I Tried Online Therapy at Two Chairs for a Month — Here’s How It Went

Personal development and growth are important to me. I’ve always made a point to get counseling whenever I can afford it, and I spent years planning to become a therapist myself. While I ultimately didn’t pursue that career route, I channeled my love for psychology into developing a journalistic specialty in mental health, studying tools like somatic healing, keeping up with the latest psychology and mental health research, and getting certified in holistic techniques such as reiki. As a result of all of this experience, testing therapy services are right in my wheelhouse.

I’m usually pretty discerning when seeking a clinician, so I wanted to see what it would be like to have a professional do the work for me. Here’s how my month with Two Chairs went.

Signing up for therapy at Two Chairs was simple. I input my contact info, location, insurance carrier info, and date of birth, then was guided to pick a matching appointment time. I had pretty open availability and could get one that took place within 48 hours.

Next, I was asked to fill out some intake paperwork, which consisted of basic questions about my history of mental health treatment and what brought me to therapy. The forms also checked to see if I’d received a diagnosis for serious conditions like psychosis or bipolar disorder, if I’d engaged in self-harm, and if I was on any medications. I was also asked whether or not gender, age, religion, and race would be a factor in my choice of therapist.

Moving on, I had to pick 15 available potential times for ongoing therapy and was informed that if I couldn’t provide that number, the matching process might be slower. As someone who usually finds my own therapist on my own terms, I found this step to be a bit restrictive — I didn’t like that the process would be delayed if I couldn’t come up with that many time slots. That said, I have pretty open availability.

Lastly, I entered my insurance details, emergency contact information, and payment information to be kept on file.

My Matching Appointment

I really appreciated this service. The licensed clinical social worker guiding it was kind and made me feel safe enough to answer her questions even though I’d just met her.

What I really loved, though, were her questions about my preferences. For example, she asked me what negative experiences I’ve had in therapy, if any, and why. I’ve had a few clinicians in the past who were not the right fit, so I appreciated being given the chance to speak about those experiences.

Additionally, she asked things like whether or not I wanted someone detached versus more in touch with their emotions (I tend to steer away from stoic types and prefer more emotionally sensitive therapists) and someone who primarily guides the sessions or who lets me steer them. These are important preferences, and her questions gave me faith that I’d be matched in a thoughtful way.

She wrapped up the session by telling me what I could expect next — an email alerting me to my match, likely within a week, she said.

Getting Matched to a Therapist

Four days later, I received an email with my match and a time slot picked for me 10 days out. That would make the time between my initial sign-up and my first actual therapy session a full two weeks. Plus, if I’d picked fewer than 15 possible slots, the process might have taken even longer. Other people’s experiences might be different, but based on mine, Two Chairs is not the best choice if you need therapy quickly.

It turned out that the appointment given to me ended up not being great for that week. While I realized that I must have included that time within my ongoing availability, I didn’t like being given a slot instead of a choice. This was just one of a few times I would feel restricted using this service.

Thankfully, switching my first appointment time was easy. I emailed support to let them know I’d need a different one and they said I’d have to email her directly to reschedule. She was very accommodating.

Intake Session

My first session served as an expansion of what I’d done during my matching appointment. We went over what I was seeking in therapy and my mental health history. My therapist was warm and professional, but I was turned off immediately when she went into the policies and structure of Two Chairs.

First, she explained that I was expected to fill out a mental health questionnaire — the same assessment for anxiety, depression, and self-harm that I’d filled out during my matching session — the morning of every session. Two Chairs designed this to track my progress, she said, but I could easily see myself forgetting and feeling like I didn’t do my homework.

She also went over the cancellation policy right away, commenting that it was “pretty strict.” She explained that if I didn’t cancel within 48 hours, I would be charged, which is fair enough. But I’d also be allowed only four cancellations in six months — and rescheduling to a different week counts as a cancellation. She explained that after three changed sessions, we’d “have a talk about whether it’s appropriate to continue with Two Chairs.”

So even if I was planning for a vacation and switched my appointments well in advance, any changes to a different week would count as cancellations and could potentially compromise my ability to use the service. I’ve not encountered a policy like this in any of my previous experience in therapy. While my therapist said this was for my own benefit and to ensure that I stayed consistent with therapy, it felt unnecessarily restrictive.

Second Session

Going into our next meeting, I already saw how I could be negatively impacted by the strict reschedule and cancellation policy. I had lost my voice, and was barely getting it back, and it made the most sense to reschedule in favor of some self-care. In order to finish this review, I strained my way through my session. I could imagine that a regular customer who wanted to reschedule their session to save their voice might feel frustrated that doing so would mean fewer appointment changes in the future.

