Cover Photo by Don Idio
It’s been 2 months since Bassnectar announced free funding for 1,000 people to attend therapy through the BetterHelp partnership with Be Interactive. It only took a few hours before that number doubled to 2,000 people! The goal Be Interactive set is to provide $360,000 worth of therapy. Therapy applications are given out in waves. Check back to this website to see when the next wave of therapy will be released.
Initially, I was hesitant to sign up for this opportunity. Read about the beginning of my experience here. I like to think of myself as someone who has put in the self-work to aid my own healing. Naturally, I’m a very independent person and have been that way since childhood. Combine that with being a stubborn Taurus, for many years I thought I could do it all with no outside assistance.
The Road Map
What I’ve learned through therapy in my adult years is I have all of the information in my head. The therapist then provides the road map to connecting all of the loose ends. One of the first tasks in my therapy sessions was to write out 3 goals for myself to work on. Without even noticing I was moving towards my goal, my therapist would oftentimes point out my progression.
For example, one of my goals was to strengthen my self-discipline in order to experience more growth and expansion. Another goal was to improve my relationship with relationships. One day during a video session with my therapist, I was explaining to her that I had received a new job offer. I told her the story of how I went up to the COO of the company after he gave a presentation at my school. Her response to this was, “what made you go up to him”?
The truth is, I wasn’t sure if there was a reason aside from wanting to tell him he gave a great presentation with helpful analogies. I didn’t think much of this, but my therapist quickly pointed out this strengthened my relationships. By wanting to introduce myself and compliment the speaker, that shows improvement in my ability to connect with others.
Throughout my time with my therapist, there were many moments of realization like this one. I slowly understood the role therapy can play in my life. Therapy is beneficial for a wide range of reasons. Whether you’re someone who is working through depression, anxiety, self-limiting thoughts, or simply just foggy with your day to day thoughts, therapy can help!
Therapy Sessions Overview
I really enjoy the process of online therapy. Everything is on your own time. The main form of communication is through messaging. The therapist answers within a 24-hour time frame. On the website, there is also a calendar section where you can schedule sessions. Sessions are 1 hour long and are either video, phone, or messaging. I personally like face-to-face, so I did video sessions. Within 24 hours of the video session, the therapist sends a recap of the session. Usually, there is some sort of homework to complete too.
The homework I received from my therapist was in the form of worksheets. One worksheet was called “Exploring Values”. There were a few sections to fill out including my mother’s values, my father’s values, societal values, values I actually have, and values I would like to live by. In addition, homework included updating my progress for my goals. The scale is from 0-100%. I really enjoyed the assignments I had to do because they really made me think about what’s important to me.
Overall Takeaways
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience with BetterHelp online therapy! I didn’t realize I needed someone to help sort through my thoughts and look at them through a new perspective. I learned to look at the little things and to always celebrate small accomplishments! As humans, we are oftentimes so hard on ourselves. We think we aren’t doing enough or think that we simply aren’t enough.