Calmerry Review (& why you should opt for it)

This Review examines Calmerry, an online psychotherapy providing service. It presents an overview of the range of services it offers, which mental health problems its psychologists specialise in and how credible the therapists themselves are. 

An account of the major advantages and disadvantages is made, the subscription packages and steps to get started are described and how it ensures the safety and confidentiality of personal information. 

Finally, some alternatives to Calmerry are enlisted, what customers like and dislike about it and the questions they often ask.

Therapist Credibility 4/5
Price4/5
Insurance2.5/5
Useability5/5
Subscription process4/5
Final Verdict4/5

What is Calmerry?

Calmerry is an online therapeutic service which provides convenient and affordable counselling to clients worldwide. 

The mission it aims to accomplish through the dynamism and versatility that e-therapy offers is for the most credible of Psychologists to be able to reach out to unprecedented numbers of clients and vice versa, especially with the mental health deterioration individuals are experiencing amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.  

This is achieved by the flexibility that Calmerry offers in its means of communication between clients and therapists. Clients can reach out to and hold counselling sessions with their therapists through text messaging and live video calls. 

Calmerry requires clients to follow a brief three step registration process, to avail the services centred around an array of mental distresses. 

Credibility and Qualifications of Calmerry’s Psychologists

Since you have a brief yet succinct idea as to what Calmerry is about, which will be explored in greater detail in the sections that follow, it is crucial to know that Calmerry only employs therapists who possess the best of skill sets and qualifications. 

Calmerry ensures that each of its therapists has successfully completed a Masters or a Doctorate, has specialized in their particular area of counselling, been recognized as a licensed professional and accredited by its specific state, according to the rules and regulations that comply therein. 

That is not all. Calmerry therapists are ensured to have completed over 2,500 hours of clinical practise prior to their appointment and to be considered qualified highly enough to contribute to the e-therapy this organization offers. 

Which Mental Health Conditions do they treat?

Calmerry has employed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW/LMSW), Licensed Professional Counsellors (LPC), Marriage and Family Therapists (LMFT) etc. Considering their capacities comprehensively, they treat an array of mental health distresses. These include and are not limited to:

  • Anxiety 
  • Depression
  • Anger management issues
  • Post-traumatic Stress
  • Intimate relationship issues
  • Emotional abuse
  • Familial and Social matters 
  • Financial issues
  • Spiritual concerns 
  • Existential questions
  • Sleeping problems 
  • Grief and loss challenges 
  • Self-esteem troubles. 

What’s the catch with e-Therapy?

Advantages of Calmerry

Compared to the traditional form of in-person therapeutic services, e-therapy extends the limits within which the therapeutic experience was first confounded. It has quite literally allowed therapists and clients to meet beyond borders, and that too, at the convenience of the click of a button. 

Having been founded in the wake of the increasing prevalence of mental health crises resultant of the Covid-19 outbreak, Calmerry set out to equip individuals with the tools to meet the challenging demands of the new-normal way of day to day living, world over. 

A multitude of industries have experienced a drastic switch from physical to online practises, for instance, educational institutions, the corporate sector and now health care services as well, making it only befitting for Calmerry to follow suit. Hence, this helps form a risk averse way of seeking help, considering the ongoing pandemic.

Moreover, e-therapy is significantly cost effective when compared to the external costs that its in-person counterpart incurs. Travelling costs, Scheduling costs and not to mention, the effort and energy accounted for when going for weekly and monthly in-person sessions are completely avoided. 

In addition, e-therapy incurs lesser costs for the sessions themselves as well, apart from the external costs. Calmerry’s e-therapy starts with prices as low as 43 USD per week, whereas in-person therapists charge approximately 120 USD on average. 

This is not all. Depending on an individuals’ personality type, many prefer online therapy over in-person because since they are in the comfort of their own homes, the process whereby they open-up to a therapist becomes easier. The hassle of becoming used to the commuting and the workspace environment at the therapists’ office are avoided, which can be anxiety-inducing experiences in themselves. 

