Unsponsored Review of BetterHelp, Talkspace, Cerebral, Alma, Anise Health therapy platforms and more

Honestly, my therapy experience has been defined by the individual therapists I have had, which is basically completely divorced from the platform it takes place on – with the exception of Talkspace which was awful. In other words, I really don’t care what platform I use and pay for, as long as I like the therapist I hire through that platform and it fits in my budget.

00:00:00 - My experiences with therapy platforms
00:01:38 - The Impact of Low Prices on Therapists
00:02:32 - Cons of therapy platforms
00:04:13 - Pros of therapy Platforms
00:05:01 - Reviewing Talkspace
00:06:48 - Reviewing BetterHelp
00:07:38 - Reviewing Anise Health
00:08:33 - Reviewing Cerebral
00:10:17 - Reviewing Alma

Now, I want to talk about the pro’s and con’s of using any of these platforms. In general, here are all the con's: (1) the therapists typically don’t do therapy full-time on these platforms (2) the therapists are underpaid (3) some of these platforms have non-compete clauses so you can’t hire your therapist directly immediately if they leave the platform. You have to wait a year until you’re allowed to work with them again outside of the platform you first found them on. So this could impact your treatment schedule if you really want a consistent and reliable therapy routine.

Pro’s: (1) therapy platforms are transactional, so I feel less bad trying different therapists on the platform. In other words, even if I just have one session with the therapist and don’t end up hiring them, it feels like no harm no foul. We’re a number anyway so they churn through us. (2) packages are subscription based so you can cancel any time.

Now for the individual reviews:
Talkspace: I am not a fan of texting therapy. In fact, if you’re new to therapy, I would tell you to skip trying texting therapy entirely and jump straight to other platforms that offer live therapy sessions face-to-face virtually or in person with a real therapist.

BetterHelp: I liked them but felt like I had to try a lot of therapists to find the one I liked. I experienced the underpaid therapist situation the most on this platform. It ultimately accumulated with my therapist leaving this platform entirely and start another job that paid her more but unfortunately it wasn’t therapy anymore, so I couldn’t hire her.

Anise Health: Their primary business model is 3 therapy sessions and 1 coaching session per month. This sounds good in theory but not in practice. My therapist had another job and only did therapy on Tuesdays and Thursdays if I remember correctly so it was hard for me to find compatibility with her schedule. Also experienced lots of churn with my coaches on here.

Cerebral: Not very memorable, therefore effectively comparable to others. I actually remember that they didn’t have a lot of Asian female therapists at the time so I was matched with a Latina therapist.

Alma: This is a therapist picker tool which I'm giving an honorable mention for. I haven't used it personally but would consider it in the future.