A therapy benefit for the solo attorney, built for a firm with no benefits department.
Most solo and small-firm law practices run without an HR department, a benefits broker, or an EAP contract already in place. CEREVITY gives you a turnkey, confidential therapy benefit for yourself and your staff, priced and administered the way a firm your size can actually use it, delivered by secure telehealth in all 50 states.
A solo attorney or small firm can get a real therapy benefit without a benefits department: CEREVITY is a nationwide network of independent licensed clinicians offered as a turnkey, private-pay benefit. There is no group plan to underwrite, no HR staff required, and no insurance claim filed, so seeking care touches no bar file or malpractice carrier. Telehealth in all 50 states; first sessions within 5 to 10 business days.
What CEREVITY is.
A nationwide network of independent licensed clinicians, offered as a confidential benefit a small firm can turn on without building a benefits function first.
CEREVITY is a nationwide network of independent licensed clinicians providing private-pay therapy by secure telehealth across all 50 states. It is not an insurance plan, not a wellness app, and not a state lawyer assistance program. Each attorney or staff member is matched by hand to a clinician, then keeps that clinician over time rather than starting over with a new provider every few sessions.
The model exists because a firm this size cannot reasonably stand up an employer-sponsored health plan, negotiate a group EAP contract, or hire someone to administer either one. Care is private pay, with no insurance claim filed, so there is no plan document to draft and no claims history for anyone, including a bar disciplinary authority or a malpractice carrier, to ever see. A firm signs one agreement and sets a budget; CEREVITY runs the clinical and administrative side.
The structure is the same one CEREVITY runs for law firms of every size, from a single practitioner to an AmLaw 100 partnership, adjusted to what each one can administer. A firm evaluating options alongside a state bar's own offering can compare this benefit directly against a bar association therapy benefit partnership built for regulatory referral rather than private practice.Why a benefits gap is structural, not a choice.
A small-firm attorney does not lack a therapy benefit because the need is smaller. The need is the same or larger, and there is no department whose job it is to solve it.
A firm with one name on the door, or three, carries every function a large firm assigns to a department: client relationships, billing, court deadlines, staff management, and increasingly, technology and security decisions with no dedicated support. Only 41 percent of solo practitioners and 55 percent of small firms even budget for technology, a small fraction of the 90 percent of large firms that do, and most solos handle IT themselves or lean on outside consultants rather than in-house staff. Benefits infrastructure follows the same pattern: there is rarely anyone whose job includes finding one.
The profession's own data on stress is not encouraging, and nothing about it is unique to large-firm practice. In a UCLA Loneliness Scale study of more than 1,600 workers, 61 percent of lawyers scored above average on loneliness, a higher share than engineers, research scientists, or workers in any other profession measured, and professional-degree holders scored meaningfully lonelier than either bachelor's or doctoral degree holders. A lawyer practicing alone has no colleague down the hall to absorb any of that.
of workers at U.S. establishments with fewer than 100 employees have access to an employee assistance program, versus a markedly higher share at large employers. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2025 (released September 2025).
The ABA's own research has repeatedly named the same crisis: elevated rates of depression, anxiety, and problem drinking across the profession, tracked over successive studies rather than a single outlier year. None of that research isolates solo practice as the safer end of the range, and the reasons a small-firm lawyer gives for not seeking care, cost, time, and the fear that anyone will find out, are exactly the frictions a private-pay, unlisted benefit is built to remove.
A standard employee assistance program does not close the gap either, because most EAPs are sold and priced around a mid-size or large employer group, not a firm of one to five people. Nationally, employee assistance programs were available to only 40 percent of workers at establishments with fewer than 100 employees, versus a much higher share at large employers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. An attorney practicing alone is, structurally, in the population least likely to have any workplace benefit at all, which is the gap CEREVITY was built to close.What solo and small-firm attorneys actually bring to the work.
The presenting issues behind the caseload, drawn from CEREVITY's work with attorneys in practices with no one else to hand it to.
Decision load with no second reader
Every filing strategy, client call, and settlement number gets decided once, by one person, with no partner to sanity-check the call. That unbroken decision load is the exact pattern decision fatigue therapy is built to address.
