Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsLooking for a TherapistContacting My TherapistMy First SessionFree ResourcesOur Most Recent TestingPros & ConsFinal Thoughts
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Looking for a Therapist
Contacting My Therapist
My First Session
Free Resources
Our Most Recent Testing
Pros & Cons
Final Thoughts
Our Online Therapy MethodologyCurious about the extensive work we did to research and evaluate online therapy companies? Take a look at ouronline therapy methodology.
Our Online Therapy Methodology
Curious about the extensive work we did to research and evaluate online therapy companies? Take a look at ouronline therapy methodology.
I’ve been living with anxiety for a while—but lately, I realized I have just started accepting that anxiety as part of my everyday life, which … isn’t great. For example, I would check in with my physical body and feel tension throughout the day, a clenching of my jaw, or an inability to relax my brain at night, with thoughts swirling about my dad’s declining health or money I was owed or my kids’ life choices. I began thinking “That’s just life.” But instead, I wanted to explore ways to take control of my thoughts so that they wouldn’t impact my physical body and sleep so much.
This led me to start considering online therapy as a way to find a therapist who might be able to help me live life from a more calm and enjoyable baseline state. But after some trial and error with online therapy companies, I still hadn’t found a therapist I liked. So I decided that this time I would try the online therapy directoryGoodTherapy. Directories aren’t companies trying to sell you a service; instead, they’re essentially an online phone book of therapists, allowing you to search for a therapist based on where you live and therapist characteristics like specialization, gender identity, faith, and more. And sinceGoodTherapylists providers in all 50 states and Washington D.C., as well as Canada and over 25 countries worldwide, I figured it could get me into a bigger pool of options—and I was right.
After considering things like GoodTherapy’s reach, range of provider options and qualifications, extensive filters to narrow down my search, and cost, I was immensely impressed with this directory—andour most recent researchreflects this as well.
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THIS. This kind of non-judgemental, warm, and loving support is what I had been looking for, and I had high expectations that I would be able to find a therapist that I clicked with—which I did.
GoodTherapy
I did experience some technical glitches when trying to use the filter option to narrow down my choices.
First, I could not find the filter option when using my phone. Then I went to my computer and found it there just fine, but sometimes when I would enter new filter options it would not update my choice list. At first, this was difficult to tell, as I was picking some pretty general options like “individual therapy,” and I still had a ton of choices (so I thought that every therapist must offer individual therapy). But to test it, I chose very specific, not very common things like “regression therapy” and “shamanic journeying,” and the therapist list still never changed.
But then out of nowhere, it started to work again—and when it worked, it was quite helpful. I could choose if I preferred a male, female, ornon-binarytherapist and which language I preferred. I could also pick a specialty—for example, if I wanted to work with someone specializing ineating disorders,addictions,teens,panic attacks, etc.
When it came to the types of therapies I could search for, I was impressed with the choices available. Of the perhaps 120 options, there were therapies I knew about, such aspsychoanalysis,cognitive behavioral therapy(CBT), andGestalt therapy, and then there were some I wasn’t aware of, such as brain spotting,autogenic training,constructivism,lifespan integration,logotherapy, anddepth therapy. Some options were much more holistic than I’d expected from a directory. I appreciated the diversity, especially with options such asdreamwork,breathwork,art therapy,Jungian psychotherapy,healing touch, andplay therapy.
The therapist profiles are very in-depth and offer transparent information right away, such as how much sessions cost, what insurance they accept, what types of therapy they use, and what you can expect from working with them.
I found a therapist who struck me as practical and with a warm approach instead of just academic. Her profile noted that she recognized how uncomfortable it can be for some people to trust a new therapist enough to open up. She also mentioned that she does not work with a “one size fits all” mentality and that she could try different types of therapy until she figured out what worked best for the client. She treats using both CBT andEMDR(eye movement desensitization and reprocessing), two therapy types that I didn’t know much about but have wanted to explore.
