A friend recommended that I meet with Monica about 10 years ago when I was trying to resolve some…read moreissues in a long-term relationship; she helped me to come to an understanding that I needed to withdraw from the relationship since my partner had been unwilling to commit. She also helped me develop strategies to change some thought patterns/behaviors that were not serving me well. Some years later, I returned to seeing her when my marriage had become very challenging. With her help, I began to understand that it was not only a challenging relationship but that my husband was abusive and this was a pattern. She also helped me to navigate dealing with someone who is an addict both to substances but other activities. I have reflected many times how she helped me to find a way to leave a dangerous and extremely emotionally damaging situation without ever trying to just take control. She understood that the process can be overwhelming and met me where I was able to act. I did leave and relied on her very heavily for support initially and throughout the next few years as I worked to heal myself and support my children. Her efforts contributed directly to my ability to keep myself and my children safe in my marriage and ensuing high conflict divorce. There was a bit of an emotional "detox" period I had to go through after leaving, and she went above and beyond to give her support to me during that time. Monica is caring, professional, direct, compassionate, and skilled at her work. She understands and cares for children and adults equally well, which was so helpful to me as a mother. She helped give me some practical techniques for dealing with stress (that I still use), and for handling an abusive, psychopathic narcissist that I am unable to completely cut out of my life due to our children together. She was my safe place to release some hard feelings and thoughts during an extremely difficult time. When my husband was constantly at work trying to distort my reality, she served as a vital reality check. I always recommend that anyone going through something similar to get in with a good therapist as a first step--just to bring some reality and understanding to their situation--after I saw how much Monica helped me. I moved away to another state, but have kept in touch. I appreciate that she still sends me notes now and then, with recommendations for articles she feels might be helpful. If I were closer I would still be going to see her once in a while--fortunately I feel so much healthier and stronger now, thanks in large part to her help.

I saw Monica a couple years ago so my review is long overdue. I wanted us to work really bad…read morebecause of the reviews but unfortunately my experience was not like everyone else. I am now with a therapist who fits me best and can see the difference. For one, my therapist now would never tell me that I'm a narcissist for having social anxiety. The last straw I had with Monica is when she gave me another issue to have anxiety on. She asked me what I was studying in school, I said sociology then she said, and I quote, "Ha. Good luck getting a job with a liberal arts degree." I don't know what she was trying to do when she said that but I did not appreciate it at the time. My regret is not saying this earlier to communicate that with her. On the good side, she has great book recommendations and I do appreciate her tell it like it is attitude but some things that were said to me was not okay. She didn't work for me but hope she works for you!

A friend of mine referred me to Michael Gelbart for therapy at least 14 years ago, and he helped me…read morethrough a very hard patch in my life. More recently, 3 years ago, when I was experiencing a family crisis, I went back to Michael, and he gave me so much support and courage while at the same time being uplifting. He has helped me find inner strength and courage, while also validating and supporting the parts of me that I sometimes miss. I am filled with appreciation and gratitude for his support, and I recommend him highly.

Michael is an absolutely amazing therapist -- just next level. I have been seeing him on and off…read morefor several years, but boosted it to weekly more recently when it became clear that I really needed it. Truly, he has helped me change my life in all sorts of ways. He is engaged, shares his insights, reframes my less-than helpful stories, and supports my long-term health. I cannot say enough good things about him. What a gem. Thank you, Michael.

Sorry, this is a long one but well deserved!!!…read more I've been working with Alisia Smith Anderson for over a year. She has been awesome. I was dealing with depression, anxiety, insomnia, grief, substance use and to top it off ADHD. Alisia is the first therapist I've ever had that told me to be evaluated for ADHD. Before now, I've been in and out of therapy for years & not once was I asked about it. After she heard my symptoms and asked a few more questions, she said I needed to be seen by my Dr. Alisia was right on point, that's exactly what I have & they started me on medication immediately which really helped with a lot of my symptoms. Alisia is very passionate, concerned, empathetic, well trained, she's just an all around professional that I'm so happy I'm seeing. I have Kaiser & they only want you to do group therapy instead of 1 on 1's w/a counselor. I've had group therapy for years & this is the first year, I've learned more about myself than I did in any of the grp sessions I had at Kaiser. Now, she may tell me something I don't want to hear but it was something I needed to hear. She's all about self care. If you feel down, depressed and anything else that may be going on, this is a great place & from what I hear the other therapists are fabulous as well. If you have Kaiser, they can give you a referral for here!!! Finally I'm taking care of my mental health.

