Family Counseling Associates Review

The cancellation policy is horrible. 48 hours notice. It doesn't matter WHAT the reason is. If your brake line froze & broke on a zero degree day...too bad. You owe 65$ if you don't walk 3 miles to get there& 3 to get home.
If your son was just taken to the hospital - too bad, now you owe 85$...because there is a 20$ additional fee tacked on to the original 65$ for " the day off" missed/ call offs( a little tid bit i was not informed of until i did miss one the day off).
Not a soul is in the office until exactly 9 a.m. ( the first appointment time)..so if you need to speak with a receptionist to confirm or advise you're on your way you cannot...and if they cancel on you you won't know until you are on you're way or pulling in..or walking in.
Let's face it..many of us as patients are not often feeling well, many have memory problems..a courtesy reminder call ( like at the majority of practices), is in order here.
Call the day prior to remind your patients.
It's efficient for the business& the clients.
Of course it's our job as clients to take responsibility for our treatments but it is very true that many of us do indeed struggle with sincere memory problems ...this should be no surprise to the staff here.
Many of us also have chronic health issues which contribute to the problem..
We went here to help ourselves become healthier, that being said I'd inagine the majority of us do our best to comply with the policies.
It's not too much to ask that they not wait to levy these hefty fines on us without reminder calls.
Chances are keeping up with our medical care costs is a big weight already.
Obviously, if you're a repetitious missed appointment person who doesn't care about their time or your own , that's a slightly different situation. However, it's likely you won't be allowed to remain a patient for long in that case, which is more than reasonable.
This is just a shame because i think they have some wonderful , skilled counselors here.
The management could be more compassionate & sensable however! It would go a long way & actually help their patients feel better about attending the practice.

I am not a patient here, just reading the reviews to find a doctor for my son. After reading the reviews I wanted to point out to the office the unprofessional approach they take with responding to negative feedback. I would advise anyone looking to find a new doctor to take that in to consideration and rethink using this practice.

I visited here a few years ago because I had recently moved to Buffalo from Kansas and the therapist I had been seeing had me on a prescription for Klonopin - a fairly high dosage of 2mg 3x a day. By the time I got settled into Buffalo, and away from a lot of the things that were evidently stressing me out where I used to live, the dosage become far too high for me to function properly. I came in and made an appointment, because this wasn't a drug you could just stop taking at that dosage level without risking health issues - such as seizures. I spent the initial session with Dr Schwartz discussing the issue I was having, how we'd gotten to that point, and what had taken place with the previous therapist I was seeing in Kansas. My hope was that they could tell me how to adjust the medication properly - or ideally, that I could get rid of the medication altogether since my circumstances seemed to have changed so much, and I hoped I could go back to functioning without it as I had prior to moving to Kansas.

After nearly an hour of discussion, she decided that I was bipolar. The fact that two different therapists had explored and explicitly ruled out that diagnosis was completely irrelevant, nor was the fact that when pressed she either could not or refused to explain how she had come to that determination. In fact, the most explicit response I could get from her was the accusation that I was simply addicted to the Klonopin, and was looking for a therapist to act as a supplier. The fact that my prior therapist had found a way to fulfill the prescriptions by mail and negated the need to find a local doctor to fulfill the prescription was deemed beside the point. Also irrelevant was the fact that I stated - explicitly - several times that my ultimate goal was to not take the prescription at all. Period. Anymore. None.

At any rate, I suppose on some level I should thank this utterly useless doctor. When it was all said and done I did what is usually one of the worst ideas ever, and I went to Google for information on how to titrate off of the drug properly, because sleeping 16 hours a day was putting me at risk for losing my job and this woman was evidently too preoccupied with the latest diagnosis du jour (bipolar disorder) to actually listen. It took about two months - and I spent a good six additional months dealing with random (but thankfully weak) body tremors - but I was able to wean myself off the medication with no assistance whatsoever. When I found a primary care physician, I got quite the lecture for undertaking the experiment, but I was desperate and worried about losing a job I had just promoted to.

So while there was absolutely nothing professional or helpful about my visit to this place, I did at least learn that I could manage on my own if I absolutely had to. So I want to think this place for using ineptitude to teach a hard lesson.

The office has always been fair and kind to me. I see Jolie. I have been to tons of therapists in my lifetime as I shop around. Jolie has been one of the most insightful I have ever been too and I highly recommend. I am trying to reschedule an appointment but your phone is not working -- busy signal all day. Please tell how to get a hold of you -- there is no email or anything. Thank you

Don't send an email on a Sunday saying that I have 48 hours notice to cancel and not give any information about an alledged answering service.

Elaine was my friend s therapist and she made her feel as though she left with more problems than she came with. She has been talking about it since October. This woman has also previously replied to a criticizing comment in the ratings saying that she never gave therapy to that person, but my friend says that everything the criticizing comment said was parallel to her own experience. Do not waste your money on therapy that breeds fear and further mental health issues.

I had my first visit on Thursday, I believe the females name who helped me was Taylor (she has long hair and very pretty eyes) but I m not too sure. She was absolutely amazing! She walked me through the new patient paperwork when I needed help, she was very outgoing and helpful, very friendly and supportive. She made me feel welcomed and I was actually cared for, I can t thank her enough. She truly made my day! One reason I will be making more appointments :)