#betterhelp — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #betterhelp, aggregated by home.social.
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La #LDH s’inquiète des dérives de #BetterHelp : santé mentale monétisée, praticiens sous-payés, tarifs élevés et risques pour la protection des données. L’accès à la psychothérapie en ligne ne doit pas se faire au détriment de la qualité des soins et des droits.
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Die Apotheken-Umschau wird zur Zeit von der deutschen Version von "BetterHelp" gesponsort, die als "Therapeuten" einen KI-Bot einsetzen (wofür die Krankenkassen Geld zahlen) :/
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The Secret #History of #HighHeels is....#Men? - YouTube
NOTE: Ignore the sponsor #BetterHelp is trash
#FreePalestine🇵🇸https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_7mKFrV3Mpk&pp=ygUaaGlzdG9yeSBoaWdoIGhlZWxzIGZvciBtZW4%3D
#GenderNormsAreBullshit #GenderRolesAreBullshit
#fashionhistory -
The Secret #History of #HighHeels is....#Men? - YouTube
NOTE: Ignore the sponsor #BetterHelp is trash
#FreePalestine🇵🇸https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_7mKFrV3Mpk&pp=ygUaaGlzdG9yeSBoaWdoIGhlZWxzIGZvciBtZW4%3D
#GenderNormsAreBullshit #GenderRolesAreBullshit
#fashionhistory -
The Secret #History of #HighHeels is....#Men? - YouTube
NOTE: Ignore the sponsor #BetterHelp is trash
#FreePalestine🇵🇸https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_7mKFrV3Mpk&pp=ygUaaGlzdG9yeSBoaWdoIGhlZWxzIGZvciBtZW4%3D
#GenderNormsAreBullshit #GenderRolesAreBullshit
#fashionhistory -
The Secret #History of #HighHeels is....#Men? - YouTube
NOTE: Ignore the sponsor #BetterHelp is trash
#FreePalestine🇵🇸https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_7mKFrV3Mpk&pp=ygUaaGlzdG9yeSBoaWdoIGhlZWxzIGZvciBtZW4%3D
#GenderNormsAreBullshit #GenderRolesAreBullshit
#fashionhistory -
The Secret #History of #HighHeels is....#Men? - YouTube
NOTE: Ignore the sponsor #BetterHelp is trash
#FreePalestine🇵🇸https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_7mKFrV3Mpk&pp=ygUaaGlzdG9yeSBoaWdoIGhlZWxzIGZvciBtZW4%3D
#GenderNormsAreBullshit #GenderRolesAreBullshit
#fashionhistory -
remember when everyone went (justifiedly) mad about #BetterHelp selling user data and how utterly unethical (and illegal) it is to use private health data for advertisement?
so I wonder how long 'till people realise #ChatGPT and other #AI "therapists" not only do that, but also use the contents of your conversation.
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I keep hearing adverts for #BetterHelp on podcasts I listen to.
They've been selling customer data, including #MentalHealth information, after specifically promising they wouldn't. Bunch of bastards.
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https://youtu.be/4wPw9mLLwYc?si=xbsa1fvBMBgySwPX
#betterhelp
@levihildebrand.bsky.social
You're so damn right.
I've been telling folks forever how messed up.
Also caught that snipe at @rhettmc.mythical.com and @linkneal.mythical.com
#goodmythicalmorning
They should be do better... -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wPw9mLLwYc
Why EVERYONE (Still) Hates #BetterHelp
#Teletherapy #consumerknowledge #telehealth #DontBother #SaveYourMoney #CapitalismSUCKS #mentalhealth
oh, and FYI...
#BetterHelp is owned by zionist #AlonMatas, previous #IDF soldier
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyV3FpxrSsI/ -
How can BetterHelp afford to sponsor every single podcast on earth?
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Let's discover the top 10 best mental health apps for stress management in 2025 and understand why you should use these digital mental health apps.
