So Talk Space + Insurance… constantly really sceptical of people who are either extremely very pro or extremely really against online mental healthcare.|Then, I’m always very sceptical of people who are either very really pro or very extremely versus online psychological health care.} It’s a case of asking the best questions.”|If it’s rolled out just to conserve money and there aren’t critical concerns being asked about these services, that’s not great. Then, I’m constantly really sceptical of people who are either really really professional or extremely extremely against online mental health care.}
Well, if the future of mental healthcare is everything about IMs, FaceTime and ‘OMG, which neuroses R U?’ quizzes, I decided I ‘d learn what that brave brand-new world would be like. I registered for four really different online psychological health services– varying in expense from totally free to , 100 a month– and ran my stress and anxieties through them all, simultaneously, for a week. Here’s what I found.
Does BetterHelp use licensed therapists? Talk Space + Insurance
What I’m doing here is examining my experience of using each mental health service, rather than its effectiveness – due to the fact that even the most wizard-like therapist isn’t going to ‘treat’ you in just one week. Okay, cool – let’s mental health!
BBC
How does it work?
As seen on FB (by me, anyway), US company is the corporate leviathan of the e-counselling video game. They declare to have 500 certified counsellors working for them, each with a minimum of three years of experience.
After completing a questionnaire to establish what specific flavour of mental you are, you’re coupled with a counsellor, who you can mercilessly switch for a different one at any time. (I got Dr. Laura Dabney, from Virginia). You then begin an instantaneous messaged treatment session that both you and your counsellor can drop in and out of, and which could, in theory, go on and on up until one of you ultimately passed away.
What does it cost?
You get a complimentary seven-day trial – just like a free Netflix or Amazon Prime trial, except with method more concerns about what your youth resembled. After that, it costs from , 24.50 a week for unrestricted message-based counselling and one ‘totally free’ phone session with your counsellor per month. Yeah, I don’t get how it’s totally free either, but whatever.
How much is BetterHelp monthly?
Filtering that through instant messaging may be useful if you find the idea of baring your soul to a complete stranger a bit awks. You won’t get the same connection just like face-to-face counselling, but the semi-anonymity may make it simpler to open up if you’ve been drinking two bottles of rum and dancing around in your dead nan’s wedding dress every night.
She initially established the scale of my stress and anxiety, what triggers it– social circumstances, satisfying people for the very first time– and after that dived headlong into my fractious childhood (separated moms and dads, stretched familial relationships, bullied in junior school). She was quite nosey tbh, however then that’s her job, isn’t it?
Overall, the service is impressively slick. The conversation can be a little stop-starty sometimes, however it was in fact a far smoother and more on-tap experience than I expected. I even got quick responses to messages over the weekend, which was unforeseen.
Talkspace vs Betterhelp
The fact you can edit messages prior to sending them implies you’re unlikely to blurt out something unguarded and revealing in the heat of the minute. Profound moments of realisation might be difficult to come by if you can’t get a relaxed 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 really internet-y, 2016-y way. If you’re living under the blackest, bleakest cloud imaginable and need serious attention (and potentially some medications), probably isn’t for you Talk Space + Insurance