Counseling on Demand is a U.S-based virtual therapy platform that prioritizes quality over quantity. The site has been founded by a team of licensed psychologists – so unlike most of the top online therapy sites, the emphasis here is almost entirely on the treatment itself.
Even though they don’t accept insurance, the site offers some of the most attractive and flexible plans you’ll find anywhere (see here for therapy with insurance). In this Counseling On Demand review, we’ll help you understand what they do better than other therapy sites we review, and what areas they still need to improve upon.
If you find the bigger platforms intimidating and overwhelming, Counseling on Demand can be a good way to get your feet wet. That said, the site also has some glaring issues and for that reason we feel other small platforms are a much better choice. Read this Counseling On Demand review to get the full picture and decide if this is the right place for you or not.
Counseling On Demand LLC is a privately held company based in Indianapolis, IN. It was founded in late 2012 by Matthew Hunt, who still acts as the CEO and lead counselor today. The company is fairly small and only has 10 employees. From what we can gather (which isn’t much) it is safe to use, but some caution is advised.
| Year Founded | 2012 |
|---|---|
| U.S Based Company | Yes |
| Number of Licensed Therapists | 21 |
| Accepts Insurance? | No |
| HIPAA Compliant | Unknown |
| Therapy Modes | Phone or Video |
| Available Treatments | Private and Couples Therapy |
| Average Price | $50 – $252 Per Month |
| Sign Up Time | 2 Minutes, Very Simple |
| Response Time | 1-2 Days |
| Mobile App | No |
| Website | www.counselingondemand.com |
| Customer Reviews | 78% positive |
| Our Editorial Rating | 3 Stars |
| Current Promotion | None |
Signing up to the platform is very easy and simple and should not take you more than a couple of minutes. All you have to do is complete a short online form and you are ready to go. Counseling on Demand does ask you for some personal information (such as your full name for example) – but nothing out of the ordinary.
Once you complete the registration, you’ll be presented with profile pages of all available counselors on the site. As mentioned, there are that many of them – but you can still take a look at each profile before choosing the one you like best. While looking, keep in mind that most counselors are not certified psychologists – so if that’s what you prefer make sure to pick the ones who are licensed.
We certainly like the ability to view the profiles and choose on your own, which is something bigger platforms like Betterhelp or Talkspace don’t allow. That said, it would have been much better if the profiles actually told us more about the counselor’s background, education and qualifications.
After you select your preferred counselor, you’ll be eligible for one free consultation meeting with them. They will go over the answers and background information you provided in your signup form, then talk to you so you can decide together whether this is a right fit or not. This is a feature no other therapy site currently offers, and it’s obviously amazing and very professional.
If you complete the consultation meeting and decide this therapist isn’t the right match for you, you can still choose to try out another one instead. This time around though, the first meeting will have to be paid for.
Another thing we really like about Counseling On Demand is how flexible their plans are. If you are not sure you want to dive right in with a monthly subscription plan, you can instead pay per session, with each one costing $85 for 60 minutes of therapy. Otherwise, you can subscribe to one of the following treatment packages instead:
Funnily enough, the fact that not all counselors on the site are licensed therapists can actually be an advantage to some. The employment of coaches allows the platform to cover a much wider range of mental health issues, as well as attack them from a few different angles.
If you feel like a life coach doesn’t do the trick, you can always ask to see a trained psychologist instead. Or maybe, you can try a business mentor or a pastoral counselor instead. The options are much more diverse and you can play around with it until you find the right person and the right approach.
All in all, Counseling on Demand’s team are able to assist patients with the following common mental health issues:
Counseling On Demand has been around for 10 years now and managed to maintain a spotless reputation. That alone is a good reason to consider using it. On top of that, the platform has several unique features which you simply can not find anywhere else. The free consultation meeting in particular, is a great practice.
That said, as has been illustrated many times in this Counseling On Demand review, the site suffers from a few very major flaws. The lack of a mobile app, extremely limited number of counselors (licensed therapists in particular) and insufficient transparency are all troubling.
All in all, while we do think Counseling on Demand is a decent platform, we can’t wholly recommend using it at this time. We’ll keep updating this review if they improve the service, but until then we feel there are simply better choices for you out there.
If you don’t mind using a larger platform, then both Talkspace and Betterhelp are simply much better. You can read a review of each by clicking the links, or see how they compare one against the other in our Betterhelp vs Talkspace comparison page.
If you like the idea of a smaller site where you’ll get more personal attention – then we believe online-therapy.com is a much superior choice compared to Counseling On Demand. They also let you choose your own counselor, but do so in a much more transparent way, and the platform is miles ahead when it comes to both the technology and their professionalism.
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