Done Online Therapy Review

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is both common and commonly misunderstood. According to a 2021 study, about 6.76% of adults have the disorder. Despite its prevalence, accessing medication to treat ADHD is a trial at the best of times. Stimulant medications, the first-line treatment for ADHD, are controlled substances, and often, the law requires you to receive a new prescription every time a refill is needed. Furthermore, prescribers can’t offer 90-day supplies, which means that if you need to change providers, you will have a very short window to do so before you run out of medication. 

Done attempts to solve this problem through virtual medication management. The company aims to streamline medication access through ongoing messaging and regular video appointments with your provider. Due to the increase in ADHD diagnoses and the current Adderall shortage, we reviewed Done to see if it can help those with ADHD navigate medication-based treatment. I did in-depth research using its website, media outlets, and a survey we conducted of 105 user respondents. Here’s what we found.

What Is Done?

Done is a telehealth company specializing in medication management for people with ADHD. Founded in 2019 by former Facebook product designer Ruthia He, Done was immediately swept up in the ongoing debate about the quality of virtual mental healthcare. Some news agencies reported that Done doesn’t pay providers enough for them to spend adequate time with patients. Far worse, Good Morning America tested Done, and the results were alarming. Multiple providers allowed testers to simply choose what medication they wanted despite saying that they didn’t have ADHD. In a statement regarding the GMA segment, the company said, ​​“At Done, we take the safety of our members seriously and have stringent standards to protect our members and help avoid the abuse of medication.” The Wall Street Journal reported that the Drug Enforcement Agency is now investigating Done for its prescribing practices, and a more recent article from the WSJ reported in more depth on Done’s questionable behavior regarding stimulant prescriptions.

What Services Does Done Offer?

Done offers medication management to people ages 6 and up with ADHD. The initial intake psychiatry session lasts about 30 minutes.

In terms of follow-up appointments, the company says that “your provider may periodically schedule a short online follow-up appointment to check in and see how your treatment is going.” During the initial session, the provider should evaluate if you or your child meets the criteria for an ADHD diagnosis and then discuss which medications would be most effective. While Done does not offer talk therapy, members receive 10% off their first month of BetterHelp membership. 

Who Is Done For?

Done is for anyone looking for ADHD assessment and treatment with or without medication management.

How Much Does Done Cost?

The first month of a Done membership is $199. After the first month, it costs $79 a month. Pediatric memberships are $125 per month. 

Membership includes unlimited messaging with Done’s care team, up to two consultations with your provider per month, and any appointments your provider deems necessary. In states where medication delivery is an option, membership includes shipping costs. 

Other services that provide online psychiatric care charge far more. For example, Circle Medical, one of the few services that provides ADHD medication, charges $149 per ADHD consultation. 

While the membership does not include the cost of the medication itself, Done reduces that cost by finding the cheapest version of your medication, whether or not you have insurance. 

Does Done Take Insurance?

Done does not accept insurance, but it will help you file for reimbursement and accepts HSA/FSA payments. Furthermore, medication costs are often covered by insurance. 

Done also does not offer any discounts. 

Navigating the Done Website 

Done’s website makes signing up for the service an easy process, but finding information about the service is a bit more difficult. 

The homepage features two large buttons that invite you to start the free assessment that is used to determine if you’re eligible for its services. The top menu includes a login button, FAQ and pricing sections, and links to the“knowledge base” section and “about us” page. If you scroll down the homepage, you see statistics about ADHD, testimonials from users, and a short FAQ section. 

Most of the information about the service, like the fact that Done also treats children, is difficult to find. If you click the FAQ button at the top, you are sent to the middle of the homepage which has a list of only eight questions. To find the information for this review, I had to enter the “knowledge base” and find the “Done Support” button located to the very right of the screen. That took me to a separate website where a full range of FAQs about Done's services can be found.

You can also access that page by clicking on the “Frequently Asked Question” (typo included) heading found in the FAQ section on the homepage, but I didn’t realize it was a button when I first saw it. Furthermore, when you click on “pricing,” you are given information about the adult pricing structure, but you have to go digging through the Done support site to discover it charges $50 more per month for pediatric care. 