We all need someone we can confide in. I'm truly thankful for Journey of Life for providing a place…read moreof solace where I feel ok to be vulnerable.

I had four appointments with Karyn Anderson. She no showed to two of them, and nearly no showed to…read moreanother one, which I had to call her and remind her that she had scheduled with me. She complained about having to see me at the time I called her, even though she had scheduled the appointment with me. If you're keeping score, that means she was able to keep 25% of the appointments she booked with me over the course of a single month. I should mention that I took a half-day off work for each of these appointments (the issues I deal with are such that I will get extremely emotional if I talk about them, it's really embarrassing to be around other people when it happens), so in addition to wasting my time and energy, Karyn also wasted my PTO, and thus money. After the last appointment I informed Karyn that I was going to be unable to make the next two weeks of appointments because I was going on a vacation to Alaska, so no internet service. She decides to take this moment to lecture me about how these appointments are in high demand and that I shouldn't expect her to hold a time slot for me. Now if you're thinking, "wait a minute, where does this person get off lecturing someone else about their attendance when they can't be professional enough to keep an appointment they make", we're on the same page. I can't be sure of this and at the time I thought I was being paranoid, but given her subsequent behavior I just don't know; I swear that she was washing dishes while on the phone with me during my intake appointment. I can't be sure because when she did actually show up to the appointments, she couldn't get her video chat to work. To cap it off, when I was in Alaska, she calls me and asks me if I'm planning on making my appointment. After all that she STILL couldn't keep her schedule straight. I told her then that I would be looking for a new provider. Absurdly unprofessional behavior. I don't remember her name, but there was an admin person I interacted with when Karyn no showed and she was very polite and helpful for whatever that's worth.

I had a great experience in virtual sessions with Joelle Stallsmith over the last 14 months or so…read more She listened to the things I wanted to work on, helped me focus my efforts and make quick progress. My work life has improved, my marriage has improved, I finally know how to set healthy boundaries and I have more confidence that I have ever had in my life! She was careful to explain how she works through trauma with a client so I'd know what to expect. She gave me assignments or ideas of things to work on that were practical, not overwhelming and pointed out the progress, which encouraged me to continue the journey. I went from weekly sessions to every other week, and now I'm able to call her if I need "booster" sessions. While I'm so happy with my where I am, I'll miss having her weekly encouragement. Thank you so much!

Half of the people commenting are seriously misinformed. Many of the individuals being discussed…read moreare court-ordered patients or people who were released on the condition that they comply with treatment--often the alternative is jail time. As for claims about being "stripped naked and injected," that is simply not how it works. I've visited my nephew many times and have overheard these conversations firsthand. Injections are only administered when a patient repeatedly refuses to take the medication prescribed by their doctor and is decompensating. At that point, it becomes a matter of safety and stabilization so they can actually get better. My nephew has admitted himself voluntarily plenty of times. So to the staff who genuinely help--thank you. And to those who continue to spread misinformation, I truly hope you are never placed in a situation where you or someone you love is struggling with severe mental illness and needs this level of care. #seekhelp #mentalhealthmatters #getwellsoon

All the institution does is lock you up. And force you to…read moregive them your blood. Or injections when you have right to refuse medication. They confuse you like suggesting don't take showers when they should be telling you hot shower like how to get out. They said 3 a week is acceptable but I have to shower every day, Did everything they led me on They still wouldn't let me go. They do not let you leave to go to work. If you have money you only get to order out to limited places, (like card). So you supposed to save somehow and drain your funds to eat? ...Mediocre take-out rip offs - cause you're in here. Stingy with seconds. Do not order desserts at pizza places unless you know it's good like lava cakes. Their cookies/brownies not what they say. Got anxiety from Villa Fairmont. Can't be still. Got smell. Uncanny. Long time to go away. Held me too long. They do not let you leave to go to work. I have reasons to say they stole my hair. Put me through lice to get to it. Otherwise I wouldn't ask to cut.

