Is Talkspace Legit?

So many of our everyday life operations are being moved online–medical and mental health treatment being only two of the many. It can be confusing to think about receiving mental health treatment online, especially from a platform as big as Talkspace.

But is Talkspace legit? How do I know it is as good or better than traditional therapy? Our mental health system is fairly complex, but do not worry! By the end of this article you will understand what the teletherapy apps are, a review of Talkspace services, pros and cons, and if Talkspace is right for you!

Before we continue, therapy is a highly individualized process, so for that reason I am not recommending you sign up for Talkspace for your therapy until you have gone and done as much research on them as possible. This article is meant to be a starting point for your own research. For now, I simply go over the pros and cons of the teletherapy app Talkspace along with an overview of the services they provide as reported on their website.

Talkspace Review of Services

Talkspace has a tiered system of services, including 3 tiers: plus, premium, and ultimate. The plans are laid out below:

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As you can see, the primary focus here is on the instant messaging–whether through video, audio, or text messaging–between you and your therapist. You have access to them 5 days per week and responses are instant.

If you get the premium or ultimate plans you are able to have 1-4 live 30 minute psychotherapy sessions with your therapist in addition to the messaging. Talkspace does not specify that they must be weekly or at specific times, so it seems to offer a good bit of flexibility for scheduling therapy between you and your therapist.

Billing happens weekly, starting at $65 per week, or about $260 per month. You are able to cancel your subscription at any time as well as change therapists at any time if you feel that you are not connecting with them in the ways you would like.

It seems pretty simple so far! Below I lay out some pros and cons of using Talkspace as a teletherapy platform. After that, we can explore together if Talkspace is right for you or your family.

Pros

Simplicity in Paying: There are many options for paying by cash pay: monthly, quarterly, or twice-yearly. I know as a student who received financial aid being able to pay for services quarterly, twice-yearly, or yearly was much easier for me to budget due to the nature of financial aid disbursement only happening 2-3x per year.

Insurance Acceptance: If cash pay is not an option for you at this time, Talkspace does take some insurance. Feel free to have a look here to fill out a questionnaire to see if your insurance is covered by Talkspace.

There is actually quite a breadth of insurance plans accepted here, already making Talkspace quite an accessible teletherapy platform compared to others I have explored. In mental health care and medical care it is important to have amazing care. What is most important, however, is that you can access it!

Accessibility to your Therapist: As a client who may need a high level of ongoing support during the work week, Talkspace is set up quite nicely for you. 5 days per week (Monday-Friday) you are able to text, video and audio message your therapist. Typical outpatient therapists usually do not offer this level of support.

If you are like me and tend to forget what you need to work on in session with your therapist (it happens to all of us!!) then chances are this is a great benefit of Talkspace!

Lots of Therapists to Choose From: Choosing your therapist is not only the most difficult part of the process of successful therapy, but it can also be scary. Who are you going to trust with intimate details about your life and well-being? These decisions should not be made lightly.

Talkspace is fantastic for this, having over 1,000 therapists ready to begin working with you. That is a lot to choose from! Not to mention they do a lot of the heavy lifting for you, having you fill out a questionnaire to match you with a provider that best suits you. So feel free to go through the questions and you will be matched with somebody pretty quickly.

Cons

Out of Pocket Cost-Like any mental health service, the cost of Talkspace is quite hefty when comparing it to others for out-of-pocket pay. It is pretty difficult to find the price on their website, however you can easily find the service breakdown. The cost breakdown is as follows according to this review from a fellow therapist:

Unlimited Messaging Therapy Plus: $230/month; $708/quarter; $1248/twice yearly
Unlimited Messaging Therapy Premium: $316/month; $852/quarter; $1512/twice yearly
Unlimited messaging Therapy Ultimate: $396/month; $1068/quarter; $1896/twice yearly

These rates may seem arbitrary by themselves. For comparison, my cheapest session (45 minute psychotherapy session) 2x per month would come out cheaper than even the Premium tier–which only offers one 30 minute session per month.

This is a testament to how expensive this service can be and to show that if cash pay is your best resource for payment that there are MUCH better options for the price out there. Chances are you can find providers who will charge as low as $50 per session to as much as $150-$200 depending on where you live.

