Session Length

How long should your sessions be?

BetterHelp allows providers to choose between 30 minute and 45 minute sessions.

At the time of writing this, BetterHelp only pays providers up to the 45 minute mark of a session. This means a provider can go past 45 minutes with a client but they will not be reimbursed for the added time.

There’s more than one way to approach this…

I landed on doing 30 minute sessions. I left a 15 minute buffer between my sessions. This allows me to go past the 30 minute mark if I needed to (and I usually did). My sessions are typically 40 minutes in length.

I like for clients to plan for 30 minutes. Not every therapist will work this way. I just think it helps clients to be more focused.

If you’re sending an agenda before the session then that can help keep the session focused also.

Some therapists do 30 minute sessions back to back. That can be tough for therapists who are used to doing a “therapy hour” or 50 minutes of therapy.

I like the 45 minutes because it can allow time to type notes in-between. This approach is preferable to having to write notes at the end of the day.