Update, 8.01.2023 Looks like he privated the video. I won’t speculate as to the reasons behind that decision. However, for as long as the video was up, he revealed very useful information from an inside perspective, which is worth appreciating.

Update: as of March 2021, the word limit for both the counsellor and client is 900 words for texts.

Likely because of YouTube algorithms, this insider video has very few views, whilst praise abounds, as the company heavily advertises on the platform.

The therapist who used to work as a counsellor there explains so many things people couldn’t make heads or tails of regarding this “wellness mill”.

Counsellors are paid per word, like content writers

Basically, the texting service is no more than your ordinary bespoke content mill. What you think will be personalised advice, suited to your needs, may well be your counsellor trying to meet the required number of words to get paid.

Live sessions and forms are also assigned an estimated number of words, which is added to the quota.

Quite simply it’s the iWriter of therapy.

At the time this therapist worked there, they paid 10$ for 1000 words, which needless to say, is shitty even for writing articles about gardening tools (which requires no expertise), let alone for counselling people with mental health issues.

Some counsellors copying and pasting fragments from self-help books

Unlike people who pay for articles, BetterHelp subscribers don’t check the uniqueness of their counsellors’ texts, as that would just be bizarre. They do mention in reviews that conversations at times unfold as they would with a robot. That’s because some of these counsellors copy and paste the above-mentioned in order to meet their quotas.

No payment for extra words means discontinued interest in the service user

Reviewers have also mentioned receiving intense support for a period of time, after which the counsellor abruptly loses interest and stops responding. Well, this seems to be why: after the quota of 7500 words from the therapist and 7500 words from the client has been reached, their payment has been secured and any extra time they spend on the service user will not be remunerated.

So much for “unlimited access to support”, when counsellors are actively discouraged through the lack of financial incentives from continuing to provide the service beyond a bare minimum.

Effectively it’s not their job to continue to support the service user; at this point it would be charity, and in today’s world, when everyone runs around trying to pay the bills, it makes no sense for them to give their time. Of course no one tells you that when you sign up!

“Counsellor services” vs “counselling services” – the legal loophole to dupe unsuspecting people

The therapist explains that if they claimed to provide counselling services, that would give them the status of a clinic, which would involve certain responsibilities towards their clients.

By describing them as counsellor services instead, everything becomes murkier and more arbitrary, giving them the freedom to maximise their profits and minimise their responsibilities down to zero.

It is in fact known that one cannot receive a diagnosis through the platform, as stated in their TOS, thereby rendering it, at times, as one of the reviewers put it, as an “adult friend finder”.

Whereas some counsellors may very well try their best, and use their expertise at all times, keep in mind that they don’t actually have to.

The study they quote as proof of their effectiveness was conducted by people formerly associated with BetterHelp…

Big surprise, right? It’s not like the “revolving door” is an omnipresent phenomenon when it comes to promoting businesses and becoming involved in research to validate them.

Suddenly, this whole thing is starting to make sense.

The fact that the company exploits therapists is reiterated in reviews on Glassdoor, posted by current or former contractors.

Cons

It is hard to set some boundaries with clients because you cannot discuss fees or limits with the members, so they often expect the therapist to be on call and at the rate the of the pay this is really not possible.

Advice to Management

The pay scale is very low – the maximum you can make is $120 per month per client. Even with the incentives of long terms clients many do not stay past three months and it is very difficult to get a consistent 10 members to stay beyond three months. If a client is paying a couple hundred dollars a week it does not seem right that the therapist should only make $30.

The most popular plan is 65$ per week, charged monthly. Which means that even if the service user doesn’t pay 200$ per week as stated above, BetterHelp still takes more than half of the fee, while providing little to no support to service users or contractors when they need it, as you can read below.

Advice to Management

Provide more support to Therapists Provide a rate that is on par with what other agencies are paying (about twice what better help pays) allow transparency in payment so we know what we are and are not being compensated for Please do not stop paying us our measly 50 cents per minute when a client hits the 50 minute mark in live sessions

Cons

Horribly underpaid as providers ($30 for a therapy session!). They also do NOT pre-screen the clients well at all, and most are not appropriate for online therapy. They also do not care about the providers at all, or their safety. You have no way to reach the higher ups easily, no phone to call. You cannot end a client relationship easily even if they are being abusive and inappropriate. Horrible and unethical.

Cons

No telephone contact with company EVER, even in case of emergency Absolutely NO protection for Providers, even in case of emergency Horrible pay They treat Providers like we are cattle

Advice to Management

Start treating Providers as if they are more than cattle. Having NO emergency contact options (via telephone) is unacceptable. The attitude toward providers is awful.

The pay is low, BH is going to restructure pay but it seems like it will be more work for less pay. Have to get more clarification on this. For super part- time work, I think I am working way too much for extremely low pay. I like working for BH and I like what I do, but I feel that there are way too many expectations to be available to clients all the time. Also, I had blocked out that I was not accepting new clients and I was still assigned new clients. This makes it difficult to manage when trying to take care of other work as you cannot just solely rely on the income made here to pay bills. However, I do believe in the company’s mission.

That must explain some of the no-shows as well – apparently the company still asigns service users to therapists who state they are not taking on any new people. Which puts therapists in an impossible position, since it wasn’t them accepting to take the work on in the first place.

Cons

Pay is terrible compared to working in private practice or even fee for service in a clinic. BH advertises unlimited contact, but then sets payment limits; subscribers needing frequent sessions or even messages often exceed allowable billable time, meaning therapists don’t get paid for days or weeks worth of contacts. There is no orientation to the system so you learn as you go.

Advice to Management

Offer an orientation to the platform. Eliminate limits on payments when clients exceed contact time.

Service users, of course, have no idea that having exceeded a word quota or time limit, the therapist would be working for free in supporting them further. That’s when they assume the therapist is lackadaisical, when this person is probably just trying to get any paid work outside BetterHelp to pay the bills.

In-house Staff who don’t have time to really consider the good deal of feedback they get from very seasoned therapists who work doing the *real* work, who aren’t required to have much experience but simply a degree and licensed … make between 65k and 85 k with all kinds of perks and benefits to work ignoring your very well thought out requests, comments and needs while you work for a pittance. Please notice all of the very positive reviews are those who work at corporate – not those doing the *real* work of serving clients and who actually are making the money they don’t get to see.

Another review which seems to explain discontinued interest in the person seeking help, after providing a good service initially:

No transparency for the little pay they give, they give you a dollar amount but you are not allowed to know how much you got for each service Very low pay for live work You get ‘capped’ with each subscriber but don’t know it and work free

Most reviews on that site are abysmal, which is proof that not only does BetterHelp overcharge those using the platform – they expect therapists to work for next to nothing and be readily available when needed, as advertised by the company – “unlimited access to support”, which is neither realistic nor reasonable.

Everyone loses out but the middle man – a company which shows no respect to its contractors or paying service users.