#MentalHealthApps #StressManagement #MentalWellnessJourney #MindfulLiving2025 #DigitalMentalHealth #SelfCareMatters #WellBeingTech #CalmMind #MentalHealthSupport #EmpowerYourMind
#Headspace
#CalmApp
#Sanvello
#Moodfit
#Happify
#Talkspace
#MindShift
#BetterHelp
#InsightTimer
#Woebot
https://www.scientificworldinfo.com/2025/04/best-mental-health-apps-for-stress-management.html -
Teladoc Health reports Q4 loss exceeding expectations, stock plummets 15% in after-hours trading amid intensifying competition in remote medical services
#YonhapInfomax #TeladocHealth #EarningsReport #RemoteMedicalPlatform #StockPrice #BetterHelp #Economics #FinancialMarkets #Banking #Securities #Bonds #StockMarket
https://en.infomaxai.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=52361 -
Teladoc Health reports Q4 loss exceeding expectations, stock plummets 15% in after-hours trading amid intensifying competition in remote medical services
#YonhapInfomax #TeladocHealth #EarningsReport #RemoteMedicalPlatform #StockPrice #BetterHelp #Economics #FinancialMarkets #Banking #Securities #Bonds #StockMarket
https://en.infomaxai.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=52361 -
Teladoc Health reports Q4 loss exceeding expectations, stock plummets 15% in after-hours trading amid intensifying competition in remote medical services
#YonhapInfomax #TeladocHealth #EarningsReport #RemoteMedicalPlatform #StockPrice #BetterHelp #Economics #FinancialMarkets #Banking #Securities #Bonds #StockMarket
https://en.infomaxai.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=52361 -
Teladoc Health reports Q4 loss exceeding expectations, stock plummets 15% in after-hours trading amid intensifying competition in remote medical services
#YonhapInfomax #TeladocHealth #EarningsReport #RemoteMedicalPlatform #StockPrice #BetterHelp #Economics #FinancialMarkets #Banking #Securities #Bonds #StockMarket
https://en.infomaxai.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=52361 -
Teladoc Health reports Q4 loss exceeding expectations, stock plummets 15% in after-hours trading amid intensifying competition in remote medical services
#YonhapInfomax #TeladocHealth #EarningsReport #RemoteMedicalPlatform #StockPrice #BetterHelp #Economics #FinancialMarkets #Banking #Securities #Bonds #StockMarket
https://en.infomaxai.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=52361 -
Okie, I wanted to get #betterhelp to maybe try #therapy about my whole #lgbtq identity but holy shit it is expensive. 54 EURO PER WEEK! Anyone knows some better and cheaper way.
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"Two parents lying down and holding the hands of their baby in the middle" The rise of proprietary parenting software and Services as a Software Substitute promising to improve mental health is concerning. https://u.fsf.org/45b #Therapy #Parenting #Soula #BetterHelp #TalkSpace #Youper #Pray.com #Woebot
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"Two parents lying down and holding the hands of their baby in the middle" The rise of proprietary parenting software and Services as a Software Substitute promising to improve mental health is concerning. https://u.fsf.org/45b #Therapy #Parenting #Soula #BetterHelp #TalkSpace #Youper #Pray.com #Woebot
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"Two parents lying down and holding the hands of their baby in the middle" The rise of proprietary parenting software and Services as a Software Substitute promising to improve mental health is concerning. https://u.fsf.org/45b #Therapy #Parenting #Soula #BetterHelp #TalkSpace #Youper #Pray.com #Woebot
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"Two parents lying down and holding the hands of their baby in the middle" The rise of proprietary parenting software and Services as a Software Substitute promising to improve mental health is concerning. https://u.fsf.org/45b #Therapy #Parenting #Soula #BetterHelp #TalkSpace #Youper #Pray.com #Woebot
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"Two parents lying down and holding the hands of their baby in the middle" The rise of proprietary parenting software and Services as a Software Substitute promising to improve mental health is concerning. https://u.fsf.org/45b #Therapy #Parenting #Soula #BetterHelp #TalkSpace #Youper #Pray.com #Woebot
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"Two parents lying down and holding the hands of their baby in the middle" The rise of proprietary parenting software and Services as a Software Substitute promising to improve mental health is concerning. https://u.fsf.org/45b #Therapy #Parenting #Soula #BetterHelp #TalkSpace #Youper #Pray.com #Woebot
