LifeStance Health
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My initial experience hasn't been all that promising
My initial experience hasn't been all that great. Hard to get a hold of someone on the phone. Searching for a provider (a therapist to work with) isn't the easiest on their site, as I didn't find a way to add a Filter so that I'd ONLY see those people who accepted my insurance. As a result, you have to go through and check each provider/therapist profile, one by one, to see IF they accept your insurance. Also, there were some providers I thought I might want to work with, and so I'd click on 'Schedule an appointment', only to then see a pop-up of 'this provider has no upcoming availability'. (What does that mean exactly? ...no availability for the next few weeks? Or not accepting ANY new patients?? On the day of my first scheduled appt., I dialed-in, only for the provider to say 'actually, we cannot have a session today because you didn't fill out the online intake forms.' I said 'I actually tried to do so, and contacted Lifestance to say I was having issues accessing the forms, and no one ever got back to me.' (And, how is it that my own therapist didn't flag this fact, and sooner? So I set aside time to meet with her, and it was only AT the time of our session, that I'm told 'oh, actually, we cannot meet right now...we'll have to reschedule, and once you complete the forms...'?? Also, as others here have mentioned, my first appointment included lots of additional 'intake' questions (even though I'd already and finally been able to complete a lengthy 'intake' questionnaire on their website, before my first appointment). I'm not sure if it's across the board with Lifestance, or if it were particular to my particular provider (and her areas of expertise) but I got the strong sense that Lifestance and/or my particular provider work with people who have more serious issues going on in their lives...who may experience abuse, or use drugs/alcohol, be suicidal etc. I say this because, after my answering all the questions my provider posed to me, about how I've been feeling, etc., she said towards the end of the call, 'OK, based upon my assessment, on a scale of 1-10 you are a '2' for anxiety and depression' (...the implication mainly being that I don't really need any help...that I don't really have any issues). It all felt very robotic and formulaic. I thought to myself 'I'm sorry...I thought that if any one of us feels like some talk therapy would be good for us, that we should have the option to decide if we want to talk to someone... and that the insurance that we PAY to have, should afford us that opportunity?' But it was as if Lifestance as a whole, and/or the particular therapist, do everything according to a literal manual, complete with a check-off list. I'd mentioned to my therapist how I've been feeling very 'ADD'...easily distracted...have a hard time completing things on my to-do list, and that this fact bothers me. She mentioned, towards the end of the call, that during future sessions, she could help me with relaxation techniques, breathing exercises journaling, creating to-do lists and building in breaks so that my to-do list doesn't seem so overwhelming, etc. And all I could think was 'do you think I don't already know all those tricks?? Don't you know that all that type of advices and how-to's can be readily found elsewhere online? I came to Lifestance because I need help in understanding why I'm having a hard time doing this on my own...why, even though I intellectually know better...I know all the healthy habits I should be trying to employ...why I'm still not doing those habits..." I'm going to try out a different provider/therapist at Lifestance and see if that goes any better.