Marketplace role
Somebody Like Me provides discovery, standards, training, verification, booking infrastructure, and payment support. Mentors publish their own offerings and rates and provide lived-experience mentorship through the marketplace.
Working policy
Clear roles, clear limits.
Marketplace terms for Somebody Like Me.
Draft for review
This working policy must be reviewed by qualified counsel before launch. It is not legal advice.
Mentorship boundary
Mentors offer lived-experience conversation—not therapy, diagnosis, medical care, legal advice, case management, or crisis response.
Verification
A verified badge reflects completion of the platform’s stated training, identity, background-screening, practice, and readiness process. Screening is one safety measure—not a professional license or guarantee of compatibility, conduct, or outcomes.
Activation gate
A mentor profile remains locked until training and readiness are passed, government ID is verified, the approved background-screening decision is clear, and Stripe payout onboarding is complete.
Mentor screening fees
Applicants do not pay to take the required course or readiness evaluation. Applicants who pass are shown the exact third-party identity or screening fee, disclosure, authorization, and applicable rights before a report is ordered. Paying a fee never guarantees approval.
Eligibility and consent
Participants must be at least 13. Guardian consent is required before a minor’s first session. Final consent procedures must be approved before launch.
Booking fees and earnings
Mentors set their published rates. For each completed booking, the mentor ledger records the gross session amount, a $1.00 Somebody Like Me booking fee, the actual Stripe processing fee, refunds or disputes, and the mentor’s resulting net earnings. The mentor sees this breakdown in the dashboard before payout.
Conduct and boundaries
Participants and mentors may not use the service to arrange unapproved private contact, social media connection, recording, harassment, or unsafe activity.
Third-party services
Identity verification, background screening, account services, scheduling, Stripe Connect payment, video, and forms will be provided by approved third parties whose terms and privacy practices also apply.