I was here recently, the staff were okay... but they were awkward, and they kept misgendering me…read moreand using my dead name instead of the name I gave them. You can't cry because they'll just see you as a stray animal about to attack, they threaten to booty juice you as well, they lock you in a room after they stick a whole needle in your ass. They keep you away from the other patients because they think you're a threat to them. They take your strings out of your jacket/hoodie just be aware of that, they'll keep it in a locker with the rest of your belongings if you don't want them taken out. The care sucked, they'd make you attend groups and lie to you saying "it'll get you out faster" which is a total LIE, so you can't trust the staff, they think groups will help you get better when it won't. They don't get that though ... there's too many cameras in there too, I don't like how they have to watch your every move, you're in the csu before moving to willow rock, but that's for another story. The food sucked, it was cold, even when it came fresh from the cart, it was COLD and gross. The staff ate outside food in front of us, which sucked even harder, because it's unfair, they had their phones out in front of us while we couldn't have ours, they asked for our picture, and they wont stop until you agree to taking your picture so the staff can "know who you are" it's stupid bro. The beds also suck really bad, it gets cold at night and the blankets are very thin, even when you ask for more blankets it'll still be cold, the pillows are flat as fuck, excuse my language but it was, it made my back hurt bad and I kept waking up. They check on you every 15 minutes so remember that if you tryna do something because you snuck in contraband. I got away with it, they also aren't allowed in the patient rooms unless it's an emergency like you banged your head on the wall or something. You're welcome, you can't sneak in metal because they use metal detectors, you'd have to shove it up your ass if you wanna hurt yourself that bad gang anyway, you're welcome.

i was a patient here during september 2023, November 2023, and March 2024…read more My experiences here was alright. Not the best or the worst. There's just some rules that are somewhat inhumane, like you don't have any say of it. I feel like you can't cry there without getting threatened to be booty juiced. You also need to do group therapy forcefully, (well for me. every experiences are different.) or else you get talked into and things like that. There's this Counselor specifically, he was the worst. He gave all of us a pep talk that We needed to vent or else we will be depressed forever?? like who the hell says that in a psych ward like that? Anyways, there's lots of improvements to be done but otherwise, it's fine.

Associated Counseling Services of San Leandro provides excellent service. I was refered by a…read morereputable Dr. in San Francisco and worked with Asc Counseling for a year. Associated Counseling Services of San Leandrois inspirational , knowledable and affordable. The service and indiviual counseliong provided helped me get my life back on track. I worked on drug / alcohol addiction and anger issues. While working with Asc Counseling I refered several people to thier service as well. Im working a program now and feel that if I got in a jam Associated Counseling Services of San Leandro would be there for me if I needed them. I highly recommend this service to anyone interested in gaining clarity on their life and putting in work to overcome their difficulties.

Please do yourself a favor by not hiring this guy to be your therapist He is rude, self-centered,…read moreand manipulative. He insisted that I was lucky because he was charging me less than his standard fee and he was not even a licensed therapist ,the time I was working with him, for Christ's sake. I've also just checked with Board of Behavioral Sciences and found out he's still not licensed to this date. When I finally decided to stop coming to his office, he called me so many times using different phone numbers. Seriously, this guy should not be in the mental health field.

