So Nicole Amesbury Talkspace… always extremely sceptical of people who are either really very pro or extremely very versus online psychological healthcare.|Then, I’m always really sceptical of individuals who are either really really pro or extremely very versus online mental health care.} It’s a case of asking the right questions.”|If it’s rolled out just to save cash and there aren’t vital concerns being asked about these services, that’s not great. Then, I’m always really sceptical of individuals who are either really very professional or really extremely versus online psychological health care.}
Well, if the future of psychological health care is all about IMs, FaceTime and ‘OMG, which neuroses R U?’ quizzes, I chose I ‘d find out what that brave new world would be like. I signed up for 4 very different online mental health services– ranging in expense from free to , 100 a month– and ran my stress and anxieties through them all, concurrently, for a week. Here’s what I found.
Does BetterHelp use licensed therapists? Nicole Amesbury Talkspace
What I’m doing here is reviewing my experience of using each mental health service, rather than its efficiency – due to the fact that even the most wizard-like therapist isn’t going to ‘treat’ you in simply one week. Okay, cool – let’s mental health!
BBC
How does it work?
As seen on FB (by me, anyway), United States company is the business behemoth of the e-counselling video game. They declare to have 500 licensed counsellors working for them, each with a minimum of 3 years of experience.
After filling out a survey to determine what particular flavour of psychological you are, you’re paired with a counsellor, who you can mercilessly swap for a different one at any time. (I got Dr. Laura Dabney, from Virginia). You then begin an instantaneous messaged therapy session that both you and your counsellor can drop in and out of, and which could, in theory, go on and on until one of you eventually died.
What does it cost?
You get a free seven-day trial – similar to a free Netflix or Amazon Prime trial, other than with way more concerns about what your childhood was like. After that, it costs from , 24.50 a week for unlimited message-based counselling and one ‘complimentary’ phone session with your counsellor per month. Yeah, I don’t get how it’s free either, however whatever.
How much is BetterHelp monthly?
Filtering that through immediate messaging might be practical if you discover the idea of baring your soul to a stranger a bit awks. You won’t get the exact same connection similar to face-to-face counselling, but the semi-anonymity might make it easier to open if you’ve been consuming two bottles of rum and dancing around in your dead nan’s bridal gown every night.
She initially determined the scale of my anxiety, what activates it– social situations, meeting people for the very first time– and after that dived headlong into my fractious childhood (separated moms and dads, strained familial relationships, bullied in junior school). She was pretty nosey tbh, but then that’s her task, isn’t it?
Overall, the service is remarkably slick. The discussion can be a little stop-starty at times, but it was really a far smoother and more on-tap experience than I anticipated. I even got fast reactions to messages over the weekend, which was unanticipated.
Talkspace vs Betterhelp
The reality you can modify messages before sending them implies you’re unlikely to blurt out something revealing and vulnerable in the heat of the moment. So extensive minutes of realisation may be hard to come by if you can’t get an unwinded flow going.
Who do I believe it might it be good for?
Anyone with a low-end psychological health issue who’s cool with getting counselled in a very internet-y, 2016-y method. If you’re living under the blackest, bleakest cloud you can possibly imagine and require severe attention (and potentially some medications), probably isn’t for you Nicole Amesbury Talkspace