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[quote=Anonymous]Ok - we recently went through Better help for my teenage daughter.  Better Help uses a program called Teen Counseling for counseling teens.  Here is our experience:

1.  We had no problem scheduling our first appointment with our first counselor.  But after the first appointment, it was impossible to get a second appointment.  When we finally did schedule a second appointment, the counselor canceled on the day of the appointment - citing going to the hospital.  Since we were only able to get 1 meeting in a 3 week period, we ended up switching therapists (which is easy to do).

2.  Our next therapist was initially awesome.  Of all the therapists that my daughter has seen (she saw a couple in person in middle school), this therapist was by far the most relatable, insightful and easy to talk to.  We thought that we hit the gold mine (as far as therapists goes).   But after the first week and half, the therapist started becoming less responsive.  One of the benefits of going through Teen Counseling (i.e. Better Help) is that you are supposed to have access to your counselors on days when you are not meeting with the counselor (since you only meet once a week).  This access comes in the form of writing a journal entry and getting feedback.  So about a week and half later, this counselor stopped responding to journal entries.  Then about 2-3 weeks in, the counselor started canceling at last minute and not responding to messages about rescheduling.  Within 6 weeks, this counselor kept telling us many reasons why she couldn't meet with us/respond (i.e. injury, hospitalization, losing power, etc.).  Basically, everything that could happen was apparently happening to this counselor.  While the cancellations and lack of response was incredibly frustrating - especially when you have a kid that was counting on these appointments - we still wanted to continue because the sessions, themselves, were really phenomenal.  But then we got ghosted again and we were told that the therapist would no be continuing for another 6 months due to medical/personal reasons.  So that really sucked.  My daughter was reluctant to try again - as it is exhausting meeting with a new therapist and telling your whole situation all over again.  Also, despite the issues with the last counselor, my daughter felt really connected with her - so when that relationship ended, she felt like it was kind of like a break-up with a close friend.

So in the end, while the convenience of meeting virtually was great - we just weren't impressed with the reliability of the service.  However, prior to Covid when we met with a therapist in person, we experienced several situations where the therapist that my daughter was developing a relationship with would leave the practice.  So I guess it can happen in any situation.

Also, before finding better, I contacted at least 15 different places for therapy - but a lot of places were booked or not taking minors.  I wish there were more options for minors.  I think FCPS has partnered with a program/place called Hazel that is supposed to offer free services.  However, we have not pursued it.    [/quote]

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