Despite these glaring issues, our survey respondents had little trouble with the website. Eighty percent said it was easy or very easy to navigate. 

The “Knowledge Base” serves as the company’s blog and provides information about all things ADHD. There are articles that provide advice, such as one describing ways to sustain attention when you have ADHD. There are also posts that offer information about Done’s services, including one that outlines its pediatric care option. The information in the posts appears accurate and each post features a list of resources at the bottom. 

Done’s mission statement, found under the “About Us” tab at the top of the homepage, reads: "Done allows anyone who is challenged by ADHD to receive the help they need and live up to their fullest potential. We provide awareness and education for people to learn more, private and accurate medical diagnosis through telehealth, and actionable ways to receive immediate treatment. We believe this holistic approach to the challenge of ADHD demonstrates our commitment to ensure that no one is left behind."

The Done users we surveyed generally approved of the mission statement, with 71% rating it as good, very good, or excellent. Given that Talkiatry—another online psychiatry service that can prescribe controlled ADHD meds—features a mission statement that received a 77% approval rating from its users, a decent mission statement shouldn’t convince you to try Done’s services. 

Done also has a social media presence on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Its Instagram has the largest following by far with over 60,000 followers. I skimmed the profile and only found one comment on any of the posts, and it was on the most recent post. This seemed odd to me. The posts are mostly either informational content about ADHD or amusing and relatable posts about ADHD, many of which I was tempted to post to my story. The company also doesn’t appear to reply to any tweets on its Twitter feed.

Done does not have an app, unlike some of the other companies we reviewed.

How Do You Sign Up for Therapy at Done?

Signing up for Done is a 10-minute process. I completed the first part of it without providing any payment information or engaging with a provider. 

I was initially asked for my pronouns, my sex assigned at birth, and my birthday. After that, I answered a standard six-question adult ADHD questionnaire which included the following questions, to which you can respond “never,” “rarely,” “sometimes,” “often,” and “very often”:

• How often do you have trouble wrapping up the final details of a project, once the challenging parts have been done?
• How often do you have difficulty getting things in order when you have to do a task that requires organization?
• How often do you have problems remembering appointments or obligations?
• When you have a task that requires a lot of thought, how often do you avoid or delay getting started?
• How often do you fidget or squirm with your hands or feet when you have to sit down for a long time?
• How often do you feel overly active and compelled to do things, like you were driven by a motor?

After this, I was asked a single yes or no question: “Have you had bipolar, psychosis, schizophrenia, suicidal attempts, cardiac conditions, or any mental hospitalization history in the past?” If you answer “yes,” then you’re informed Done is unable to treat you. If you answer “no,” you are prompted to enter your phone number to receive a verification code.

I also tested what happened if I entered a birth date indicating that I was a child under 10. Oddly, I was presented with the same set of questions. 

Once I entered the verification code, I could choose an appointment date and time. The earliest appointment was at 8:30 p.m. less than a week later. After that, I was prompted to enter my credit card information to make a $10 down payment on the appointment and told that the remaining $189 would be charged 48 hours before the appointment. 

According to the website, you are prompted to fill out a full medical questionnaire after entering your payment information and uploading a photo ID. 

Matching With a Therapist at Done

Done automatically matches you with a provider. The process appears effective given that 76% of the users we surveyed felt their provider met most or all of their needs, and 66% said they would likely be seeing the same provider a year from now.

Providers at Done are required to be licensed psychiatrists or psychiatric nurse practitioners and have at least one year of experience working with patients with ADHD. A full 91% of the users we surveyed rated their provider’s qualifications as good, very good, or excellent.

What Happens If I Miss a Session at Done?

You can reschedule an appointment up to 48 hours in advance with no penalty. To cancel an appointment you have to email customer service and pay a $20 fee. 

