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Best Online Family Therapy 2023

Medically Reviewed and Edited by 
Olga Kyrychenko, Psychologist

Our familial relationships are amongst the most important ones we will ever have and yet they can often be the most trying. A lot of families have problems which can be difficult to overcome and so family therapy can be a powerful way for troubled families to come together.

The logistics and costs of providing therapy for 3, 4 or more people can prove challenging but thankfully, online family therapy is now available and offers families an affordable option that fits around everyone’s schedule.

Our list of the best family therapy sites will help you review and compare, so you can find the best choice for you and your family. I’m going to examine how exactly family therapy works and at the different ways in which our chosen providers operate. 

Top 5 Family Therapy Platforms - Quick Comparison

The Best Family Therapy
Rethink my therapy Review
Editorial Rating
94.7%
Pricing

$24.75 Per Week

Promo

7 Days Free Trial

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Pros
  • Best prices for online therapy
  • Can choose your own therapist
  • Psychiatric care and medication management offered
  • Available nationwide
Cons
  • No text or chat therapy sessions
  • Therapists reply slowly on the site's messaging service
Best For Christian Families
Faithful Counseling Review
Editorial Rating
92%
Pricing

$50- $80 Per Week

Promo

No Available Promo

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Pros
  • The only Christian therapy website with 100% licensed therapists
  • Safe to use and operated by an industry leader
  • Excellent software and mobile app
  • 7 days free trial
Cons
  • Some therapists rarely reply
  • Doesn’t accept any type of insurance
Best For Individual Therapy
Betterhelp review
Editorial Rating
91.3%
Pricing

$60-$90 Per Week

Promo

50% discount for the first month

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Pros
  • Safe, Trustworthy Company
  • Excellent customer service and easy to use platform
  • Affordable price and financial aid programs
  • One week free trial
Cons
  • Only one pricing plan
  • Doesn’t work with insurance, Medicare or Medicaid
Best For LGBTQ+ Family Issues
Pride Counseling Review
Editorial Rating
84.5%
Pricing

$60- $80 Per Week

Promo

10% off first month

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Pros
  • Only therapy site 100% dedicated to LGBTQ+
  • Therapists are very professional, empathetic and reply often in chat
  • Affordable prices and financial aid program
  • 7 days free trial
Cons
  • Only one subscription plan
  • Can't choose your therapist when you sign up
Best For Couples Therapy
Regain review
Editorial Rating
79.3%
Pricing

$60- $80 Per Week

Promo

10% off for the first month

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Pros
  • Safe to use, operated by Betterhelp
  • Therapists are always available on chat and reply often
  • Only one person has to sign up
  • Best prices for couples therapy
Cons
  • No option for 3-way live sessions, you have to be in the same room with your partner
  • No way to text the therapists without your partner reading it

Our Top Pick For The Best Online Family Therapy - ReThink My Therapy

Rethink My Therapy is one of the best value for money providers of  virtual family therapy in the US today. There are several reasons why I recommend ReThink My Therapy as the best online family therapy provider.

Firstly, they now operate in 50 different states but also because their family plan permits up to 4 different accounts – this means that each family member can have their own individual therapist and support as well as attending the family group sessions.  Rethink My Therapy also offers psychiatry and medication management services in case a member of the family needs this option.

Their family plan is very reasonably priced at $159 per month; in fact, I found this to be amongst the cheapest family subscription plans available. While ReThink My Therapy also offers an introductory 7 days free trial, the likelihood is that the free trial period will probably have expired before the family can arrange an initial session.

ReThink My Therapy does not offer chat support but this usually isn’t  useful in a family dynamic anyway. For more details, read our Rethink My Therapy review, or visit their site by clicking the button below.

Best For Christian Families - Faithful Counseling

For families that share a faith or a belief system, secular therapy may not be the most suitable option. Faithful Counseling are able to provide fully trained and modern therapists who can also offer a a faith based perspective on matters.

Christian based online therapy follows largely the same format as regular therapy except that the therapist may invite the participants to pray together and may sometimes refer to the scriptures.

