Mental health has been a severe issue for the past couple of years, especially during the pandemic, leading to the rise of e-counselling. Introducing BetterHelp, an online platform for you to find a suitable therapist for your mental health needs
*Please note that the service cannot guarantee a trained professional with a license
Outside of live therapy sessions, clients can interact with the therapist through the online journal, capped at a word limit of 900. So if you have more meaningful notions to write about, just wait till next month!
Did you know? BetterHelp underpays the counsellors themselves, who receive HKD $235 an hour instead of the typical hourly rate of HKD $785. And since therapists are paid by the quantity of the word count instead of the quality of their response, any written comments exceeding the word limit disincentivize the counsellors themselves to continue working with their clients.
In 2018, the company faced heaps of controversy on social media, with negative comments regarding the ineptitude of untrained counsellors and sharing confidential information with third parties advertisers.
“We may share your information in connection with an asset sale, merger, bankruptcy, or other business transaction.” - BetterHelp Privacy Policy
In 2020, the company shared the metadata of messages between a patient and therapist with Facebook, receiving even more controversy!
As of 2022, BetterHelp’s terms and conditions have been updated, stipulating that every counsellor should have prior training as a experienced licensed psychologist, showing a promising glimpse of safer mental health services.
In addition, Betterhelp’s platform only allows a 900 word count cap for every session with a therapist, a heavily limited amount, which could be very detrimental to the patient’s mental health.
Betterhelp’s concept of having a therapist “in your pocket”, is also harmful in and of itself. Therapist Jeff Günther mentions that “We don’t think you should have 24-hour access to a therapist. That’s going to create an exception for you that we should always be there. That’s not going to create self-reliance.
Sources:
https://www.dailydot.com/irl/therapist-explains-problems-betterhelp-tiktok/
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