How does it work? Betterhelp, Dr. Lawanda N. Evans…
After completing a questionnaire to establish what specific flavour of mental you are, you’re coupled with a counsellor, who you can mercilessly swap for a different one at any time. (I got Dr. Laura Dabney, from Virginia). You then start an instant messaged treatment session that both you and your counsellor can drop in and out of, and which could, in theory, continue till among you eventually died.
What does it cost?
You get a complimentary seven-day trial – similar to a totally free Netflix or Amazon Prime trial, except with way more concerns about what your childhood was like. After that, it costs from , 24.50 a week for endless message-based counselling and one ‘free’ phone session with your counsellor monthly. Yeah, I don’t get how it’s free either, however whatever.
How much is BetterHelp monthly?
If you find the idea of baring your soul to a complete stranger a bit awks, filtering that through immediate messaging might be practical. You will not get the same connection just like in person counselling, however the semi-anonymity may make it easier to open up if you have actually been drinking two bottles of rum and dancing around in your dead nan’s bridal gown every night.
She initially ascertained the scale of my anxiety, what triggers it– social scenarios, satisfying people for the very first time– and then dived headlong into my fractious youth (divorced moms and dads, strained familial relationships, bullied in junior school). She was pretty nosey tbh, however then that’s her task, isn’t it?
Overall, the service is impressively slick. The conversation can be a little stop-starty at times, however it was really a far smoother and more on-tap experience than I anticipated. I even got quick responses to messages over the weekend, which was unanticipated.
Talkspace vs Betterhelp
The fact you can modify messages before sending them suggests you’re unlikely to blurt out something vulnerable and revealing in the heat of the minute. So profound moments of realisation might be hard to come by if you can’t get an unwinded flow going.
Who do I think it might it benefit?
Anyone with a low-end psychological health concern who’s cool with getting counselled in a really internet-y, 2016-y way. If you’re living under the blackest, bleakest cloud possible and need major attention (and possibly some medications), most likely isn’t for you Betterhelp, Dr. Lawanda N. Evans