BetterHelpReviews of betterhelp.com

My experience with BetterHelp has been stressful and disappointing. After less than a week, I’ve had to reach out to customer service on a few occasions. When I actually have gotten a response, my concerns mostly go unaddressed. Since I’ve been unable to actually have a session, customer service has not addressed technical issues from days ago, and I am generally unhappy with all aspects of my experience, I’d like some sort of response or explanation. People seek help from these services because they are struggling - it almost appears BetterHelp is taking advantage of these people at their most vulnerable.

This guy couldn't even answer yes or no questions so I could understand who he was before I told him my problems. I figured out within the first minute that he was not going to be a healthy therapist for me. I wouldn't recommend him to anyone.

I would not recommend BetterHelp. After changing a few therapists I was left feeling that they don’t really check the qualifications of the “professionals” they put on their platform. Both of my counselors were unhelpful. The first one didn’t feel empathetic and even judgmental. The second one was completely inadequate and made me even more depressed, she told me I had C-PTSD while as a therapist she is not supposed to give a diagnosis (I found out that through my third therapist), instead of listening to me and giving me real tools on how to cope with my symptoms, she told me depressing stories of her almost loosing a child. The experience did not feel professional at all, she bombarded me with intrusive and unsolicited advice, which felt like talking to a regular middle-aged woman whose solution to any mental health issue is “to be positive and the Existence will reward you”. On the third session she told me to quit betterhelp and book her through her website instead (which was a lot cheaper than the BH fee), but at that point I’ve had enough of her constantly talking about herself and her kids the entire session and so I switched therapists. It felt like she was taking advantage of me, I did not feel welcome to talk about my problems. She would quickly cut me and start giving me completely unhelpful advice. I’m just enraged how such unprofessional and poorly trained “therapists” can be allowed to work with any clients? Does betterhelp check who they employ as counselors? I will be canceling my subscription because I don’t want to support a company that does not take their clients mental health as a number 1 priority and what feels like hires anyone without proper screening.

The therapists on there are not vetted. On multiple occasions the therapist did not show up. I am not talking about one therapist not showing up, I switched therapists and the other one didn't show. As someone who is in crisis I truly expected someone to be there AT THE VERY LEAST. On top of this it offers all these features of having access to your therapist through messages throughout the week, and in between sessions but you can tell many therapists don't read them. Find a trusted therapist in your area, at your local hospital they often have free group therapy programs, DON'T GO HERE. It's truly shocking how well advertised this company is while not doing the bare minimum to ensure vulnerable people are getting the help they need.

Update: Moving to 1 star. Better Help replied to my message and apologized for my experience where my concerns expressed were ignored. They offered to set me up with a new therapist. I have since replied multiple times asking them to discuss this option more and they have ignored me. It is ridiculous that the only time they respond is via a public review website and the proceed to ignore any communication opportunities otherwise. It is completely unprofessional and I feel the service should be ashamed of the behavior they have shown toward me claiming to be a service which provides care and mental health therapy. I am not sure why they keep ignoring any questions I have but here I am. Original: This service is good for venting, but not much else. Therapist always responded to messages. My big problem was that I had a mental diagnosis that I shared with my therapist prior to starting and we discussed frequently together. After six months she told me that she could no longer see me because I had never told her about my diagnosis. It was just a ridiculous idea and if it were true would mean that she pretty much ignored everything I said. I didn't really make much progress with any of my issues. It was difficult to get specific recommendations outside of what could be found via a Google search to work on problems. They left me with no referrals or alternatives. I expressed my concern with this outcome with the site administration but they never acknowledged what I wrote. I only got an automated message that said thanks for your message. It's always easier to just ignore someone because BetterHelp knows that person is no longer their problem and doesn't have to take any accountability then it is to address legitimate problems and show someone facing difficult problems respect.

Downloaded this app which has you pay for an entire month of service up front - almost $300. Told myself the price tag was worth it because the app advertises quick access to your therapist, being able to message them, etc. The app doesn't send notifications, so after going through the entire signup process and then waiting to be paired with a therapist, it has you schedule a live session, which is even more waiting (remember, there's an almost $300 a month price tag here, and for me that ate into a week of that time). The time I put into my phone as a personal reminder was apparently different than the time that was scheduled on the app. Instead of a notification or any type of warning whatsoever (hospitals, doctors offices, etc ALL use reminder calls and texts nowadays. Even my VET does this) I had a message waiting from my therapist that I needed to reschedule, and of course her available times were even later in the month, which means that I paid almost $300 for nothing. No help, no real response from my assigned therapist, and not a single thing this app advertises for such a lofty price tag. Everyone from the ground up at BetterHelp should be ashamed of themselves. This app makes a lot of promises, but only after you pay do you realize that there are strings attached and it cannot or will not meet any of those expectations. I canceled my membership, and I would highly recommend trying anything else before trying this. You want an honest review? Look at the ratings that aren't 5 stars. They'll tell you the good, the bad, and the ugly. After my experience, I'd rate 0 if I could.

Better help has really bad employment practices. It takes advantage of new therapists. In the case of no-shows will only give a miniscule amount. They will charge you the full appointment amount, plus an additional fee, but only give the therapist 15 minutes worth of the fee, pocketing the rest themselves. They charge clients in £s but pay the therapists in Dollars and so get to choose their own exchange rate. It's much fairer to go direct to the therapist instead. Much better off to go direct to a licensed therapist. Edit: I didn't mention coaches. So not sure the relevance of the reply here. And also, zero denial of the rather unpleasant employment practices from Better Help....

They are not upfront that it does not carry over if you do not use a weekly session. I paid for one month and only received two 30-minute sessions. TERRIBLE counseling and customer services!!