I’m a Therapist Who Tried Thriveworks – Here’s What I Thought

I’ve tested nearly a dozen online therapy platforms, and Thriveworks has one of the least involved sign-up processes. Though this isn’t necessarily a good thing — it means there isn’t extensive screening to ensure clients who sign up are a good fit for Thriveworks’ services — it is quick.

To get started, you simply head to the website and select which type of therapy you’d like. From there, you’ll be shown a variety of providers near you. There are a few filters to narrow down your search, including if you’d like in-person or virtual therapy, clinician gender (nonbinary is included within the options here), client age group, language, and counseling modality.

In the list of providers, you get a peek at their profile. You’ll see a headshot, the type of license they hold, what insurances they accept, the issues they specialize in, their years of experience, and their available appointment times.

However, my experience getting started wasn’t seamless. When I checked out the providers, there were only six options and the earliest someone could see me was a week and a half later, which is outside of the three- to five-day time frame Thriveworks touts.

Another issue is that despite indicating that I was looking for virtual sessions via the search filter, I was shown both in-person and virtual appointment times and the appointments weren’t differentiated until it was time to book. This led me to almost book an in-person session by mistake.

A Frustrating Process Ensued

I selected a therapist, but truthfully felt underwhelmed due to the wait time and her CBT-specific approach. Nonetheless, her profile felt the most aligned with what I was hoping to seek support for (major life transitions), and out of all my options, I felt most connected to her approach. Plus, she had a 10-day wait until the first appointment while other providers had at least a two-week wait.

But then, two days after I scheduled my appointment, I received an automated text that my appointment with her had been canceled. I also received an email from the Thriveworks support team letting me know the reason my appointment was canceled: The clinician no longer worked with the platform.

When I went to search for a new clinician, there were now only three options and none of them offered virtual sessions. For a company that touts availability and a wide roster of providers, I assumed this must be a mistake. I went ahead and called the customer service number to get some support. At this point, I was pretty put off by my experience. Nonetheless, I forged forward.

After a few minutes of waiting on hold, I was told that I had called the number for existing Thriveworks clients. I was confused since this was the number that the support team told me to call in the email. Luckily, I was transferred to the correct department and a very kind person was eager to help me. After about 10 minutes of discussing the situation and her attempting to find a therapist for me, she let me know that no available providers were offering online sessions. She encouraged me to check every day, noting that provider availability shifts often. She also promised to reach out as soon as a virtual provider was available.

If I wasn’t testing the platform for this review, I would have moved on from Thriveworks at this point and sought therapy at a different company. The lack of providers who felt exciting to work with, issues with availability, and the fact that I had to spend 15 minutes on the phone with customer service was a turnoff. I imagine a therapy newcomer might discontinue the process altogether at this point.

Scheduling My Session

Hoping that my Thriveworks experience was turning around, I booked a session.

Booking was simple: I entered my financial information and then was prompted to create an account with my email address and a password. From there, I completed some intake paperwork, including standard screeners for depression (PHQ-9) and anxiety (GAD-7).

One important point: Thriveworks customer service never reached out to let me know providers were available, as I was promised they would on the phone; I only found out by checking the website myself.

I tried out three sessions at Thriveworks, but it took me five week to actually be able to attend those sessions. And by my third session, I would have canceled even if I wasn’t writing this review — but more on that later.

My First Session

For my first session, my therapist was punctual and professional. She reviewed the limits to confidentiality and confirmed my address. She asked me what brought me to therapy and worked to build rapport, evident by her expressing warmth towards my work as a therapist and celebration of my current pregnancy. I immediately felt comfortable with her.

Then, she let me know she was going to complete a traditional intake form, meaning she would be asking me questions about my history.

The intake questions were detailed. She asked for my general practitioner’s information (including her phone number) and past medical history, including any family illnesses. While this was pretty extensive, it isn’t unheard of to be asked these questions in therapy.

My Second Session

Prior to my second session, I received a text and email prompting me to complete another set of assessment forms. This was the same PHQ-9 and GAD-7 I was instructed to complete for my first session. I did so a day before my appointment.

When it came time for my appointment, my therapist was punctual and briefly touched on my assessment, noting that because I didn’t score high on either one, I wouldn’t receive any more texts to complete them. (Spoiler alert: I received messages to complete them again before my third session.) She explained that Thriveworks is trying out a new program where clients who score higher on these assessments will be prompted to complete them every week.

Then it came time to explore what was on my mind. At one point, I mentioned how a situation in my life was making me feel, and she quickly said, “Now why would you feel that way?” Her tone wasn’t empathetic and felt dismissive. I hedged in my response and she course-corrected, explaining that she was challenging this thought since that is the CBT model, which is true. Regardless, I appreciated the course correction. Therapists are human — sometimes we make comments that don’t land with the client — and her ability to course-correct spoke to her awareness.

Though I wasn’t feeling completely solid in the therapeutic relationship, I do feel I got support during this session and enjoyed our time together.

My Final Session

The third session is where things got pretty wonky. I logged on for our session and her camera was off. She explained that she was sick, described her physical symptoms at length, and told me that she planned to keep her camera off. She turned it on briefly to show me she was present, but explained she wouldn’t feel comfortable being on camera today since she was eating soup and dressed in lounge clothes. I let her know I was going to turn my camera off too in that case so I wouldn’t just be staring at myself for the entirety of the session, which she was open to.

