Absinthe Cocktail

I’m loathe to link to the Daily Dot, but this article (and the TikTok content) gives a good overview of why BetterHelp is a hot mess in so many ways.

I used the service for a while myself, and during that, saw three different “therapists.” The first therapist seemed to think that therapy meant just having a chat an allowing me to vent, which was largely unhelpful.

She was a Christian, but kept bringing that up, which also irked me because I’d rather not have religion part of my therapy goals. She wasn’t overly pushy, but it did bother me when she said, “As a therapist I have to say that this witchcraft stuff is your choice, but as a Christian I don’t approve.”

I cancelled and requested a new person after that.The second therapist seemed alright at first, but would regularly go on tangents about politics and her own life. I cancelled and requested a new therapist after a disturbing incident where she did the entire session (on cam, as usual) while loudly and angrily doing dishes in her kitchen.

In both of those cases, it felt like these people thought “therapist” means “online friend” or something, and never seemed to have real treatment plans or much to offer.

The third therapist I saw via BetterHelp was just for a single session. Despite consistently telling them, “I would prefer a non-religious therapist,” I was matched with someone who incessantly quoted the Bible. She kept repeatedly asking me if I was a “Bible believer” or had “accepted Jesus.” She also praised me to not standing up for myself, weirdly. She said it was best to let my husband take the lead because submission is a good quality or something like that.

It was ridiculous, and at that point I requested a full refund for that month. Around that time, I learned that BetterHelp doesn’t actually vet their “therapists.” In fact, scrolling their list of offerings, I came across “therapists” with such dubious credentials as graduating from Liberty University with a degree in “marriage” and specializing in “maladaptive sexual behaviors.”

I had to call their offices to get the refund. I’ll be honest; I wasn’t exactly polite during that call, and essentially said, “What you are doing is sick - some people do actually need help, y’know. You’ve wasted my time and money.”

It's semi-anonymized and has exactly the level of "show us your tits!" that you'd expect.

BetterHelp will not allow you to start actually talking to therapists - enough to get a sense of their communication style, their schedule, their preferred focus areas, all those things you might want to know before you hire someone - until you pay.

Their rates start at $60 per week. Not per month. While they are accurate in saying that most therapy costs substantially more than that... most therapy is done by therapists whose credentials you can verify before you start paying.

I have a family friend who worked at our local Salvation Army headquarters as a a secretary. This particular office took all the Christmas donations for children in need, put them in a warehouse, and on a designated day the staff and their friends picked through them all, taking whatever they wanted. She saw people hauling away bikes donated for specific families. Some local children had hundreds of dollars of gifts donated in their name, and on Christmas they received three cheap things, items likely not even from the person who sponsored them.

My friend quit, and I’ve not given them a dime of my money since then.

I’m a wildfire and disaster logistics specialist.

I deal with a lot of agencies who provide disaster relief.

I used to say the Salvation Army’s disaster services were the one (literally the ONE) good thing they did.

They would come in, set up a canteen trailer, make and pass out hot coffee and donated food in a disaster, usually being one of the first agencies to get there and the last to leave.

Then I found out.

Every time they did this, regardless of if they were actually invited or deployed by the agency in charge (usually FEMA, sometimes others) they would SELF-DEPLOY. Meanjng they would just show up. Ok. That’s not TOO bad, sometimes agencies have to take initiative and get there before the red tape is sorted out. BUT. They, after they left at the end of the incident, they would send FEMA or the host agency a BILL. They used one or two paid employees (usually the driver of the truck and a supervisor); and many VOLUNTEERS, but they would bill for EVERYONE’s Labor at standard federal rates. They would bill for the food they distributed even though it was all donated by another agency or private parties. They would bill for the coffee they made and the supplies. Except they would use electricity from the shelter location, water from donations or from the shelter, and in many cases, they would get the coffee and industrial filters DONATED, but bill for them at retail prices.

Salvation Army reached out to Milknmuffins and asked what shelter she’s at with the promise to address the abuse in it. She…ended up saying where she was. She was thrown out onto the street. It’s also all on Twitter.

They invited her to a personal talk so she could explain the situation in person.

And then they threatened her with a screenshot of a rape-threat made supposedly by her:

And then threw her out into the street while claiming she broke house rules that

“I Grow Into A Supernatural Beauty”