How Payment Works on GoodTherapyPayment options depend on the therapist. If the therapist has a “Pro” membership (which costs them $49.95 a month), GoodTherapy offers access to a service called FrontDesk Practice Management. FrontDesk acts as a middleman in billing clients for services. The client portal allows the therapists’ clients to modify their appointments, manage intake paperwork, and view any bills they may have. Therapists without the “Pro” membership work one-on-one with the client for billing and scheduling.According to the directory website, therapy sessions on GoodTherapy generally range from $65 per hour to $250 or more. In most areas of the country, a person canexpect to pay$100 to $200 per session. Factors that can affect the price of therapy include the therapist’s training, location of therapy,insurance coverage, length of the therapy session, and specialization.
How Payment Works on GoodTherapy
Payment options depend on the therapist. If the therapist has a “Pro” membership (which costs them $49.95 a month), GoodTherapy offers access to a service called FrontDesk Practice Management. FrontDesk acts as a middleman in billing clients for services. The client portal allows the therapists’ clients to modify their appointments, manage intake paperwork, and view any bills they may have. Therapists without the “Pro” membership work one-on-one with the client for billing and scheduling.According to the directory website, therapy sessions on GoodTherapy generally range from $65 per hour to $250 or more. In most areas of the country, a person canexpect to pay$100 to $200 per session. Factors that can affect the price of therapy include the therapist’s training, location of therapy,insurance coverage, length of the therapy session, and specialization.
Payment options depend on the therapist. If the therapist has a “Pro” membership (which costs them $49.95 a month), GoodTherapy offers access to a service called FrontDesk Practice Management. FrontDesk acts as a middleman in billing clients for services. The client portal allows the therapists’ clients to modify their appointments, manage intake paperwork, and view any bills they may have. Therapists without the “Pro” membership work one-on-one with the client for billing and scheduling.
According to the directory website, therapy sessions on GoodTherapy generally range from $65 per hour to $250 or more. In most areas of the country, a person canexpect to pay$100 to $200 per session. Factors that can affect the price of therapy include the therapist’s training, location of therapy,insurance coverage, length of the therapy session, and specialization.
How I Contacted My Therapist
I had three ways to contact this therapist. There was a phone number tab, one that said “Email” that took me to a form I could fill out that would email her, then a “visit website” button. I enjoyed going to her website to learn more about her in her private practice—the wording there seemed to support what she had said in her GoodTherapy profile about prioritizing putting the client at ease.
I called the number on her website and could get an appointment for two business days later. I was immediately emailed the link I would need to join the call. As someone who worked with online therapists in the past who would sometimes take three days to respond, only to offer me their first appointment time two weeks out, this was a wonderful first impression.
My 60-minute session went so much better than many of my other online therapy sessions had in the past. My therapist was punctual and there were no technical glitches on the video call.
She was very professional and gave me her full presence throughout the hour.
She knew how to balance telling me things about herself with asking about me, which was important to me. I need to know a bit about my therapist so I can decide how much I want to open up to this person, but then I also don’t want my therapist to spend the whole time talking about themselves.
We didn’t get very far therapy-wise during the first “getting to know each other” appointment, but I left feeling excited about working with her with CBT in the next session to start taking control of my thought process.
When I finished the introductory session, I could schedule my next therapy session 10 days out directly with her over the phone—she seemed to have good availability, and we had no problem finding a time that worked for us both.
I think the best feature of GoodTherapy is the sheer number of ways you can customize your search. By providing such a wealth of choices for important aspects of therapy such as specialties and therapeutic approaches, GoodTherapy practically guarantees that you will find a provider who fits what you’re looking for. It certainly worked for me.
Free Resources on GoodTherapy
There is also a plethora of free resources available on the GoodTherapy website. On the bottom of the homepage are links to three free assessment tests: aCareer Personality and Aptitude Test, anEmotional Intelligence Test, and anInterpersonal Communication Skills Test. I was bored one day and took the 240-question career test with a friend for fun, and I probably will get to the other two tests eventually just out of curiosity.
