Betterhelp Vs Headspace:(A Comprehensive Guide)

This article will explore the services offered by the two mental health platforms Betterhelp and Headspace by comparing them on a number of areas such as added benefits, features, how to sign up and cost of services. The article will attempt to provide a comprehensive understanding of both companies so the audience can determine which company better caters to their needs.

Betterhelp Vs Headspace: Mental Health Online Platform

Talking about the two mental health online platforms, Betterhelp and Headspace, there are a number of factors that can be taken into consideration to determine which platform is better, if they are indeed comparable! Nonetheless, the two platforms can be compared in the following areas:

• Services offered
• Modes Of Interaction
• Cost of Services
• How To Sign Up
• Added Benefits

Before we talk about any of these areas in detail, let us introduce the online giants to the readers!

BetterHelp – Your Online Partner In Mental Health

Betterhelp is one of the largest online platforms that provides multiple services for all types of people who are suffering from mental health problems and require counseling. What is great about this service is that it is online hence it is available anywhere and every time. You do not have to go to the doctor’s office to get an appointment or wait in line for your turn. This is great if you feel pretty down and getting out of bed is a challenge for you!

With approximately 1700 licensed therapists available online at the click of a button, Betterhelp ensures that its clients receive the best help they can get by connecting them to professional therapists and counselors who know what they need to do This is apparent by the total number of sessions which Betterhelp

 has already conducted from their platform; a whopping 70 million sessions already completed! This is possible because the company understands the needs of clients well and hence provides therapy related services to them online and not just at  physical location. In a world where things are changing constantly and the unknown is always around the corner, it is becoming more of a need rather than a desire to get services online and at your doorstep – we simply don’t have time nowadays!

When you visit their site, you will see that the company realizes the various situations you may be stuck in; you could be a child who needs help, a person in a relationship who feels they need to opt for couple therapy or an individual who is having a tough time facing their problems. The website also recognizes people who experience different feelings, thoughts and experiences compared to the vast majority of people; it does not judge a person based on how others are but how the person is themself! So don’t worry! You are in good hands at Betterhelp.

Headspace – Your Guide To The Perfect Sleep

Headspace is a mindfulness app that is aimed at helping you get that mental peace you need through the right meditation for you. It also helps users deal with problems such as depression, anxiety, insomnia and repeated unwanted thoughts. The application is user friendly and can be customized according to one’s needs. It also helps people deal with stress and teaches them on how to reduce it.

The main aim of headspace is educating people on how to take care of their minds as well as the significance of it. The app was co-founded by Andy Puddicombe, a former Buddhist monk who narrates a majority of the guided meditations. Although meditation itself is rooted in Eastern Buddhist tradition, Headspace isn’t tied to any singular religious identity.

According to TechCrunch, it is one of the most popular mindfulness apps and is second to Calm, another mindfulness app, hence garnering millions of downloads by users. It is a fun to use easy app that takes the seriousness out of meditation and makes it an interesting and interactive activity that is customized according to your needs and resources. The app can be managed to give you daily reminders, help you start with meditation at a time suitable to you as well as educate you on the topics you need more information about.

Headspace is an English-American online company, specializing in meditation. It was incorporated in May 2010 in London, England, by Andy Puddicombe and Richard Pierson. It is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, with offices in San Francisco and London.

Betterhelp Vs Headspace: Which Is Better?

As we pointed out before, there are a number of areas where the two online platforms can be compared. This will give a better idea to the readers as to which platform can offer them what and whether or not the particular platform can fulfill their needs. 

In this section of the article, we will dive into an in depth analysis of the topic and compare Betterhelp and Headspace on multiple areas.

Services Offered – What To Expect?

Here, we will point out what services both platforms offer and hence what needs do they fulfill.

Betterhelp – Your Online Therapist!

What services does Betterhelp offer? Let us take a look!

Individual counseling

The company provides counseling to individuals as well where they can get services for a variety of disorders such as:

• Depression
• Abuse
• Domestic Violence
• Grief
• Marriage
• Trauma
• PTSD
• Eating Disorders
• Happiness
• Anxiety

Each individual will be assigned a service provider based on their needs. The service provider will be from the area of requirement. This means that they can be someone who is a counselor for couples focusing on individuals only or a psychologist or psychiatrist.

Couples Counseling.

The platform also provides counseling for couples who are facing issues in their relationship. They provide services that help the couple express their problems and work through them in a safe and constructive environment so that the problem is solved and not broadened. The counselor guides the couple so that they utilize their time and efforts in understanding the issues both of them go through and how they can reach a solution.

