Special Special

Special News Segment

Special

(Pewds said 'special' 5 times. js.)

Good evening. I'm Poppy Harlow here for your *special* news segment

any youtuber mentioned in this video is just for context (lwiay intro smile)

I am not dragging these people. It's JUST for context, full disclaimer guys:

Just context. No for real it is just context *smirk*

I think if this story goes mainstream which it very likely will, it will have a negative impact on youtubers

What am I talking about?

Well, of course Better Help.

you've already heard about it from your favorite youtuber

Better help *montage*

There is a list of over a hundred youtubers who have promoted this website

It's been all over reddit, my own subreddit. I always see these ads (but not the sweet submissions? jk pewds)

try online therapy

try online therapy and you too can grow a magnificent beard just like this guy *pewds is just jealous smh*

Well, what is betterhelp?

Well, it's been marketed as cheap, affordable, and private online therapy, with a professional.

That's right. Hooray, professional.

I discussed betterhelp in a previous video where I first heard about it

and I was cautious about it, calling it a scam.

Because I've seen not just youtubers, but actual therapists shilling the service.

Shane: So we really believe it Felix: You're a sociopath.

By the way, this video is sponsored by online therapy.

So what's wrong with betterhelp then? You can have online therapy without leaving your house.

You can have therapy at home.

That's great, that sounds almost too good to be true.

Well, yes, yes because it is. With Betterhelp, they have attempted to mass produce therapy.

They pride on having 4 million users.

And they've gathered this many users by saying this:

"If you sign up with Betterhelp, you will pay only 65 dollars.

Whereas if you go to an actual therapist and meet face-to-face, you'll be paying

pfftshhh

150 dollars." So look at how much money you are saving by using Betterhelp instead of face-to-face therapy.

However,

in their own Terms of Service,

they acknowledge that if you are using this site,

it is not a complete substitute for face-to-face examination

and for a session by a licensed, qualified professional.

So it's marketed as a cheaper substitute for therapy, when in reality, it's a luxury, it's an addition to therapy.

Look how much money you are saving by not going to therapy. Also, by the way, you need to go to therapy.

When you subscribe to Betterhelp, let's say you pick the most popular one.

65 dollars per week, but you are billed monthly.

So when the 7 day trial runs out, you're immediately billed 260 dollars.

So let's say you sign up for Betterhelp,

but for a 7 day free trial.

As soon as that trial ends, you are charged immediately

with the full price of a month

260 dollars. And even if you immediately cancel, you are still charged the full amount for a month, that you will not use.

And there's a lot of reviews that reinforce this. Betterhelp says how long will I use this service?

Just as long you need it.

You can cancel the subscription of the service at any time,

we'll just charge you for the full month anyway.

Now I've seen comments saying that if you contact them, they will pay you back.

So, if you lost money signing up for this,

please do reach out.

Betterhelp also says that we'll find you an online therapist.

Well, uh, you can just do this quick questionnaire and we'll find the right person for you.

But in their Terms of Service, they also say:

"We cannot assess whether the use of the councilor is right and suitable for your needs."

So what do they do?

They don't take accountability for anything.

You can find a therapist that does phone calls or texting by yourself.

Better help says themselves

that they give no warranty for their willingness to give advice. They make no warranty

whether what they say is even relevant, useful, correct, relevant a g a i n,

satisfactory, or suitable to your needs.

So they don't take responsibility for anything. How convenient.

On review sites, it says that betterhelp is 69 percent positive and 21 percent negative.

So if someone says:

"Betterhelp really worked for me."

That's because they had a good therapist, not because betterhelp provided good service.

Because they don't take accountability for any of their counselors.

Which then leads to a lot of people having bad experiences.

They say themselves that they don't diagnose,

the platform is not intended for diagnoses.

But then you have really questionable videos of Youtubers saying:

"I suffer with binge eating, which I do want to talk to you guys about

because I was officially diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder

by my therapist."

I was officially diagnosed by their therapist.

Okay, who-who diagnosed you?

"If you guys have ever heard of betterhelp.com"

Oh really?

So you were officially diagnosed by a therapist?

Therapists should not diagnose you, by the way.

And better help themselves say that, but still, apparently it happens.

"I never actually received any therapy.

We just kept setting appointments and he just kept missing them

and not giving me any warning or any real reason

and was really unprofessional in his messages.

So,

I'm seeing betterhelp everywhere and I'm getting flashbacks."

Obviously, if you meet a therapist face-to-face, you can still have bad experiences.

but if betterhelp themselves doesn't take any accountability of finding you the right therapist or any

accountability for the actions of their therapist then what's the point? What do they do besides charging you?