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"Two parents lying down and holding the hands of their baby in the middle" The rise of proprietary parenting software and Services as a Software Substitute promising to improve mental health is concerning. https://u.fsf.org/45b #Therapy #Parenting #Soula #BetterHelp #TalkSpace #Youper #Pray.com #Woebot
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"Two parents lying down and holding the hands of their baby in the middle" The rise of proprietary parenting software and Services as a Software Substitute promising to improve mental health is concerning. https://u.fsf.org/45b #Therapy #Parenting #Soula #BetterHelp #TalkSpace #Youper #Pray.com #Woebot
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"Two parents lying down and holding the hands of their baby in the middle" The rise of proprietary parenting software and Services as a Software Substitute promising to improve mental health is concerning. https://u.fsf.org/45b #Therapy #Parenting #Soula #BetterHelp #TalkSpace #Youper #Pray.com #Woebot
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"Two parents lying down and holding the hands of their baby in the middle" The rise of proprietary parenting software and Services as a Software Substitute promising to improve mental health is concerning. https://u.fsf.org/45b #Therapy #Parenting #Soula #BetterHelp #TalkSpace #Youper #Pray.com #Woebot
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Psychological care should grant you all the #freedoms and protection you deserve! https://u.fsf.org/45b #Therapy #Parenting #Soula #BetterHelp #TalkSpace #Youper #Pray.com #Woebot
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Psychological care should grant you all the #freedoms and protection you deserve! https://u.fsf.org/45b #Therapy #Parenting #Soula #BetterHelp #TalkSpace #Youper #Pray.com #Woebot
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Psychological care should grant you all the #freedoms and protection you deserve! https://u.fsf.org/45b #Therapy #Parenting #Soula #BetterHelp #TalkSpace #Youper #Pray.com #Woebot
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Psychological care should grant you all the #freedoms and protection you deserve! https://u.fsf.org/45b #Therapy #Parenting #Soula #BetterHelp #TalkSpace #Youper #Pray.com #Woebot
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Psychological care should grant you all the #freedoms and protection you deserve! https://u.fsf.org/45b #Therapy #Parenting #Soula #BetterHelp #TalkSpace #Youper #Pray.com #Woebot
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shout out to #LastPodcastOnTheLeft for not saying a fucking word about Palestine for the last year, ya'll were problematic faves but I'm gonna have to cut you off
Also you and #RobertEvans of #BehindtheBastards needs to stop shilling for #BetterHelp they're an incrediy unethical company who sell private healthcare data to advertisers, which is illegal and there's no way you all don't know about it www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/03/ftc-ban-betterhelp-revealing-consumers-data-including-sensitive-mental-health-information-facebook
#LPOTL -
After the millionth YouTube channel plugging the online therapy service BetterHelp I thought I would Google "is BetterhHelp any good" and oh boy what a shit show.
Lots of stories about questionable sharing of data about service use with advertisers and very unethical behavior by their therapists. Reddit is a goldmine of bad user experiences.
https://www.jezebel.com/the-spooky-loosely-regulated-world-of-online-therapy-1841791137
https://www.newsweek.com/betterhelp-patients-tell-sketchy-therapists-1762849
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I email my insurance company and ask them if they'll cover #BetterHelp.
They respond, "Better Help is not on our list of in-network providers."
I respond like this, albeit slightly more politely: bitch, I didn't ask if they're in-network. I'm on a PPO HDHP exactly because your therapy network sucks and I want my family to be able to get reimbursed for any therapist.
We'll see what they say.
(Please, no replies about how BetterHelp is evil. I know. I'm kinda desperate.)
#healthInsurance #therapy -
CW: Mental Health
It's supposed to be a distributed system for providing telehealth therapy. But because providers are a combination of automated and just self-reported with no real accountability structure or patient connection, ends up being a predatory system that takes people in the middle of a mental health crisis and puts them with people who have little credentials or experience, primarily united in their inability to maintain an actual practice of their own.