This speeds up the process and allows for a therapeutic relationship between the therapist and their client to be formed sooner than in in-person therapy services on average. 

Also, Calmerry allows every client the freedom to engage with their therapist via text messages and/or video calls. This flexible manner allows clients to suit their needs based on what works best for them. Individuals who believe they express their feelings better on paper can conveniently abide by that. 

In addition, this also allows for clients to stay in touch more often with their therapists, whereas with in-person therapy, clients may have to go months without staying in touch outside the clinic. 

Also, Calmerry’s algorithmic system of matching enables clients to find the perfect fit in terms of all the potential therapists available.

This allows them to not only save time by avoiding the frequently used trial and error method in in-person practise, but instead find the one who is best suited for the individuals’ specific needs at the time. 

Calmerry’s e-therapy service allows clients to switch from one therapist to another should they feel the need to do so. 

Lastly, support agents are also available round the clock, for specific queries and questions. 

Disadvantages 

Since this is intended to be an unprejudiced review of Calmerry’s e-therapy, it is only morally correct to let potential clients know both sides of the coin with online therapy. As mentioned earlier as well, apart from its monetary advantages, whether someone chooses traditional or online means of therapy can boil down to personal preference as well. 

For example, a highly extroverted person might choose to opt for traditional physical therapy sessions. This is because they may not feel the same connection and bond they do during in-person sessions, in online therapy. Hence, an online method of seeking therapy might hamper their process of forming that valuable psychotherapeutic relationship that is critical. 

Secondly, Calmerry’s online therapy offers services provided by Psychologists and Counsellors. This excludes Psychiatrists who have acquired medical school degrees prior to specialization. Hence, it is not possible for them to be able to prescribe psychiatric drugs to their clients, which might narrow down the scope of the available treatment methods. 

How to Subscribe and get started?

  • Firstly, to get underway, the potential client is to provide a valid email address and a password to create an account on the website.
  • Secondly, a three-minute questionnaire is to be answered. These concern an individual’s background, demographics, needs and expectations from commencing therapy. 
  • Thirdly, after the individual is provided possible therapists to choose from, based on how the questionnaire was addressed, they are to choose a suitable payment package to subscribe to (monthly, quarterly, or biannually). 
  • The packages start from as low as 43 USD per week. In terms of their services, clients can avail merely text message services or video call services and a hybrid of both if need be. 

Is Calmerry’s e-therapy Safe?

The shift of many industries from in-person work to online based functioning and its drastic nature has inevitably come about with a fair share of scepticism. Naturally, people would be concerned about online healthcare services as well, such as online therapy, in order that they avoid any risk of fraudulent practises. 

Calmerry has ensured complete security and transparency. By being HIPAA compliant, Calmerry keeps every clients’ and therapists’ data encrypted and secure. It is also ensured that counsellors strictly follow APA’s Record Keeping Guidelines and Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. 

Alternatives to Calmerry

Some of the alternatives to Calmerry include:

  • BetterHelp
  • Online-Therapy
  • Talkspace
  • Cerebral
  • Amwell
  • Ginger
  • MDLive
  • iCounselling

What we like about Calmerry

  • What clients greatly value about Calmerry is that it’s great value for money. This is made possible by the low rates Calmerry offers therapy on. An example is its initial subscription which provides text messaging services with a licensed therapist. 
  • Secondly, customers have been delighted with the approaches used by their respective therapists. They employ Psychological interventions that best suit specific clients. 
  • Clients are inclined to subscribing to Calmerry due to its online nature. They say it saves them a lot of time since commuting in peak traffic hours is avoided. 
  • Clients love the flexible means of therapeutic services on offer, which range from text messages, to video calls, to a combination of both. People have different styles of effective communication and this wide range of choice helps them express themselves best. 
  • The fact that Calmerry offers to switch between therapists conveniently is one of its main attractions. Clients who have faced the stress of physically travelling to different therapists to find their right match have been able to do so with minimal effort through Calmerry which brings them great comfort. 

