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Counseling & Mental Health reviews in Wheaton

• F

  I went to this practice for 3 years.  In that time, I stayed ONLY because I liked my doctor.  His secretary was rude most of the time, she didn't return my calls and I was never able to get him on the phone, even in an emergency.  In that 3 years, I missed 3 appointments.  Each time, I was charged $155.00.  I have 2 children, a full time job and there was one time that I just plain forgot.  I apologized for missing the appointments (one of them was because I was running late getting there from work). The last time I missed an appointment, it was because I had the stomach flu.  I called the office as soon as they opened and they took my message to give to the Doctor. 
  Later that month, I received a statement showing that I had missed 4 appointments and that I owed over $700.00 (some minimal co-pays were included). During the 3 year period, I had a chronic illness, my husband was unemployed for 2 years and we were depending on unemployment benefits and food stamps to make ends meet.  My Doctor was aware of all this and sais that he would work with me.  I made payments when I could.
  I called the office when I received the $700 bill and asked them if they could take off the last no-show fee as I was very sick and it was beyond my control.  The billing person was very rude and said "if you don't show up to work, do you get paid?"  After being a patient for 3years, I was shocked at her response.  I asked her what I was suppose to do, I am home, vomiting and I called as soon as the office opened.  She said I should have called 24 hours in advance, as the policy states.  Then, she said I was a "habitual no-show" patient.  Really?  3 times in 3 years????  I explained that the very reason I need care is because of my level of stress and depression.  I had been a good patient and always called to give notice, not matter how short the notice was. 
  I offered to pay $500 cash to settle my account.  She said that she would have to talk to her manager about it.  That was 2 weeks ago. ( I tried calling again, but got the answering service)
  Now, I have received a notice from a collection agency.  They are asking for $1100.00   I cannot believe they sent me to collections over 3 no show visits and they have inflated it to $1100. 
  Don't people seek help from places like Alliance Clinical Services when they are depressed, broken and hopeless?  Is this any way to treat someone who has been a faithful client for 3 years?
  I went to Alliance for help.  My husband was out of work, we were on food stamps, we didn't have a place to live, and I was sick and horribly depressed.  They repaid me by destroying the credit my husband and I have been struggling to re-build for 3 years.  I am disguisted that a MENTAL HEALTH practice who is suppose to HELP people would do this...especially when my last conversation with them was telling them I would pay $500.00 of a $700.00 balance.
  GO HERE if you want to be treated like a number.
  GO HERE if you think you should not matter.
  GO HERE if you are trying to heal from a trauma in your life and you want someone to step all over your progress to make your life right.
  These people are not helping anyone----but themselves---to your money.
  
  - Meaghan H.
• C

  Dr. Cullinane listened well and asked good questions.  He was fairly open about his ideas and options for treatment. But we did not build good rapport, so essential with a psychiatrist. Just not a good match, nothing bad about his professionalism.
  
  - Patricia H.
• F

  Heredia Angel MD.
  
   I do not remember the precise dates of service.
  Since I am now a member of ?Angies List?; I am trying to help other families/patients from suffering similarly as this child/family did.
  
   I am a medical professional with experience in general medicine, emergency center medicine, pediatric-psychiatric medicine, etc?  I brought a young child struggling in school to see DR. Heredia & associated Anita Stauffer PhD in  COUNSELING who worked directly out of & under his medical direction, some 12 years ago.
  
  

  • To say that I was un-impressed with both practitioners would be an understatement. 
  • To say that the child & family paid dearly, in multiple ways for the  significant disservices done by Dr. Heredia & Anita Stauffer PhD would be understatedly accurate. 

  
   Heredia Angel MD. appeared reserved, hesitant, unsure of himself  & had poor eye contact. He also became squirmy in his chair & made even less eye contact when questioned as to the nature of his conclusions. He seemed very inexperienced with basic functioning of even normal childhood behavior.   
  
   Heredia suggested stimulant medication fairly straight away & attempted to label the child with a devastating diagnosis of ?Behavior Disorder? after very limited examination/observation.
  Perplexed that the child very obviously did not meet medical criteria in behavior etc?to warrant such a diagnosis, I asked what medical criteria he used to suggest such a diagnosis. Heredia hesitantly replied that the child  ?did not pick up his blocks/toys when initially asked?!!!
  (I remember, as with many normal children, it required a second sing-songy- queing intervention from mom?OH MY!).  I suggested that most children need more than one verbal que to perform tasks and that further; it was well known (even at that time) that children with attention deficits tend to hyper-focus, and consequently have difficulty disengaging from tasks. ?that perhaps there would be an alternative / tenable explanation for the child not immediately disengaging from a task upon first request.
  