Isolation of the single-name practice
No firm retreat, no associate lunch, no partner who has seen the same difficult client before. A lawyer practicing alone absorbs the practice without backup, in a way leadership isolation therapy was built to reach, even without a title that says leader.
Deadline and malpractice exposure
A missed statute of limitations or a blown filing deadline is not an inconvenience; it is a bar complaint or a malpractice claim. That standing exposure keeps the nervous system in a state high-stakes anxiety therapy is designed for.
Running the firm and the caseload
Attorney, office manager, bookkeeper, and IT support are frequently the same person on a small-firm letterhead. Carrying every role without relief is a direct path to executive burnout, whether or not the firm has a corner office to burn out in.
Comparing against a BigLaw resume
Attorneys who left, or never joined, a large firm often measure their practice against a path they did not take, quietly wondering whether solo practice reads as a lesser choice. Imposter syndrome therapy addresses that comparison directly.
Income volatility and revenue anxiety
A single slow intake month lands on one household's finances, not a firm's balance sheet spread across dozens of partners. That volatility produces a specific, chronic form of anxiety distinct from a salaried associate's stress.
No coverage for time off
Illness, a family emergency, or simple exhaustion does not pause a docket that depends on one attorney showing up. Structured individual therapy is often the only standing appointment on the calendar that protects the person keeping the practice running.
Strain carried home
A practice with no staff to delegate to means the stress rarely stays at the office. Partners and families absorb the overflow, which is why couples therapy is part of the same network rather than a separate referral.
I built this practice because I did not want a boss. I did not realize I was also signing up to have no one to call when a case went sideways at 11pm.
Session formats built for a docket that will not wait.
Three lengths, no rigid weekly slot that a trial calendar will inevitably break.
The steady cadence of ongoing therapy. Most clients spend most of their care in 50-minute sessions.
For work that needs more room than a standard hour can hold. See 90-minute sessions.
For work that needs uninterrupted time to reach resolution. See 3-hour therapy intensives.
Care is delivered in 50-minute, 90-minute, and 3-hour sessions by secure telehealth, nationwide. An attorney between hearings can book a focused longer session instead of forcing a standing weekly slot a trial calendar will inevitably cancel, and a single deeper block of work fits some schedules better than months of shorter appointments. Continuity is preserved because the same clinician is kept throughout, and modality is matched at intake rather than assigned. When something is urgent, same-week access is the norm rather than the exception.
A benefit your firm can actually administer.
A confidential conversation about a turnkey therapy benefit for your practice takes one call. There is no plan to underwrite and no HR staff required to run it.
Start a partnership conversationHow an attorney is matched.
Every attorney and staff member is matched by hand to a licensed clinician, not routed through an intake app and left to pick a name off a list.
The eligible individual submits a confidential intake form covering presenting issues, modality preference, professional context, and scheduling parameters. Operated by CEREVITY directly, not by a broker.
Intake is reviewed by CEREVITY's clinical leadership against the network's active capacity, current licensure footprint, and modality availability. This is the step that does not exist in an EAP.
A specific clinician is matched to the attorney, who receives the match with the clinician's profile, modality, and credentials, plus a direct online scheduling link.
Scheduling runs directly through CEREVITY infrastructure with no phone handoff. First sessions are typically scheduled within 5 to 10 business days of the match.
Care continues on the cadence the clinical work requires, in 50-minute, 90-minute, or 3-hour sessions, without an employer-imposed session cap.
Capability comparison for solo and small-firm attorneys nationwide.
