I am a master's level clinician with 20 years of experience. BH pays me slightly above minimum wage. I get nothing for no shows and I have 5-10 a week. I think it's unethical to give clients less than 1 hour a session so I donate several hours a week to provide adequate care. I will be leaving the platform once I see my clients through to the end of their treatment.
I was connected to a "therapist" who told me that she was actually not a licensed therapist yet. I dropped her not because of this, but because I could not find a customer support person on the phone when the site was not working to connect us.
I haven’t watch the video yet, but I paid them a ton of money for multiple months- only to never be contacted by my therapist. And they’re still contacting me trying to get me to pay the stupid therapist after I canceled my account and never having a session with her.
I thought about doing BetterHelp but the therapist are rude. People always forget that anyone they speak with could be a potential customer. I use to work for a company where these therapists and counselors used to call in to get professional liability and general liability to do this business. I spoke to so many of them that were rude, impatient and downright ignorant. I’ll tell everyone now my experience from how these people really are because there is no way I want to have therapy with any of them.
I'm a therapist on BH and I've never been rude to a client. You cannot generalise like that just becoause you spoke to a few people that weren't nice to you. I, and many of the counsellors I know, strive very hard to make BH a good experience for our clients, I'm pleased to say I have a full roster and I have a very healthy, productive theraputic relationship with all my clients..
@@christianjackson9298 It was 37 of them I experienced in 2020. I'm not generalizing anything but I feel it's necessary to let others know. Many former clients have their stories but it's not often people get to hear from a person that worked for a company that dealt with verbal abuse from people that claim to help others. I will continue to advise others why I would never use BH. Congratulations on having a full roster and healthy therapeutic relationship with your clients.
my therapist was very abrupt and judgemental and made me cry . I told her she had upset and overwhelmed me but she didnt seem bothered , this has retraumatised me
It’s very easy to switch with your therapist. I haven’t really had any problems with scheduling with mine. Sessions are about 30-45 mins now. Typically my therapist will have a session with me for about 35-40 mins.
I've been reading other people's opinions about BetterHelp and a majority I've seen don't really have much good things to say. I'm not sure if BetterHelp is right for me. I'm also not really sure what to do in terms of getting therapy.
It literally says in their terms of service that it might not be right for you. Any reputable therapist would disagree that therapy may not be right for anyone. So the fact that betterhelp is saying that tells me that they aren't true therapy. More like a bandaid.
$130-150 is average, higher in the Bay Area, Manhattan, DTLA, and other urban wealth meccas, but lower in rural areas. If you're only paying $50 or less, you can bet your therapist is getting less than that. And, BH and other corporations have gotten into managing and exploiting therapists who are getting their hours and not yet licensed, so they are "cheap" and commodified, a resource to exploit. the clincial "hour" is only 45 minutes, because therapists deserve a bathroom break or water break between people, and have to document and bill what is going on, so if you're getting more than that, feel fortunate, not deprived if you're "only" getting 45 minutes. Just an FYI, been a counselor for 20 years and always think paying your therapist cash, directly, is the best way to keep small businesses and therapists who are free to choose the best therapies and techniques for their clients. Think of going to a doctor who gets paid one-third or less what others make, and is told what they can or cannot do to offer you something generic versus getting tailored-to-fit therapies. Support your local people, keep the money in your community, and by all means, use telemedicine, but find someone outside of your insurance. We will often drop our fees less than $130 (a sliding scale) for people who can't afford it, but you get the exact same service as the wealthier clients who pay $150. You get what you pay for, and if everyone is paying $30 an hour, well, we have to see just a ton of clients and get burned out to make enough money to cover overhead like liability insurance (required), licensing (required), and continuing education (required) as well as computers and software/websites and the lights and furniture and rent, etc.
I appreciate your review. Your review has been helpful. I am a therapist for Better Help. However, the information that you are sharing is a bit misleading especially the 4 one hour sessions a month. The platform does not allow me to schedule 1 hour therapy sessions with people. I can only schedule 30 or 45 minutes. I see the vast majority of my patients for 30 minutes a week. If a person is only paying $35 a week for therapy, most likely they are paying for a 30 minute session and not an hour long session.
I think that’s because of a recent change BetterHelp made. When I made this video (and when I signed up) hour long sessions were possible. Thanks for the clarification and for adding your perspective from the therapists POV!
Ok I want to address an issue I have with betterhelp.... what's the purpose of asking if I'm a person of color and this question was asked on the financial aid section.... will I get help or will I not get help if I'm a person of color
I believe they prioritize people of color for financial aid. Not entirely sure this is the case but that was the vibe I was getting when I filled out the financial aid form.
I am struggling financially, have had masterful therapist (out of the box) people with natural skills and high intelligence and I am in need of someone. I know even before I watch this review that there is no way I can go down this path. I worked in "health ahem/care" for 40 years and watched it descend rapidly as greedy (morally sick) corporations began eating up everything in sight. I chased quality care into my own home at the end of that 4 decade debacle and I know that what I used to do now requires a higher degree and clinicians get paid half of what I did with a lesser degree. I also trained outside of mainstream academia because that is the only way to really help people. I just really resent how much folks charge. I can't afford what I'm trained in. So Private (good therapists) are sitting on a pile of gold (supply and demand) while their clients can't pay rent. We are so broken. I call BS on all of it at this point.