Teen Counseling

The platform also provides services for teenagers who are going through a variety of problems such as:

• Depression
• School Problems
• LGBTQ
• Family Conflict
• Anxiety
• Bullying
• Friends Issues
• Eating Disorders
• Trouble Sleeping

The platform may transfer you to their sister site which is known as Teencounseling and caters to teenagers between the ages of 13 to 19 years of age. The teenager must start out by filling a form that tries to gather as much information about them as it can so as to suggest a good therapist. The site also has the option where parents can use the interface on the behalf of the teenager.

Headspace – A Healthy Mind

This company focuses on your mind and how you can ensure it’s well being. We will take a look at what services it offers to help you achieve a peaceful and calm mind!

Meditation

This service helps you meditate to deal with different types of situations; situations that require much guided learning or situations that are just kind of a one time thing. Hence they have meditation courses that will help you learn how to deal with grief, anxiety or boosting your confidence while at the same time they have single programs that are designed for stressful moments like when you are about to give a presentation, meet someone new or talk to someone about a difficult topic.

Also, it is important to highlight that the courses you enrol in can be customized. For example, you can be guided by the App’s co-founder Puddiecombe or a female narrator. You can also set a timer as to how long you want to meditate. The app keeps track of your progress in terms of how many minutes or hours you have mediated as well as the days too. It also shares quotes on meditation.

It Helps You Get A Better Sleep!

Sleep is an important part of everyone’s routine – some require more of it while others are good for a couple of hours. There are numerous ways to get a better sleep such as exercising or meditating, avoiding screens near bedtime and eating a healthy diet. Many people report problems with getting sufficient sleep because they can’t initiate it timely or maintain it and keep waking up.

The app provides a number of options that helps you achieve the sleep you need. It provides courses on breathing exercises, relaxing visualizations, guided meditations to help you forget your worries and focus on falling asleep by making you feel relaxed and calm.

It also features sleep casts which are around 45 minutes long and guided relaxation sessions to help you fall asleep. To make you stress free and sleepy it has audio tours of fictional realms paired with white noise.

Move

This is another service that allows you to help improve the mind and body connection by engaging in workouts and exercises that can be short or long ones. It has low to medium workout sessions that are usually 10 – 30 minutes long. Hence these classes do not focus on the intensity of the exercise but the relaxation and peace you get from doing these workouts. 

These classes are led by Olympians Kim Glass and Leon Taylor.

Focus

This feature in the app provides music and playlists that help you focus on the work you do. This is a service the app provides to people who find it hard to focus on tasks they do especially because they have recurring thoughts or their minds constantly skip to one thing or the other and hence experience noise.

Social Connection

Another interesting feature this app has is that integrates the family and friends. You can keep track of how long others meditate and hence it can be a source of inspiration to achieve higher meditation times – it could also be the other way around where people take inspiration from you.

It is an interactive feature where you can send short and simple messages to friends and family to encourage them to start meditating more or congratulate them on the milestones they achieve!

Headspace for kids

Headspace also has a number of fun and interesting  courses for children to teach them about the concept and benefits of meditation. There are simple breathing exercises, relaxing mindful activities, and short lessons on the importance of kindness and generosity.

Headspace recently partnered up with Sesame Street to encourage children to join.

For example: Elmo is having trouble sleeping because he wants to play. Puddicombe then teaches Elmo a wind down activity to help him relax and fall asleep. This is a great example of how the app partners with Sesame street to teach children on how to relax or deal with stressful situations.

Headspace’s kids content is broken down into digestible animated videos to teach kids how to better manage relatable, everyday scenarios.

Modes of Interaction: How They Reach You?

This section of the article apprises the audience on how each platform reaches out to its clients and provides the services they need to them!

Betterhelp – Reaching Out In Every Manner

Apart from in person therapy sessions, Betterhelp provides clients a number of ways to reach out to their therapists such as:

• Chatrooms: These are open 24/7 and you can drop a message any time you feel like doing so. However, your counselor will only get back to you once they have the time or chance to. Usually people like dropping questions they want opinions on from their counselor and don’t mind waiting a bit.

• Live Chatting Sessions: here you can chat with your counselor in real time and there really is no limit on the number of messages exchanged or time spent talking here. It depends on the needs of the client and the nature of the problem.

• Live Phone Calls: Kind of like Skype this platform has their own system set up where you can have audio sessions with your service provider. It does not show your contact details to the counselor for reasons of privacy and in case the counselor and counselee become direct. 

• Video Sessions: clients who are more comfortable or want a more personalized experience can also opt for video sessions. Like other mediums of interaction, there is no limit on these although people mostly hold the opinion that 1 or 2 sessions per week are sufficient.

What about Headspace? 