What we don’t like about Calmerry

  • Based on one’s personal preferences, they may prefer in-person human interaction or online. Those for whom avoiding tedious commuting is a bigger gain than the absence of physical interaction is a loss, will prefer online therapy. However, clients who feel differently dislike Calmerry’s e-therapy because they feel the lack of an emotional connection. 
  • Others still have felt that the text messaging service does not provide a comprehensive way of seeking help and reported that their texts could likely be interpreted by a therapist differently than their intended way. 
  • Moreover, Calmerry’s online therapy is likely not the most suitable way of seeking help for patients who are suffering from extremely severe degrees of mental health issues. This is because mere text messaging and phone calls may not suffice in preventing acts like self harm etc.  
  • Due to its online nature, clients planning to seek this form of therapy are sceptical about the license therapists hold and whether they comply by all the rules suggesting they can fully practise counselling. Moreover, this is particularly confusing since different geographical locations have differing rules whereas Calmeryy is supposed to be universal. 

I have tried and tested various products and services to help with my anxiety and depression. See my top recommendations here, as well as a full list of all products and services our team has tested for various mental health conditions and general wellness.

Frequently Asked Questions: Calmerry

How much do I have to pay precisely?

As of now, three subscription plans are available. One of them is the ‘Therapy Journey Start’, which allows for unlimited text messaging with a licensed therapist of one’s own choice for one week. It is billed weekly and the amount is precisely 59.95 USD. 
‘Message Therapy’ includes messaging services allowed for a month, unlike the one-week process in the initial phase mentioned above. Moreover, this is a chat space that is open 24/7 and at least one daily response from the therapist is guaranteed. Its weekly bill amounts to 52.99 USD and monthly bill, 211.96 USD. 
The ‘Message + Video’ package allows for unlimited 24/7 messaging services with a licensed therapist for a month, alongside four video calls, each spanning 30 minutes in duration. The weekly bill is 89.99 USD and the monthly cost, 359.96 USD.  

Is Calmerry covered by insurance? 

Calmerry e-therapy services are generally not covered by most insurance plans. However, a potential client may call their insurance company to double check that with. If Calmerry services are not covered by one’s insurance package, they need not worry since the subscription fee is generally comparable with co-pays in most insurance plans. 

What are the refund policies?  

Generally, refunds are not granted very often, however the outcome of a refund application varies on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the Calmerry team. However, the alternative arrangement that can be made is for the clients’ subscription to be extended without any further costs. Partial and full refunds are made comparatively rarely. 

How do I cancel my account?

Yes, to simply stop taking sessions, all that is required is to stop the auto-charge billing. If the account altogether is to be deleted, contact the support team, inform them of your decision with a valid reason and the Calmerry support staff will be happy to oblige by your request. 

Is it possible to change a therapist?

Yes, in the case that you are not satisfied and require to see another therapist, the support team can be freely contacted at team@calmerry.com and a valid reason for changing therapists will suffice. 

How long should I wait to get matched with a counsellor?

After the subscription is paid for, it will usually be within 24 hours that a counsellor is assigned to you, after the matching procedure is complete. Sometimes, if needed, Calmerry representatives ask clients to wait a bit longer. 

Concluding Verdict

This review comprehensively summarized Calmerry as an extremely convenient means of acquiring affordable e-therapy services from highly qualified, licensed therapists around the world. 

In an era that saw a drastic shift from in-person interactions to online, Calmerry sought to optimise this shift for the best interests of individuals around the world, by allowing them to become their best versions at the convenience of so little as the click of a button. 

Calmerry, it was mentioned, provides these services at as low as 43 USD per week, alongside continuous text messaging services with the respective therapists. 

Some of the major attractions of seeking online therapy services include being able to avoid stressful commuting over long distances, the trouble of having to adapt to the clinical environment and making full use of a combination of ways to remain in touch with one’s therapist. 

Moreover, Calmerry ensures the confidentiality and encryption of all information provided by therapists and clients. These features, all under one platform, Calmerry, make therapy incredibly feasible and convenient. 

Finally, the review suggested alternatives to Calmerry, what people have loved about it in particular, what makes them sceptical and the queries they usually want answered.