BetterHelpReviews of betterhelp.com

I paid 59 euros but my session is booked in 2 weeks so it was going to cost me 118 euros to have maximum 1 hour with a therapist. Be careful it can get really expensive really quickly. I cancelled before my appointment because I can't afford so much for hour or less.

I signed up to BetterHelp because I’ve been really struggling with depression, PTSD and anxiety whilst battling cancer. It seemed like a good option because whether I was in hospital or at home, I could do some form of therapy, whether it be a class or my one on one with a therapist. Two weeks ago, I got sick and my health declined very rapidly and I ended up in hospital. I cancelled my session with my therapist and paused my membership. However today I have just found out that the money for another month has just been taken out of my account anyway, even though I paused my subscription and named medical reasons for why I had to pause. Frustrated, I went to look online and saw no evidence that my subscription had paused, and when I went to look at my therapist’s availability, she wasn’t available for another TWO WEEKS, and even then there were only a couple of slots during times I cannot do. That’s a whole month of therapy I have paid for that I won’t be getting. It’s disgraceful! I can’t opt to do group therapy because I have autism and struggle to speak in groups. I have tears running down my cheeks because I can’t believe I’m paying for a service that a) doesn’t actually let you pause a subscription and b) has therapists that take on more clients than they can actually handle and never have any availability. The only reason I’m giving this above a one star is because my therapist was good. I’d have loved to have spent a little more time with her, but frankly, BetterHelp are a service that’s meant to have made my, frankly quite awful time facing a terminal illness easier for me, and in fact have made it much, much worse. I will never use or recommend this horrible, money stealing service that promises so much and delivers absolutely nothing. My mental health is significantly worse for having engaged with this service and having my money stolen.

My therapist was fine, but the company's policy re: sessions that didn't happen is very questionable. Due to technical issues on their end, the therapist did not show up online for a scheduled session. I had already been debited out of my checking for this session, OK. After the technical issues were sorted out, I was issued a credit for another session. However, when I scheduled that next session, I was debited again. The next session did happen, but I was debited twice. BetterHelp refuses to issue a credit, saying that they issued a "time extension". I contacted their support team regarding this. I tried explaining that "There was no time limit, so I don't need an extension. The technical issues were on your end, so I would just like a credit for the one." They still are refusing to issue a credit for the session that didn't happen. You would think that an institution that provides mental health care to individuals would take better care to not blatantly take advantage of them. Proceed with caution.

I had to move this review to a different account for privacy. Watch your money Read below for tips to save a lot of money. It is difficult to summarise Betterhelp in one sentence... There are good things and more bad things. With Betterhelp you can start therapy really soon, while real life therapy in some countries takes years to start. Betterhelp can work for you, but then you have to be able to manage it really well. You have to keep your head together and realise what you want, what your goals are, and keep your therapist accounted for focusing on them. It seems this is more difficult online than offline. Also, you have to realise when to stay with your therapist and when to find another one. The longer you stay, the more difficult it becomes to switch because you have built a relationship. On the other hand, switching every two weeks is not going to work either. Betterhelp seems to be of good use when you experience a sudden situation in life, for the earlier said reason, that this platform will quickly get you a therapist. I think for deeper issues and personality disorders Betterhelp is not a good choice. Therapy-session-wise, the video calls were of poor visual quality. I don't know if this is the therapist or the platform. Audio is okay. There is also the option to chat. I had to use this a few times because of my circumstances. The therapist’s typing was extremely slow. The pace was about 4-5 slower than audio-video, and so those sessions felt short, content-wise. They should have rules or filters for this. What's also strange is that you can pause the membership for 4, 5 or 6 weeks, after which it will automatically resume. The option to cancel membership is a way better one because you are not forced to go back in, money-wise. If you really feel like you still need therapy you can easily start the membership again. The account and conversation is not lost and with some luck you get your old therapist again, or you can find a new one. I spent about 14 months on the platform and at least the last 4 months were not worth it. Regarding the other months I feel like it would have been possible to achieve more in shorter time and have more constructive therapy. I contacted Betterhelp asking for a refund for those 4 months. It was rejected, except the month that just started got refunded. Disappointing nonetheless. Also I was pointed towards compensation in case your salary applies for this. To my surprise I qualified. So you should always try this! Reach the page by adding 'slash financialaid' behind the normal address. Having found this out, it felt really fair to ask for a refund for the missed compensation during the membership. This would come down to a way smaller amount to refund than a refund for the last 4 months. This was also rejected 'because they cannot pay back money'. With that in mind, I cannot leave this behind me without the feeling of having been done unjust. All this time I could have had the financial aid. Apparently the attitude of Betterhelp is that they are REALLY after your money. Meanwhile I have found some websites (that I won’t use for now) where you can book one-time sessions with therapists. I even found my old therapist. This is great if you want to just have a session, say, once a month. Saves loadsss of money. Especially with the denied refund Betterhelp gets a 2/5.

I did enjoy my therapist’s ability to listen and know who I was session to session. I didn’t enjoy the AI-generated questionnaire at the beginning. If healthcare is being a part of the AI world then I fear we are doomed. How can I MCQ my way through my issues? I wouldn’t be someone to be upset and just leave it at that, I think a solution could be a generalised questionnaire with someone human answer the phone. We know that what you can say in physical words outweighs what can be selected in a box massively. Maybe that sounds ludicrous, given the cost of things these days, like hiring someone with a background in mental health equipped for these phonecalls, it’s not easy by any means but changes other people’s worlds. Something like mental health,I don’t think it should accustom itself to a business model. That’s all I have for now

I would of liked to have given better help a good review, but unfortunately I can't recommend it due to its lack of consistency and reliability. On my 4th session I experienced audio technical difficulties where audio from the video call and from the attempted phonecall did not work. I have been in a chase to regain that lost week from credited weeks where after chasing an avaliable week 3 weeks after, which was cancelled on the day. I would recommend meeting a therapist and not paying a monthly fee as any inconvenience will lead you in a constant chase to regain it. I have asked for a partial refund multiple times and am still awaiting a resolution for this incident which happened 3 weeks ago. In response to my complaint Better Help did offer me a fair partial refund. But unfortunately I made the choice not to continue, this was mainly because once you have technical issues, you are constantly chasing that credited week, in which on my experience, after 3 weeks of waiting my appointment was cancelled on the date. So if I wanted to continue I would have to contact customer service again and then wait until I am credited and then book an appointment.

NOTE which Membership payment you tick. Membership is Automatically Renewed + charged, according to which one you choose. Change your Membership by logging into your Account & clicking "Payment Settings" from menu. REMEMBER to Cancel/terminate Your account if you No-longer require the services! BetterHelp state they "offer the option to have a weekly live session with your therapist,..." however even if You Choose Not to utilise a weekly session, payment is still taken by the business by Directdebit from Your bank account - IF you were financially stressed before, you will be worse off because of the business' automatic deductions!

One therapist ghosted me, and the next wasn’t particularly good or focused. The cost of Betterhelp is the same if not more as a clinical psychologist. These people are not nearly as qualified and it shows. Way too expensive for advice that is far too general from people with not a lot of knowledge. Don’t bother. Oh and the student ‘discount’ during Covid was a joke.