Our experience with Alexandra Matthews was deeply upsetting and damaging. If you are considering her as a college counselor or psychologist for your child, please think twice. She is arrogant, self-serving, and shockingly indifferent to the emotional needs of the children and families she claims to support. From the beginning, it was clear her priority was not helping, but controlling the process and collecting payment. She dismissed our concerns, pushed her own agenda, and treated us with condescension and disregard. Instead of helping our child, she abandoned her --leaving lasting emotional harm. Once paid, her involvement dwindled. She became cold and vindictive, making harsh, unprofessional remarks that no child or parent should ever be subjected to. Her actions were not just inappropriate--they were unethical and deeply hurtful. Alexandra Matthews should not be trusted with the mental health or educational future of any young person. She lacks compassion, professionalism, and any real sense of responsibility toward the families she works with. Do not make the mistake of working with her. There are many truly supportive and ethical professionals out there. She is not one of them. read more

If I could give zero stars I would. She caused major psychological damage that I had to deal with in therapy with someone else after just our first session. She is unnecessarily harsh and decides who you are before talking to you for even five minutes. She also tried to give me (bad) college advice even though I was paying her (a LOT) for therapy. I got into top colleges (including UCLA engineering) without her bad advice. She had a weird fixation on college which was completely irrelevant to the purpose of our session. I seriously caution people against meeting this woman. She is unprofessional and unhelpful to say the least. read more

We found Dr. Matthews impatient, arrogant, and unprofessional, as well as uncaring. And some of her advice was really bad. We hired her as a college counselor, and she offered negative and undiplomatic feedback on our son's chances, including by saying the UC's were "almost literally lottery schools" for him. Yet he got into four, including UC Berkeley. We think other families deserve a warning, even those who do work with Dr. Matthews. Dr. Matthews was friendly when my wife and I interviewed her. But once work began, she came off contemptuous of our opinions and, worse, of our son's. And we found her unresponsive. Dr. Matthews also resisted suggestions that she'd misjudged our son - that he had a real shot at competitive schools. Regarding the University of California, she wrote: "There is really no point in focusing on UC's. They are almost literally lottery schools at this point." Soon after, our son stopped working with her and applied to those lottery schools (and to many others). He worked mostly on his own, though he had help from a wonderful essay coach. Our son got into UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Berkeley (along with many schools outside the system). No one wins the lottery four times. Not all Dr. Matthews's efforts seem harmful in retrospect, and it's possible some of her early advice helped our son. But we think her unpleasant behavior, negative outlook, and terrible advice far outweighed any positive contributions. read more

Dr. Matthews is straight, no-nonsense, and direct, and my conversations with her always give me exactly what I need! I have come to her in situations that are particularly difficult to deal with, and when I'm feeling overwhelmed and not quite capable. After working with Dr. Matthews, I always feel like 1) my problems and feelings are normal, and 2) I can confidently resolve the issue(s), even if I first have to hear some hard truths. I couldn't want anything more! read more

Dr. Matthews has been incredibly helpful to me and my kids for a number of years. I consult her about a variety of parenting questions. She does very thorough neuropsychological evaluation and was instrumental in getting one of my kids accommodations from the schools. She is also an amazing college counselor. She took my other kid through the whole process and he ended up at the perfect college for him. She was very helpful at every step of the way--picking the college list, writing the essay, and dealing with anxious parents :-). Just go see her! read more

We took our 7-year-old to Dr. Matthews because she was exhibiting some OCD-like behavior. After talking to our daughter for 20 minutes, Dr. Matthews sat me, my husband, and our daughter down and said directly to our daughter that she had OCD and that it could take over her entire brain! (To be clear, our daughter is a normally functioning child with no interruptive rituals, but even if she were exhibiting the worst case of OCD ever, I struggle to comprehend the logic of this approach to treatment.) We interrupted at that time and let our daughter know that that what she was explaining was an EXTREME that happens to a few children and is not remotely always the case (never mind how anyone could diagnose a young child who has no debilitating rituals in one brief visit). Regardless, the damage had been done. Our daughter walked in excited to address a fascination with numbers and left mortified and fearful that she was going to lose her mind. When I called Dr. Matthews after the fact, told her why we would not be coming back, and asked her why she told our daughter something as alarmist and unhelpful to her treatment she said she had an "ethical obligation." Perhaps Dr. Matthews is a good doctor for older people. She had a nice disposition and, age-inappropriate subject matter aside, spoke to our daughter in a way that was approachable and that she could understand. But her overly frank, instant-diagnosis, TMI approach didn't seem the right one to us. [update several years after the fact: It turned out that our daughter's behavior disappeared within a couple of months. So much for OCD taking over her brain. As I think back on this, I think Dr. Alexandra's approach was alarmist and unethical. Never mind how much she charged us to pointlessly scare our child.] read more

