Getting mental health support can be daunting, especially when you are just not feeling like yourself. The mental health landscape is confusing and it’s hard to find the right care provider to suit your needs. There are so many different therapists out there and their services can be costly and intimidating. Inkblot takes away the barriers to accessing the right support and matches you with qualified care providers based on your needs and preferences.

All activity, including confidential video/voice sessions, booking and payment, happens on our platform for convenience and maximum security. We have created the most effective way for you to get the help you need and deserve from the comfort and safety of your home.

Video sessions are available within 12 hours, and soon you’ll be able to schedule a same-day booking. Flexible hours for our therapists means flexible hours for you, from morning to night, and even on weekends.

Everyone can benefit from therapy. Talking to a professional is the ideal way to work through issues and prevent them from becoming more serious. A qualified mental health care provider helps you remove, change, or more skillfully cope with emotional issues, challenging behaviours, or stressful life situations.

Therapy can help you:

• Adjust to a crisis or other current difficulty
• Identify negative beliefs and behaviours and replace them with healthy, positive ones
• Explore relationships and experiences, and develop positive interactions with others
• Find better ways to cope with and solve problems
• Identify issues that contribute to your mental health and change behaviours that make it worse
• Regain a sense of satisfaction and control in your life and help ease symptoms, such as hopelessness, anger and excessive worrying
• Learn to set realistic goals for your life
• Develop the ability to tolerate and accept distress using healthier behaviours

Mental health issues negatively affect our emotions, thoughts and behaviour. Signs and symptoms vary depending on the person and the disorder, however, here are some things to look out for:

• Feeling sad or down for an extended period of time
• Confused or unable to concentrate
• Excessive fear, worrying or feelings of guilt
• Extreme mood changes from high to low
• Withdrawal from family, friends and activities
• Significant tiredness, low energy or sleep problems
• Inability to cope with daily problems or stress
• Major changes in eating habits or sex drive
• Excessive anger or irritability
• Paranoia, detachment from reality or hallucinations
• Alcohol or substance abuse
• Suicidal thinking

If you are in crisis with thoughts of harming yourself or others, contact emergency services by calling 911 or going to the nearest emergency room.

Yes. We have several care providers who are certified in couples/marriage counseling and improving relationships. Please note that couples (and family) counseling cost 50% more. Our support team can apply the price change to your account to enable it for couples and family.

Yes. Our skilled life coaches help you identify goals (and limitations) to work toward outcomes that will bring you success and fulfillment in your life. Coaching is usually short-term and includes a focus on professional and/or personal development and clear action plans are made to achieve desired results.

Inkblot care providers undergo a stringent vetting process before becoming part of our network. The details can vary but, generally, our providers are licensed Master-level Counselors, Social Workers, Therapists and Psychologists who are in good standing with their state board. They are experienced in various clinical settings and must obtain specific designations to practice.

We have a range of providers who are in network with most health insurance plans as well as those who see clients who pay out of pocket.

*Note: only Registered Psychologists and Psychiatrists are able to diagnose mental health conditions. Unlike Psychologists, Psychiatrists are specialized medical doctors that can prescribe medication.

Before booking your first session, you’ll be prompted to complete our matching questionnaire. This can take as little as a few minutes, depending on the level of detail you choose to provide. We then use a unique matching algorithm that combines your personal details and preferences with the details and strengths of each Inkblot care provider to generate a short list of potential providers for you to choose from.

The first 15-minute consultation is free to ensure that you and your chosen provider can work together. In the unlikely event that you are not satisfied with your care provider, you will be able to choose another provider from the list and that initial consultation will also be free.

If you have a particular care provider you would like to work with, you can enter their Referral Code to match with them directly.

At the beginning of a session, a therapist typically invites you to share what’s been going on in your life, what’s on your mind, what’s bothering you, or what you’d like to discuss. Our care providers are compassionate and will listen encouragingly and without judgement. This is your opportunity to be open and honest and say exactly what you think and feel. The conversation will be strictly confidential. Every counsellor and every client is different, however, sessions are generally used to gain awareness and insight to solve problems that get in the way of you living your best life.

Therapy is client-centred and really about whatever a client needs - a one-time conversation, a temporary source of support during a life transition, or an ongoing experience to optimize health mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually.

Positive changes in your attitude and lifestyle will tell you that therapy is working. Your symptoms will decrease and you will start accomplishing your goals. It’s important to note that at times you will uncover feelings that make you feel worse, however, this is part of the process and will lead to greater self-awareness and progress.

Over the last several years, multiple large trials have proven that virtual therapy is as effective and, at times, more effective than traditional, in-person therapy. However, therapy is a personal experience, and one treatment can’t fit everyone’s needs. Some people may find a screen distracting and in-person communication more comforting, while others may not even notice, or find it easier to express themselves with some separation from the therapist. The comfort and convenience of connecting with a therapist from your own home are also unique to virtual therapy.

There are also important non-therapeutic benefits to our service such as lower price and the ability to connect with specialized mental health providers who might not have been physically available otherwise.

The initial free consultation is an opportunity to familiarize yourself with our platform before committing to paid sessions.

We are firmly committed to security and, from day one, have built Inkblot to be the most protected HIPAA-compliant platform possible today.

Video/voice sessions on Inkblot are not recorded or stored on any server. In fact, they do not go through our servers at all. A military-grade encrypted link for your session is made directly between you and your care provider, which bypasses our servers.

Likewise, we do not store your financial information on our server. A highly secure platform called Stripe (which is similar to PayPal) handles all billing and financial transactions. This is the practice of most online payment systems.

Personal information, such as your name, address, and any of your therapist’s notes and documents, are stored on a dedicated server with its own protected network located in either Canada or the USA (depending on your location). This data is encrypted at the highest possible level, and the server is audited regularly to ensure it meets the highest standards of best security practices (SOC 2 certified).

The Inkblot team does not have access to your sessions. We only see information needed for administering the site. Even this basic level of information is only accessible to a few employees, and their access is regularly audited to ensure security and appropriateness. In our privacy policy, we explicitly make this clear, and it legally binds us not to allow any third party company (including your employer or institution) to have access to your information.

Your initial 15-minute consultation on Inkblot is free to ensure that you are your care provider are compatible. Subsequent virtual sessions on Inkblot cost $110USD per hour. Sessions can last 30, 60, or 90 minutes.

Most employee benefits, private insurance, and student health plans cover counseling and psychotherapy and, hence, cover Inkblot sessions. Each insurance policy is different, however, and we advise clients to check the specific details to ensure coverage.

No external software is required in order to take part in a session. It is necessary to have a microphone as well as a camera to allow your care provider to both see and hear you.

If you have any more questions please contact support@inkblottherapy.com.

Tech support is always available using Intercom messaging on our site - the green comment icon on the bottom right hand corner of the screen.