Sondermind vs Headway: Which is Better?

The utilization of virtual mental healthcare and telehealth platforms has increased by 35% in the US due to increased awareness, the seamless availability of relevant resources, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as major drivers for their growth.

The demand will likely increase more than ever, given how affordable, convenient, and accessible global mental healthcare has become due to these platforms. This has also led to a rise in investments in the mental healthcare industry.

The rapid emergence of countless mental therapy and psychiatry startups popping up almost everywhere in the US and worldwide may be a good sign, especially in the wake of a mental healthcare crisis. However, there are too many platforms and apps to choose from.

Considering how chaotic the online mental healthcare landscape is, I am going to help you find the right service provider. Today’s article covers Sondermind vs. Headway.

About Sondermind

Sondermind caters to the holistic mental healthcare needs of patients of all ages affected by various mental illnesses. It was founded in 2017 by Sean Boyd and Mark Frank.

The platform is neither a search directory nor follows a subscription-based pricing model. It, instead, offers personalized online or in-person care through its extensive network of psychiatrists, counselors, and nurse practitioners.

The integrated mental healthcare system, supported by multiple insurance providers, EAP, HSA, FSA, and Medicare, is based in Denver, Colorado.

About Headway

Founder and CEO Andrew Adams and co-founders Kevin Chan and Dan Ross launched Headway in 2019. The platform was designed to simplify and quicken the process of searching for therapists or psychiatrists, specifically accepting your insurance plan.

Headway is essentially a marketplace of mental healthcare providers that brings together mental health patients and licensed mental health counselors, therapists, or psychiatric practitioners.

The platform has a built-in search directory that enables you to apply different filters, set your requirements, and help you find the right mental healthcare provider from a narrowed-down list of practitioners.

Sondermind vs. Headway: Detailed Comparison

This section does an in-depth comparison of Headway and Sondermind. It is all you need to know to make the right choice between the two platforms.

1. How Does it Work?

Sondermind

SonderMind helped me contact its network of licensed therapists at very affordable rates. The first step is to enroll by answering a short quiz about my mental healthcare needs. It automatically paired me with the right therapist in about one to two business days.

I was assigned my counselor the following day, which I thought was quick, and my therapy started 2 days after receiving her approval. No complaints here!

Therapist switching is free of charge. I also had the option to talk to Sondermind’s wellness coordinators to address any doubts before enrolling or purchasing its services.

The best feature is the flexibility offered in scheduling both virtual and face-to-face sessions all 7 days of the week with the provider. I generally had both types of appointments at my convenience, and it went smoothly without any hiccups.

If you are a mental healthcare provider, joining Sondermind is equally hassle-free. Additionally, the platform’s referral system works great through the website and its insurance panels, so your advertising is handled fairly. But make sure you vet them, as some of the referrals may be unverified.

Headway

Headway, as mentioned earlier, is a search directory-based mental healthcare platform that predominantly handles billing and insurance processing. The onus of selecting the right provider from the shortlisted ones rests on me.

However, no time-consuming questionnaires and unnecessary logins or pre-signups are needed to get started, which saves a lot of time and effort.

I could straightaway begin my mental healthcare journey with Headway by adding the required criteria to the directory with advanced search capabilities. It is free to use until you find your go-to therapist or psychiatrist and schedule an appointment with them.

However, it is mandatory to have an insurance plan to use Headway. So, if you plan to pay out of pocket, this platform is not for you.

For practitioners, the referral system on Headway may not be as effective and profitable as Sondermind. Your advertising skills to market your services will come to your rescue in this case. However, you may get a slightly better payout than Sondermind.

2. Pricing/Affordability

Sondermind

Sondermind is definitely more expensive than most of its competitors, so I would not say the platform provides pocket-friendly mental healthcare. The cost would be based on your requirements, as Sondermind does not have a subscription-based service.

The counseling/psychiatry cost could be $80 to $175 or even $200 for a 60-minute session based on several factors such as your location, treatment preferences, qualification and experience of the provider assigned, and so on.

I had the option to cancel any appointment within 24 hours. I canceled three such sessions, and my therapist was kind enough to reschedule them at a later date and time based on our availabilities.

However, be ready to spend a very high cancellation fee if you fail to cancel your appointment well in advance. The penalty is equal to your entire session cost.

Also, my card information was collected in advance, even before my first session, citing error-free billing. However, the billing issues or inconsistencies could have been addressed better.

Headway

There are no subscriptions to be bought on Headway. I paid for every session every time it was scheduled. With insurance coverage, the services are in the affordable range.

The final treatment cost was based on my location, my individual treatment preferences, my therapist’s availability, their experience and credentials, etc.

Even though it all depends on your mental healthcare requirements and other criteria, I was able to submit my insurance information to calculate a rough estimate of how much I would typically spend prior to my appointment.

The bare minimum spending needed is around $8 to $10, but this can vary or even go up to $20 to $50 based on your insurance coverage. Headway has a 24-hour cancellation policy. If you fail to do so within 24 hours or skip an appointment for any reason, you will be charged a fine of $75.

3. Insurance Coverage

Sondermind

Sondermind has a ton of great options as far as insurance coverage is concerned. It allows you to utilize your Medicare insurance, HSA, FSA, and EAP.

The platform even accepts all major insurance provider plans across the US, such as Cigna, Aetna, Optum, United Healthcare, Medical Mutual, CareSource, Kaiser Permanente, and more, depending on your state of residence.

You can even use multiple insurance plans if you have them. Sondermind helped me find a provider that accepted all my insurance plans from different carriers.