In its conception, it was supposed to be like the Psychology Today database but with a built-in Telehealth function that immediately routes the user (not patient, user) to whichever therapist is currently available. Instead, having given little thought to the incentive structures and emergent outcomes, it's a ghoulish and dystopian twisting of mental health that puts those most in need and closest to a crisis with those least qualified, least invested, and least accountable.
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I know that if a person gives away their information to a non-medical website, then it's not technically #PHI anymore. But #BetterHelp presented itself as complying with healthcare rules.
They used language that made it sound like they were #HIPAA compliant.
They specifically deceived me into giving them information that I wouldn't have if they had not presented themselves as being a healthcare organization.
The penalty for this should be the complete dissolution of BetterHelp.
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I've been getting emails about an #FTC #settlement with #BetterHelp:
"The FTC says that BetterHelp promised to keep users’ information private but revealed data to Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest, and Criteo for advertising purposes. This data included email addresses, IP addresses, and **personal answers to health questions**."
For sharing #PHI, apparently, they're going to send me a check for a few bucks!?! WTF?
That's the only punishment?
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Using #BetterHelp was the second time I actually got myself to go to #therapy. It was the height of the pandemic in 2020 and I didn't want to leave home. The therapist was better than the one I had seen in person previously. It wasn't life-changing and I didn't stay for very long, but it did help.
Also, the whole thing is a massive fraud and just a scheme to collect private health info and sell it to advertisers. I'm sure they exploited and underpaid their therapists as well. Fuck BetterHelp.
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Lemme get this straight, #BetterHelp helped themselves to $80 out of my account every month for several months while I dealt with undiagnosed #ADHD with no help from them (kinda hard to get treatment when *you* have to initiate all of the communication and you have raging ADHD). The US FTC sued them and all I get back is $9.70?
Good grief.
OH SNAP, they got sued for selling customer's data TO FACEBOOK. WOW! WHAT A PARAGON OF VIRTUE.
BetterHelp. More like GetShafted.
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This is the reason why I block & unsubscribe from every podcast and video creator who runs #BetterHelp’s ads. @jsrailton
Accepting their ads shows you’ve not done simple due dilligence on the company, and your lack of ethics are incompatible with my values.
I’m reminded of two particularly egregious examples (Wesley Treat, and Bourbon Moth) who shared how mental health had impacted them, then - in the exact same breath - shilled for BetterHelp and their lies.
https://mastodon.social/@jsrailton/112412552419353301 -
#BetterHelp to pay $7.8 million to 800,000 in #health data sharing settlement
Founded in 2013, BetterHelp is an alternative to traditional face-to-face #therapy sessions. People turning to BetterHelp often deal with #depression, #anxiety, #PTSD, #substanceabuse, or #addiction. BetterHelp shared collected information with #Facebook, #Snapchat, #Criteo, and #Pinterest, to identify similar consumers and target them with #ads for BetterHelp’s #counseling services.
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/betterhelp-to-pay-78-million-to-800-000-in-health-data-sharing-settlement/ #Privacy -
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/israel-free-therapy-betterhelp-war/
#Snopes Oct 2023
by #NurIbrahim
#ApartheidIsrael Offered "FreeTherapy' with #BetterHelp Co. for Those 'Affected by the war'?
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk3zEPgSV-g
We Need to talk about #Youtubers being sponsored by BAD COMPANIES ( Ex: #HelloFresh and #BetterHelp)
#FuckBosses #onlinechannels #workersrights #boycottApartheidIsrael
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After the #BetterHelp and #GoodRX debacles, it's important to realize that #HIPAA was never intended as a real #privacy #law at least some of your #healthcare #data is being #sold to #DataBrokers.
This is one reason setups like GoodRX are able to offer #prescriptions at a lower cost: because the price you pay is supplemented by the information that will be sold about the transaction.
So please pay close attention to the terms of any medical savings agreement. You may be unwittingly signing yourself up for more than you're supposed to realize.
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I Cannot Recommend BetterHelp
They sell customer data to third parties, and my ex-wife and I had terrible experiences with them.