I switched due to schedule not working and could pick out of a lineup. I noticed the same that you can't get in 4 sessions because of issues. Joined a group session and the therapist never started the session and can't book another one until a week after.
Yeah I find that immensely irritating. The therapists don’t seem to have any control over it either. I believe it’s an issue with their system. Seems pretty low quality and out of date to me!
It's bewildering to me that anyone competent would accept such low fees ... Or, seems unlikely that you're getting the 'A' team. (Also, psychologists don't prescribe meds; that's psychiatrists.)
Since making this video I’ve tried out a few more therapists and they’ve been less than ideal. Definitely agree that the pricing structure creates a quality control issue.
Okay I see a lot of these reviews and not really made people bringing up the price and when I lost healthcare that's what my therapist went off of I still was only paying $5 per session that was only once a month that's still really cheap it's a good most places so I definitely wouldn't suggest these guys especially if they don't have any degrees in therapy or they don't have any I wouldn't suggest that and I see no claims back in anything for this sorry I would not trust this
Up to you my friend. I talk about the price in my review. In the USA 5 dollars per session without insurance is absolutely unheard of. If you have that rate stick with that method as long as you can!
You are right. There is a licensed therapist shortage right now. It's bad. But somehow we are to believe millions of people can get a therapist through this service no problem. Yeah right. I call shenanigans
I'm not a therapist, but my 2 cents about their hourly rate is that I find the regular hourly rates of around $200 very overpriced. Especially if you work online, because you can work from home. Many professionals in other arguably more challenging areas such as IT, charge $50 - $100. Their work is important and appreciated, but those expensive average hourly rates don't make sense to me. The BetterHelp rates seem fair.
@@halfsourlizard9319 Market forces are affected by perception so yes it actually depends (among other things of course) on how important people think that the work is.
@@asdfafafdasfasdfs Put a different way: literally by definition, if a seller can find sufficient buyers for some good at some price then that good is correctly priced.
I hear you both and I think you both make valid points. To be fair, the therapist charges you an hourly rate for the session but it doesn’t just cover the hour (or more recently the 45-50 mins) that they spend with you. It also covers the prep before and after the session such as note taking, updating your file, researching any conditions, finding resources such as books/articles/videos for you to consume to continue improving, and any other administrative tasks such as billing and insurance. That price might increase of course if they have a physical office and staff to help them with these tasks. If we assume that for every hour long session a therapist spends at least an additional hour doing other things related to that patient, $200 an hour seems more reasonable. Granted a lot of not so great therapists don’t actually do these things for you and that’s when people should switch therapists until they find someone who they believe justifies the price. That being said, switching therapists is pretty difficult and finding one is too. The entire process of having to restart therapy especially when you’re in a crisis can be daunting so it can be easier to just stick with your crappy overpriced therapist out of necessity. And, if the internet is to be trusted, there’s a therapist shortage so that makes it even harder. I suppose one could argue supply and demand, but since this is healthcare it doesn’t seem fair that something so important to people - regardless of whether or not the market price is accurate - is so inaccessible. Interesting discussion y’all. Thanks for keeping it kind in the comments! 🖤
There's a lot of people who seem well-grounded and normal, and end up committing suicide the next day. Honestly, the quote best suits this scenario from Joker is: “The worst part about having a mental illness is people expect you to behave as if you don’t.”
I think everyone can benefit from therapy. When I started I was going through a tough personal time and it really helped me be a better version of myself. But @M K is definitely right. You never know what someone is going through.
**You kept saying the phrase "That being said". If you use proper grammar you will have more credibility as a reviewer. **Usage notes** "That said" is an appropriate truncation of "that having been said", which is correct in that the clause refers back to what was just stated in the prior sentence. *"That being said"* is incorrect since the prior sentence is in the past, and "being said" implies simultaneity.
I'm not sure where you got this notion from, but "that being said" is very commonly used and accepted as standard English. It is not incorrect, look it up.
@@kikones34 I don't have to look it up. It is improper English grammar usage. I am an English major, but you don't have to be an English major to understand the faulty logic in that phrase. It is one of the most common grammar errors used by people who are trying to sound intelligent
@@Sky_Burger88 I agree it has dubious grammatical origin and it makes no sense, but it has been widespread for a long time now. It's used by everyone, not only by "people who are trying to sound intelligent". It has 5.5 billion results on Google, WordReference lists it, Wiktionary lists it, and the list goes on. It has undeniably become part of English already. So, while it may still technically be grammar abuse, it's definitely not "incorrect" in a way that makes you sound less credible or less educated (except for English majors, I guess).
@@kikones34 Okay. You may use poor grammar as you wish and many uneducated people won't even notice, but, there is the other half of the English speaking world who most definitely will notice your common grammar error.