An evaluation framework on the dimensions that matter when a firm this size is scoping a benefit for the first time, adapted from the same criteria we use for confidential mental health at law firm partnerships of every size. Each model has a place; they are built for different populations.
| Dimension | Typical EAP | Executive-tier platform | CEREVITY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Network model | Broker layer between employer and contractor roster | Single-vendor platform, W-2 or contracted pool | Independent clinical network with direct relationships |
| Clinician assignment | First contractor to reply with availability | Algorithmic matching on intake-form inputs | Clinical review by network leadership |
| Intake and scheduling | Phone handoff to the clinician's line | App-based intake and scheduling | Network-operated intake, direct online scheduling |
| Session formats | Standard 50-minute, capped session counts | Standard 45 to 50-minute sessions | 50-minute, 90-minute, and 3-hour formats, no cap |
| Clinical scope | Acute, broadly applicable concerns | Workforce-wide, executive tier as an upsell | Built around the presenting issues of small-firm attorneys and staff |
| Modality fit | Generalist talk therapy | Generalist therapy with some specialty | CBT, DBT, psychodynamic, IFS, matched at intake |
| Reach | National via roster density | National telehealth, roster variance | All 50 states via telehealth |
| Payment model | Employer-sponsored, in network | Per-employee-per-month seat pricing | Private pay, out of network, partnership agreement |
| Firm visibility | Aggregate, broker-mediated | Vendor dashboards with engagement metrics | Administrative reporting only |
| Right fit for | Workforce-wide acute support | Mid-tier ongoing care with an executive add-on | solo and small-firm attorneys nationwide, end to end |
If you are comparing this against a state bar's lawyer assistance program or a generic small-business EAP, our notes on what to look for in a private therapy provider cover the evaluation criteria directly.
What the firm sees, and what it does not.
For an attorney or a small firm's staff to actually use a benefit, engaging with it has to create no record anywhere a bar authority, a malpractice carrier, or a referral source might look. That requirement is the confidentiality premium CEREVITY is built around.
- Confirmation that contracted services were provided to eligible individuals.
- Aggregate utilization at the partnership level, where contractually appropriate.
- Invoicing and eligibility reconciliation.
- Nothing tied to a specific named attorney's clinical content.
- Whether a specific named attorney has scheduled, attended, or engaged.
- What clinical issues are being addressed, or which clinician is assigned.
- Session notes, treatment plans, or diagnostic information.
- Any attendance detail at the individual level.
Clinicians are independent licensed professionals operating under their own licensure and the confidentiality and privacy obligations that attach to it. Protected health information is held within the clinical infrastructure, and the agreements governing it are defined in writing before the partnership goes live. Our notice of privacy practices and privacy policy are published in full.
Clinical records, session content, and individual engagement data sit inside the clinical platform. The administrative layer the partner interacts with is structurally separate from the clinical layer.
Eligibility lists are maintained on the partner side and confirmed at the point of intake. Administering eligibility does not require the partner to receive clinical information back.
A Business Associate Agreement is executed where the partnership structure requires it, and whether one applies is a determination made with counsel rather than assumed. The partnership agreement defines the administrative reporting scope in writing before anything goes live. See also our terms of service.
Attorneys with bar admission or licensing concerns ask early whether seeking care creates any kind of record. The most common version of that question, whether therapy shows up on a background check, is answered directly on our site.
What the first 30 days look like.
The hardest part of a small-firm partnership is not the contract. It is the period between signature and the first attorney in care.
A 60-minute kickoff with your team and CEREVITY's partnership lead. We confirm the partnership shape, the eligibility model, the administrative reporting scope, and the internal owner. The BAA, where applicable, is executed.
Your team provides the eligible-individual list. CEREVITY confirms it against the network and establishes the verification path at intake. Only eligibility confirmation flows forward.
CEREVITY provides a confidential, small-firm comms template explaining the benefit, the privacy posture, and how to access intake. It is written to be received without stigma.
Eligible individuals begin intake on their own cadence. First sessions are typically scheduled within 5 to 10 business days. By day 30 the partnership is operational and a quarterly review cadence is in place.
The business case for a firm this size.
Attorney continuity, client service, and staff retention are the levers, and a one- to ten-person firm has less slack on each of them than a large one does.
Continuity of the practice itself
When the attorney is the practice, an untreated mental health crisis is not an HR issue; it is a business continuity issue with active clients and open deadlines on the line. A confidential benefit that gets used before a crisis, not after one, is referral infrastructure a firm this size cannot build on its own.
Sustained judgment on active matters
Chronic, unmanaged stress measurably degrades focus and decision quality, and burnout's impact on productivity shows up in missed details long before it shows up as a formal complaint. Care that addresses the underlying pattern protects the work product the client is paying for.