Dr. Matthews has been working with my family on and off for a number of years. She has been incredibly helpful for my anxious daughter. Dr. Matthews is extremely responsible and ethical. I have referred several friends to her and she has helped their children. Dr. Matthews is direct and honest. I like that in a doctor. I don't want somebody to sugar-coat things. When I go to a doctor with a problem, I want to hear their honest opinion. As a doctor, the ethical thing to do is to tell somebody their diagnosis, even if we sometimes might not want to hear it. read more

Though Dr.Matthews is helping both my teenagers work on their college resumes, she has helped us with so much more than that. Now we are focused on identifying colleges and courses of study that might be a good fit as well as financial planning and scholarships but we didn't start out knowing that college would be a sure thing for our children. We first met Dr. Matthews after our preemie twins were born. I was concerned about some missed developmental milestones and identifying learning disabilities early as my children were at risk. Dr. Matthews was just the right person for this (she is a twin Mom as well) and I found her guidance to be accurate and reassuring. Fast forward a few years and my kids found themselves in a situation where (they were small for their age) they were being bullied. Again Dr. Matthew's expertise was invaluable in helping our whole family deal with the situation and my children learned life lessons about self-confidence, dealing with difficult people and empathy. Both children have since earned black belts in karate! As we hit middle school one of my children struggled academically. Her grades in class dropped to somewhere in the middle of the alphabet. Again we turned to Dr. Matthews for help. She did numerous tests on my daughter and identified her learning issues quickly and accurately. She helped us with a treatment plan that has included accommodations in the classroom, and finding a school other than our public high school that is a better match for my daughter. I also came to see the value of medication in helping my daughter focus in school. I am proud to say my daughters grades have since returned to the first two letters of the alphabet and we are planning for college for both twins! Dr. Matthews has made a tremendous difference in our lives. She is smart, straightforward and knowledgeable. Her rapport with my kids is genuine. She is a wonderful resource for families dealing with the challenges of raising healthy productive children. She is wise to the college acceptance game (she has a daughter at an Ivy League school) and I very feel lucky to have her wise counsel! read more

Alexandra is one of the best Doctor's I have ever had the pleasure to meet. I was diagnosed by her after my struggling had been ignored for years on end. Because of her my grades have gone from D's to A's and my long term goals have gone from just passing my classes to looking to colleges I never thought I'd ever be good enough for. She got me access to the accommodations I needed, helped me look to a future past graduating highschool, and answered the questions I so desperately needed answers for. I strongly recommend Dr. Matthews if you are looking for a doctor. read more

I have been seeing Dr. Matthews for depression and anxiety since 2011. She provided me with an ADHD diagnosis that was instrumental in helping me manage my behaviors and function in both academic and social settings. She's a lovely person and a fantastic therapist. read more

I tell everyone to see Dr. Matthews! She 'saved' both our kids. A bit of background - my son was struggling academically despite being bright... he wasn't reading as quickly as his peers and meanwhile, his teacher kept saying he was 'fine... just needed to focus'. We saw an OT who wasn't helpful enough and we watched our vibrant son became a shadow of himself. We heard such good things about Dr. Matthews and we amazed how she squeezed us in right away. Within 10 minutes, she validated that our son was suffering and she'd get to the bottom of it. We were so relieved to finally be with someone who 'got it'. With interviewing and testing, she discovered that he had ADHD & learning disabilities, coached us about how to help him and worked with the school. He is so much better now and he lights up when he visits her for 'check-ups' (he refers to Dr. Matthews as his 'brain doctor'. We also had our daughter meet with her too, 'just in case'... and she discovered some initial learning supports that our daughter needed - which spared us unnecessary suffering. She is saving us money in the future with her expertise now. We will be using her specialty college counseling services some day for sure. Dr. Matthews - please never retire! read more