The expanding role of online mental health support offered by firms like BetterHelp, merits some critical inquiry. These companies took advantage of the relaxed regulations around mental health care during the COVID pandemic resulting in some serious ethical breaches. Your public health data is strictly confidential and protected under privacy laws like the Canada’s Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA). Under very few circumstances is to be shared without your explicit consent.
“Uberized” online therapy platforms—like BetterHelp, or subscription based ones like Talkspace—have surged in popularity over the past decade, partly due to their promise of affordable, on-demand mental health care. But these services often trade away client confidentiality, compromise clinical quality, and treat therapy as a commodity rather than a relational process. Below, I explore how Uber-style mental health platforms betray core ethical principles…
The expanding role of online mental health support offered by firms like BetterHelp, merits some critical inquiry. These companies took advantage of the relaxed regulations around mental health care during the COVID pandemic resulting in some serious ethical breaches. Your public health data is strictly confidential and protected under privacy laws like the Canada’s Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA). Under very few…