Faithful Counseling offers a modern and easy to use platform and conducts its therapy sessions by chat, phone or video conference. While the platform does allow patients to message their therapist anytime via the app, this is not always available for family counseling patients and depends on how the therapy is being conducted.

Please note that even though all of Faithful’s therapists identify as Christian, they primarily practice secular forms of therapy. They also take a more modern, liberal view on a number of issues (mostly around sexuality) than other Christian counselling providers. You can read our Faithful Counseling review for more information on that.

For Individuals With Family Problems - BetterHelp

Despite being one of the biggest online therapy site in the world today, BetterHelp does not actually offer family therapy at this time. However, BetterHelp can offer individual therapy and counseling to anybody who has family issues.

As such, BetterHelp is a great option if you are ready to start therapy but your family is not. They are also a good choice if you are already in family therapy but also feel you need some personal support.

BetterHelp offers therapy sessions by video or phone as well as chat support. They have experienced therapists and counselors who can deal with a wide range of issues like anxiety, depression, or of course family issues.

If you are looking to begin individual therapy then check our in-depth BetterHelp review or simply sign up for their free 7 day trial and decide for yourself.

Best For LGBTQ+ Family Issues - Pride Counseling

Pride Counseling is a niche online therapy platform who specialize in LGBTQ+ issues. For this reason, they may be the ideal provider for non-conventional families with same sex parents. This also makes them very suitable for issues where the family is struggling with the sexuality or gender identity of a child – this is becoming an increasingly common phenomena and more and more families are seeking counseling and therapy for it.

Pride Counseling is owned by online therapy giant BetterHelp and accordingly, the overall standard is very high. The site allows users to choose a therapist who is a member of the LGBTQ+ community themselves or, a hetero-sexual, cis-gendered therapist who simply has a lot of prior experience in dealing with the community and with gay issues.

If you need more information about Pride and the services they offer, then check out our thorough Pride Counselling review or else just click the button below to be taken to the site.

Best For Couples Therapy - ReGain

ReGain is the specialized couples and relationship counseling division of BetterHelp. The platform has a very impressive roster of highly qualified and experienced marriage counselors and relationship therapists who can provide fast, efficient and effective marriage counseling and couples therapy. ReGain is currently our top rated marriage counseling sites, as well as our top pick for couples therapy online.

Very often, family problems originate in the relationship dynamic between the two parents and that by improving this, the entire family unit can benefit. A ReGain subscription package costs between $60 and $80 a week including live sessions (either by phone or by video) in addition to unlimited text and chat messaging which both partners can access.

One disadvantage of ReGain is that the platform doesn’t permit 3-way live sessions. This means that the participants need to be in the same location for video calls which could be a problem if you are separated or simply have conflicting schedules.

For more information about ReGain and the services they can offer, read our detailed ReGain review.

How Family Therapy Works

Online family counseling seeks to reduce inter-familial stresses by strengthening interaction and communication between family members. 

There are a few different methods for conducting a family therapy session. The most widely recognized is family group therapy (Structural or Systemic Family Therapy) where the family will sit together with a therapist or a counselor, who will invite them to discuss and explore the issues they are having.

In many ways, the therapist will act as a referee and a mediator but never as a judge – it can often prove invaluable simply having a therapist observe the dynamic within a family and the way in which they interact with one another.

Other forms such as the Bowenian Method entail a therapist seeing the family members on a one on one basis and listening to their different perspectives on shared issues – this is very useful when members don’t feel comfortable sharing in a group setting or where there is perhaps an overtly dominant family member.

Family therapy often entails looking over events from many years ago. Problems between parents and children or siblings often stem from childhood experience and as such, delving into them can prove very hard for some participants – this is why family therapy should only ever be attempted by a properly qualified and experienced therapist.

In family therapy, typical therapeutic techniques such as psychoanalysis and CBT may not be suitable and often, the therapist’s role is largely to facilitate constructive communication.

For this reason, family therapy is sometimes considered to be one of the few forms of therapy that can be almost as effectively handled by an experienced counselor or even a ‘life coach’ as well as by a fully qualified psychotherapist.

