
Warning: *privacy not included with this product
Pride Counseling, owned by BetterHelp (see our review of BetterHelp), provides therapy services targeted at members of the LGBTQ+ community. Costs for the Pride Counseling service run around $60 - $90 per week depending on your location (some locations might be higher) and Wirecutter noted in 2021 they "found some of the company’s practices to be predatory." Users will then be matched with a therapist Pride Counseling says are licensed and have some experience with the LGBTQ+ community, although there is no way to guarantee your therapist will be LGBTQ themselves. Conversations with therapists can happen in a number of ways -- text messages, live chats, phone conversations, or video calls.
So, how does Pride Counseling look from a privacy and security perspective? Unfortunately, not great. Which is not at all what you want to see from an online therapy service targeted at the vulnerable LGBTQ+ community.
What could happen if something goes wrong?
Owned by BettherHelp, Pride Counseling brings all the privacy concerns we had with that app to this LGBTQI+ focused therapy app. They're privacy policies are identical, so everything we were worried about with BetterHelp applies here with Pride Counseling, except Pride Counseling is targeted at a vulnerable community, which makes our privacy concerns carry even more weight.
Where to start? First, we here at *Privacy Not Included read privacy policies for a living. We've seen many and have a sense for what makes a good privacy policy and what worries us in privacy policies. We found Pride Counseling's privacy policy short and missing information we wanted to see made clear. Pride Counseling doesn’t specifically state in their privacy policy that they don’t sell user data, which is something we like to see stated clearly. Also, their short privacy policy doesn't mention important information like if and how they collect location data, how long they retain users' data, and how users can access or delete this data. This is another big flag for us. Pride Counseling also uses the word "may" a whole lot in their short privacy policy, which as someone who reads privacy policies can tell you, usually means they want to give themselves a lot of wiggle room in how they use your personal information. So many red flags so far.
But wait, there's more! Pride Counseling does collect a whole lot of personal information, from the responses to their intake questionnaire (like are you feeling depressed or anxious or are you struggling to maintain relationships), to things like name, age, email address, and phone number. They also say they can use data they collect on you for personalization, product offerings relevant to your individual interests, and targeted ads. And they say they can share some data with a number of third parties including advertisers (boo!), and with any subsidiaries or parent companies within their corporate group (which includes Better Help, Teen Counseling, and Faith Counseling). Remember, every time your data is shared, the potential for data leaks or breaches grows.
And according to this 2020 article by Jezebel, BetterHelp/Pride Counseling shares metadata from every message, though not its contents, with Facebook. This means that Facebook could know what time of day a user was going to therapy, their approximate location, and how long they were chatting on the app. Yup, red flag.
Is there more that worries us? Why, yes, there is. Pride Counseling says they collect, use, and store communications between users and counselors on their platform. They do say they encrypt messages between you and your therapist on the platform, which is good. We were unable to confirm if Pride Counseling has a system in place to manage security vulnerabilities on their app, which raises a flag for us about their overall security practices. We emailed their listed privacy contact to ask some questions about Pride Counseling's privacy practices and received no response to our questions, so we're not sure if users can expect a timely response from that listed contact.
Pride Counseling's parent company BetterHelp operates a number of popular mental health platform right now in 2022. They are pouring millions of dollars into advertising to grow their user base. They have anumber of concerning privacy and security practices that we and others have reported like sending data to Facebook and sharing data widely with third parties. What's the worst that could happen? Unfortunately, we're afraid a lot could go wrong based on what we learned in our research. Which is incredibly worrisome for a service targeted a the vulnerable LGBTQ+ community. That's why we've currently labeled this product *Privacy Not Included.
Tips to protect yourself
- Do NOT connect the app to your Facebook, Google, or other social media accounts or third-party tools, and do not share medical data when connected to those account.
- Click the "Shred" button next to each message you've sent if you want it to no longer show in your account.
Can it snoop on me?
Camera
Device: N/A
App: Yes
Microphone
Device: N/A
App: Yes
Tracks location
Device: N/A
App: No
What can be used to sign up?
Yes
Phone
No
Third-party account
No
What data does the company collect?
Personal
Name or nickname, age, e-mail address, phone number, and emergency contact information, gender, sexual orientation
Body related
Symptoms and mental state observations
Social
Information on your partner (if you use couples therapy)
How does the company use this data?
How can you control your data?
What is the company’s known track record of protecting users’ data?
In 2021, the Economist shared the report of one user that "When I first joined BetterHelp, I started to see targeted ads with words that I had used on the app to describe my personal experiences.”
In October 2018, BetterHelp gained attention from media personalities after concerns were raised about alleged use of unfair pricing, bad experiences with the app, paid reviews from actors, and terms of service that allegedly did not correspond with ads promoted by professional YouTubers.
Child Privacy Information
Can this product be used offline?
User-friendly privacy information?
Links to privacy information
Does this product meet our Minimum Security Standards?
Encryption
All the messages between you and your therapist are encrypted by 256-bit encryption. Pride Counselling's databases are encrypted and scrambled so they essentially become useless in the unlikely event that they are stolen or inappropriately used.
Strong password
Security updates
Manages vulnerabilities
Privacy policy
Dive Deeper
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The Spooky, Loosely Regulated World of Online TherapyJezebel
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Pride Counseling review 2022: Everything you need to knowMedical News Today
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Pride Counseling Online Therapy ReviewConsumersAdvocate.org
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The Online Therapy Services We’d UseWirecutter
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Pride Counseling: Reviews, Cost, and ServicesEveryday Health
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Pride Counseling Review: Should you try this online LGBTQ+ counseling?Innerbody Research
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Pride Counseling ReviewE-Counseling.com
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What Is Video Therapy? Plus 15 Best Services for 2022Healthline
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Pride Counseling Online Therapy ReviewConsumersAdvocate.org
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The 7 Best Online Couples and Relationship Therapy Services for 2022Psych Central
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Adverts for LGBT mental health service ‘crass and exploitative’PinkNews
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