   I also suggested that labeling a child with such a diagnosis as a "BD" would have very heavy, long term negative connotation & long term negative consequences?that (especially at that time)precluding such a diagnosis often deemed a child a child as VIOLENT(which was NOT the case) and further ? not worthy of further diagnostic testing etc.  I further noted to him that before any such diagnosis is documented as anything beyond a highly subjective/unsubstantiated diagnosis in the child?s chart or elsewhere it WOULD REQUIRE medical DSM criteria be met! ...
  Interestingly, Heredia then refrained from using this diagnosis.
  
   Before (the parents) very hesitantly decided on a trial run of stimulant medication, repeated requests for the child have an EEG at minimum were voiced. Heredia repeatedly refused to write an order for the EEG making nebulous statements that the pediatric association ?.did not recognize it as necessary?Despite further parental pleading he would not write the order.
  
  Further attempts at reasoning with Heredia, Ie... that in medicine, we always get a  ? baseline of function 1st? ?. then we start altering with interventions, medications, etc?.that before putting any developing brain on stimulants, would it not be in good measure/judgment to have a base line of function to know if we were dealing with any brain/nervous system  anomalies. All the aforementioned to no avail.
  
    At that time,  I also spoke with TWO(2) Senior Research Scientists in this area of expertise at the NIH (United states National Institutes of Health ) who related that there? was evidence that stimulant medications could indeed push a child with neurological problems over the edge into eliptiform EEG patterns /?seizures?etc?  Since there was NO ?base line function testing? EEG or even lab work ordered by Heredia, the patient/family will never know/cannot prove if the stimulant meds caused any of the diagnosis?!  
  
  Peri-diagnosticly (NOT under Heredia?s and/or Stauffers care), the child was CORRECTLY diagnosed with multiple devastating medical/ neurological diagnosis?!
  
  This child was actually properly/correctly/acurately diagnosed straight away by professionals from MIT etc?as struggling terribly with a constellation of neurological deficits all of which were missed &/or  missed diagnosis by Heredia  & Anita Stauffer PhD.    
  
  In summary:
  
  

  •  POOR patient bed side manner/interaction skills.( Ie. assuaging patient/family concerns). Impulsive, defensive & circumlocucious R/T Baseline testing, diagnostic skills etc?.

  • POOR judgment (r/t avoidance of simple/noninvasive tests prior to progressing into major medical actions).

  • POOR clinical/diagnostic skills; Medically un-insightful would be an understatement & apparently FAILS to make diagnoses according to Standard medical criteria/DSM CRITERIA/Gold standard of care.

  • GROSSLY INADEQUATE at dealing with educated/knowledgeable parents or guardians.
  - James N.
• F

  Regarding  Anita Stauffer PhD  
  
  Child struggling in school was taken to see DR. Heredia MD. &  Anita Stauffer PhD (in counseling) who worked out of & under his direction, approx. 12 years ago. I do not remember the exact dates of service.  Since I am now a member of ?Angies List? I am trying to help other families/patients from suffering similarly as this child did.
  
    I am a medical professional with experience in general(med/surgical) medicine, emergency center medicine, pediatric-psychiatric staffing - medicine, etc? 
  
    To say I was un-impressed with both practitioners would be an understatement.
  
    To say that the child & family paid dearly, in multiple ways for multiple disservices done by Heredia MD. & Anita Stauffer would be understatedly accurate.
  
  After several visits, as with any vigilant guardians concerns (as to her  being unsupervised/alone with a young child behind closed doors) Stauffer was reservedly & respectfully questioned as to a status of the child?s condition... (Ie. name/description of the therapeutic process/ intervention being used, the child?s diagnosis, prognosis; status of repeat requests for learning disabilities testing etc.). However, NO Learning Disability (LD)  testing was ever executed, despite repeated parental requests.
  
  Very little explanation about anything was ever forthcoming. However, after being pressed for some measure of therapeutic explanation/ clarification, as to what therapy she was providing (& what seemed to be very dark/Freudian oriented, nebulous, unsubstantiated verbal intimations) her thinly veiled irritation digressed into an indignant, condescending & arrogantly self-assured - long winded recitation about all her  ?past training & expertise in a supervisory role at Northwestern University? etc?(Ironically, she was apparently actually only finishing her training at Northwestern)
  
  She went on that she was   ?not used to being questioned? as to methodology etc.?   She stated that she ?needn?t explain herself (to any parent) & that ?it was too above the patients parents?
   (a German engineer & a medical professional) ?to understand the nature & complexity of her therapeutic process?! Despite being repeatedly implored by the parents to provide testing for learning disabilities she kept responding  "it was not time yet?that she needed much more appointment time with him?that she felt the child had ?deep psychological problems?. 
  
