I have been meaning to write a follow up on this horrible Folsom resident for a while. Apparently she has retired, however, I am still running into others that have been victimized by Wendy. Her damage will go on for years, and will not be easily forgotten. Wendy's advantage was that she required her customers to sign agreements that they would not complain about her, and if anything arose from her mistreatment and biased abused of power in any such complaint, any associated court costs would be covered by those same customers complaining. These were often signed under duress and were always signed before she would meet with you. This allowed her a free check to run with and treat people anyway she wished. Wendy should not be allowed to influence any person's family or to continue to provide any type of counseling mediation services. Only those who benefitted from her perverse and vindictive mediation methods are in support of her. read more

I'm writing this review years after our family was involved in reunification counseling with Wendy Campbell, in hopes it will help other families make an informed decision--especially those navigating high-conflict custody cases involving trauma. Wendy Campbell was assigned by the court during a period when my daughter was experiencing significant emotional distress related to visits with her other parent. This was not a custody dispute--I had supported and agreed to 50/50 custody from the beginning, and I was always open to restoring that arrangement as long as it was safe and emotionally appropriate for the children. At the time, the court had temporarily adjusted custody while the other parent completed court-ordered anger management, parenting classes, supervised visitation, and reunification counseling. Wendy met with me only once and from that point forward worked almost exclusively with the other parent, his mother, and the children. Despite my daughter already being under the care of a court-appointed, independent therapist (not chosen by me), Wendy failed to consult with that therapist in any meaningful way for quite some time. When she finally did--only after I requested that the court require it--the therapist later told me the conversation was mostly off-topic, focused on casual "shop talk" about their shared profession, and failed to seriously address my daughter's emotional well-being. My daughter often reported feeling pressured and unsafe during her time with Wendy. She was asked sensitive questions in front of her father, making it impossible to speak freely. She described feeling like Wendy had "picked a side," and did not trust her to advocate for her emotional needs. At the time, my daughter was dealing with severe anxiety, frequent nightmares, and had regressed to sleeping in our bedroom due to distress. Rather than recognizing these as red flags, Wendy attributed her behavior to "parental alienation" without fully investigating the clinical picture or listening to the professionals who were actively supporting my daughter. Her reports to the court included observations like "the child's demeanor changed when her mother arrived to pick her up," implying manipulation--when in fact, trauma-exposed children often exhibit emotional shifts depending on their environment. These simplistic interpretations showed a concerning lack of trauma-informed care. Ultimately, my daughter's therapist submitted a formal letter to the court stating that Wendy had become a source of trauma for my child. The court agreed and removed Wendy from the case. Once Wendy was removed, another professional (Catherine Underwood) took over both the supervised visitation and reunification counseling. The difference was immediate and profound. This counselor made all parties--myself, the other parent, and most importantly, the children--feel heard, safe, and respected. My daughter was able to reestablish contact with her father at a pace that was emotionally safe for her, which also gave me full peace of mind as a parent. It's important to note: the other parent regained 50% custody, exactly as I had supported from the start. The timeline of reunification may have been slowed slightly--by a few weeks at most--but only to create a safe emotional environment for a traumatized child. This was never about delay or alienation; it was about doing reunification the right way. Wendy Campbell failed to maintain neutrality, failed to center the child's experience, and failed to coordinate with professionals already involved. Her actions showed a lack of clinical sensitivity and an alarming bias, which caused unnecessary harm. Based on both personal experience and the court's own conclusion, I would not recommend her for any case involving family trauma, conflict, or high emotional stakes. Families in crisis deserve a counselor who understands the complexity of trauma, child development, and family dynamics. In our case, Wendy Campbell was not that person. read more

