H.O.P.E. Counseling Services

Name: Nicole Sipula
Rating: 1
Review: I'm being nice giving one star because AT FIRST I thought this was going to be a good fit for my daughter. Be prepared, this is going to be a LONG post review. I started taking my daughter here in January and our last month coming was April, yes I'm aware I'm writing a review almost 5 months later. Everything still bothers me and so here I am. Anywho, I brought my daughter due to concerns. Counselor/therapist we were assigned to was very nice (at first). Daughter felt comfortable, hubby came to second visit and liked her also. Soon though...RED FLAGS. I found a journal in my daughter's room, so I asked her where she got it cause I've never seen it. She got it from counselor/therapist and was told to hide it from Dad and I. I was NEVER told about this journal. With a child that I am having issues with lying, stealing, outbursts, behaviors, etc...this made no sense that a counselor/therapist would suggest this. Next appt I asked, sure enough she did tell my daughter to hide it from us. Soon, appts turned into "Mommy and Me" sessions. I was in almost every session the entire time or 45 mins out of the hour. Things were NEVER talked about with why I brought my daughter in to talk to somebody in the first place. Issues and concerns were never addressed! One visit, my husband and I both came in with our daughter to talk with counselor about her behavior (flipped out on vacation cause she couldn't do what she wanted, turned into destroying room and only escalating). Well, I got blamed for why my daughter behaved the way she did because I "mirrored" her. So instead, I should have ignored my daughter's outbursts and waited till she calmed down before I talked to her...since I didn't, she went into "flight or fight" mode. So no accountability on my daughter's part (counselor just coddled her and telling her "this is not your fault"). I should have stopped going by then, but I didn't. This counselor tells me how I should be doing my reward systems at home, how it's not fair if someone misses out on something. It's called a consequence lady!! Then, my daughter had school testing so I had to rearrange appt visits. I guess that meant, take me completely off the schedule. We came in for scheduled visit, counselor was surprised to see us. We go in to talk, first 15 mins was figuring out what to do cause we weren't on her schedule anymore. I showed her the emails we sent back and forth about the appts, she then lied to me about someone waiting in the lobby for the appt time (there was no one there). We get to stay for appt, with me in the room. She tells my daughter "oh I got the stickers that you wanted, they are just delayed. But it's up to Mom if you can have them. Mom is it ok that I bought her stickers and can she have them?" WHYYYYY are you putting me on the spot??? This counselor should have talked to me first about buying something for my daughter. Not buy it, tell her it's coming but late as I'm hearing about it for the first time, then make me out to be "bad mom" if I don't agree to this. Once we walked out of that visit, I knew it was my last. TOO MANY RED FLAGS with this counselor. The only thing good that came out of this was getting info about a facility that does testing. Other than that, stay clear.
Date: a month ago