Therapy is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself. But, with outrageously high costs, mental healthcare can unfortunately feel more like a luxury than a necessity, especially for those who don’t have the privilege of health insurance. With this in mind, online therapy apps provide more accessible and affordable mental health support to those who seek it. I’ve personally tried a few, so today I’m sharing a full Talkspace review and diving deeper into my experience with online therapy.

As someone who has participated in weekly talk therapy sessions for years, the idea of a more convenient and affordable therapy service was ultra-appealing to me. Curious to see how Talkspace compared to my more “traditional” (aka, going through my insurance and working with a therapist under a private practice) experience, I set out on my online therapy adventure to see what the platform is all about.

Talkspace is an online therapy app and website that exists to provide affordable therapy options, whether you have insurance or need to pay out of pocket. The service features user-friendly technology that allows you to seamlessly sign up for online therapy and be matched with a therapist who can support your needs. To do this, the platform feeds you a questionnaire about your history, goals, and personal details. At its core, the app provides talk therapy services. However, Talkspace takes things a step further than many of its competitors, by providing psychiatry and couple’s therapy, too.

Signing up for Talkspace is easy. Through a web browser, simply visit the platform’s homepage and click “get started.” Alternatively. You can download the mobile app, which offers a very intuitive experience. Whichever you choose, you’ll be prompted to fill out a questionnaire to provide information about yourself, why you’re interested in therapy, and what you’re hoping to get out of your sessions. Once you answer these questions, you’ll create an account using your email address and a unique password.

Talkspace then pairs you with a therapist based on your needs, so you don’t have to worry about reviewing a ton of mental health expert profiles and choosing on your own, as you would with a traditional insurance database. From personal experience, this makes the signup and matching process way less overwhelming. When I signed up, I felt confident that I was being matched with a therapist that met my needs, with expertise relevant to the issues I wanted to work on. What’s more, if you do want to switch your therapist, you can do so at any time by navigating into your account settings and selecting the “change therapist” option.

Talkspace offers several forms of therapy and mental health support. With the platform’s subscription-based plans, mental health professionals support you through talk therapy, also known as psychotherapy. In addition to talk therapy, you can also register for psychiatry for an additional cost as well as couple therapy. Session times range from 30 to 50 minutes, depending on availability (though, in my experience, 30 minutes is the standard time). In terms of how you want to communicate with your therapist, you’ll have the option to choose between video calls or messaging. Just note, some therapists have limited availability for video calls, so you’ll want to pay attention to their schedule when determining what is best for you. One other caveat is that phone sessions are not an option, which is certainly worth considering if you're someone who prefers phone-based therapy.

Through its online platform, Talkspace offers recurring subscriptions that are billed monthly, quarterly, or biannually, depending on your preference. Prices vary based on which plan you select, but access to chat-based therapy starts at $69 per week, while a plan that includes video calls costs $99 weekly. The top-tier plan, which includes video and messaging therapy as well as access to workshops, costs $109 per week. If you wish to add additional sessions and are a Talkspace subscriber, each additional live session is $65. For extra savings, you can get between 10 and 20% off your plan by selecting a quarterly or biannual billing cycle. 

When I joined Talkspace, I selected the video and messaging therapy option and was quoted $396 per month, which nets down to $99 per session. To me, this felt like a fair amount when I considered that it included access to both chat-based messaging and video sessions, and was less than what I tend to pay out-of-pocket for my traditional talk therapy sessions. That said, everyone has a different budget, so it’s important to consider how much you are willing to pay and choose your plan accordingly.

In addition to the quality of care, the experience felt significantly more personable than my past experience with Betterhelp. The Talkspace therapist I met with not only did a fabulous job of supporting me mentally and emotionally, but also made sure I wasn’t lost in the shuffle of an online platform, providing me with useful insight on my insurance, how to find out if I could get my plan covered, and how to set up my next appointment. 

It’s worth noting that we went over our allotted session time during our first meeting, and the therapist waited for a good stopping point instead of abruptly ending the conversation as others have in the past. She even took additional time to leave me with a useful takeaway, rather than rushing me out the (digital) door. This was above and beyond what I would have expected from an online therapy platform, and greatly appreciated. Overall, the experience felt very similar to mine with the therapist I’ve seen for years, and not like an awkward first meeting.