I have been a long-term user of BetterHelp and here are a few things that you may find useful when deciding whether it's the right service for you, or not.
Positives:
- There are usually lots of online appointments to choose from and you can see in advance the therapists' offered availability, even before you choose them!
- Their technology offers good customer service team communication and multiple channels to keep in touch with your chosen counselor: written messages, audio and video calls, pre-recorded messages.
- There's an "urgent" option when you attempt to contact your therapist outside of an agreed session, which means that they will try to check in on you asap.
Negatives, and important to note:
- Some of their counselors can be quite rude, plus any of the BetterHelp therapists can cut you off at any time, with ZERO TO NO PRIOR WARNING and without them even having to give you a proper explanation, it can be as vague as "I don't feel comfortable anymore with counseling you." This can be a very traumatic experience, especially if you take self-development seriously. You may never find out what happened exactly and you will need to choose a new therapist right after if you don't want to take a break from counseling.
- The therapists cannot necessarily give you the same time or even the same day each week, it is up to their own discretion whether they would do that for you or not.
- The therapists may put misleading information on their profile before you choose them, without the customer service team being aware of it. For example, saying that they are there for you and will proceed at your pace, however when you are unable to set five goals by the third session with them, you are out and they will do other things while you are talking to them. You can actually see/hear that in the video call, it is heartbreaking!
Pros and Cons:
Bottom Line: Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
