Their business model is one big scam. You don't pay per-session, you pay per-month. Thus, they oversubscribe their "therapists" (who are almost all independent contractors doing BH as their side gig), and so the incentive is encourage you to book as infrequently as possible.
Once you take that into account, it ends up being as expensive or more than a traditional therapist.
I tried two competitors. Both were horrible. Thirty minute sessions, where the "therapist" did all the talking, and then occasionally gave a PDF worksheet. Apparently this is "cognitive behavioral therapy".
I tried TalkSpace twice. My favorite experience was when I texted the "therapist" and got back -- and let me quote in full -- "That's a lot. Can you fill out this worksheet, and do this self-assessment?" (This would be the same assessment I had done four times prior. And the worksheet looked like it came from the chummiest chumsite on the web. There was even a URL on the bottom, where she had just clicked "Print | Save to PDF".
I tried Cerebral, and its "therapists" were equally worthless. However, the "prescriber" gave me an SSRI (shockingly fast), which actually helped.
Cerebral felt like a pill mill, and apparently the DOJ also thinks so. https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/9/23063356/cerebral-teleheal...
I know several people, myself included, who have found their service very valuable.
The overwhelming majority of therapists in my town are not on contract with my HMO. I tried two different therapists who did, and it was so bad you couldn't have paid me to go back.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90631941/we-have-never-seen-such...
The therapists were also no very good, talking themselves all the time.
And now this. I wouldn’t touch it with a ten feet pole and request my data to be deleted (if we can still trust them to do so)
One of the hardest parts of starting therapy is finding a therapist who's a good match for you. And it's a lot of work to find therapists, schedule, have an awkward conversation after a first session about whether you'll have a second...
So even if it winds up being the same price or even more, it could still be a net benefit in terms of being an efficient and anxiety-free way of finding a therapist who's a good match. Or even just the right therapy modality.
I've often wondered, though, once you find a therapist you like, what prevents you from just seeing them directly, without BetterHelp taking their cut?
- 1) you're dealing with therapists who are treating this like a side gig,
- 2) they're all overbooked,
- 3) dealing with a company that prioritizes money extraction over helping people, and
- 4) a poor experience with BH (likely) turns people off from therapy, which can be an actually wonderful experience.
I really can't blame the therapists much. Hate the game, not the player. BetterHelp the company needs to shape up.
Are they though? It seems like corporations found a loophole where they don't have to take on employees, pay proper taxes and abide by employment laws.
Just to pre-empt some comments - employees can have multiple employers at the same time and be "independent" the same way as "independent" "contractors".
Government really needs to clamp down on this.
The therapists on better help: choose their own hours, can choose not to work with certain clients, can choose what type of therapy to use, etc.
This seems like a pretty textbook example of what an independent contractor should be.
> and be "independent" the same way as "independent" "contractors".
Employees can be some level of independent, but usually the level of control is the defining feature of employee vs contractor.
Employees can do that too.
> the level of control is the defining feature of employee vs contractor.
Not really. The most defining factor is substitution, but that is not always true. For instance if a contractor has never even looked how they could provide a substitute, then most likely they are only a "contractor" on paper.
You could only advocate for this if you had a vested interest in a big corporation using such a loophole.
Otherwise, e.g. is supermarket a platform that gives independent contractors the ability to work on the tills or stack shelves etc?
The only difference here is that the "platform" is on the internet.
In this metaphor, i think the independent contractor would be the person who provides the produce. Which is how grocery stores generally work. (I.e. betterhelp sells therapy services, grocery stores sell groceries. The person working the till at the grocery store is more akin to the person working in the customer service dept at better help, not the person who provides the item for sale)
Professional people being independent contractors is hardly a new thing. Lawyers are usually hired as independent contractors. Its not like they are being taken advantage of.