Cerebral, also known as Get Cerebral, is a new mental health platform that allows you to combine medical prescriptions with online therapy. While this in itself isn’t anything new, Cerebral aims to revolutionize the service in 2 main ways. They are currently the only online therapy site offering unlimited texting to both your therapist AND prescribing physician, and the cost of medication is much lower than anywhere else.
In this Cerebral review we’ll help you figure out why this new service has been gaining so much popularity, and how it differs from other therapy sites who offer psychiatric services such as Talkspace or Brightside.
Considering our own positive experiences with the site and the impressive amount of positive reviews it gets everywhere, we do see a very bright future for the platform – but that doesn’t necessarily mean there aren’t any issues with their services or that it’s the right choice for you.
GetCerebral only very recently launched in January 2020 with its main offices located in San Francisco. It was founded by Kyle Robertson, who says his own experiences with crippling anxiety, and his exposure to mental health treatment through the fact both his parents are licensed therapists, led him to start the site.
Ever since its launch, Cerebral has been growing at a very impressive rate and has attracted a lot of attention. Just recently, they have been valued at more than a billion dollars and received $127 million in funding from very well known and reputable investors.
| Year Founded | 2020 |
|---|---|
| U.S Based Company | Yes – But Services Aren’t Available in All States Yet |
| Number of Licensed Therapists | Unknown |
| Accepts Insurance? | Yes |
| Hipaa compliant | Yes |
| Therapy Modes | Text, Audio and Video |
| Available Treatments | Private Therapy And Medical Prescriptions |
| Average Price | $85 – $325 Per Month |
| Sign Up Time | Few Minutes |
| Response Time | May Take a Few Days |
| Mobile App | Yes |
| Website | www.getcerebral.com/ |
| Customer Reviews | 88% positive |
| Our Editorial Rating | 4 Stars |
| Current Promotion | 70% Off On All Plans For The First Month |
The signup process is simple and straightforward. It resembles most therapy sites – you’ll first be asked to provide a few personal details such as your email address, phone number and password for using the site. Then, you’ll need to fill out a short mental health survey that will help the site’s staff determine which therapist on their roster can help you the most.
Then, Cerebral will ask you to immediately choose which plan you are interested in. You can choose between just medication, therapy or a combination of both. You’ll be asked to subscribe and pay immediately based on the plan you have chosen. You can change plans at any time by emailing customer service.
If you choose any plan which includes medication, the first step will be meeting your prescribing provider. This is a licensed physician who will assess your condition and present various treatment plans you can choose from. The meeting is done by either video or phone, and it usually takes between 3 and 7 days to get an appointment. In some states, due to insurance regulation, this meeting must be conducted by video only.
Once you’ve met with your prescription provider and started medication, you’ll continue meeting them once a month for follow ups. On top of that, you’ll get support from either a care counselor or a licensed therapist, based on the plan you subscribed to.
If you opt for just therapy sessions, it might still take a few days before you are even matched with a potential therapist. Then you’ll have to set a time for your weekly session with them, which from our experience may drag on for a considerable amount of time. Combined with the fact you can’t even choose your therapist, this is by far Cerebral’s biggest downside.
Delivery for prescriptions is included in the price, but the medicine itself isn’t. This is the standard when it comes to these platforms, and Cerebral’s prices are very competitive. Medication usually costs around $10 but may cost more depending on the exact prescription.
As mentioned, Cerebral is a fairly new service and is still somewhat under development. As such, not all services are available in every state:
Care counseling is available in all states except Missouri and Oklahoma.
Medical prescriptions are available in all states, but your physician must be in the same state as you are. This means the queue might be long for some states and you’ll have to wait for an appointment. Also, in some states the law demands you’ll pick up your medication yourself – so you can get a prescription, but the meds won’t be delivered to you.
Therapy is currently available in 36 states, with plans to expand it further until it covers the whole nation. As of January 2023, residents of the following states can’t participate in online therapy through Cerebral:
* Prices above are what you’ll pay in case you enjoy no insurance coverage. If GetCerebral is in network with your provider, you’ll only pay $29 a month on any of the packages listed above + any copay and medication costs on top. See here for our guide on the best online therapy sites to use with insurance, where we compare Cerebral to other popular options.
Cerebral offers a very good combination of prescribed medication and either therapy or counseling. The focus with counseling is entirely on behavioral techniques, which means it might not suit everyone.
While therapists on the site deal with a wide variety of mental health issues, not all of these can be treated with medication as well. For example, some therapists specialize in treating bi-polar disorders, but physicians on the site can’t prescribe pills dealing with that. That is why it’s very important you’ll be honest and transparent throughout the signup process and the introductory meeting with your physician – That’s the only way you’ll be able to find the treatment that works for your specific situation.
Furthermore, while our experiences with the care counselors were overall very positive, it’s important to note that they are not therapists. Also, there’s very limited value from meeting them only once a month. You should align your expectations, and understand that by choosing the ‘medication only’ plan you are basically committing to do a lot of self work, with just a little bit of guidance and supervision from a counselor.
When it comes to their screening process for new therapists and counselors, Cerebral still has a lot of room to improve. Unlike most other platforms, Cerebral really isn’t transparent on their requirements, even though that’s something you as a potential client have every right to know.
We had to go through their job ads to find out what these requirements were, and it was very underwhelming to say the least. Basically, the only requirement from a potential therapist or physician is that they’ll be certified by their state’s board. You can compare this to our Betterhelp review or Online-Therapy review, companies which are renowned for having the best vetting processes, and you’ll see just how big the difference in standards is.
Cerebral therapy module is best suited to deal with anxiety, ADHD, depression and insomnia. For these, a combination of medication and CBT have proven to be highly efficient. It’s also best to subscribe to Cerebral only after you have already been diagnosed in person, and only if your condition is not severe or life threatening.
Even though Get Cerebral is quite new, it already did enough to shake up the virtual therapy industry and make a name for itself. We are excited to add it to the list of therapy sites we review, and look forward to seeing how they keep growing and improving the platform in the years to come.
As we demonstrated throughout this Cerebral review, we do have some concrete issues with the level of service currently offered, and feel there’s a lot of things the site can do better. That said, we are certain many of these issues will eventually be resolved as Cerebral grows and the company becomes more mature.
Overall, we strongly believe Cerebral is already a very legitimate option for anyone who’s looking for mental health treatment online. If you want to combine therapy with medication, dealing specifically with anxiety or depression, then Cerebral is a great place to try. That said, all in all we fail to find a truly compelling reason why Cerebral is better than similar websites such as Talkspace for example.
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