I cannot recommend BetterHelp to anyone. It is really disheartening to see YouTube creators endorse this place as if it were the second coming. My ex-wife and I have had a terrible experience with them. They have moreover been found to sell customer data. That’s awful. Frankly, anyone supporting this outfit should be ashamed of themselves.
In what follows here, I’ll be talking about Pride Counseling. It used to be essentially BetterHelp but with a different skin, probably to try to corner a slice of the queer market. After my wife and I used them, it was absorbed by BetterHelp. I have no reason to think that our experience with Pride Counseling would be any different with BetterHelp.
BetterHelp Sold Customer Data
BetterHelp was caught by the FTC selling customer data to various other entities, including Facebook, Snapchat, Criteo and Pinterest. It is true that BetterHelp is not held to HIPAA. However, it is under the guise of deceptive advertising that the FCC went after them. They promised that the data would remain confidential, when it did not.
The FTC news release contains this paragraph:
BetterHelp offers online counseling services through that name and through specialized versions for particular audiences – for example, Pride Counseling for members of the LGBTQ community, Faithful Counseling for people of the Christian faith, Terappeuta for Spanish-speaking clients, and Teen Counseling for teenagers who enroll with parental permission.
It confirms what I said about Pride Counseling being BetterHelp under a different skin, but it also mentions several other outfits that I was unaware of.
Buyer beware!
Our Experience With Pride Counseling
This part of the article is salvaged from an article written in May 2022 that was published elsewhere. I have done minimal editing to it. I’ve not changed the chronology of events. My ex-wife and I are now divorced, for instance.
With the recent divorce talk between my wife and I, I suggested that we get counseling services individually so that we’d be able to work through our own individual problems, besides getting couples’ counseling to decide how our marriage should evolve. My wife agreed. We looked for counselors online to get individual counseling. I found Pride Counseling, we both subscribed to it, but I cannot recommend them. I’m going to explain why in this article.
My wife is a cis woman, 69, heterosexual, and currently considering polyamory. I’m a cis man, 49, pansexual, and polyamorous. I met her 24 years ago. We’ve been married for 21 years. My wife knew I was pansexual, and we talked about non-monogamy 24 years ago, at the start of our relationship. However, I reasserted both recently. This precipitated our current crisis.
Pride Counseling seemed to be perfect for us. I knew if we went with them, we wouldn’t encounter some therapist likely to dismiss my pansexuality or my desire for polyamory. Note here there that I was not scheming to find a therapist who would convert my wife. I merely wanted someone who wouldn’t from the get go piss all over polyamory. In other words, I wanted someone who wouldn’t trap us, again, in mononormativity.
You see, my wife and I had been in therapy before in March 2018. I was already at that time talking about polyamory, but the therapist, consciously or not, brought us back to monogamy. It was a mistake on the part of everyone. I should have stuck to my guns. As far as the therapist was concerned, the therapy was a success, but for me, it was an utter failure.
My instincts were probably right. You’ll see in a moment why I say “probably”. My wife and I both subscribed to their service, which they say is cheaper than other services. I cannot opine about this. The price seemed reasonable to me. They paired me with a therapist, and I picked a time and date to meet her through video. We had a first meeting, in which I poured my heart out. I made an appointment for the next week.
The appointed time came… and went… and my therapist was nowhere to be found. This is why I say “probably”. I don’t know why this therapist stood me up. Was she secretly disgusted with polyamory? Maybe? I can’t know. So I asked to switch therapists right away. Our initial interaction was cordial, but I did not find it especially useful. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see the second therapist the same week I was supposed to see the first. So there was one week during which I met no therapist.
The next week I met my second therapist, and the relation between her, and I was much better than with the first therapist. However, I had to pour, again, my heart out. We were restarting from scratch. Ok… But then the next week she told me she couldn’t meet me and that I’d have to use the Pride Counseling messaging system to talk to her. It was okay, but definitely not as good as a video meeting. I met her again the week after and again the meeting was good. I felt she heard me.
I was supposed to meet her again today, but got a message that she had to be off the platform for personal reasons, etc. From what I understood, she was essentially quitting, even if temporarily. I sighed, deeply. I considered my options and decided that Pride Counseling’s services were no longer for me. I did not want to switch to a new therapist, again, and, again, have to start from scratch.
