Should a therapist do this, or is it crossing the line?

I don't want to offend anyone who is a therapist or a social worker, but it seems to me that many in those professions got interested in them because they were trying to figure out their own issues, keeping things at arms length offers protection for both sides.

Learn to trust yourself again Bloomschool!
Since you are a male, and your therapist is female, it sounds more like she is "coming on to you".

Bloomschool,
Have you noticed that you already have "cyber-friends" looking out for you, caring about you?
There is no charge.
They willingly came alongside to help.
Even GardenArtist has researched the therapy model for you, and I know that doing that for someone can be time consuming. If the therapy model is working for anyone, it is NOT working for this person, who is scamming you for money, and maybe getting something out of it, (called narcissistic supply?). It is a very dangerous thing to toy with a person's emotions, to say what she did, then 'explain' by saying she is 'mirroring friendship'. This is NOT something professional or therapeutic! Red flags everywhere, as your AC forum friends have said, and I agree.
There are many kinds of friendship. Please don't settle. A nearby group therapy led by a real therapist may help you. However, maybe you are already better, thinking more for yourself, but still needing just a little support?
So glad that you have come by to ask your question. Whether you continue with the online therapist or not, please make the posters here part of your friendship resource.

I should mention that all the therapists comments are done face to face via live video conferencing. I don't think she's evil or anything like that, but she's looking for a relationship and I think that's what she's doing in my case. I've talked to therapists before and never has anything like this happened to me. I did have a friend who was a Psychologist and he told me he almost lost his license because of striking up relationships with some clients. So go figure, we are all human, but it bothers me to be used, taken advantage of in any way, shape or form, no matter how slight or serious it might be. But I am having a hard time judging this particular therapist because I went through so much sadness and grief with my moms death, that I was especially vulnerable and unable to see things clearly. THanks.

OMG---HUGE red flags!!!!
I have a therapist who is absolutely wonderful. In fact, were she NOT my therapist, I could see us being very god friends...HOWEVER....you should NOT have a "relationship" of any kind with your therapist outside of the office. Why is she contacting you and talking about "showing you a good time?" So inappropriate. You seem to already feel uncomfortable with her, tell her you are "good" and do not schedule any more sessions. If you do move to the city she's in, don't let her know and don't contact her.
I don't know her credentials, but therapists are held to a VERY high standard of behavior and she has already crossed way too many lines.

Bloom, notwithstanding or disregarding anything we posters have written, I think you REALLY need to read the article in Forbes, titled "Should Buyers Beware? Hidden Risks In Talkspace's Text-Only Therapy". I can't post a URL b/c it would be deleted. So google the article, and especially read the section "The four hidden risks of the Unlimited Messaging Therapy model include: ...".

It should also be noted, from the article, that TalkSpace in 2015 rec'd $9.5M in investment capital - that's a whole lot of money. And angel fund investors want good returns on their investment, so there's that incentive to make money as opposed to the traditional medical model of healing (or adapting) as the goal.

These observations are particularly interesting (I can't quote directly b/c of copyright issues, so I've paraphrased):

Talkspace wans to be a "disruptive technology" to change psychotherapy practice into a contemporary living style, accessible to everyone. Imagine: "everyone" in therapy. We'll spend all our time psychoanalyzing ourselves and others.

Psychotherapy in my opinion isn't something that should be democratized, like education. And not everyone needs it, so the goal of extending it to the masses is really inappropriate, and in my opinion could be harmful.

Please, read the Forbes article. It will be well worth your time.

She has a fulltime day job as a therapist and building up her own practice. The site is TALKSPACE that she works for.

Bloom, I was curious about how this on-line or text therapy works. One article showed the income these therapist make, and the income was pretty low. If a therapist was good, they would be part of a group and see clients in person. Not saying that the therapist on such websites aren't good, but it does make you wonder why they are working for such low pay. Unless the therapist is using this to supplement their other income.

Red flags, waving strongly. Her approach to "making friends" is not professional. She should be explaining to you and giving advice, not acting as the hands-on teacher.

Get out of this relationship before this woman becomes more aggressive.

The business about keeping her license and treating out of state is nonsense. And what is this "company" for which she works? It's probably just some Internet site with no medical or psychological credentials at all.

Sorry, but I think you're being "played".

Is there a way to contact the admins for the therapy site and ask THEM if they think this is appropriate behavior for a therapist?

As for the license to practice, she is licensed in a few states. Not mine. But she tells me that the company allowed her to keep those clients that reside in states she is not licensed in, but can't take any new clients where she is not licensed after the company updated their policy. Now, I don't know if that is true or not.

Good advice. What I've noticed in the Skype sessions is her face/body language. Once I said that in general at this time I am not looking for a relationship because of the grieving process I am going through. I immediatly noticed that she looked visibly uncomfortable and started rubbing her eyes. So you can reach your own conclusions one way or the other. I have a problem sometimes of seeing things the way they really are in reality.

Bloom, since the therapist has been "very helpful" as your wrote, you can use that excuse to part-ways. What she is currently doing is really crossing the line. Makes me wonder if she is really a talk therapist. Have you checked her credentials?

I always wonder how these on-line talk therapist can treat clients who live out of State. You'd think their license is only good for the State where they have their office.

It is much better to have face time with a therapist. Find someone new.

Bloom, I think I remember you mentioning this therapist before, it seems to me many of us felt she raised a lot of red flags then and this is only a further example of a lack of professional ethics. I'm glad she has been helpful from a distance, keep it that way.