Regain Review: Is Online Couples Counseling Right for You?

Regain starts with a brief interview asking you about the specific issues you are having. The interview also asks you if you have preferences about the counselor you see. This takes about 5 minutes and did a good job getting the basics out of the way. During the interview, we could specify if any specific religious affiliation was important for us, and if we prefer a male or female counselor.

Regain starts with a brief interview asking you about the specific issues you are having. The interview also asks you if you have preferences about the counselor you see. This takes about 5 minutes and did a good job getting the basics out of the way. During the interview, we could specify if any specific religious affiliation was important for us, and if we prefer a male or female counselor.

Regain works on a subscription basis. Regain charges $65 per week for the first month, billed up-front (i.e. $260 up-front). After that, you can choose a fee between $35 and $80 per week, depending on how long you are willing to commit to subscribing. There are substantial discounts for longer subscription lengths, but I imagine it would be very risky paying for a whole year of marriage counseling you may not need. Most people stick with the $65 per week plan, billed monthly.

Regain quotes their rates on a weekly basis, but bill for the full month. To get your actual monthly cost, multiply the rates below by four. Unfortunately Regain does not accept insurance, although it is rare that insurance companies would cover marriage counseling. When insurance companies do cover marriage counseling, it is usually if the marriage counseling is in service of treating a patient with a diagnosed mental condition.

I filled out the initial questionnaire during my lunch break at work. Regain says that they can help people working with relationships issues even if only one member of a couple will participate. In our case, both my wife and I wanted to attend. At the end of my initial questionnaire, Regain asked if I would like to invite my wife. I simply needed to provide them with her email address, and they sent her the invitation to join.

Within minutes, we were matched with our counselor Theresa. I was excited to get started and immediately sent her details of what we were looking for help with. My wife also had the opportunity to write down her views of what we were struggling with. There was something very therapeutic about putting words to our feeling. The act of doing so in a forum where they would be read by a therapist, made me think more carefully and kindly with my words.

Regain allowed us to each send messages with Theresa in a shared room. In addition to sending messages, we were able to set up live video or phone sessions. Regain had an excellent scheduling system where we could pick from our therapists’ available times. We found this a huge advantage over in-person counseling.

It is hard-enough to find time when my wife and I were both free. With online marriage counseling, we could cut out the additional travel time to the therapist’s office. We were also not confined to a rigid schedule, instead we could make ad-hoc appointments as needed.

With Regain they do not specify the exact number of sessions you have with your therapist. Instead therapists and clients find a reasonable level by mutual agreement. Theresa suggested we get together for a video session for our first meeting. Regain unfortunately does not provide for 3-way video sessions, so we had to find a time when my wife and I could be together for our session. This seemed a little disappointing. We hope in future Regain can allow for three-way video chats.

Our therapist made us both of us feel safe and heard. We quickly forgot we were seeing her by video and were quickly trying to sort through our issues. Our first video session ended with both of us feeling more confident in our choice. We immediately felt some relief, because we started to see a way out of our stalemate.

As I mentioned, my wife and I had been in in-person marriage counseling before. We knew that things can get explosive quickly when we were talking about deep issues in marriage therapy. We had our doubts that our therapist would be able to handle situations like that in an online format. It turns out that things did not get out of hand in our meetings with Theresa, but that lingering doubt stayed with us. I wondered if we had avoided talking about certain issues as a result of these doubts.

Regain made it possible for us to work as a couple at times, and work as individuals at other times. Interestingly, all text messaging was in a shared chat-room with our counselor. By contrast, our video sessions could be private. This also seemed like something Regain could address. It would be great if we had the choice to privately message the therapist instead of sharing everything with all three of us.

My wife and I had come from a background of in-person counseling. We discovered that in some ways we missed in the in-person presence of our marriage counselor. However, we discovered that there were several advantages to the online format. We found that the ability to schedule appointments at odd times a huge plus. The reality of modern life makes it difficult for couples to meet at a consistent time each week. Here Regain really shined.

One of the largest benefits of Regain comes in the pricing. Marriage counseling is rarely covered by insurance unless it is an adjunct to caring for a partner with a mental illness diagnosis. For most people, they end up paying for marriage counseling out-of-pocket. Regain can be an absolute bargain compared to in-person marriage counseling.

I also saw a large benefit of the shared message area. There is something about the accountability of seeing your thoughts set down in words that forces you to be kinder. In the end, isn’t being kinder to one another what it is all about? Click here to visit Regain.