What is Better Help? Why You might Consider Better Help... and why you might consider a local therapist instead!

If you listen to podcasts, the radio, television, or really anything, you've probably heard ads for the popular mental health website, Better Help, or another one of the increasingly popular "big box" therapy sites - Headway, Alma, Talkspace, Talkiatry, Grow, and more. For purposes of brevity and clarity in this blog, I will refer to Better Help exclusively, but the information pertains to all of the aforementioned sites. In this Blog, we explore why you might use Better Help for your mental health treatment, and also why you might prefer locating a more local therapist - such as Caring Conversations Therapeutic Services, LLC - instead.

What is BetterHelp?

First, what exactly is Better Help? Simply, it is a platform for people to seek therapy online. It is available nationwide (in the United States), with licensed therapists from all 50 states. On Better Help, you can receive therapy online via Zoom, via live Chat, or on the telephone. On Better Help specifically you can also attend a group therapy session too (I'm not sure about other platforms, though).

Traditionally, Better Help has not accepted insurance, but in researching this blog I discovered some insurances are beginning to be accepted. They claim that they are more affordable than paying for an in-person therapist (which I mostly disagree with, so see below!)

Why Choose Better Help?

There are valid reasons people choose Better Help. For people needing the live Chat feature for any reason (essentially a therapy session that occurs "live" either on a cell phone or laptop - think old-school instant message style), Better Help does have this feature - health insurance does not cover this, so it would be challenging (if not impossible) to find a therapist that does therapy via live chat that also accepts health insurance.

Additionally, finding a therapist is hard. Many people looking for a therapist have never sought treatment before, and if you Google "how to find a therapist", Better Help is going to be one of the top search results. Simply, its accessible. You can find it quickly, and it's pretty easy to get set up and start.

If you are not going to utilize health insurance, it may be less expensive than a private practice therapist. A membership for Better Help is about $320/month. There is financial aid available. If you are using health insurance for Better Help, it will likely cost less than $320. However, if you need twice-per-week sessions, BetterHelp does not cover this; you will pay extra for each visit over one per week.

Additionally, if you are in a profession where you want anonymity (sometimes law enforcement, clergy, etc. seek to keep their participation in therapy private to their employers), Better Help does not technically require you to use your real name - although your personal therapist may verify your identity via your driver's license or ID.

Seems pretty amazing... why would you not choose Better Help & instead opt for a local therapist

There are perks for Better Help, and ultimately if it increases accessibility, I'm (mostly) for it.

However.

There are several reasons you might opt for a local in-person therapist, or even if you prefer virtual, a virtual therapist that isn't on Better Help.

Pay & Fees

Better Help notoriously pays their therapists an extremely low rate. Why would you, as a client care? Because it means that the turnover rate on Better Help is very high. Therapy is, by its very nature, extremely vulnerable. It can be downright devastating to work up the courage to start therapy, build trust with someone, get attached to a therapist and start to process trauma, work on your anxiety, etc, only for your therapist to leave a few months later - and this absolutely happens on Better Help. While you do run this risk with a private practice therapist, these therapists are usually paid a more fair rate and happens less often.

Better Help also has a no-show policy that charges clients $15 for sessions canceled within 24 hours. While this is fairly typical, and not an obscenely high fee, here's the problem: the fee goes to Better Help, not the therapist. Why? To me it would make more sense to pay the therapist for their time, not Better Help corporate. Questionable financial practices are suspicious to me.

Quality of Therapists

Better Help claims that all their therapists are licensed in the states they practice in (however, as I have linked below, a class-action lawsuit claims Better Help assigns unlicensed therapists to consumers unknowingly). The skill and quality varies widely on Better Help, and personally, I don't trust their "matching" process. I don't have data to back this up, it just seems that you are randomly assigned a therapist. You are able to change if you feel like your therapist isn't a fit, but wouldn't it be better to be matched with a good fit from the beginning? On oth websites (looking at you, SonderMind), clients are matched with a therapist who then has four hours to reach out before the client is assigned to someone else - this isn't a practice for a company that actually puts clients first.

Additionally, if you are looking for a therapist certified in EMDR, or specialized in something specific, you will struggle to find this on Better Help. These trainings are expensive, and quite simply, Better Help doesn't pay enough for therapists on the sites to pursue them. You are much more likely to find a therapist specialized in an area locally or on Psychology Today than you are on Better Help.

Controversy

Better Help has been involved with several controversies:

A class-action lawsuit that alledges that Better Help mislead clients and matched them with unsuitable, unlicensed therapists (read more here).

Problematic data sharing practices (read more here)

There are also Reddit threads siting Better Help as a scam, reports of paying for the service for the therapist to cancel and not receive any treatment at all (here)

Customer Service? Forget it.

Full disclosure: I (Kaitlyn) used Better Help briefly. I actually had a pretty good experience; my therapist was nice and helpful, I made progress, all the good things. However, one day I needed a Superbill. I requested a Superbill from customer service, and they directed me to my billing history. That's all they were able to provide (which means I would not be able to be reimbursed through my insurance company). I also had other questions for customer service which consistently went unanswered or directed to their FAQ session.

I would worry for clients experiencing a crisis while using Better Help. Local therapists will know of resources and crisis supports in the area, Better Help by its nature would not. If your therapist is on the other side of the state, they would not either (of course, this also applies for virtual therapists). Personally, I live in the greater Pittsburgh area and like to be able to reference the Pittsburgh Zoo, Phipps Conservatory, and other local landmarks and have my therapist understand what I'm talking about.

Additionally, and interestingly, Better Help does not require clients to use their real name (presumably you would if you were using health insurance). This increases risk for high-risk clients. And, therapists are not required to respond to emergency messages. If you, as a client, signed up for Better Help and used a fake name and then had an emergency, this would be challenging for a therapist to work with you to ensure your safety.

Cost to Clients

Our practice, Caring Conversations Therapeutic Services, LLC, accepts insurance. The vast majority of our clients utilize health insurance to pay for a portion of their sessions. This greatly reduces the cost of out-of-pocket expenses for clients. And, if a client does private pay, we can provide superbills (to be submitted to insurance for potential reimbursement). additionally, many therapists may offer a sliding scale which could reduce the out-of-pocket fees to clients.

Bottom Line:

Just because a company has more advertising dollars and pays influencers or celebrities to market a service for them, does not mean that the service quality is superior. Better Help has more marketing dollars than any local therapist in Pennsylvania :) ( a guess but I feel pretty confident about that), but that does not mean that you should necessarily go with them or inherently trust them because you feel familiar with them. There are good therapists on Better Help. I had one. But, more often, people are left feeling frustrated and lacking actual treatment or progress.

If you are struggling, Caring Conversations Therapeutic Services, LLC is here to help. Give us a call for a free consultation - 724.201.9815.

This blog is written and maintained by non-clinical staff. Therefore, the contents of this blog should be taken as psychoeducation only and not as medical advice or a replacement for therapy. If you are experiencing a life-threatening emergency, call 911. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis that is not emergent, please call 988.