What Services Does BetterHelp Offer For Couples Therapy?

TL;DR: BetterHelp’s sister company, Regain, offers online therapy services for couples. Couples therapy options include audio chat, live chat, and live video sessions.

Online couples counseling sessions can provide a convenient and effective way to receive professional support and relationship guidance from the comfort of home. Regain is an online relationship therapy platform owned by BetterHelp. It provides services to individuals and couples, with an emphasis on helping people navigate relationships. Similar to BetterHelp, Regain users are matched with a suitable mental health professional and can then connect with their therapist through weekly audio, live chat, or live video sessions in a virtual therapy room.

What is BetterHelp, and what services does BetterHelp offer for couples and individuals?

BetterHelp is the world’s largest online therapy platform. It can connect individuals with licensed mental health professionals based on their needs and preferences, such as:

• Licensed professional counselors (LPCs)
• Licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFTs) 
• Licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs) 

BetterHelp users can attend weekly live sessions with their therapist via video, audio, or online chat, and they can also message their therapist at any time between sessions. Other features for subscribers include:

• Journaling
• Goal-tracking tools
• Virtual group sessions
• Educational webinars

What services does BetterHelp offer for couples specifically?

BetterHelp offers individual therapy, and its partner site, Regain, offers couples therapy. However, note that individual therapy can also lead to improved relationship health in a variety of ways. For example, it can help an individual:

• Explore their attachment style (anxious, avoidant, disorganized, or secure) and work toward a more secure attachment style if needed
• Address challenges like stress, burnout, anxiety disorders, and depression, which can impact relationships
• Learn skills related to mindfulness, emotion regulation, active listening, and effective communication
• Identify and address unhealthy habits that could be harming relationship health

Many couples who have the goal of improving their relationship health benefit from seeking both individual and couples therapy. Therefore, if you’re wondering, “What services does BetterHelp offer for couples?”, you might note that improving individual mental health through online therapy often has a positive effect on a person’s relationships, too.

What is Regain?

Regain is an online relationship therapy platform owned by BetterHelp. It provides services to individuals and couples, with an emphasis on helping people navigate relationships. Similar to BetterHelp, Regain users are matched with a suitable mental health professional and can then connect with their therapist through weekly:

• Audio chat
• Live chat
• Live video sessions in a virtual therapy room

Online relationship therapy through Regain can be an effective way to address relationship challenges and conflict. Working with a licensed professional can provide couples with a safe space to express their thoughts, emotions, and concerns in a healthy way that promotes empathy and understanding. Couples therapy or marriage counseling can also teach partners helpful relationship skills, like active listening, effective communication, and conflict resolution, as well as offer suggestions to enhance the couple’s bond.

How to sign up for couples therapy through Regain?

You can sign up for couples therapy through Regain by completing the brief intake questionnaire. This questionnaire asks:

• Whether you will be attending relationship therapy with your partner
• Explore your history with therapy
•  The reasons you’re seeking help
• Expectations in a therapist 
• Preferences in a therapist

After finishing the sign-up process, many Regain users can be matched with a suitable professional in as little as 48 hours, though it can be longer depending on therapist availability and other factors. Once matched, you can schedule your first relationship therapy session. While it can help to know that it may take a few sessions to develop a good bond with your therapist, you can switch professionals at any time for no additional cost if your first match isn’t a good fit.

What are potential benefits of attending counseling with your partner?

Research suggests that relationship therapy can have many potential benefits. For example::

• While updated research is needed, an older meta-analysis suggests that premarital counseling programs typically resulted in a 30% increase in measures of success like relationship quality and interpersonal skills.
• A 2020 study reports that approximately 60% to 80% of distressed couples benefit from behavioral and emotionally focused couples therapy approaches.
• A 2016 study suggests that integrative behavioral couple therapy (IBCT) can promote significant gains in relationship satisfaction, communication, co-parenting, and child functioning that persist for at least five years after treatment.
• A 2020 article explores participants’ experiences with discernment counseling, which typically aims to help couples determine whether or not to divorce. Participants reported that they found the counseling experience helpful and that it contributed to better co-parental cooperation after divorce in those who did decide to split.

