Cerebral - Mental Health Ratings and Reviews

Psychology Student

This service is great. I just began a treatment and my prescriber not only listened but made sure the treatment was adequate for me and my needs. Like a true Practitioner we began a plan that started slow, and worked towards improving my anxiety and depression in order to see if their underlying cause has to do with ADHD. I’ve done some research in regards to which one you treat first, and the best psychiatrists and studies suggest to do both at the same time, if a link is found between the two. In my case, there clearly is. She was so nice, so smart, I do recommend this app. This is the first review I’ve ever done, in any platform. This means a lot to me, I feel as if I will get my life back. I’m excited. To those who experienced really bad service, I do feel sorry, I wish that wasn’t the case, but it does depend on which state you are in as well. Perhaps people in your state are just more susceptible to acting in that way. Maybe, maybe not. Either way, the app is at least worth a try. I never had to have someone schedule me an appointment, I scheduled and rescheduled so many times. I always got an answer back, I always had someone answer my phone calls. Yeah you might have to wait, the most a few hours but they’re people too, they have a life as well. Some of you reviewing here are very rude.

It was great at first…

Initially it was great I loved my therapist she listen to me, she was able to find a diagnosis I got my medication everything was fine. Then into the third time receiving the medication there was a delay there are issues, the response time was also delayed, finally I got my medication. And then the last time,… The part that really confuses me the most is that the first two times he came to my house with no problems. And then they wired it for me to pick up at my local pharmacy but when they mailed it to me the price of my medication was only $7 dollars. But when they sent it to my local pharmacy for me to pick it up the price of the medication was $14. I kinda had a problem with that, because I was accustomed to paying the $7 for the Med’s ; however the last dispense of my medication it’s lost ?! how could they lose my medication when the first couple of times it went to my address with no problem??? But they charged my account ,
I’m trying to message them several times and I get the same message back to my email saying that it shows delivered but I live in Arizona. And the last shipment says delivered from Tracy California to Hayward California I don’t live in California!!!
I even referred my son to Cerebral because I was having great success and now I’m disappointed , because of me not getting my medicine on time. I hope he doesn’t have the same problem that I’ve experienced.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for taking the time to review. We are sorry to hear that you faced difficulties with the service and understand your frustration. We apologize if your experience did not meet our high standard of care. If you are needing support, please reach out to support@cerebral.com. All the best, Cerebral Team

Mostly Pros, a Couple Cons.

I’ve been using Cerebral for almost six months now. As someone who has suffered from mental illness for years I’m very familiar with the process of therapy and prescriptions. This service is very good for my situation. Having everything in one place does wonders for organization and peace of mind. The UI is intuitive and visually appealing. The service is largely very convenient. I do however have a few gripes:

The app has some pretty annoying bugs, the worst of which falsely displays my prescriber’s availability as completely full for years ahead of time. My coordinator can fix this, but having to manually go through her every time gets tedious. My only other gripe would be my prescriber. Due to the complicated nature of my mental state I was referred up to a “specialist” who had the authority to prescribe me more specialized medication. While she has prescribed me what I need, she is extremely curt with me—almost to the point of me feeling like she actively dislikes me. In addition to this, she flat out refused for weeks to write a simple letter to my college explaining my condition, which caused me to fail an important course. After my grades were due, she finally wrote the letter. Obviously, it was too late. It is honestly a huge blemish on an otherwise fantastic service.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for sharing your review! We appreciate your feedback.

My Honest Experience (Good and Bad)

I love the idea of Cerebral and I think in theory it could really work. I hope more people have had better experiences and there were things that I myself really enjoyed and appreciated. My problem was in app/account malfunctions and trying to get help. My experience with this company was basically the equivalent of that hard-to-open cold medicine package that we’ve all struggled with when we’re super sick. You know that if you can actually get through the impossible packaging to the meds inside, you’d be on your way to better health. But no matter how much you tug and claw and try to tear open that stupid plastic packaging, it won’t budge.
My app rarely worked, I had 3 different care teams in 3 different weeks, due to high turn around I rarely talked to the same person more than once, my app wouldn’t let me schedule appointments, when I finally did get help my new prescriber wasn’t assigned to my care team properly so they dropped my account, and a couple more things.
When I could get things and people to work, it honestly helped me out. The exercises are a little trite imo and can be found through a basic Google search, but if you can get your care team together and communicating, I could really see the benefit of this service.
Just know going into it that the frustration that you might face could do more damage than good.
Good luck and I genuinely hope your experience is better than mine.

