“Cerebral seemed to be a very convenient and cost-efficient option for me, almost too good to be true.
My therapist, Stephanie Walker, was wonderful and tons of help, the virtual visits were great for my busy schedule. My first prescriber however, made me feel rushed, ignored, and invalidated. For example, I was talking about how the increased dose of my medication was causing me panic attacks, and she spoke over me about wanting to increase the dose. I spoke up again, and repeated it was giving me panic attacks, so I am splitting them in half to take at separate times, which seems to be working. She would often misgender me and deadname me as well, making lighthearted yet vaguely sexist jokes, like girls needing to count with their fingers when I was struggling to do some mental math.
I changed prescribers after trying to give the benefit of doubt, then was told that with my dissociative symptoms and mentioning my previous psychiatrist suspecting DID, I could no longer be seen with her or be prescribed meds through Cerebral, because I need in-person care. Which I can partially understand, but the fact that I had no warning for this was incredibly upsetting and panic inducing. I already struggle to coordinate so many appointments with my other doctors, so this was incredibly overwhelming and threw me into a depressive episode. She had told me that my therapist should still be able to see me, which apparently was not true.
There were also issues with billing, along with general communication with my care team. I was not told about costs per appointment until I saw that my insurance had processed all the visits at once to be taken from my account; I was only aware of the monthly cost at this time. I contacted Cerebral about this, as I certainly could not afford the $300 or so in appointment bills right now, and with some bargaining set up a barely affordable payment plan. And then the full amount was automatically taken from my account, putting me about $200 in the negative plus an overdraft fee. This was eventually resolved, though I haven't heard back about Cerebral having the strike taken off my bank account.
So yes, Cerebral was too good to be true.”
“While I have been able to receive treatment and my prescriptions, I feel there is a fundamental problem with the mode of communication. It is difficult to get responses from my care coordinator in a timely manner even when the communication is rather urgent. Calling about prescriptions sends you back to the portal. To make matters worse in the portal you are not always talking to the same people and information gets confused between them leading to even longer wait times. The best experience I have had is when I have been in direct contact with my provider rather than the care coordinators who don’t seem to know what is going on or willing to respond in a timely manner.”
“I’m trying to cancel and I’m not impressed. I signed up a month ago and am just now suppose to be meeting with a care counselor, a month later. I don’t even need to meet with them at this point. The availability is of providers is awful.”
Hi Taylor,
We appreciate you sharing your feedback about your experience with Cerebral. I am so sorry there has been a delay in scheduling your care appointments along with any challenges you may have met in cancelling your subscription with us. I'd like to see what I might be able to do to make the situation better and to hopefully help repair your trust in Cerebral.
Please feel free to reach out to us by phone at (415)403-2156 or by email at support@getcerebral.com and ask for me directly. I'm happy to assist in any way I can to get this taken care of for you.
Kind regards,
Stefanie H.
Cerebral Coordinator
Hi Clark,
Thank you for sharing this helpful feedback. We're constantly working to improve our services here at Cerebral, and we sincerely apologize for any difficulties you may have faced. We’d love to find a way to make Cerebral better work for you in exchange for your time and feedback and to hopefully help repair your trust in Cerebral. I'd like to see how I can assist.
To get in touch, please feel free to contact (415)403-2156 or support@getcerebral.com and ask for me. Looking forward to connecting with you soon.
Best,
Stefanie H.
Cerebral Coordinator
“Cerebral is incredibly expensive. The total cost of services is not properly explained. Expecting to pay (around) 45 a month for a prescription and a monthly “counselor” visit seemed reasonable. After all, it’s just a prescriber visit. However, the cost nearly doubles. That’s close to 90 dollars a month for what? Prescribers are never available to answer questions that a patient has. I felt as if medication was given to me without really getting to know me as a person. They were treating the ailment and not the patient.”
Hi there,
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. I apologize for any confusion in our pricing structure and any difficulties you faced in utilizing our services. I would like the opportunity to make things right and help repair your trust in Cerebral.
Please reach out to me at (415)403-2156 or support@getcerebral.com and ask for me directly. I look forward to assisting you in any way I can.
Warmly,
Stefanie H.
Cerebral Coordinator
“I signed up over a month ago and my provider has such a full schedule I wasn't able to schedule for a month. I can't necessarily schedule during the day unless it's Fridays. Unfortunately, I had to move it out another week due to a scheduling issue on my end, but I've paid for two months and haven't even had my first session.”
Hi Pauline,
Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns. I apologize that you may have faced difficulties in utilizing our services. It is disappointing to hear that you have been experiencing challenges with scheduling your appointments. I would like to take some time to further look into these issues and assist however I can.