I felt we bonded a lot more in this session, and I was comfortable opening up about some of my recent concerns. She did a great job of listening to me while helping me to reflect on my feelings and pointing out any patterns she was seeing. Overall, her style of therapy felt aligned with what I had asked for during my matching session.

Towards the end of our time together, she asked me to come up with significant positive events in my life so she could get to know me better. Since we ran out of time, she assigned this as homework. This was okay, but I didn’t like having a task to do for our next meeting.

Third Session

Despite having bonded the last time we’d met, I was disappointed by my final session with my therapist. I had filled out the wellness questionnaire the morning of the session after having stressful night. She opened by telling me that it indicated I had mild symptoms of anxiety and depression. This felt overly clinical — she hadn’t even spoken with me yet about what was going on in my life and rather relied on a generic form that doesn’t provide any context.

For example, the assessment asks how often you’ve felt nervous, had trouble concentrating, and had little energy — all of which I’d been experiencing due to a family member being in critical care at the hospital for weeks and frequently traveling back and forth to see them. Starting the session by focusing on symptoms instead of building rapport felt slightly pathologizing.

Not only have I never consistently had to fill out a generic screening form for any past ongoing therapy sessions, but I’ve not encountered this heavy focus on data without context before. In my past experiences, I’d usually be many sessions in and have already discussed the conditions and circumstances going on in my life before naming any recurring themes to focus on.

Customer Service

Two Chairs has great, fast customer service. When I received an intake session time slot that didn’t work for me, I emailed support and received a reply with clear instructions on how to resolve the issue within a few hours.

Canceling services at Two Chairs was simple. I emailed my therapist and told her I needed to pause therapy for an indefinite amount of time. She said she would take care of disenrolling me from Two Chairs and that I didn’t need to do anything else.

I also tried asking her to reschedule before I canceled. Again, I simply emailed her, and she asked me when I wanted to switch my appointment time.

If I had been unable to reach my therapist, the Two Chairs FAQ notes I could have emailed support or called the Two Chairs customer support line.

Two Chairs isn’t the only company that will match you to a therapist: BetterHelp, Talkspace, and Calmerry all provide matching with an algorithm based on your answers to questionnaires. But these processes are far more impersonal. For instance, Calmerry’s matching process is algorithm-driven and based on factors like your location, history of receiving mental health treatment, and reasons for seeking therapy. Two Chairs offers you a real conversation with a trained clinician and the opportunity to speak about what you like and don’t like in a therapist.

If you don’t need or want help with finding a counselor, or you have very specific preferences, it might be better to look at a directory. Alma and Zencare are both good options if you’re comfortable searching for and setting up sessions with a therapist on your own. You’ll do more legwork than with a matching service, but both these companies still make it easy to connect with a therapist. You can see schedule availability and contact clinicians right on the site. Just keep in mind that pricing, insurance, session length, and session frequency will vary based on who you pick.

Two Chairs does offer quality therapy. I found my sessions helpful in many ways, and my clinician to be professional and warm. The matching appointment was thorough and covered a lot of concerns that I wouldn’t have gotten with an algorithm-based matching service. Two Chairs could be great for people who find the process of finding a therapist overwhelming or time consuming. It was a pretty expensive service, though.

Still, I wouldn’t continue with Two Chairs if I weren’t writing this review. I like to be more involved in finding a therapist, and I wasn’t a big fan of the cancellation and rescheduling policy. While I understand the logic behind the policy, it was too restrictive for my needs. Additionally, the weekly assessment encouraged my therapist to evaluate me before we even had a chance to speak and put too much emphasis on symptoms. Finally, I didn’t like her shifting the session away from my topic of interest and onto the assignment she’d given me.

But maybe someone else would appreciate the structure of Two Chairs practices and policies, especially if they’re newer to therapy. I also didn’t try another clinician. Maybe if I’d switched, I would find someone who had a better therapeutic style for me.

With all that said, I think Two Chairs could be worth it if you’re looking for a personalized matching service and either have insurance they accept or are willing and able to pay high prices out of pocket.

Everyday Health is committed to holding online therapy companies accountable for keeping high standards of integrity and quality. We’re reviewing over 65 online therapy companies to find the best ones.

Testing is uniform across companies and includes reporting to vet the company and its business practices, interviewing and speaking with licensed therapists, surveying real online therapy users, and testing each service with professional journalists, therapists, or both.

I’m a regular therapy tester and a journalistic expert on mental health, and I bring over a decade of journalism experience.