My intention in providing my viewpoint here is to ...

My intention in providing my viewpoint here is to allow the reader to evaluate any posted reviews both negative and positive from a dispassionate perspective. I will place this on several pages for private therapeutic programs, hoping that the anxious parent or family member can feel more confident in making informed decisions.

I am a mental health professional, both as a licensed clinician and as an administrator. My employment history stretches across acute psychiatric hospitalization, residential treatment, outpatient counseling, and crisis intervention. Every position I have held has ended very positively and I mention this because it is important that the reader understand that I am not an upset former employee of any program or clinic. I am not a former patient of any of these programs. I am not in a marketing role and I do not intend to promote or discourage enrollment with any particular program.

While parents or family members are researching programs, there is often a concern about whether these same programs are guilty historically or presently of abusive practices, poor clinical judgment, or unethical behavior in any form. This is a completely valid focus and does, in fact, merit scrutiny.

Having established that, I strongly urge all readers to be cautious when reading frightening claims of misconduct. This is a very serious matter and it is unfortunately an easy thing to exaggerate (or even fabricate) for the sake of speaking ill of a program following a negative experience in therapy. To be dishonest in a published review of a medical or mental health service is highly inappropriate. It is, however, equally inappropriate for me (or for ANY professional) to automatically discredit any negative claims or to assume they are not factual in some way. I do not have those facts and I cannot pretend to differentiate the honest reports from the spurious ones. Likewise, it is not appropriate that I decide whether a participant s perceived experience is the same as the provided one. Mental health therapy is very challenging for the patient and for the entire family and not every individual will do well with even the most supportive and expert levels of care. This is rooted in empirically validated research and helps us to understand why this sensitive work will more frequently invite negative feedback from the few over positive feedback from the majority who wish to carefully respect their family s confidentiality and privacy.

My recommendation is that you the reader closely evaluate a program by going to the most reliable and factual sources. Speak with independent educational consultants, with families that have successfully participated in similar services, with the licensing bodies that oversee policies and practices of these programs, and even with those that might be viewed as competition to the programs you are considering. You will find well-regarded and unbiased professionals that can share helpful insights about the other programs they know and have closely observed over the years.

Lastly, if you are a patient or family member that sincerely experienced or witnessed abuse, neglect, or misconduct in any form while involved in a program please report this immediately and thoroughly to the appropriate authorities. That is very serious and you deserve to be heard and for the matter to be resolved entirely. If, on the other hand, you are an individual who aims to publish a dishonest claim or to discredit a program by attacking their online reputation for your own purposes, please re-think that and remember that your readers are real people that are looking for help. Many of them can benefit greatly from these programs and it is unfair to them to be misled by an ingenuine statement.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I care very much about the difficult process it is for a family to navigate all of this, and I sincerely hope that this information can assist you during a sensitive time.