds after the six-month scholarship period has ended.
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Absolutely! If you want to be included in these and other emails we send regarding counseling services, please complete the provider interest form and indicate your average rate range.
We regularly share information about providers with availability and/or sliding scale services with the people on our waitlist.
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Please reach out to scholarships@sufferoutloud.org with any questions not answered here!
Program History
Since 2019, Suffer Out Loud’s Mental Healthcare Scholarship Program has removed financial barriers and increased access to mental health services by awarding scholarships that cover most or all of the cost of up to 12 one-hour counseling sessions with a licensed Montana-based mental health professional.
Since this program started, we have awarded over 250 scholarships.
In February 2025, we paused applications to focus on awarding scholarships to those on our waitlist. We plan to reopen applications in Summer 2026!
Questions? Contact Erika at scholarships@sufferoutloud.org.
We’re also exploring ways to work with providers to offer support groups, skills groups, and workshop series. If you have ideas or are interested, please email hello@sufferoutloud.org.