I joined AFS as a foster parent and was initially given 3 children who were a part of a family of 9…read morekids. Shortly after we were asked to take a fourth child. A few months later the parents of the 9 gave birth to a tenth child and we were asked to take him at 8 days old. My wife and I had the kids for 22 months. When the initial 3 arrived, the 2 elder ones were 11 and 9 years old while the third was 7. That 7 year old could sing the alphabet song but could no recognize A from B. When he left my home 22 months later he was reading at a Fourth Grade level. During our time one of the kids therapists (Katera) told us that she'd been in this field for 25 years and my wife and I were easily the best foster parents she'd ever worked with. Not only were we involved in every aspect of their lives which included participating in school activities. We were fierce advocates for their education and wellbeing. Bearing in mind that this was a family of 10 and we lived close to Discovery Kingdom I bought at my expense season tickets for all eligible children to that they could attend the park as a family. That meant the other foster parents dropping them off at the park and we took responsibility for the entire group. It was urging Tim's like these that we could see the love these children had for each other. My wife and I discussed it at length and decided we wanted to adopt the 7 youngest children as the older 3 were above the age of 12 and chose not to be adopted. At this point within the Child Protection Services the case was transferred from Foster Care to Adoption Care. Our home was visited maybe on 3 occasions by a Ms.Shipe who turned out to the a**hole of all a**holes. After her third visit she contacted AFS and asked them remove the children immediately from my home. I assume that the agency knowing that the children were at my home for 22 months without any problems waited for about 5 days before taking action then removing them on the sixth day. I tried to prevent this by asking AFS the reason for this, as was told they were removed because Shipe said "she knows there is a problem in that house but she just doesn't know what". Made a follow up attempt to meet with the VP of AFS with no results. Given the emotional investment we had in the kids being our family both my wife and I went into a state of depression and crazy thing is after 1 1/2 years AFS had the verbosity to call and ask us to take 3 more kids. They found no problems with our care for these children but did not defend us from Shipe leading me to believe they are in business not to help children but to make money. It remains to be seen if this is just the way THE SYSTEM WORKS or whether this was just a case that slipped through the cracks. I have sat on this for almost 5 years but it has always bothered me and I feel I need to get it off my chest.

Would not recommend working with this agency if you are a working parent. My partner and I filled…read moreout a form inquiring about the fost-adopt program and registered for orientation. Almost immediately we got a call from a woman named Lisa. Her first question was "so who is quitting their job to take care of the child?" I explained that we had good parental leave at our jobs (almost a year), and then we'd look into licensed childcare providers. She responded "foster kids can't go to daycare, because their brains are damaged! Anyway, NO child should be put in day care, even bio kids." Yikes! Definitely trauma affects brain development, but calling all foster kids "brain damaged" is misleading and creates stigma. I was also surprised about the daycare-for-bio-kids comments. That kind of shaming is bad for all families (bio, foster, and adoptive) - makes you wonder how they treat the parents trying to reunify! This woman also asked "why haven't you already arranged parental leave from your jobs?" It seems bizarre to expect that prospective foster parents have parental leave arranged before attending an info session. Most foster parents we know start talking to their workplace about leave as they complete training and can accept placements. The experience put us off applying to be foster parents for a while. We eventually did identify another agency that seemed a little more professional.

Katherine is a wonderul therapist and guide. She has an array of tools that she brings to help…read moreguide and support the therapeutic process. I have really appreciated the gestalt emphasis of role play, to help work through and support difficult 'parts' or ourselves. I also appreciate that Katherine often builds on past sessions, and does not just reflect back what I am saying in the moment, but actively investigates my experiences with me. Sometimes Katherine is also challenging and I have so far found this helpful and insightful. I am growing under her care. I feel very supported and well guided by Katherine and do not hesitate to recommend her wholeheartedly.

Katherine had a magical approach on helping my husband and I deal with struggles of being a parent…read moreand maintaining a marriage. I'm thankful we found her and went to her because she taught us how to communicate in an effective way and showed us how to self reflect in a nurturing way. Thank you Katherine!! I highly recommend her to couples who need a safe place to process and fall deeper in love.

This organization is amazing. They are looking for need in their local area and internationally in…read moreways that are holistic and neurodiversity affirming. No human is considered less than nor are they left out. On a side note, if folks see reviews from Brian C. on here, it is a smear campaign run by a sour ex. He used to be a big supporter. We all know how that goes.

I have been working with the special needs population for decades. The caregivers and the entire…read morefamilies are affected when the needs of one family member deplete energy, time and funds. Kiera Rain's idea for California Brainwaves provides a short and long-term solution for this growing problem. She is setting up a family facility so that the person with a brain disability can get care and the family can have respite time, all in one place. She is thinking out of the box and into the future!