Only 30 Minute Sessions: I was surprised that the only psychotherapy session option that Talkspace offers is a 30 minute session. Typical psychotherapy sessions can range from 30 to even 120 in some rare cases depending on the treatment. Most will usually be between 45-60 minutes. This does not leave a lot of space for your and your therapist to work on your material at only 30 minutes.

Having said that, I am inclined to believe that because there is not specific time frame other than ‘4 sessions per month’ that your therapist would be able to essentially schedule two back-to-back sessions bi-weekly so you have two 60 minute sessions per month vs four 30 minute sessions as advertised.

Again, comparing this to my 60 minute session at $180 per session, two 60 minute sessions come out to $360, which is almost $40 cheaper per month than the Ultimate plan, offering the same amount of psychotherapy. Not to mention that there are many other providers whose 60 minute sessions can be much cheaper than mine. So if out-of-pocket is your primary payment method, it may be a better call to explore other options for therapy.

Take this with a grain of salt, however. I am not a Talkspace provider and I was not able to find all of their policies for being a patient and provider. I am simply reporting what Talkspace offers vs what is typical in our field.

Boundaries with Providers: Much like what I mentioned in the Betterhelp post (link this), the service seems to be much more focused on giving you a therapist that you can talk to throughout the day vs scheduling appointments and working out your problems in a more traditional manner. I can say that I have seen this create boundary issues between patients and therapists in other settings.

We therapists are people, too! We need our breaks. Being that available can be very draining and it can be reasoned that the quality, quantity, and longevity of responses from your therapist will likely wain as time goes due to burn out with having to maintain this level of availability for not only you, but their other patients, as well.

We also need to understand what our roles are with you as your therapist. Therapists are providers, not friends. This can be difficult to reconcile because in a lot of ways we are like friends. In fact, liking your therapist personally is the number one most important aspect of you being successful in therapy! However, providers are folks like doctors, psychologists, counselors, therapists, social workers, nurses, etc.

My idea of the boundaries with therapists are this simple: if you would not expect something from your primary care doctor, you probably should not expect it from your therapist. All of this may seem tedious to worry about, but it is incredibly important that you find a therapist who understands these boundaries. I see us all as growing together. If I am not practicing good boundaries with you as my patient, there are a multitude of issues that can follow that. Talkspace seems to want to stretch those boundaries with the 24/7 instant message service.

In therapy, we often times are tasked by our therapists to do work outside of the session and to think about what we work on. Having the instant messaging access offered by Talkspace is a great way to keep yourself involved and accountable for that material in your everyday life.

Talkspace also does a lot of leg-work to pair you with a therapist. So if you are struggling to find a therapist or get anxious thinking about the process of finding a therapist, Talkspace is a great tool you can use to get the help you need.

I would NOT recommend Talkspace if you do not have the resources to afford it: insurance or out-of-pocket. It is much more expensive than finding a therapist and working with them even weekly in most cases than the ultimate package that Talkspace offers.

My Opinions

Going out on a therapeutic limb here, I would not use Talkspace if you recognize in yourself that you struggle with boundary issues. I may come under fire for this a bit, but I simply have not heard of a case where therapists that provide the level of intense services offered by Talkspace and other large-scale telehealth platforms alike where boundaries being blurred does not put either the therapist, patient, or both in a sticky situation.

Compromising your boundaries not only affects your mental health in the here-and-now, but it can potentially muddle any future attempts at seeking mental health services. As your online therapy resource, I do NOT want that for you! I want you to find your person that can help work with you through whatever it is you are going through.

So, in my mind it makes much more sense to chat with a traditional outpatient therapist that fits your resources and personality best so that you can make an individually tailored therapeutic plan together.

Regardless if Talkspace is my recommendation, I always say you should try something before counting it out! Recognize that I am an independent outpatient therapist, so my biases are toward my own form of practice. My thoughts I presented do not mean that every outpatient therapist, myself included, is going to be able to give you what you need. Simply, we are all on a spectrum and can benefit from different levels of care.

If you have any questions about platforms like Talkspace, feel free to reach out!

If you are in Michigan and seeking online telehealth services, also feel free to reach out using my contact form!

References

https://www.choosingtherapy.com/talkspace-review/

https://www.talkspace.com/