8 Best Online Therapy Platforms That Take Insurance

There is nothing more important in therapy than establishing a rapport with your provider. This means developing a bond that includes trust and emotional intimacy, all while making you feel comfortable opening up and sharing parts of yourself that you might not have shared with anyone else in your life. Being able to choose your own therapist helps create such rapport before you even start. 

After signing up for Amwell’s services, you are able to view the bios of all the providers who are licensed in your area. You can filter the search results by details such as specialty (for example, one of my testers was looking specifically for postpartum services) and learn more about each therapist’s education, professional experience, and treatment approach before choosing the provider who’s best for you—and who is in-network with your insurance.

My eight Amwell testers were especially happy with being able to pick their own therapist, as this made them feel involved in their own therapy process and confident that the person they chose would be right for them. One tester in particular appreciated that she was able to find a BIPOC therapist—and not only that, she had five to choose from in her list of 16 options. Having this much of a say when deciding who to work with is especially important for people in marginalized communities, such as BIPOC and LGBTQIA+, because they can more easily find someone who makes them feel safe, which is necessary in therapy.

Fourteen percent of the 100 Amwell users I surveyed said that, when compared to other services they’d used, Amwell was the best for being able to choose their own therapist. Eighty-six percent rated Amwell’s value for the money as excellent or very good.

“Five out of the 16 available therapists were BIPOC providers. Though I didn’t find a BIPOC provider that matched my availability, I appreciated the variety. There was also an option to message the therapist, which I found great. It was nice to know that I could message the therapist to ask some questions before moving forward with scheduling an appointment.”

–Amwell tester who appreciated her choices when picking a provider

Although Amwell both accepts insurance and lets you choose your own therapist, you don’t have access to either a list of insurance plans it takes or a list of providers until you sign up for the company. It would be helpful to many therapy seekers if both of these important aspects of Amwell’s service were available up front.