In addition to navigating relationship challenges, a couples therapist can also help partners work through challenges like:

• Becoming empty nesters
• Grieving the death of a loved one
• Undergoing a cross-country move

What are common couples therapy modalities for improved relationship health and mental health?

Most couples therapy modalities are short-term and solution-focused. Below are a few common approaches:

• Emotionally focused therapy (EFT). In EFT, each partner may be prompted to discuss specific, problematic events in the relationship, after which they may explore contributing underlying emotions that could be contributing to those challenges.
• The Gottman Method. Married psychologists John and Julie Gottman developed this modality through decades of research on married couples. The Gottman Method emphasizes increased intimacy, affection, and respect between partners.
• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). In the context of couples therapy, CBT focuses on what each couple thinks about the problems they are experiencing. In general, the process focuses on identifying unhelpful thought patterns and adjusting them to be more constructive and to positively impact emotions and behavior.
• Imago relationship therapy. The Imago method typically views relationship challenges as manifestations of unmet childhood needs and unhealed wounds. It usually involves a process of mirroring, validating each other’s concerns, and expressing empathy.
• Integrative behavioral couple therapy (IBCT).  This newer approach primarily focuses on nurturing a couple’s emotional connection in two phases: the evaluation/feedback phase and the active treatment phase.

Can you attend couples therapy or marriage counseling without your partner?

You can attend couples therapy without your partner. After working through your own emotions and behavior with the guidance of a therapist, you may see improvement in your relationship over time. However, for the best outcome, it can help if both partners are open to therapy and ready to put in the effort to improve their relationship together.

How can I find the right licensed therapist?

Finding a mental health professional with whom both partners feel comfortable tends to produce the best results. You might begin by asking friends or family members whether they have any recommendations, if you feel comfortable. You could also explore online directories, such as the Find a Therapist tool from the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

What are local resources for low-cost therapy?

Many couples experience concerns related to the cost of relationship therapy, as insurance doesn’t always cover couples counseling. However, contacting your insurance provider can be a good place to start. 

If you and your partner are part of a religious or spiritual community, you might ask about couples therapy services there, which are often provided for free to community members. However, note that many spiritual and religious counseling providers are not licensed mental health professionals.

Local community centers and student intern programs may also offer couples therapy at a lower cost. Another option could be to reach out to local therapy providers to ask about sliding-scale billing. Many providers offer this option, even if they don’t publicly advertise it.

How can I start my online couples therapy journey?

Yet another option for affordable couples therapy is online counseling, which can be less expensive than in-person care without insurance coverage. Starting individual therapy with BetterHelp or couples therapy with Regain can be as simple as completing a brief questionnaire, after which you can be matched with a licensed professional. While BetterHelp and Regain don’t currently accept insurance, financial aid may be available to those who qualify.

What are the advantages of online couples therapy with a licensed therapist?

One of the most significant advantages of online couples therapy is that you can attend virtual sessions with your partner, even if the two of you are in two separate geographic locations. Online therapy also tends to offer more scheduling flexibility than in-person options, which can be helpful if you and your partner have busy schedules.

What does the research say about online couples therapy and marriage counseling?

A growing body of evidence largely supports the use of online relationship interventions. For example, in a qualitative study from 2020, couples reported that video sessions created a helpful element of distance that gave them a sense of comfort and control. They also noted being able to form an effective therapeutic alliance and found the online relationship counseling process to be positive and beneficial overall.

Also consider a 2022 article comparing the effectiveness of traditional face-to-face couples therapy with online couples therapy. The results appeared to show improvements in relationship satisfaction and mental health for all couples, regardless of whether they attended sessions in person or online.