Pride Counseling: Reviews, Cost, and Services

Online counseling platforms like Pride Counseling give hope to countless members of the LGBTQ+ community who are seeking mental health services. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, members of the LGBTQ+ community are at higher risk of experiencing mental health conditions like anxiety and depression. What’s more, according to the nonprofit Mental Health America, more than 4.5 percent of the U.S. population identifies as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, and of those, 39 percent report having experienced a mental illness in the past year.

Launched in 2017, Pride Counseling is a subsidiary of BetterHelp, a long-established online therapy platform. The therapists and counselors have expertise working with members of the LGBTQ+ community on the mental health issues they face.

Online therapy is more convenient and accessible because it connects you to a provider who works with you via messaging, text, live video conferencing, or phone calls on your time. Plus, it’s often more affordable than in-office sessions.

Pros

• Counselors specialize in working with the LGBTQ+ community
• Access to counselors through chat room messaging, live video, live chat, and phone calls
• Financial aid available if you qualify
• Easy-to-use mobile app
• Up-front pricing structure
• Ability to switch counselors at any time

Cons

• Doesn’t accept insurance
• Available only for adults age 18 and older
• Therapists cannot diagnose conditions or prescribe medication

Pride Counseling is an online therapy service that matches you with a counselor according to your needs. It offers one subscription plan and no individual or add-on sessions. Your weekly subscription cost, which is billed monthly, gives you access to unlimited messaging in the chat room and one live chat, phone, or video session each week. This format seems to work well for most users because it offers the freedom to choose the session type that meets your current needs.

Unlimited messaging You have access to a private chat room to send and receive messages from your counselor. This gives you the freedom to send a question or concern 24/7. But this does not mean your counselor will respond immediately. The messaging service is not live, but you will get a notification when your therapist replies. While the private chat room is open to you 24/7, live sessions depend on your counselor’s availability.

Live chat sessions Live chat allows you to text with your therapist in real time. The format is similar to messaging, but the session is live. You will meet virtually with your counselor in a private, secure therapy room during a scheduled time. Live text is a great choice if privacy is an issue or you want a written record of the conversation; the chat will remain in the therapy room until you close your account.

Live video sessions A meeting with your counselor on live video is the closest thing to an in-office session. You’ll need to schedule an appointment. When it’s time for your session, make sure you have a good internet connection and a private area to be in for the duration of your counseling appointment. You’ll meet in your online counseling room.

Live phone sessions Like the live chat and video sessions, live phone sessions are scheduled with your counselor. Since you don’t need access to a computer or internet connection, phone sessions are often more convenient and easier to access.

Getting started with Pride Counseling is relatively quick and easy. The first step is to create an account with your name or nickname, email address, and a password you create. The nickname keeps your identity private but still provides a way to identify you in the system. Once you start meeting with your counselor, you will need to enter contact information for emergencies.

The next step in the enrollment process takes about 10 minutes. It includes a series of questions about your gender identity, pronouns, age, relationship status, counseling history, sleeping and eating habits, and current health. You also specify what kind of counselor you prefer. This is followed by several questions regarding your current mental and physical health over the previous two weeks — for example, whether your LGBTQ+ identity contributes to your mental health concerns, feelings of sadness or depression, loss of interest in activities you usually enjoy, and specific questions about suicide and suicidal ideation.

After completing the questions, you’ll go to the payment page to review the weekly cost and amount to be charged immediately, which is an up-front payment for four weeks (financial aid is available for those who qualify).

Once the enrollment process is complete and your payment processed, you should be matched with a counselor within 24 hours, although individual times may vary. You will receive an email telling you about the match and directing you to the private chat room to learn more about the counselor, including the counselor’s name, qualifications, interests, scheduling preferences, and philosophy. The welcome message may also include “getting to know you” questions from your counselor. You can use the chat room to begin communicating with your counselor.

The LGBTQ+ community is the focal point of service at Pride Counseling. Providers specifically offer therapy to help members of this community. The counselors offer a variety of methods and techniques to facilitate the therapeutic process, including:

• Mindfulness therapy
• Cognitive behavioral therapy
• Acceptance and commitment therapy
• Trauma-focused therapy
• Psychodynamic therapy
• Client-centered therapy
• Emotionally focused therapy

Counselor Specialties

During the enrollment process, you will answer questions about your mental health needs and why you’re seeking counseling. This helps to match you with a counselor trained in those areas. Pride Counseling therapists have a range of specialties, including:

• LGBTQ+
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Relationship issues
• Trauma
• Stress
• Anger management
• Eating disorders
• Intimacy-related issues
• Family conflict
• Addiction
• Substance abuse
• Sleep difficulties
• Grief and loss
• Coping with life changes
• Career challenges

Pride Counseling offers individual counseling only for adults. At this time, it does not provide services for couples therapy. That said, ReGain, a sister site of Pride Counseling, offers couples counseling.

You can participate in therapy sessions on a desktop computer or mobile device. The mobile app is available for iOS and Android. There is very little difference between the two formats. You can schedule appointments, send messages, and engage in live sessions from your mobile device or desktop computer. Live sessions range from 30 to 50 minutes, so if you’re using a mobile device, make sure your battery is charged.

Pride Counseling uses various technologies to deliver online services that provide equal access and opportunity for individuals with disabilities. You can find out more about how to enable accessibility for web and mobile users by reading the Pride Counseling commitment to accessibility.

Pride Counseling therapists are licensed, experienced, and required to have at least three years of experience and a minimum of 1,000 hours of post-degree, supervised clinical experience (also known as "hands-on" experience) in providing mental health counseling. They also have a master’s or doctorate degree in their field.

Providers include licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFT), licensed clinical social workers (LCSW, LMSW), psychologists (PsyD, PhD), mental health counselors (LMHC, LCMHC), and licensed professional counselors (LPC).

In addition to hands-on experience and qualifying credentials, therapists must be certified by their state’s professional board and specialize in the LGBTQ+ community.

Pride Counseling, like many other online platforms, takes privacy seriously. It uses state-of-the-art technology to safeguard the information you provide. All the messages in the chat room are secured and encrypted with SSL encryption and banking-grade 256-bit encryption. Plus, you have the option to shred each message after, so it will no longer be visible in the chat room. All therapists must follow HIPAA regulations and adhere to state and federal laws about confidentiality. Pride Counseling has a detailed privacy policy page on its website.

The cost of Pride Counseling is similar to other online platforms that offer live sessions and messaging. It has one subscription plan, which ranges from $90 to $120 per week. Although the cost is advertised as weekly, you’re billed every four weeks, so expect to pay by the month. You can cancel at any time, and there are no long-term contracts. You can use a credit card or PayPal to complete payment.

Does Pride Counseling Accept Insurance?

Pride Counseling does not accept insurance, which means it does not submit claims to private insurance companies, Medicare, or Medicaid. If you have health insurance, check your coverage or call the plan provider. You may have mental health insurance benefits. If that’s the case, you will need to submit the claim to the insurance company in order to be reimbursed.

Pride Counseling has an “A–” rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB). But the review page on BBB is very limited and shows only three customer complaints. The majority of Pride Counseling reviews we looked at came from the company’s website, private blog pages, and sites such as Consumer Advocate. Therefore, it’s difficult to curate helpful customer reviews specifically for Pride Counseling.

That said, Pride Counseling is a subsidiary of BetterHelp, a much larger platform with several customer reviews. The BBB gives BetterHelp an “A” rating, but it also lists 343 complaints in the past 12 months. Trustpilot gives BetterHelp 4.5 out of 5 stars on the basis of 2,730 customer reviews.