How is Virtual Family Counseling Different?

Because of the special requirements and logistical realities of families nowadays, it is not the easiest form of therapy to conduct, even online. For example, whilst video and telephone conferencing can act as a proxy for family group counseling, it can be difficult for a therapist to maintain structure and order in the sessions remotely.

Also, online therapy typically utilizes text and chat functions quite extensively. In fact, many patients find that one of the major benefits of virtual therapy is that patients can access chat 24/7. However, chat does not work as effectively in the context of family therapy.

For these reasons, relatively few online counseling and therapy providers are offering family therapy, not even the major ones such as Talkspace and Amwell. However, all online therapy sites are able to offer counseling to individual patients who want help with family issues such as destructive sibling rivalries or abusive parents.

Is Online Family Therapy Really Effective?

The evidence for the effectiveness of online family therapy is strong. The dynamics and inter-behavioral patterns between families are usually so deeply entrenched, dating back decades, that members genuinely struggle to see them. Therapy therefore forces families to stand back, and really listen to one another often for the first time in years. A trained therapist or counselor, is also able to act as a mediator and help families to communicate more effectively that they perhaps otherwise would be able to.

Although family therapy may well be at its most effective when conducted face to face, this is simply not always possible. Some families live in different geographical locations or they may simply not be able to attend the sessions at the appointed time. Thereofere, virtual family therapy sessions conducted by video or telephone conference call help to get the family together.

Family therapy is also generally quite expensive, especially if the therapist is billing on a per person basis. Therefore, using an online provider can help to drastically reduce the cost; this is especially pertinent considering that family therapy is rarely ever covered by health insurance even if a therapist is willing to accept it.

Family Therapy Online - Frequently Asked Questions

What Is Family Therapy?

Family therapy (AKA family counseling and family systems therapy) is a form of psychology which helps families make positive changes within the family dynamic. Typically this just means helping them to communicate and understand one another better

Who Could Benefit From Family Therapy?

Family therapy is especially useful for any family that feels it is in some way “dysfunctional” or where relationships between members have broken down. For example, this could mean divorced parents attending therapy with their children and even their new partners in order to help them all to adapt to the new dynamics, or it could mean a family where there was perhaps a history of abuse coming together to try and work past their shared trauma.

What Techniques Are Used in Family Therapy?

Traditional therapy techniques like psychoanalysis, CBT and mind mapping are less helpful in family therapy where the aim is more to counsel, mediate and help the members to communicate. The therapist will rather encourage active listening and empathy as well as act as a mediator. That said, techniques such as mindfulness and anger management may be employed in order to help participants learn to cope with stressful family interactions.

What If My Family Dont Want To Attend Therapy?

Family members should only ever attend therapy when they are ready to and never be forced or coerced into it. That said, it is perfectly normal for some family members to be more excited about the prospect of beginning therapy than others and it is equally common for initially reluctant participants to embrace therapy once they experience it for themselves.

Can I Attend Family Therapy If I Am Already in Therapy?

Generally yes. Even if you are already in “regular” therapy there is no reason why you should not attend family therapy. Family therapy is all about the interaction between a family whereas individual therapy is about exploring the cognitive processes of an individual. However, if a family member is in psychiatry for a mental disorder such as bi-polar, severe depression or a personality disorder, then it may be wise to consult that member's therapist before commencing family therapy.

Final Thoughts

By this point you will hopefully know whether online family therapy may be helpful for you and your loved ones. Families are important and it is vital that we all do whatever we can to maintain and improve those relationships.

In terms of online family therapy, whilst the volume of providers are not yet as extensive as they are for other forms of therapy, there are still some great options out there. 

The ReThink My Therapy Family package ensures highly cost effective family therapy whereas Faithful Counseling and Pride Counseling are excellent ‘niche’ options to help deal with specific family issues. If your family is not yet ready to attend therapy, or you want some extra individual therapy, then the online therapy market leader BetterHelp is a sound option. Finally, for couples family therapy, Regain provides affordable, expert relationship counseling.


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