It just came to my attention that I missed a portion of the Terms of Service

This one is deeply concerning and guess why I missed it? They deleted it. Just a few days ago

How convenient

this one says that they don't guarantee the verification of the skills, degrees, qualifications

certification, credentials, competence or background of any counselor

with betterhelp you'll be talking to professionals, just beware that it's your responsibility

to determine whether they are or not

It's your responsibility to determine whether they have any degree or qualification or certification

or all these things

What does betterhelp do besides selling you a product that doesn't exist?

that they don't sell.

a lot of reviews have spoken about this saying that their counselors was really questionable

with all kinds of crazy stories, and considering how little the actual therapists using betterhelp gets paid.

it's obvious that you're not gonna get the best service

people even saying that they most likely just talk to another person

Their therapist just changed throughout the year and

they they don't even know who they were talking to anymore

now I can't vouch that these reviews are legit

Obviously they are anonymous reviews, but I can if you want to do that argument

neither of the good reviews are legit either

If you go to better helps own website, their testimonies

They are filled with testimonies

most of them starting off with text saying

Joel was excellent referring to their therapist

Alex has been so helpful.

She is very understanding

referring to their therapist

Jerry is empathetic

while you scroll down and you find this guy

"Julian says that betterhelp.com is a reliable online platform to receive therapy

it can be easier and safer to communicate with a licensed psychologist from home than at an office

a therapist of theirs, Loren McCoy, is attentive and does ask the right questions

you needn't stay alone."

Jesus

you needn't stay alone

*pre-halloween edit*

and notice how he says 'Julian says'.

"Julian says that betterhelp.com"

Who's Julian? His therapist is Lauren. Is he Julian?

Is he referring to himself? Is he reading the script so badly?

What is this site? What is going on here?

the cherry on the top here is that in their Terms of Service

they can share your data

and anything talking about mental health related, that's that's really not a problem if that's public information,

right?

I mean the whole idea of having online therapy with an online footprint is a bad idea in general.

Why is my accent so wrong?

NOW this is some of the reason that I found out that betterhelp is not what they are saying it is

There's a lot of more information

and a lot of more crazy things that I don't want to bring up, but there is a lot of suspicious activity

to say the least. For me where this whole thing gets the most messed up

It's the marketing. when I first heard about better help I was immediately skeptical

because I've been approached by a similar app a year ago and a very few selected people told me

Felix this app is not what they are saying it is

luckily the app didn't cost any money and luckily I didn't take the money for the promo

for some reason I recognized that it was a bad idea taking money for a mental health issue

and how so many youtubers failed to recognize this

It's just beyond me

Well, maybe it shouldn't be

there's over a hundred youtubers who have promoted better help

But the most concerning thing about this is not that they're getting paid to promote it

I think that's fine. But they are paid per person that signs up to betterhelp

and not just a little money either

It's been confirmed that youtubers have been paid $200 per person

that they get to sign up for betterhelp

$200 that's a lot of money

just get a thousand people signing up. You just made two hundred thousand dollars

So obviously you're highly incentivized to tell people to sign up for this service

In my video when I meme betterhelp, I was just joking

"By the way guys everyone is a sociopath

enter the code Shane for your cheaper online therapy today."

I would never have guessed it would actually, this was the case

So this leads to a lot of the sponsored videos of these hundred of youtubers

being about mental health

which could actually be a good thing, but they are made so that people sign up for the website.

"I'm Scott

It's Scott for depression to expression

if you're looking for anything to miss out on don't miss out on this

Welcome to Express. Whoa. I actually messed up there."

"and

completely serious"

"before we start,

I have so much respect for each and every one of you for watching

and being pa..." "why do you ask for my payment information now?

okay,"

"as we know I've been in therapy I've been just dealing with a lot of stuff that I need to deal with and I feel good.

Anyways, I feel good. That's what is that probably about."

"so you can access professional, affordable and convenient counseling."

"I just hit a wall where it was, was gotten so bad that it was basically either

stop making videos or

disappear"

"Also this video is sponsored by betterhelp more information about that at the end of this video"

"I believe having a healthy mind to be a top priority

At least for myself

a healthy mind leads to a healthy life

But before you guys go, I just want to share with you betterhelp."

"It may seem like you are unable to gain, a clearer perspective

You no longer need to feel the suffering

Counselors at betterhelp are on your side."

"Probably 70, 80, 90 hour work weeks with travel in between, of course she got burn out"

i'm so... i'm fucking done

In light of this video I'm working with betterhelp to help provide another resource for you guys"

to be fair I don't think these youtubers know what they're promoting

and on the paper

It sounds like a great thing

if you can help people and get paid at the same time. What's the- what's wrong with that?

I don't think everyone is completely innocent, but I don't think there's any point in faulting anyone too much either

recently there's been a big topic on YouTube about mental health

ten youtubers fighting mental health stigma

'YouTube is failing its creators' and 'why youtubers are feeling burned out'

I talked about this topic because I don't want people chasing phantom dragons

I don't want people to think that they win by acquiring wealth and fame.

This is such a common misconception that

somehow if you get rich and famous all your problems are solved

when in reality, these are just cravings that everyone has that will never leave you satisfied

You will never feel happy and content.

If a service like betterhelp existed, they should take accountability for their counselors actions

It should be in their best interest to make sure that anyone that signs up gets a good service