Retaining associates and staff
A small firm that cannot compete with a large firm's salary can still compete on how it treats people, and offering a confidential benefit signals that directly. It supports retaining high-value employees in a market where a two-person departure is a much bigger loss than it would be at a firm of two hundred.
Questions solo attorneys and firm owners ask first.
Can a solo attorney actually get a therapy benefit without an HR department?
Yes. CEREVITY is designed to be administered by one person, often the attorney who owns the practice. There is no group health plan to underwrite and no benefits staff required. A firm signs one partnership agreement, sets who is covered, and CEREVITY handles matching, scheduling, and clinical care from there. Start with the get started page.
Is this the same thing as a state bar's lawyer assistance program?
No, and the difference matters. A lawyer assistance program is typically run by or affiliated with the state bar and often exists partly for referral and monitoring purposes tied to licensure. CEREVITY is a private-pay clinical benefit with no bar affiliation and no reporting relationship to any licensing authority. See our lawyer assistance program alternative page for a direct comparison.
Does using this benefit create any record a bar authority or malpractice carrier could see?
No. Care is private pay with no insurance claim filed, so there is no claims record for an insurer, a benefits administrator, or a bar disciplinary authority to access. Clinicians are bound by their own licensure confidentiality obligations, and any governing agreement, including a Business Associate Agreement if one applies, is defined in writing before a partnership goes live.
What does an EAP for a small business or small law firm typically cost?
Structure is agreed in the partnership conversation and depends on how many people are covered and the scope of access. CEREVITY is a private-pay network with transparent fees rather than a group insurance product, so a firm can start small and expand coverage as the practice grows. Standard individual rates are published on our pricing page.
How is this different from a generic employee assistance program?
A generic EAP is priced and structured for a large employer group and typically offers a small number of short-term sessions with a rotating counselor pool. CEREVITY provides ongoing care with a hand-matched clinician the attorney keeps over time, and it is scaled to work for a firm of one as easily as a firm of twenty. See EAP vs. private therapy: an honest comparison.
Can staff, not just the attorney, use the benefit?
Yes. Coverage is defined in the partnership agreement, and most small firms extend it to paralegals and legal staff, office managers included, not only the named attorneys. Each covered person is matched individually and their care is entirely their own.
How quickly can a solo attorney be matched to a clinician?
Once the partnership is in place, matching is typically completed within days, and first sessions are usually scheduled within 5 to 10 business days. Matching is reviewed by CEREVITY's clinical leadership, not assigned by an algorithm, and same-week access is available when something is urgent.
How do we begin?
Start a partnership conversation using the form on this page, by phone at (562) 295-6650, or through the contact page. A member of CEREVITY's clinical leadership will follow up directly to scope a benefit sized to your firm.
Start a partnership conversation.
Tell us about your practice and who you want covered. A member of CEREVITY's clinical leadership will follow up directly and confidentially, sized to a firm your size rather than a Fortune 500 benefits department.
Further reading and related partnerships.
Research, buyer-side guidance, clinical writing for attorneys, and the other law-firm verticals CEREVITY supports.
Research and reports
For firm owners and buyers
Clinical writing for attorneys
A note on sources.
Employee assistance program access figures are drawn from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2025 (released September 2025), which found EAP access at 40 percent among workers at establishments with fewer than 100 employees. Solo and small-firm technology and administrative-capacity figures are drawn from the American Bar Association's 2024 Solo and Small Firm TechReport. Lawyer loneliness figures are drawn from a study using the UCLA Loneliness Scale, reported by the ABA Journal and based on research by Gabriella Rosen Kellerman and Sigal Barsade. Broader profession mental-health context is drawn from the ABA's ongoing published research on lawyer well-being. The structural argument on this page is based on the firsthand experience of CEREVITY clinicians who have served solo and small-firm attorney clients directly, combined with publicly available vendor materials. Specific contractual scopes, including any Business Associate Agreement, are confirmed in writing in the partnership agreement before a partnership goes live. Additional CEREVITY research is collected in the knowledge base.