Still, this opening threw me off. If a clinician is unable to be on-camera for a session, I’d hope they’d give the client a heads-up and the opportunity to reschedule if that doesn’t work for them. I am also a strong proponent of canceling sessions when unwell.

The rest of the session felt off the rails, too.

I told her about an issue I was experiencing with a friend and her feedback was unprofessional. She was kind and warm, but it felt like I was talking to a friend rather than a therapist. She also disclosed a situation that occurred in her life that she felt was similar to what I described. Rather than making me feel at ease that she could relate, though, it left me feeling uneasy that her feedback was entirely biased.

Needless to say, I was relieved when the session was over, and the overall experience of this session was a dealbreaker.

While I only tested individual therapy at Thriveworks, the company does offer other services. Folks can opt for couples therapy, family therapy, and therapy for kids 0 to 17. (And yes, you read that right: 0 to 17. However, I doubt most people would send their kids to therapy until they were at least 2 or 3.).

The self-pay price for these services is the same across the board: $200 for the first session and $170 for follow-up sessions, which is not the case at other services I’ve tried.

Thriveworks also offers appointments for psychiatry services, with prices as I laid out above.

In the Thriveworks portal, you can also access education resources referred to as Fireside Courses. These are a series of educational videos featuring expert insight from therapists on various mental health topics like anxiety, trauma, things to consider before getting married, thriving after divorce, thriving as a parent, and more.

Rescheduling, pausing, and canceling services at Thriveworks is pretty simple. To cancel any session, you must provide 48 hours notice or be charged a $135 cancellation fee. While that is a lot of money, many providers will charge the full session fee for late cancellation, so I wasn’t put off by it.

You can cancel or reschedule your sessions in your client portal, making the process quite easy. You’ll be asked to select an option from the drop-down menu about why you’re canceling: “can no longer meet at this time,” “different provider needed,” “insurance or billing concerns,” “feeling better,” or “found care outside of Thriveworks.” As I went through this process, I wished there was an option to input text feedback. In my case, I selected “feeling better,” which was true, but that wasn’t due to my sessions. Having the option to provide direct feedback could improve Thriveworks’ quality of care.

In addition to canceling my services in the client portal, I also sent my therapist an email to let her know I was ending services. As of writing this review, it's been five days since I sent her the email and I haven’t heard back. While prompt communication is important, especially when a client is terminating services, I’m giving the benefit of the doubt — she was sick when I last saw her.

I’d say Thriveworks’ closest competitor is Grow Therapy. Grow Therapy focuses on accepting many major insurance plans and claims folks can see a therapist within two days. In my experience, Grow Therapy follows through on their quick availability, but only accepts 51 insurance plans. Their out-of-pocket fees are a bit higher, too. However, I had a great experience when I tried Grow Therapy; I can’t say the same for Thriveworks.

Another strong competitor for Thriveworks is Two Chairs, which also offers a pay-per-session model and accepts insurance plans (though only a handful of different plans, unlike the hundreds of plans Thriveworks accepts). However, their out-of-pocket fees are significantly higher than Thriveworks’, clocking in at $226 to $260. Plus, I didn’t love my experience with the platform there either so I don’t think the high prices are worthwhile if you’re not in-network.

Innerwell also could be compared with Thriveworks, solely because it offers a pay-per-session model. They only accept a few insurance plans and session fees vary widely from $100 to $492, since they offer everything from EMDR therapy to ketamine therapy. That being said, Innerwell beats out Thriveworks based on the wide-range of services available and quick appointment times, and personally I loved working with my Innerwell therapist. In addition, because it offers good old fashioned talk therapy (with therapists that specialize in a variety of approaches), in addition to traditional psychiatry and more novel approaches, I think it is more likely that most clients will find quality care that fits their needs.

BetterHelp and Talkspace are subscription-based platforms, so their services differ slightly. BetterHelp is $240 to $360 a month for weekly sessions and offers sessions quickly. Talkspace is similar — $396 per month for weekly sessions and offers sessions quickly, but sessions are only 30 minutes long, which isn’t really long enough to deal with more serious mental health issues.

Thriveworks is one of my least favorite of the platforms I’ve tested. The lack of diversity in available modalities, long appointment wait times (despite touting the opposite), and my personal experience with my therapist left me hesitant to recommend this platform.

However, I could see this platform working for someone who must use health insurance to access mental healthcare, is comfortable with a wait time if necessary, and doesn’t mind switching therapists until they find the right fit. Also, it offers family therapy, as well as therapy for younger kids, which can be more difficult to find online since not all that many virtual platforms offer these types of therapy. For those who would like to proceed with this platform, be prepared with some patience, and don’t be afraid to switch therapists if something feels off.

We take testing online therapy services to help you find the best fit for your needs very seriously. We’re testing over 65 different companies and evaluating them based on quality of care, price, flexibility, business practices, and reputation. We are also personally testing the platforms and surveying users of each platform.

I’m a psychotherapist and own a private practice. I specialize in trauma therapy and have specialized training, like EMDR, in treating trauma-related conditions. Furthermore, I’m a writer with over 10 years of experience and a focus on mental health disparities, access to quality care, and ethics in the profession. I’ve also personally tested nearly a dozen online therapy platforms and have participated in therapy as a client for nearly a decade. In every therapy review I write, I pay particular attention to the platform’s ethics, the quality of care I received, pricing and flexibility, and whether or not the platform actually delivers on what they promise.