In addition, while my wife and I were getting therapy from Pride Counseling, we made more connections in our community and sought the service of a coach to help us navigate forward either towards my wife being fine with my desire for polyamory, or divorce. This coach knows about polyamory and is not trying to steer us again towards monogamy. Given this change in circumstances, I decided that I shouldn’t continue with Pride Counseling and cancelled my subscription.
My wife had already cancelled before me. The first therapist they assigned to her wasn’t good. She immediately switched therapists, but the second therapists wanted to do everything by text, and my wife never met her by video or phone. So she cancelled.
So there you are: two patients who are unhappy with Pride Counseling’s services. I don’t see how they can fix this. Neither of us got the continuity of service we wanted. I think my wife’s experience was less satisfactory than my own. However, even though I liked the second therapist they assigned to me, I decided that it wasn’t worth restarting with a third, who maybe I wouldn’t like. In total, my wife and I saw four therapists, and we would give a thumbs up to only one. These odds are not in our favor. I could be paired with a fourth therapist only to find that I don’t like her and replace her again.
This is why I cannot recommend Pride Counseling. In theory the service should be good, but in practice it is lacking. In 2018 the therapy may have failed, but we were not treading water. We did get progress, but it was progress in the wrong direction. With Pride Counseling, it feels that there is no progress at all. I’m not interested in pouring my heart out again to another therapist. So we cancelled.
Conclusion
Avoid BetterHelp. There are other solutions out there. Even if you are queer, you can do searches in your locality for queer therapists. This resource from Psychology Today can also be helpful for finding therapists:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists
#AutisticWriters #BetterHelp #DeceptiveAdvertising #divorce #lgbtqia #MentalHealth #polyamory #PrideCounseling #queer #therapists #therapy #YourAutisticLife
https://www.yourautisticlife.com/2024/02/02/i-cannot-recommend-betterhelp/
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I Cannot Recommend BetterHelp
They sell customer data to third parties, and my ex-wife and I had terrible experiences with them.
I cannot recommend BetterHelp to anyone. It is really disheartening to see YouTube creators endorse this place as if it were the second coming. My ex-wife and I have had a terrible experience with them. They have moreover been found to sell customer data. That’s awful. Frankly, anyone supporting this outfit should be ashamed of themselves.
In what follows here, I’ll be talking about Pride Counseling. It used to be essentially BetterHelp but with a different skin, probably to try to corner a slice of the queer market. After my wife and I used them, it was absorbed by BetterHelp. I have no reason to think that our experience with Pride Counseling would be any different with BetterHelp.
BetterHelp Sold Customer Data
BetterHelp was caught by the FTC selling customer data to various other entities, including Facebook, Snapchat, Criteo and Pinterest. It is true that BetterHelp is not held to HIPAA. However, it is under the guise of deceptive advertising that the FCC went after them. They promised that the data would remain confidential, when it did not.
The FTC news release contains this paragraph:
BetterHelp offers online counseling services through that name and through specialized versions for particular audiences – for example, Pride Counseling for members of the LGBTQ community, Faithful Counseling for people of the Christian faith, Terappeuta for Spanish-speaking clients, and Teen Counseling for teenagers who enroll with parental permission.
It confirms what I said about Pride Counseling being BetterHelp under a different skin, but it also mentions several other outfits that I was unaware of.
Buyer beware!
Our Experience With Pride Counseling
This part of the article is salvaged from an article written in May 2022 that was published elsewhere. I have done minimal editing to it. I’ve not changed the chronology of events. My ex-wife and I are now divorced, for instance.
With the recent divorce talk between my wife and I, I suggested that we get counseling services individually so that we’d be able to work through our own individual problems, besides getting couples’ counseling to decide how our marriage should evolve. My wife agreed. We looked for counselors online to get individual counseling. I found Pride Counseling, we both subscribed to it, but I cannot recommend them. I’m going to explain why in this article.