Headspace is mainly accessed through users by an app and they can opt for multiple services that are in the form of videos, short courses, self paced courses and reading material.

This application does not have live therapy sessions or meditation sessions similar to the experience users have when they work with Betterhelp!

The platform provides access to its resources either through the website where everything is for free or the app where charges do apply!

Cost of Services

This is an interesting section where we will learn exactly how much each platform charges for its services.

Betterhelp – Affordable Online Therapy

The services described above are offered at the following rates:

• Weekly Plan: It costs $80/week where you subscribe to their services for a week only and can avail whatever and how many sessions you need. In case you subscribe every week, you will have to pay $320 at the end of the month.

• Monthly Plan: It costs a total of $260 per month which breaks down to $60/week. The client is billed monthly as well – this is pretty straightforward

• Quarterly Plan: This plan costs a total of $540 but the weekly costs breaks down into $45 a week only because of the longer subscription availed by the client. At the end of the each month the client must pay $180

• Annual Plan: For clients who need long term services, they can pay $1820 which results in only $35 per week which is extremely cheap. At the end of each month the client is liable to pay $140 only which is the cheapest option.

Are you interested in their services? Sign up today!

Headspace – Affordable Courses

As we have learnt, Headspace is more about getting access to the materials you need whether they are related to sleep, meditation, focus, movement and improved well being for kids. The main aim of this platform is to help you achieve a sound and peaceful mind so that your quality of life is improved. Hence, this platform aims to provide affordable services to the public.

On their website, the material is free and users can surf through it and see what is useful for them. However, with a paid subscription you can access their full content that comprises more than 400 videos on meditations.

Here is their subscription plan:

• Headspace Plus: To avail this subscription, one must pay $12.99 per month or $69.99 every year. 

• Student Plan: Individuals who are currently students can opt for their student plan which is extremely affordable keeping in mind students still need help managing their expenses and do experience a lot of mental health problems like trouble sleeping. This plan is only for $9.99 per year. 

• Family Plan: This plan is for the entire family; you can have access for 6 accounts for the entire year for only $99.99!

• Free Membership: Headspace also grants free memberships to all K-12 teachers, school administrators, and supporting staff in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.

How To Sign Up: Betterhelp Vs Headspace

How can you sign up with these platforms? It is simple and easy and that is what this section of the article is about to explain!

Betterhelp – How To Sign Up?

The process to sign up with Betterhelp involves 5 steps:

• Visit Website: Click here to visit their website! You need to inform them if you are opting for individual therapy, couple therapy or teen therapy.

• Intake Form: You will be required to fill out a questionnaire that has numerous questions pertaining to your health, income, counseling needs and preferences as well as mental health. This is important so that the algorithm can determine which counselor to match you with.

• Assignment: You will be assigned a counselor on the basis of your responses. The counselor will be someone from your state. However, if you are a client from overseas, you will be matched with a service provider who matches your needs and preferences.

• Payment Details: Betterhelp accepts payment through credit card or paypal and you will need to provide your real information here to sign up.

• Start Your Counseling: After the registration process you can start your sessions with your service provider immediately. You will have access to a wide range of services and options to avail these services through different mediums. We will discuss these in upcoming sections.

Think the registration process is easy? Why not sign up today and start your journey towards better mental health.

Headspace – An Easy Sign Up Process

It is easy to sign up with Headspace! Look at the steps below:

• Visit their website or download their app

• Choose A Plan: There are two types of plans; you can go for the annual plan which is $5.83 per month or $69.99 per year where the first 14 days are free! Also, you can opt for the monthly plan which is $12.99 per month and the first 7 days are free.

• Create An Account: For this step, you have a few options. You can continue with Apple or Facebook. Also, you can create a fresh account for which you need to provide your first and last name, an email address and a password.

• Homepage: Once you have signed up, you are taken to a homepage where there are introductory videos and you are guided on how to avail services. 

• Choose A Category: On your homepage, you can toggle between options for sleep, meditation, move and focus to customize your activities accordingly.

• Payment: The platform accepts payments through online methods only.

Added Features: Betterhelp Vs Headspace

Let us take a look at what added features both platforms have. We will first take a look at Betterhelp!

Betterhelp – What It Offers!

What does Betterhelp offer? Let us find out in this section!

Anonymity

Betterhelp has created a platform where people can get the help they need without revealing who they are to anyone – even their own counselor! Pretty neat right? This provides so many people the comfort level and privacy they need to open up about their problems without fearing getting judged or labeled or their information leaking out.

It is simple – people availing services at Betterhelp just need to sign up with a nickname they can choose for themselves and hence can keep their true identity to themselves.

Digital Worksheets.

