What do you think?

no, especially not now when times are tough...

wouldn't that precisely be the reason why people would want to get some heartache off their chests?

Congratulations, you've just invented therapy. Now get licensed and you can monetize it.

Oh, and there's that pesky matter of confidentiality and ethics.

I meant any stranger for a temporary amount of time e.g 20 minutes half an hour.
This way it would be much cheaper since no official licenses or documents would be required.

I know exactly what you meant. And there's a confidentiality hole so big in your idea that you can fly a plane through it.

please explain what you mean

Read it again. Are you offering or looking for this service?

That's what friends are for. Venting.

read what again?
Im simply putting forth an idea for a potential business model. Also 1- many times people are ashamed of their friends opinion of their personal struggles and therefore just keep it to themselves, 2- sadly a lot of people don't have such "friends".

You mean like the online psych services that are already available?

Like this: https://www.talkspace.com/ ?

Similar, but not really.
I mean 1- actual physical contact between two people, 2- it would be a very temporary based service and not one specific person. Meaning each time someone would want someone else they would have to make a separate call for a supporter from the public for a specific set time i.e :30 minutes or am hour.

You would contact such people in the same way we contact Uber drivers.

Ah, then there's an enormous physical safety issue there.

I'm female. I am not going to a private place with a stranger, and I am not unloading my dirty linen (intimate personal problems) in public.

There's also a massive issue with untrained people.

What if the person who wants to talk is suicidal? You've just created a burden for the listener. Untrained strangers will do everything from tell someone the wrong things (oh, you'll grow out of being gay!) to telling them to jump. Don't say that doesn't happen. Someone gets on top of a building and says they want to die, and there are always people who will tell them to go ahead.

There will also be so-called listeners who will use the moment as a prime opportunity to proselytize for their religion.

Others will use it as a dandy opportunity to rape or roofie someone.

Also, psychiatry (not psychology) is a medical profession and the people doing it have MD degrees. Those people need malpractice insurance, but they get insured because they are skilled at what they do and they have defenses.

Your listeners can't prescribe medicine (unless they are doctors for some other reason, and doctors wouldn't do this), but if they open up their bags and hand over prescription drugs (here, I've got some leftover Zoloft. Want some?), they may be considered to be practicing medicine without a license.

I hope your new business model has a healthy budget for insurance—which you will probably not be able to get from a regular provider.

That sounds dangerous. A certified therapist can be $100 hr or mre and it can still be an iffy proposition.

I don't think I want cut rate therapy.

Maybe we need to do the old fashioned thing: develop friendships and relationships with people we can talk to. People used to do that.

First of all thank you for your insights, they were definitely helpful and thought provoking.
Now here is how I would respond to your valid objections, 1- regarding trusting your personal safety with strangers in a private setting, I don’t know about you but people do this everywhere all the time, a prime example would be UBER.
Therefore I’m sure that the same measures that companies like Uber use for social safety can be used here as well.
2- regarding revealing details of your private life to strangers, if you make some research on line you’ll actually find that polls have shown people are generally more open to confiding in strangers than even their own friends and family. This is also the reason why industries such as therapy and psychiatry are so successful.
3- regarding the vast variety of listeners and confiders, it should be very possible to form different categories and groups of who would like to speak about such, and who would like to listen and advise about such. That way the issues you speak of should be very easy to avoid.
4- regarding official degrees, legal credentials, and insurance policies, first of all the can be a clear disclaimer as part of terms and services that the supporters are not legally established and listeners are prepared to deal with any personality ‘A is’. Second of all this is very much possible as is evident in the fields of life coaching and the like.

Seems you are late to the party -

Professional Listeners: Homehttps://www.professionalisteners.com

And while you are at it I think you take it a step further and become a professional hugger

https://cuddlist.com/

There is all sorts of "fad" professions but even these have some sort of training and certifications.

That's literally the definition of therapists. As well as psychics and life coaches and motivational speakers.

And don't forget bartenders. Though they (more likely) wish you wouldn't....

... and confidence men.

Actually it is close to therapy but not therapy - professional listeners simply listen and show empathy without opinion or judgement. They cannot counsel or coach or give a diagnosis or give care.

Basically it is a safe venting place. Nothing more and it is not cheap - It costs around the same per hours as many therapists.

I honestly do not know much about it other than they do get certified and there is a code of ethics; which is good. There is some sort of certification process that my guess would be around what they can and cannot do, because yes, they could get in huge legal issues if they tried anything moving beyond the listening phase and also to recommend therapy or similar if someone is not in a good mental state.

But yeah this guy seems to think that he can go above that with advice; you cannot really do that unless you get something a bit more in that field either coaching or counseling or else you will get yourself into trouble.

Edit [Moderator]: Link removed

There you go. A guy who literally has the same major as the creator of "Dilbert" only difference is that he did not go for another position in another state but decided to wonder the wilderness until he started to write books. Now he resides in Los Vegas ( lol ) wishing he was the husband from "Juno"