If you are more than seven minutes late to a session, cancel a session, reschedule less than 48 hours beforehand, or don’t show up, you will still be charged the full amount of your membership fee. The support page clarifies that “We understand that life happens though—you may reach out to our support team at support@donefirst.com for options after you miss an appointment.”

Pausing or Canceling Therapy at Done 

To end your membership, scroll down to the “manage your membership” section of your profile and click “deactivate.” You automatically lose access to any records you have associated with Done. Future appointments are instantly canceled, and no refunds will be issued.

Quality of Care and User Satisfaction

A whopping 96% of the users we surveyed rated their overall experience at Done good, very good, or excellent overall. Yet, I cannot in good conscience recommend its services. 

The high ratings may also be due to the users being able to ask for what they wanted, leading to a very favorable experience. Although it is likely safe to receive medication from Done if you’re simply continuing a medication plan you’re already on, you should not use it to try new ADHD medications or switch medications. Receiving a proper diagnosis is crucial before trying any new mental health medication in order to proceed with treatment safely. 

Done’s practices alarm therapist Hannah Owens, LMSW, especially because it treats children as well as adults. When asked about her thoughts on the company and its questionable practices, she responded, “It's incredibly disturbing to hear about Done's prescription practices, especially considering how often stimulants are abused by people who do not actually need them (like for ADHD). Children especially are over-medicated for ADHD as it is, so the fact that there is no real oversight of these controlled substances puts younger people at higher risk of substance abuse, accidental or not.”

Privacy Policies at Done 

Done’s privacy policy indicates that it is similar to the vast majority of online therapy services on the internet. While it is HIPAA-compliant, it will share your information with third-party advertisers.

In its own words: “We may use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit the Services or Apps. These companies may use information about your visits to our Website(s) and other websites that are contained in web cookies and other tracking technologies in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you.”

The policy does state that it uses “appropriate technical and organizational security measures” to keep your information safe, but it doesn’t outline what those measures are. 

Done vs. Its Competitors

Because of Done’s current ambiguous legal situation, any service in good legal standing is likely safer to use. 

If you live in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, or Washington DC, you can try Circle Medical, whose users rated it as good, very good, or excellent 90% of the time. Circle Medical not only offers ADHD treatment but also primary care and treatment for other mental health conditions.

If you live in Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illlinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, or Washington DC, Talkiatry is a great option with a user satisfaction rating at 95%. It is an online psychiatry practice that emphasizes the importance of giving providers the necessary time to get to know their patients so that they can make an accurate diagnosis. 

Talkiatry also has the advantage of offering talk therapy and treating children and teenagers. However, if you are concerned that your young child has ADHD, the best online option is Little Otter. Little Otter provides thorough ADHD evaluations and ongoing follow-up care to help parents manage caring for a child with ADHD. Its services are available in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington DC, with continued expansion into other states expected.

Although Done has a higher user satisfaction rating than any of these options, that could be due to its providers prescribing meds to whoever asks for them. Just because a service fulfills your wishes doesn’t mean that it is actually helping you face your mental health challenges. 

Final Verdict

While 76% of our users said they would “likely” or “very likely” recommend Done to a friend, I cannot recommend it to you. Done’s services are convenient and affordable, and I applaud its goal of making ADHD medication more accessible. However, that accessibility should never come at the cost of safety. And the DEA investigation indicates that using Done may be unsafe. Anyone interested in exploring an ADHD diagnosis or medication treatment online should choose another company. 

Methodology

To fairly and accurately review the best online therapy programs, we sent questionnaires to 55 companies and surveyed 105 current users of each. This allowed us to directly compare services offered by gathering qualitative and quantitative data about each company and its users’ experiences.

Specifically, we evaluated each company on the following factors: website usability, the sign-up and therapist matching processes, therapist qualifications, types of therapy offered, the service's quality of care, client-therapist communication options, session length, subscription offerings, client privacy protections, average cost and value for money, whether it accepts insurance, how easy it is to change therapists, overall user satisfaction, and the likelihood that clients would recommend it.

We then worked with three subject matter experts to get their expert analysis on how suited this company is to provide quality care to therapy seekers.