For using the EAP (Employee Assistance Program) to your maximum benefit, make sure you always keep your employer in the loop to prevent billing issues later.

Unlike Headway, you can use the services of Sondermind even if you are not covered by insurance. The self-pay rates are not supremely affordable, but they are far better than traditional therapy or psychiatry costs.

Headway

Headway provides extensive insurance coverage via multiple insurance providers/carriers. I used the search filter on the website that helped me shortlist all the available insurance carriers in my location and the ones that specifically covered my treatments.

Please note that this list will change as per your preferences and parameters added to the search filter.

Here are some popularly accepted insurance providers:

• CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield
• Cigna
• Aetna
• BlueCross BlueShield of Massachusetts

The above list is not exhaustive, so let me quickly give you an overview through a snapshot. Let’s say I am from New Jersey and choose not to disclose my concerns or treatment needs. In this case, the search filter displayed the below options for me to pick from.

I also had the option to look up individual providers by their names.

4. Accessibility

Sondermind

Sondermind therapy services are available in over 15 states of the US. I’m adding the entire list of states below where the platform operates.

• Washington DC.
• Arizona
• Colorado
• District of Columbia
• Georgia
• Indiana
• Kentucky
• Maine
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Missouri
• Nebraska
• New Hampshire
• Ohio
• Texas
• Vermont
• Virginia

However, a psychiatrist or nurse practitioner’s services are only available in Colorado, Ohio, and Georgia.

Headway

Headway services are more accessible than Sondermind. They are presently available in 24 states across the US.

• Washington
• Virginia
• Texas
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Ohio
• Tennessee
• Pennsylvania
• Michigan
• North Carolina
• New Jersey
• Minnesota
• New York
• District of Columbia
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Florida
• Illinois
• Georgia
• Louisiana
• Arizona
• Connecticut
• California
• Colorado

Headway and Sondermind are trying to expand their operational network to more states. However, both platforms claim that they don’t provide international coverage yet and are currently limited to serving the mental healthcare needs of US residents.

5. Privacy

Sondermind

HIPAA-friendly Sondermind receives an A rating from The Better Business Bureau for its ethical medical business practices. The platform has an upfront privacy policy where it is honest about collecting its customers’ personal details. It’s meant to enhance website interaction, quality of services, and business experience.

Client data is stored and protected on encrypted servers as per International data security standards. Additionally, there is no negative publicity or instances of the sale of sensitive information or patients’ mental health records for unscrupulous advertising or privacy-invading marketing.

All my video call appointments were conducted in a secure, fully HIPPA-compliant digital space. And before you wonder if the sessions are recorded, they aren’t! That is privacy at its best.

Headway

Headway also has a clean privacy policy with no hidden agenda. The platform is quite straightforward about collecting personal data of customers for the following reasons:

• Improved services to clients
• Data analysis to enhance user experience while using the platform
• Improvement of customer support quality 
• Internal advertising/marketing communications
• Providing customer service and resolving their billing issues

6. Available Treatments

Sondermind

Sondermind provides virtual and in-person therapy, psychiatry, and medication management consultations. However, the platform does not help with formal medical diagnosis of your mental disorders.

It can tackle the following mental health issues:

• Stress and anxiety disorders
• Depression
• Bipolar disorder
• ADHD
• Dementia
• LGBTQ+ community problems
• Eating disorder
• Physical health problems as symptoms of mental illnesses
• Borderline Personality Disorder
• Anger management
• Autism
• Dissociative disorder
• General mental health assistance 
• Learning challenges
• Family conflicts and relationship issues
• Schizophrenia
• OCD
• Insomnia and PTSD
• Intimacy issues
• Marriage problems
• Phobias

Headway

Headway also addresses a similar pool of mental disorders. It can even help with detailed diagnosis, given that it has a huge network of over 20,000 licensed providers.

Here is a list of mental health issues Headway can provide counseling, psychiatric treatments, diagnosis, and medication management. However, this list may not be exhaustive.

• Anxiety disorders
• ADD
• ADHD
• Bipolar Disorder
• Infertility issues
• Relationship issues
• PTSD
• Post-pregnancy issues
• Depression
• Anger management
• OCD and trauma
• Stress
• Family issues
• Eating disorders
• Sleeping disorder
• Women’s issues
• Men’s issues
• Grief and loss management
• Substance abuse
• LGBTQIA+ issues

7. Pros and Cons of Sondermind

8. Pros and Cons of Headway

Conclusion

To be brutally honest, choosing between the two was a tough decision. Both platforms have their own pros and cons. However, I would like to lean more towards Headway for its simplified approach to helping patients connect with the right provider, and that too for free.

The Headway mobile app has bad ratings, but the Headway.co portal has an overall score of 4.2 stars out of 5, which makes the digital platform a more preferred mental healthcare service, going by their rating.

Sondermind is good in many other aspects. But I wouldn’t say I like how the billing system works, and there have been similar complaints about it in the past. You may get charged unexpectedly for no-shows despite switching your therapists in advance.

Unfortunately, Sondermind has a poor rating of 1.5 on Trust Pilot, mainly due to bad billing and complicated customer service that cannot resolve your issues in one go. Instead, they keep wasting your time and redirecting you to your care coordinators, which can get really frustrating after a point.

Dealing with a mental health condition is already stressful, and Sondermind sometimes makes it harder for its patients. During treatment, you could be left hanging midway, repeatedly chasing customer care for losing money. This may not be worth it!