   Unimpressed,  the (medical professional) guardian provided an educational analogy (& little a lesson in humility training to/ for the counselor) by explaining that perhaps one day she or one of her children may need surgery. How would she feel if she had similar questions (as to the diagnosis, prognosis, clarification on the procedures.) if the medical professional responded to her  in the same manner she has responded to her patients parents?  I admonished  that by her own standards of practice, perhaps she should not find it disconcerting if the medical professional responded reciprocally  that    
  
                   ? with  all their past training & expertise? that they were not used to being questioned as to methodology etc.?   that they needn?t explain themselves  to patient or guardian?  & that it was too above the patient or guardian to understand these things? of a medical nature. 
  
  Stauffer became very quiet, but never apologized.
  
  Despite all the $$$ paid appointments & $$$ paid parent/conference appoint time, Stauffer never did provide any measurable/discernable explanation of treatment modalities or explanation of diagnosis/prognosis etc?but described the child as ?severely disturbed? &  ?needing much more treatment?.  She also suggested she had ?no idea how this child was able to function in a normal classroom & should be moved to a different environment?.   At this point, even her supervising MD, Angel Heredia, felt intervention was necessary by stating ?her (Stauffers) assessment /recommendations were out of line/inappropriate & that the child could indeed function (as he already was) in a normal classroom?? 
   STAUFFER made no further recommendations after this.
  
  The child was taken elsewhere for 2nd opinion & testing.   Not long thereafter (NOT under STAUFFER?s care), this child was properly & succinctly diagnosed by professionals (highly qualified to render LD testing etc?) with credentials from MIT;  as ?struggling terribly with a constellation of medical/neurological deficits/diagnosis?. , ALL of which were grossly missed-diagnosis/ and or  completely missed (undetected) by A. Stauffer  &  Angel Heredia MD.  
  
  Professionally,  I find Stauffer's UNPROFESSIONAL behavior, LACK OF EXPERTISE, UNWILLINGNESS TO REFER-OUT TO MORE APPROPRIATELY CREDENTIALED PROFESSIONALS  & ARROGANCE very questionable/disingenuous; subjectively I find it  reprehensible!   
  
  Perhaps this counselor was much too concerned with her ego & pocket book $$$.
  
   In summary:
  
  

  •  POOR at assuaging patient/family concerns .
  •  POOR patient/family bed side manner/interaction skills.  
  • Possibly unequipped /under educated (R/T Baseline LD testing)  
  • Ego defensive, evasive /circumlocutious.
  • ARROGENT  & apparently very subjective & uninsightful.
  • FAILS to progress to diagnoses according to Standard Psychological criteria/ DSM CRITERIA/Gold standard of care.
  • Extremely Inadequate/ Very Poor at dealing with educated/knowledgeable consumers/ parents/ guardians.  
  - James N.
• A

  I have been under Dr. Pauline Wieners care for the past 5 years and have been extremly happy with her and her practice.  Prior to Dr. Wiener, I was under the care of another Psychiatrist for over 4 years and did not get any better.  Dr. Wiener came highly recommended from one of my other Physicians.  Once I started going to Dr. Pauline Wiener, she LISTENED and made some changes to my medications.  I felt better within the first weeks of my first visit, than I had in years.  I feel that she gave me my life back.  She is always on time, has an excellent memory and I don't feel rushed.
  
  
  - Thomas M.
• A

  He has been practicing psychiatrist for many years and he has an amazing understanding of what you are trying to tell him. He is very reassuring and comforting. He is very pleasant to speak to. He tries to start up a conversation and tried to make it a regular conversation. This way he finds out how you are doing. He is very good. I go for checkups often and the appointments are scheduled ahead of time. I get refills through the office. I rate him and his office high overall. He has explained the big picture to me and I am on foxed medications. I want to get off from certain medications, but he will do it at the right time.
  - JoAnne M.
• A

  The wait time was long. It was 20 minutes past the appointment time when we were seen. Dr. Pae has been my son's doctor for a number of years now. Dr. Pae went over all of the usual medical questions: "how has your mood been?" "How has your sleep and appetite been?" etc. He also asked about school issues and interventions used in school. He sees my son mostly to manage my son's medication. The visit was not rushed. Dr. Pae asked both my son and I if we were comfortable with the treatment plan going forward. The front desk staff act too busy to be bothered by questions or concerns. The doctor's secretary and the billing staff are very helpful and courteous.
  - Leah K.
• A

  They are a Christian based counseling and I have been visiting them for over 10 years. I really like the demeanor of my counselor. She is very easy going, easy to talk to and very sympathetic.
  - Barbara H.
• B

  I had a good experience with them except for the wait time. They were very professional, knowledgeable and were willing to listen to my suggestions.
  - BROOKE L.
• A

  Dr. Nemeth is hard to reach outside of appointments, but his insights are very helpful, and his experience working with medications and mental illness in children is invaluable
  - CHERYLL H.