I was a patient of hers for 25 years and now I fortunately am not. Originally she was helpful, but there's no strategy in her therapy and she's gone off the deep end with the political conspiracy stuff in the past 10 years... none of which I asked for on my dime. Unhinged political speeches aside, therapy sessions are like getting a haircut and talking to the hair dresser. No techniques, no strategies like cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, etc, just hairdresser talk. I thought this was normal for a long time, which is a shame.
Key example, after a rough patch for me 10 years ago, I had to see another therapist while I was seeing Heidi to learn cognitive behavioral therapy because when I asked Heidi to do CBT, she said we've already been doing that when we never actually had. Not a good sign, but I stuck with Heidi for god knows why and it was a mistake. I think I was scared to change therapists because of the long process of getting to know another therapist, but I'm glad I did. I do CBT with my therapist now, and there's structure, journaling, psychology principles, actual analysis. It feels like there's structure and purpose now.
Nevertheless, I still stuck with Heidi for another 10 years after that when I shouldn't have, and I hit tilt with her unhinged political rants I never asked for and her overall ineffectiveness. You don't want to open up to a therapist like that. She used to be a lot more normal, but she is clearly become warped and let the nutty beliefs become her baseline demeanor. In the end, she shouldn't be talking to people that need help, especially mentally ill patients who don't need to be bombarded with more craziness and negativity. She acted extremely unprofessionally.
I worry for her patients that open up to her and get shut down by her immediately if they don't believe in the same conspiracies that she does. I failed that test and faced her wrath. I'm very disappointed in her because she isn't a bad person, but the politics has a real grip on her judgement. She needs to take a long break from social media and political shows on tv. One of those people that needs a break from the news. In a nutshell, she isn't a safe space for a patient. A patient shouldn't have to endure lunatic political conspiracy rants as a precondition of treatment. I'm disappointed I paid her for those rants.
Bottom line, If you need marital help, then maybe she can help, as that seems to be her specialty, but if you struggle with mental issues, she isn't structured and is ineffective. I regret the time I spent paying her, now that I know what a good therapist is. I accepted mediocrity for a long time, and in the end, craziness. Until it was too much. It sucks, but if you aren't totally good with the state of the world and want to talk about it, prepare for a fringe soapbox MAGA lecture you didn't ask for on your dime. Read the room Heidi, you're getting paid to listen to patients, they're not getting paid to listen to your craziness. read more