My wife is a cis woman, 69, heterosexual, and currently considering polyamory. I’m a cis man, 49, pansexual, and polyamorous. I met her 24 years ago. We’ve been married for 21 years. My wife knew I was pansexual, and we talked about non-monogamy 24 years ago, at the start of our relationship. However, I reasserted both recently. This precipitated our current crisis.
Pride Counseling seemed to be perfect for us. I knew if we went with them, we wouldn’t encounter some therapist likely to dismiss my pansexuality or my desire for polyamory. Note here there that I was not scheming to find a therapist who would convert my wife. I merely wanted someone who wouldn’t from the get go piss all over polyamory. In other words, I wanted someone who wouldn’t trap us, again, in mononormativity.
You see, my wife and I had been in therapy before in March 2018. I was already at that time talking about polyamory, but the therapist, consciously or not, brought us back to monogamy. It was a mistake on the part of everyone. I should have stuck to my guns. As far as the therapist was concerned, the therapy was a success, but for me, it was an utter failure.
My instincts were probably right. You’ll see in a moment why I say “probably”. My wife and I both subscribed to their service, which they say is cheaper than other services. I cannot opine about this. The price seemed reasonable to me. They paired me with a therapist, and I picked a time and date to meet her through video. We had a first meeting, in which I poured my heart out. I made an appointment for the next week.
The appointed time came… and went… and my therapist was nowhere to be found. This is why I say “probably”. I don’t know why this therapist stood me up. Was she secretly disgusted with polyamory? Maybe? I can’t know. So I asked to switch therapists right away. Our initial interaction was cordial, but I did not find it especially useful. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see the second therapist the same week I was supposed to see the first. So there was one week during which I met no therapist.
The next week I met my second therapist, and the relation between her, and I was much better than with the first therapist. However, I had to pour, again, my heart out. We were restarting from scratch. Ok… But then the next week she told me she couldn’t meet me and that I’d have to use the Pride Counseling messaging system to talk to her. It was okay, but definitely not as good as a video meeting. I met her again the week after and again the meeting was good. I felt she heard me.
I was supposed to meet her again today, but got a message that she had to be off the platform for personal reasons, etc. From what I understood, she was essentially quitting, even if temporarily. I sighed, deeply. I considered my options and decided that Pride Counseling’s services were no longer for me. I did not want to switch to a new therapist, again, and, again, have to start from scratch.
In addition, while my wife and I were getting therapy from Pride Counseling, we made more connections in our community and sought the service of a coach to help us navigate forward either towards my wife being fine with my desire for polyamory, or divorce. This coach knows about polyamory and is not trying to steer us again towards monogamy. Given this change in circumstances, I decided that I shouldn’t continue with Pride Counseling and cancelled my subscription.
My wife had already cancelled before me. The first therapist they assigned to her wasn’t good. She immediately switched therapists, but the second therapists wanted to do everything by text, and my wife never met her by video or phone. So she cancelled.
So there you are: two patients who are unhappy with Pride Counseling’s services. I don’t see how they can fix this. Neither of us got the continuity of service we wanted. I think my wife’s experience was less satisfactory than my own. However, even though I liked the second therapist they assigned to me, I decided that it wasn’t worth restarting with a third, who maybe I wouldn’t like. In total, my wife and I saw four therapists, and we would give a thumbs up to only one. These odds are not in our favor. I could be paired with a fourth therapist only to find that I don’t like her and replace her again.
This is why I cannot recommend Pride Counseling. In theory the service should be good, but in practice it is lacking. In 2018 the therapy may have failed, but we were not treading water. We did get progress, but it was progress in the wrong direction. With Pride Counseling, it feels that there is no progress at all. I’m not interested in pouring my heart out again to another therapist. So we cancelled.
Conclusion
Avoid BetterHelp. There are other solutions out there. Even if you are queer, you can do searches in your locality for queer therapists. This resource from Psychology Today can also be helpful for finding therapists:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists
#AutisticWriters #BetterHelp #DeceptiveAdvertising #divorce #lgbtqia #MentalHealth #polyamory #PrideCounseling #queer #therapists #therapy #YourAutisticLife
https://www.yourautisticlife.com/2024/02/02/i-cannot-recommend-betterhelp/