my experience with online therapy | BETTERHELP vs. TALKSPACE

Hey everyone!

I took a poll on Instagram to see if anyone would be interested in hearing about my experience with online therapy apps like Betterhelp and Talkspace.

If you enjoyed this video and found it valuable, please give it a thumbs up!

Have you tried, or are you thinking about trying, Betterhelp or Talkspace? Let me know in the comments!
Also, if you have any suggestions or ideas for future videos, please let me know in the comments as well.

Thanks so much for watching. Have a beautiful day! ✨

[caitlynrice]

Me: • I know I need therapy. I know I need help •
All therapy/therapist: • doesn’t take insurance • if they do, you have to pay an insane copay • costs too much in general • Me: “It’s fine...I’ll be fine” ;-;

[v]

If it wasnt for my parents paying for my therapy out of pocket, Id probably be dead. I couldnt even afford betterhelp if I wanted to pay for it myself. We need a healthcare reform badly. Suicide is skyrocketing, depression and anxiety are getting worse and we dont have the resources to learn how to think and just be anymore and its dangerous. We need rework. We need help.

[Viorinx]

I think it depends on your counselor not the website you use. They both have good and bad ones.

[moquinn]

When you said “ when you are really struggling, you should see an in person counsellor” flipped a switch for me. Out of intense fear, anxiety, depression and compulsions on these feelings that are unbearable, I have been living with these chronic feelings that are so intense for 16 years, I have been telling myself the exact opposite narrative. by doing the least amount of vulnerability work I let fear consume me. My emotions, feelings, thoughts and crippling paralysis have been so intense that I do the least amount of action because putting myself out there for someone on video or in person is a thought that is traumatizing to me. But if you are asking for help, real help, you need to be completely vulnerable and BROADCAST what you are dealing with in order for someone to help you. Such a simple phrase you said and you turned my entire world upside down in a way that I needed. THANK YOU. ❤️❤️❤️

[videonocturnal]

This is so helpful! I've been ignoring my mental health problems for a lot time and I've realized that I really need to start seeing a therapist but because of the coronavirus pretty much shutting everything down I though that this would be a great alternative. thank you so much! now I just need to get over the hurdle of telling my mom (Im under 18) that I need to see a therapist.

[angstvision]

I understand where you're coming from, however, after listening to your review, I noticed two things: 1. the counselor who wanted to push you a little out of your comfort zone didn't work for you. 2. the counselor who didn't push you out of your comfort zone, you considered a friend. I just listened up to 4:35 and have yet to watch the rest. At some level, you're going to have to take a leap or stay where you are. That's the reality. It looks like you're strong enough to leap, but haven't built the faith yet. In any occasion, staying where you are is the same as going backwards, since everything moves forward with time. Stagnation = backwards motion. It's better to take baby steps in the right direction even when scared.

[fateindustry]

Not everyone is fit to be a therapist. I don't care how degreed they are or how qualified they are. It's thinking on their feet that matters when it comes to helping clients. People who seek therapy are relying on therapists to know at least some empathy towards the client, and not forcefully pushing them to do something (ex: videochat... or meeting in person).

[catherineleon]

Started researching after receiving recruitment email from betterhelp. I'm a therapist currently working from home and aware of the need for support. I admire the way you changed therapists and platforms quickly and found someone who was a good fit though your circumstances were such that you couldn't continue. A therapist has to listen to what you are comfortable with and not push their agenda. And meditation can be helpful for some and very agitating to others! Panic attacks can come out of the blue so there's really no way to prepare for or get ahead of them when that happens. It's so hard to go to work and go to school and take care of whatever responsibilities people have and pay for therapy without adequate resources. Thank you for this helpful video and for sharing your experience, Chelsea. I'll check out your channel when I can😊

[EvilSmokkinTweaker]

Your reviews were thorough and incredibly helpful and I really appreciate the fact that you took the time to review both services and provide so much information about the options that are available for mental health patients who might try to use them!!!