Please feel free to contact me at (415)403-2156 or support@getcerebral.com and ask for me directly. I look forward to speaking with you.
Best,
Stefanie H.
Cerebral Coordinator
“I appreciate the fact that I have a counselor and a prescribing Dr., and a coordinator to help me communicate with them. However, I just started on higher doses, per the Dr.'s orders, and I have concerns about my symptoms and side effects, and asked to speak to the Dr. about it, two weeks ago, and haven't heard from her yet.”
Hi Erika, I want to thank you for taking the time to share your feedback about your experience with Cerebral. It is disappointing to hear that you received less-than-satisfactory care. This is not the standard we hope to set at Cerebral, and I apologize for any difficulties you faced.
I would like to take some time to better understand your experience and see if there is anything I can do to help repair your trust in Cerebral. Please feel free to reach out to (415)403-2156 or support@getcerebral.com and ask for me directly. I look forward to hearing from you.
Best,
Stefanie H.
Cerebral Coordinator
Hi there,
We appreciate you sharing your feedback about your experience with Cerebral. It is disheartening to hear that you were not satisfied with our services. I'd like to see what I might be able to do to make the situation better. I would like to take some time myself to hopefully help repair your trust in Cerebral.
Please feel free to reach out to us by phone at (415) 403 - 2156 or by email at support@getcerebral.com and ask for me directly. I'm happy to assist in any way I can.
Warm regards,
Stefanie H.
Cerebral Coordinator
“at first I was thrilled to be working with cerebral. now all it comes down to bill after bill after bill. I even referreed a friend last month and she is leaving for practically the same reason. I'm so embarrassed.”
Hi Teresa,
Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns. I apologize that you may have faced difficulties in utilizing our services. It is disappointing to hear that you did not receive the support you were looking for. I would like to take some time to further look into these issues.
Please feel free to contact me at (415)403-2156 or support@getcerebral.com and ask for me directly. I look forward to speaking with you.
Best,
Stefanie H.
Cerebral Coordinator
“I very much appreciate the help I have gotten from cerebral, but it has flaws. For example, I cannot directly message my physician and have to go through someone to get answers. The messages often take a day or longer to get responses. For a $100 a month I would like to be responded to in a timely manner.”
Hi Angela,
We really appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback about your experience at Cerebral. As a mental health company, we are wholeheartedly focused on improving the well-being of thousands of individuals who may not have had access to, or the means to afford quality mental health care. Feedback like yours helps us to improve our services.
I would like to sincerely apologize for any difficulties you faced in utilizing our services. It is disappointing to hear that you received less-than-satisfactory care. In any event, I would like to take some time to learn more about your experience.
Please feel free to reach out to us by phone at (415) 403 - 2156 or by email at support@getcerebral.com and ask for me directly. I'm happy to help in any way I can.
Warmly,
Molly
“If you are having major anxiety or total insomnia, go to an actual doctor. I was prescribed an anti depressant for anxiety and an anti histamine for sleep. Neither worked and if I wanted an antihistamine, I could have bought some zzzquil.”
“As of right now I am not satisfied with your service. I was told by my doctor to change a medication. So I told my counselor. And I still have not heard anything from them nor has my medication been changed.”
“I received a prescription for bipolar disorder by my provider and I’ve never been diagnosed with bipolar I just have an anxiety disorder and I find this horrific... I’m glad I looked it up I was mortified to see the meds are really dangerous and I think I should cancel
As I can’t trust the provider ... did they get me mixed up with someone else?”
“I have been with Get Cerebral for 1 month. First time talking to my counselor and psychiatrist went well. Changed my meds up and sent to my local pharmacy. Was told my refills would be mailed to my house. Received an email that my medicine had been shipped, after I was completely out. I ended up being without my medicine for 4 days. When I inquired about increasing or changing my medicine because I wasn’t seeing the results I wanted, it was a week before I received a response.”
“At first I was happy with Cerebral because I liked the idea of having a point of contact with the care counselor as well as a psychiatrist to handle the meds. However, just a couple of months into treatment with Cerebral, they forgot to send a shipment, and when I emailed to check in I was down to two days worth of my meds. The shipping situation took over a week to figure out between emails with customer service and messages with my care counselor. This left me without my meds and experiencing withdrawal symptoms for more than a week. Every person I talked to was nonchalant about the situation. The speed and the care that was taken were a huge disappointment. This wasn't just an inconvenient mistake, when dealing with prescription medication, it could be a dangerous one. It was not handled that way at all. Even with the lapse in meds, they did not offer any sort of refund or credit for the uncovered time. Overall, I personally do not trust Cerebral, nor do I recommend them to anyone else.”