We returned to GoodTherapy in May of 2024 to see if we’d have a similarly positive experience as we did before—and luckily, we did.
We were especially impressed with the number of filtering options presented to us right off the bat.
With thirteen total filters ranging from common specialties to insurance to type of therapy, we were able to search for a very specific set of qualifications—”anxiety or panic attacks,” “Aetna,” and “individual therapy and counseling”—and still have 110 therapists to choose from.
We do wish that pricing was clearer, or at least more consistent, across the directory.
Some therapists list their prices on their bio pages, but others do not. We could, though, filter for cost categories such as “sliding scale” and “free initial consultation,” which helped us in our search and left us feeling confident that we could find a provider within our price range.
Pros and Cons
As someone looking for a therapist, I found this directory to be quite helpful, but there are always good things and bad things about any service.
ProsDirectory is free to use for therapy seekersVery extensive therapist directoryIn-depth blog with articles on therapy and mental healthMultiple filters allow you to do a comprehensive searchDetailed provider biosEasy to connect with each individual therapistAvailable in all 50 states and 25 countriesConsNo mention of diversity effortsFilter option sometimes glitchesSo many therapist options could be overwhelming to some
ProsDirectory is free to use for therapy seekersVery extensive therapist directoryIn-depth blog with articles on therapy and mental healthMultiple filters allow you to do a comprehensive searchDetailed provider biosEasy to connect with each individual therapistAvailable in all 50 states and 25 countries
Directory is free to use for therapy seekers
Very extensive therapist directory
In-depth blog with articles on therapy and mental health
Multiple filters allow you to do a comprehensive search
Detailed provider bios
Easy to connect with each individual therapist
Available in all 50 states and 25 countries
ConsNo mention of diversity effortsFilter option sometimes glitchesSo many therapist options could be overwhelming to some
No mention of diversity efforts
Filter option sometimes glitches
So many therapist options could be overwhelming to some
Online therapy directories are a little different than online therapy companies—you are responsible for finding your own provider, so there’s more research involved and your experience could differ drastically from someone else’s just because of the therapist you end up choosing.
However, in the end, I genuinely liked GoodTherapy as a directory. I was able to find someone I want to continue working with and it was a stress-free, fairly straightforward process.
It offered exactly what it said it would. The only glitch for me was with the filtering of therapists, but it did not stop me from being able to move forward and find a therapist pretty easily.
It offered me way more choices than I expected and opened my eyes to many different types of therapy that I hadn’t even known were an option. Perusing this directory got me excited and curious to explore therapy as opposed to “let’s quickly just find someone and get this over with.”
GoodTherapy User Survey ResultsWe also surveyed 101 users of GoodTherapy, and generally, they had great experiences:96% of users rated GoodTherapy as good, very good, or excellent overall98% thought the qualifications of the GoodTherapy providers were good, very good or excellent56% were able to find a therapist who met all of their needs79% found the process of looking for a provider easy or very easy97% would recommend GoodTherapy to a friend or someone like them
GoodTherapy User Survey Results
We also surveyed 101 users of GoodTherapy, and generally, they had great experiences:96% of users rated GoodTherapy as good, very good, or excellent overall98% thought the qualifications of the GoodTherapy providers were good, very good or excellent56% were able to find a therapist who met all of their needs79% found the process of looking for a provider easy or very easy97% would recommend GoodTherapy to a friend or someone like them
We also surveyed 101 users of GoodTherapy, and generally, they had great experiences:
Of all the ways to search for an online therapist I have tried in the past, GoodTherapy was my favorite. I will be recommending it to friends and family.
The Best Online Therapy ProgramsWe’ve tried, tested and written unbiased reviews of the best online therapy programs including Talkspace, Betterhelp, and Regain.
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