Enough talk! Let’s get down to some serious business. Betterhelp realizes that mental health services are not all about chit chat; you need to actually do something to make things better in your life.

At Betterhelp, there are more than 150 + worksheets that can be assigned to clients based on their needs and mental health condition. It helps them practically apply what they are being told to do. It also helps them stay consistent in their sessions and stay in touch with their counselors.

Many people are going through serious mental disorders; they feel alone and vulnerable and just knowing they have something to do or someone is waiting for them to submit a certain piece of work really helps them get through the tough times in life.

Monthly Subscriptions

One of the best things at Betterhelp is that you pay through a monthly subscription and not a per session basis. This can actually help a lot of clients not only mentally but financially as well. 

Some people require more sessions and if they are charged per session they will not only be stressed out mentally and financially but they will feel hesitant acquiring the help they need. If they know they have to pay once and can avail as many sessions as they want, they can talk to their counselor without any hesitation. Betterhelp makes availing the service easy which very few businesses understand the importance of!

Furthermore, such a practice prevents exploitation of clients. You can extend progress across a number of sessions instead of achieving it in a few (if possible) to gain more money with the pay per session model. Not to say it is always an exploitative practice but it can become one. In some cases, this model is more suitable. But keeping in mind the needs of clients who require help online, the pay model Betterhelp follows is great!

Unlimited Sessions

Ever feel helpless when you realize you have just started opening up to your therapist and suddenly the time for the session finishes? That happens to many of us whether you are talking to a counselor, friend or mentor it hurts to find out that they have to go or attend to someone else especially when you have just started getting to the deeper things.

With Betterhelp you don’t have to worry! They provide unlimited sessions. What does this mean? It means there is no time limit on the session you have with your counselor or therapist. It can go on for as long as you need and this is why Betterhelp is one of the best options you have and should pay for; they realize it takes time for clients to open up with their counselors so putting a time cap on sessions can actually hamper the process and make things take longer.

At Betterhelp, clients can opt to take up chatting, audio and/or video calling with their counselors based on their needs and comfort level. They can also have short sessions if that is what they prefer – people have different needs.

Selecting A Service Provider

Sometimes getting stuck with the wrong counselor can become a nightmare. I mean its already enough work to make the decision to get mental help and act on it let alone getting paired up with a person who you not only feel comfortable with but tend to dislike for their attitude. It is tough especially when you have already paid for the session. Also the stigma attached to changing that counselor and going for another one can be strong if you live in a small town.

Betterhelp takes care of this problem by actually setting up a system to pair you with the right counselor! Not happy? You can simply change them and go for the one you prefer. It is an easy system that saves you from a lot of embarrassment and makes sure you get value for your money. Like I said, it’s all about making services easy to avail.

Headspace – Many Features

Free Trials

Headspace provides free trials unlike Betterhelp! It wants to ensure that its users are satisfied with services and hence offers free trials that can be upto 7 or 14 days depending on the subscription offer the user has taken up.

Free trials mean their services are available for a certain period after which they need to pay through one of the following methods:

• Visa 
• Mastercard
• American Express (US only)
• PayPal

They are unable to accept payment from prepaid credit cards, iTunes gift cards, Google Play gift cards, PayPal credit.

Videos

Although their mode of interaction is mostly through videos, this is a cool feature that they have because it not only allows users to learn more about new topics but also because it helps them in guided courses and activities. Many of their videos are available on their website for free but in order to have access to their entire library one needs to subscribe.

Videos are indeed a great way to learn because not only do you hear but also see and this increases learning as well as memory!

Videos are also a great way to grab attention and maintain the interest of users. It also requires lower cognitive load to understand as the content is available to two senses and not just one!

Track progress

This is a unique feature that allows users to track their progress in terms of how many hours they have meditated! It not only acts as a monitor but can also service as a motivation for the user and their buddies!

Tracking progress helps users plan their daily goals, motivate themselves to achieve what may seem difficult as well as give them a sense of satisfaction especially when they achieve a daily goal. The satisfaction one feels marking something as ‘done’ is pretty great.

Daily Reminders

This app really knows how to get work done! It has reminders that can be customized according to one’s schedules and hence the user can be reminded when they need to take a break and meditate!

Website Content Free

The content on their website is free! Not only do they have cool videos but very interesting blogs that talk about a variety of topics including services the app does not feature such as how to reach out to a good therapist!

Conclusion

This article attempted to compare the two online platforms, Betterhelp and Headspace, comprehensively by citing a number of areas they can be compared on and hence describing what these services can actually offer to clients. The article introduced the two companies and described their services, modes of interaction, special features, payment plans and what they do not offer.

References

https://www.apaservices.org/practice/business/technology/tech-column/apps-tools-psychologists