Developer Response ,

We are constantly working to improve our services, and we appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback with us. We value all feedback that we receive, and we would like to take this opportunity to learn more about your experience. Please feel free to contact us at support@cerebral.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Misleading explanation of packages

I have been shopping around for mental health help and counseling that will not break the bank because I don’t have insurance. I kind of got that. The 85$ package was the only one I could afford which is medication and meetings with a care counselor. I emailed back and forth with customer service to ask what a care counselor does and I could not get a straight answer so I assumed it would be some type of clinician/ LCSW that I would have therapy with instead of a psychologist or something. No. You get a 30 minute appointment with a prescriber every 3 months that prescribes your medicine. I was told if you want more appointments than every 3 months it’s extra. They are not your therapist. The care counselor IS ALSO NOT A THERAPIST. I was told this by my care counselor during my first appointment, he wanted to make it explicitly clear that he was not providing therapy. At most you tell them a problem you are having and they send you an article to read to help yourself. You will not be receiving any actual therapy from this package. I’m essentially paying 85$ a month for a prescription service because that’s the only thing I’m getting out of the app. The one positive thing I have found is that I told my prescriber about my chronic migraines and was prescribed an anti depressant to that is also used to treat them. While it doesn’t really help with the anxiety it HAS helped my chronic migraines. So at least I am not in constant daily pain.

Developer Response ,

We're so sorry for any confusion that may have taken place regarding our monthly subscription plans and for any inconvenience that resulted from this. Please feel free to reach out to support@getcerebral.com and ask for Stefanie H. We look forward to assisting you in any way we can. Best, Cerebral Team

No follow ups, No Follow through

Update: They were able to refund my payments. I will think about using their services again if they can fix the “not prompting to reschedule” issue.

I first discovered Cerebral through social media. I thought I would give it a try since my family has just moved somewhere where it’s not easy for us to get to appointments all the time. Unfortunately, my experience was not a good one. The therapist and prescriber were great, but after my first appointment there was no way to schedule more appointments, and no prompt to schedule more appointments. In order to make a new appointment, I had to email their support team, who then scheduled me for whenever they saw fit without first consulting me. Next, I put in my insurance information at the beginning, before I even started therapy because my insurance covers their services. Instead of billing my insurance, or letting me know that insurance was an issue so that I could address it, after my trial period, they just billed me again. Then, when I tried to get it fixed, they delayed until after they were no longer able to issue a refund before responding. Now I have pod for an entire month of their services, but I have been locked out of the system AND they refuse to issue a refund. I am extremely disappointed, and I would strongly warn against using their services.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. I apologize for any difficulties you faced in utilizing our services. I would like the opportunity to look into your concerns a bit further. Please reach out to me at reviews@cerebral.com and ask for me directly. I look forward to assisting you in any way I can. Kind regards, Meagan - Cerebral Coordinator.

I should have listened to the negative reviews this time

My appointment with the prescriber occurred about an hour after my scheduled appointment time which was an inconvenience because I had already adjusted my schedule. I do have to say the prescriber was so nice and knowledgeable, but the negative experience with them was probably just a product of the inconsistent service with this company. The medication wasn’t entered, so I tried to reach out to support through the app to inquire. After no response in the app, I called the contact number for support only to be prompted by recordings to seek assistance through the app. I’m given the vibe that representatives shouldn’t be bothered by phone. I felt completely lost in the process, and the portal is void of clearly set expectations for new patients. Only at the time of sending my cancellation email did I receive a response through the app and a voicemail. This made me think back to all of the negative reviews I read about people having lapses in therapy or medication due to a buggy system and poor communication. And by the way, cancellation is a process in and of itself. You can’t even remove your own card information from the portal. It truly felt like a I was number/sale rather than someone seeking genuine services and treatment. I didn’t even bother asking for my $30 refund (discounted first month). Just keep the money at this point. This was not a good experience for someone in need of solid mental health services.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. I apologize for any difficulties you faced in utilizing our services. Please reach out to me at reviews@cerebral.com if you are needing further support here. Kind regards, Meagan - Cerebral Coordinator.