[rickkelly]

As a therapist I'd love to hear what worked for you since mindfulness and meditation was overwhelming. I tend to gravitate to mindfulness and meditation as a tool my clients can use but have run across many that say the same thing you have ?(common for those with PTSD and panic attacks). For them we focus on grounding exercises, redirecting focus and calming images, sounds or memories they can fall back on. Always looking to learn and adapt to new challenges as we are all so different! And thanks for the feedback on Betterhelp and Talkspace. Take care.

[Chuleta_]

Prices: super ridiculously high*
Me with my mental shit: Guess I’ll die 🤷🏻‍♀️

[teetyme]

I enrolled in talkspace today bc of your video. I feel... hopeful. So thank you, genuinely.

[kuanchien]

I agree with you about Better Help therapists I've experienced the same situation you were explaining with bad therapists. My current therapist is horrible!! I hate video chats I won't do them. Thanks for the review on talk space I'll try that one. Good luck to you hope you find the right therapist!

[redflowers]

Very happy to see a video of someone giving an actual review rather than dropping a link to make a commission, preying on ppl that need mental health help.

[JackJackJack]

Hi Chelsea. You mentioned that meditation made you very anxious and you couldn’t get your mind to stop racing. Me too! Then I discovered Transcendental Meditation. The whole point of it is that your mind does race, for TM that’s good! Think of it like a mouse running around in a box. With TM that’s what happens then eventually the mind gets tired and you feel incredible. I’d highly recommend looking into it. One of the incredible things for me with TM was that I was able to stop taking my blood pressure medication because TM reduced my stress that much. Technically, it’s the only form of meditation more effective than placebo. It’s truly incredible. At a minimum, you’ll feel 15% better.

[loveawesomeheart]

Thank you for this, my parents refuse to drive anywhere to get me help and seem to only care about using online therapy. And because they haven’t actually look anything up I have to do it myself. This is very helpful and hopefully the price doesn’t effect them getting me this stuff.

[alananelson]

Hi Chelsea! Thank you so much for your evaluation of these two sites. I am a licensed therapist in Florida since 1994. I’ve been in private practice for over 2 decades, and because of COVID-19, I have moved to all online, telephone, virtual and text counseling. This has been a difficult transition, but it has opened my eyes to a variety of new ways of successfully treating my clients. I’ve thought about becoming a provider on a site like one of those you described, but I wasn’t sure how clients actually view these services, so it was enlightening to hear about your experiences. I appreciate your candidness! If you have any suggestions for therapists that can assist in making these services, or their own virtual services, more user friendly, it would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

[divergirl]

I tried a free trial for BetterHelp a few years ago. My biggest fear with trying therapy is that all they would do is try to push drugs on me. Once I was assigned my counselor the very first thing she did, without even trying to get to know me first, was suggest I talk to my Dr about meds. That immediately put me on edge and made me wary of her. After I told her I wasn't interested in that, one again without spending any time finding out about me or my history, she just gave me a worksheet to do that I felt had nothing to do with me or my issues. I cancelled the free trial before it ended. I've been thinking of trying it again (I don't have insurance) but maybe I'll look into talk space instead.

[joanportillo]

I had two therapists in Betterhelp, and it was horrible. The first one was an older therapist, she was falling asleep during my session. I asked to be changed and they gave me two free sessions. Then, I was matched to another lady, she was nice but she was also multitasking the whole time, because as she mentioned in her introduction, she has multiple jobs. Because of this multitasking, I didn't feel heard and like it wasn't worth my money at all.

[nequasheavenlycreations]

Oh my, I'm so sorry you've had horrible experiences. As a Mental Health Therapist it is extremely important to have a great therapeutic relationship with clients, that's the foundation of treatment! A poor relationship will definitely hinder progress. Happy you eventually found a good match and received the help you needed.