If you must take DUI classes, this is probably the easiest place to do so. They are friendlier than other DUI programs in the area and only require you to go once a week, instead of twice a week. So that's all a plus. If you are doing them over zoom during a pandemic, then it's even easier because you don't have to actually go in. However, they are super unprofessional. The main secretary sends the amount of money you owe the school via zoom messenger, rather than email the way a professional business would. She acts like it's too much work to send out invoices, when in fact most secretaries the world-over send out invoices....This is in fact, what a secretary job looks like most of the time. The first time I was going in for intake interview I was running late because of traffic. I called to notify them I was going to be 10 mins late, and the woman on the phone flipped out on me. I had to reason with her, and she calmed down thinking I was already a student. That should have tipped me off; but being that I had already had a worse experience calling OHS in Richmond, I brushed it off. I will say to just keep your expectations VERY low....with all DUI schools. These places are used to getting money from people who are in bad situations, and they are used to not having to use customer service skills. It's a cash cow for them, so keep your expectations LOW. They're not the most on the ball people in the world. When I brought up how unprofessional it was to send an invoice via zoom, the owner got defensive and said, "Well, if people actually paid..." and I said, "No, regardless of someone paying, you should send an emailed invoice so people can review what they owe." People might want this for their own records. I have never paid a bill that I don't have some kind of record of what I owe. I don't send money out on good faith. I don't care if we're stuck here; it's still a symbiotic relationship. They need my money, I need the damn paper at the end. The classes are dumb; expect that. The counselors sometimes spend over 15 minutes just checking people in. The first counselor I had would personally talk to everyone to check them in; versus getting us checked and getting the class going. We have three fucking hours to chit chat about our lives, so lets just get people signed in. The second counselor would stupidly say, "Say something!" over and over and over, because she was technologically inept and couldn't seem to understand that zoom issues can be worked out while the class is going, on an as needed basis and that zoom tests your microphone for you when you sign in. Both counselors used class time to talk, sometimes for up to an hour with no break about their own issues and opinions. One time a counselor went on for an hour about her own issues, while one student who was clearly spun left the zoom meeting for most of the class. The counselor was so engrossed in her own story, that she didn't even notice. I'm going to guess one counselor has about five years sober and decided she wanted to save everyone from themselves because she has her own issues. The other has a son who died from alcoholism and liked to talk about it FOREVER. Both used the groups as their own personal form of therapy. So let me be clear; your $200 a month and state ordered DUI classes are so these folks can use you as a sounding board for their own issues. I also had a counselor use our one on one meeting to try to pry into my personal life; what I did for work and what I would do with my future. As though she assumed without ever asking me, that somehow I was a total burn out and didn't work my ass off. I asked her if that was somehow relevant to my DUI. She tried to cobble together some reason why it was, and I basically had to tell her that my personal life and what I do for work and outside of DUI class, wasn't her business. Nor was it her job to try to "save me" when she clearly wasn't even as on the ball or quick minded as me. The first counselor I had, quoted Eckhart Tolle who is closely tied to Abraham Hicks and the whole Power Of Positive Thinking cult...Yes, I said cult. Please take your time to research it; thanks to people like Abraham Hicks, Eckhart Tolle and others involved in that kind of "toxic positivity" mindset, people have lost parents, kids, and other family members to this kind of cult practice. Abraham Hicks actually believes that a group of entities called Abraham speak to her and only her, and followers come up and ask her questions to which she gives the most convoluted responses to the most simple minded, easily lead people. So...in short, no actual counselor should ever be referencing these people, who aren't even founded in actual science or counseling, in a DUI class. Anyway, go here for the relative simplicity and ease of the program; don't expect professionalism, and be careful what you take to heart here. Don't expect actual counselors. But since you are court ordered, this is probably your easiest bet. read more