Frustrating service

I initially turned to cerebral when I needed therapy desperately, and struggled to find a therapist/psychiatrist in person who would take on new clients due to covid. I decided to go through with the subscription on here only to find out they had no available counselors and could only help me with getting medication. I proceeded with the mindset that I now only needed to look for a new therapist and could scratch a psychiatrist off the list. Terrible choice. Within the few months I've had cerebral, I've been forced to reschedule appointments with my prescriber THREE times already, and the only explanation I was provided with was "Unforseen circumstances". Normally I would be understanding of this, but three times is just unbelievable! Especially considering that due to this, I could not get a refill for my prescription before it ran out and went practically a week without my meds after only being on it for a month. Not to mention that your only source of communication through the app is a chat feature that could take anywhere up to 2 days to respond, and you can't even schedule an appointment until the notification pops up promoting you to do so. So if you feel you need an appointment quickly, good luck making one. I would say to anybody, take your money elsewhere and save yourself the headache. For an app that is meant to help people and provide somewhat of a safe space, they've really offered nothing but more frustration for me.

Run Around With Prescriptions.

Edit: as of 9/14 I canceled my subscription. These people will not work with you to get your medication they prescribed. I WAS CONTACTING CUSTOMER SUPPORT FOR 3 WEEK WITH NO POSITIVE RESULTS. For whatever reason they never gave me the option to mail it out despite it being their services gimmick. 4 request for updates later, giving 3+ business days each time, I got fed up. Potential users, please be aware, they won’t have your best mental health interest in mind and will make them worse. Emailing the person who responds on here is a joke and they are rudely blunt.

I was subscribed Prozac by my Cerebral prescriber on the 8/28. It is now 9/10 and I have yet to receive a prescription that said would take 3 days maximum. I wrote them 3 times so far with no resolve other then “did you want it to a local pharmacy or shipped?” Um. This service is supposed to allow you to buy your medications online, not once was I told or discussed a local pharmacy. I literally JUST want to buy the prescription they put me on. No one seems to be taking this seriously or looking into it. I’m definitely considering a credit card chargeback and canceling a service I really wanted and needed. Such a shame since they had glowing reviews. I’m convinced this company has no compassion for the people trying to seek help. Also, the care coordinator who responds to these bad reviews is the same responding in my app. They don’t care and it’s been weeks already. She isn’t helping.

Developer Response ,

Hi there, this is Stefanie, and I want to thank you for sharing this insight with us. I'm so sorry to hear that you have faced these difficulties, and I can certainly understand why this was a disappointing experience. If you would be willing, I would appreciate the opportunity to connect further to ensure we amend the situation in a way that is best for you. I am happy to speak with you and help how I can. I can be reached at 415-403-2156 or at support@getcerebral.com. Kind regards, Stefanie H. Cerebral Coordinator.

More stressful than helpful

I signed up and was given the test for the wrong condition. Later I had to ask to switch the care person out thrice due to the fact that the first one was male (I specified I wanted to work with a female counselor) the second person’s schedule didn’t work with mine, so I specified the hours a week I am available after which they assigned a new counselor who had no availability for the next 3 and a half weeks. When I mentioned this, I was assigned an appointment without being asked if it works for me. I then asked to cancel my membership and be refunded, due to the fact that I still hadn’t received the right test and also wasn’t able to schedule an appointment because of their unwillingness or inability to take my needs into consideration when setting me up with a care giver. I was then refunded 9 bucks out of the 30 I paid because due to policy they “don’t refund you wether you used a service or not”. For someone like me, who has never been in therapy it is a big deal to just sit down with a stranger and talk to them. So being treated like a number the same way you would be with any other subscription service is kind of alarming to me, considering they’re dealing with people’s mental health. In the end of the day all I can say is this, you get what you pay for, and if you have issues you should find someone who truly cares to help, and to whom you’re not just another subscriber on a platform.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us. I am sorry to see you had a negative experience and would like to see what I can do to support you here. Please reach out to support@cerebral.com with your contact details so that we can look into this issue. All the best, Cerebral Team