ShareWell Exploited During The Lowpoint of My Life San Francisco California

I lost my Mother on April 2, 2024. I was my Mother’s Full-time caregiver, and she was my world. I joined ShareWell hoping for support during my grief. Needless to say, this was the low point of my life!

ShareWell is supposed to be a compliment to seeing a Licensed Mental Health Therapist, but it is not. Members brag about firing their Therapist in sessions. They also bash Licensed Therapists. This occurred in several groups that I attended, which I found disturbing.

ShareWell is not supposed to be a replacement for Therapy with a Licensed Therapist, but many members have chosen to do so and encourage others to do so. ShareWell does not do anything to stop this, this seems to show that they may want members to quit their professional therapy and solely depend on ShareWell for support so that they profit or benefit from members hosting sessions as volunteers.

I was verbally attacked by a member because I reminded her of her Mother, and I do not feel that ShareWell provided sufficient support for that incident. I was just told sorry and encouraged to learn to be more assertive while hosting. 

Some members are rude, selfish, and inconsiderate and disregard the topic of the session and make it their own vent or trauma dump session instead of respect the Host and other group members.

For example, an Art Group should be fun and stress relief. On several occasions, I witnessed a member in my own group and other hosts Art Groups enter the session and start crying and talking about her abusive husband or how her parents abused her as a child. This behavior infringes on others need for stress relief and a fun session.

After hosting a few sessions, I soon realized that I was in over my head and just how insufficient the host training was! There was nothing in the training course to prepare a host for when a member comes in and wants to ignore the topic and tone of the group and turn it into their own Trauma Dump Session or when a Member enters the group and is blasting loud club music and is behaving like they could be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or starts discussing being suspended from work for sexual harassment of a co-worker. 

ShareWell only has one person in charge of all hosts! They offer support sessions for, but not enough of them! They should be offered at various times and days so that the hosts have more access and can ask more questions and receive more training and guidance.

I tried to email the person in charge of the hosts to ask questions and gain more support, but for months my emails went unanswered. I asked her during a Zoom Call why she did not reply, and she used the classic excuse that they went into her Spam folder, and she did not see them.

I am angry and resent ShareWell for using and exploiting me! I feel that if ShareWell really does care about people as they claim that they should give, a low income person who lost a loved one should receive a free year of ShareWell Unlimited with proof of loss and low income. Even Walmart, Amazon, and Instacart offer discounted rates on memberships to people on public assistance.

ShareWell takes advantage and exploits people like me who are living in poverty and lost their a loved one for profits. I resent that in order to receive sufficient support that I must host in exchange for a free month. In my opinion, this is pressuring someone in need to host before they are mentally ready and have the bandwidth to host.

ShareWell took advantage of my need for support during my grief, and I was pushed beyond my limits. As a result, I am burned out and depressed. I think it is rotten of ShareWell to exploit and use people who need support for mental health struggles and profit from struggling people hosting before they are ready to host just so that they can earn a free month and continue to receive support. 

I have come to believe that ShareWell is more toxic for me than supportive. Very few sessions were beneficial for me. Most sessions are members venting and crying, and I left the sessions feeling frustrated, re-traumatized, or triggered.

I have decided that I no longer want to place my Mental Health in the hands of volunteers who lack the training and support necessary or host sessions. ShareWell is no better than Social Media for support!

On September 25, 2024, ShareWell charged me $49.99 for a quarterly membership. I hosted at least 3 sessions a month for 2 months after that. Any host that hosts 3 or more sessions receives a free month of unlimited. Therefore, I was credited for 2 free months.

During a Zoom call at 3:00 PM Eastern Time on December 4, 2024, I asked Amy Vaninetti how my 2 free months of credits works, and she told me that they are credited the following month earned and used prior to the paid membership! However, ShareWell is refusing me a refund! They still owe me at least 2 months!

If they were not greedy and out for profit, they would refund the whole quarter because I am not benefitting from their services! As mentioned previously, I am usually frustrated, traumatized or triggered during sessions since it is volunteers hosting, very few rules, and the rules are not enforced. Many sessions are chaotic and do not stick to topic in my experience. 

Either way, I believe that either they owe me 2 months that paid for or 2 months because I hosted and earned them. But again, after all the stress, being re-traumatized and triggered they should do the decent thing and refund me the full quarter if they are really a wellness company that cares as they say that they are.

Not to mention the fact, I attempted to cancel in November when I suspected that I was being stalked by another member on the platform, but they ignored my request for refund. As a result, I felt pressured to stay until I used up my remaining membership, so as I not to waste my money. In my opinion, ShareWell is greedy and takes advantage of mentally unwell people. They are placing profits over common decency, in spite of claiming to be a wellness company and provide support to people living with mental health conditions. 

I am filing this report in hopes that they will re-think their refusal to refund me and do the right thing and refund my $49.99 since my Mental Health was made worse by most sessions on ShareWell instead of better.