This review is for Wendy Campbell's performance as 3111 court ordered mediator and child custody evaluator. I believe Wendy met with me and my children's mother multiple times over months. She had one private session with each of us. She interviewed the children's therapists, teachers, and other family for a complete 360 degree view of our family dynamics. She did home and school visits. She put in well over 40 hours of time reviewing all of the evidence we shared and evaluating our children. If you want to keep fighting with your ex - and chose conflict over your kids welfare, I think I would avoid Wendy Campbell. She's in it for the kids. I didn't like everything she did, nor did my ex, but it's hard to dispute that she totally transformed and improved our family dynamics in the 18 months we worked together. If you love your kids and have enough humility to grow through what for me was a painful process of change, I encourage you to seek her services. Wendy finds constructive solutions to problems you probably either accepted or thought were incurable. She's not a miracle worker, but she listens well, communicates well, and develops a plan with you to end conflict. Whenever possible I felt she tried to help us save face, and give us new tools, new resources, and new perspectives to get out of the co-parenting conflict rut that hampered our lives for years. Some people reference her fees as an issue, but I believe they were fair given her vast experience and skill set, also I look at them and think I wish we had gone to her sooner. My ex and I probably spent over $100,000 in attorney fees that could have been saved had we engaged Wendy at the outset. More than that though, the bitterness and vitriol of a painful separation might have been significantly lessened allowing better financial decisions-- like not prematurely selling the family home at a difference of $300,000 in market gains. Good people end up bankrupted by fighting an ex for no good reason. The emotional and financial benefits to you and your kids of choosing a course of respecting a decent enough co-parent is incalculable and Wendy can help you get there. read more

Very unprofessional and angry towards men. She does not act like she has extensive experience working with different cultures and demographics. She favors certain genders over others and does not like questions or feedback to progress forward in the process. Biased is a good word to describe her approach. She believes lotions and smells are more important than actual important topics. Do not use her services, you will regret it. Will try to get more money from you by delaying things. read more

Ms. Campbell negated my experiences of abuse and made me feel victimized all over again. At one point I stated, "He punched holes in the wall next to my head. The patches are still visible in my home." She responded, "We don't know who made those holes." I told her he was parking outside my home and driving by my house with our children in the car. She said, "Your daughter is probably remembering that from when he lived with you" (it has been three years since we separated and my daughter was four). I had to revisit the issue in the next session and draw her attention to messages from neighbors who saw him outside my home before any type of protective clause went into the agreement. She didn't take proper notes and couldn't remember agreements we'd made from one session to the next. She told us at the beginning she'd give each of us time to respond to the other's statements but often didn't or started to then cut us off and asked different questions. She didn't take my ex husband to task over any of his behavior (which included hitting our child, locking her in a room, stalking me, hacking into my accounts, past arrests for domestic violence and DUI, a year of court-ordered anger management, and a restraining order), but she talked to me about my "tone" and asked what I had done to cause my ex to behave abusively towards me. For comparison purposes, I have never been arrested, never been to court for any reason previously, nor do I have any history of abusive relationships. My marriage was my first experience of an abusive partner. Ms. Campbell should not be training the next generation of mediators. She used to do conversion therpay with children, according to other reviews. I wasn't given any choice in mediators, but if you are, I suggest choosing a different one if you have been a victim of DV. read more

I was recommended by the court to use Wendy for my custody affairs. I paid her 2000 stipend, after 3 sorry sessions , I mentioned to her that I am not Interested in continuing with her since she was not interested in my concerns. In a nut shell please never hire Wendy. She has major anxiety issues. I felt very uncomfortable around her and her demeanor was immature. She also did not refunds Money. I would never refer her to anyone. read more

Wendy was recommended primarily based on her stellar reputation within the Sacramento Family court system. It's also worth noting this was our 2nd attempt at CCRC mediation and the situation was far from ideal involving a high conflict divorce and custody. Wendy was extremely professional and competent in handling contested custody under the most difficult of situations, ie: safety and abuse allegations, CPS case, and ex relocated children without a court order, etc. I felt as though Wendy was fair and non-judgmental, she took the time to understand the issues and gave each party an opportunity to represent their facts/opinions. I believe Wendy has great intuition and was able to make good decisions based on the facts and evidence, while ignoring harsh allegations and criticisms from my ex that were intended to challenge the basis of my custody. The Sacramento Family court system is no advocate for fathers custodial rights, in fact, it's a downright joke. Without Wendy's assistance and patience, I'm certain I would have never received 50/50 custody. read more

Wendy Campbell is amazing. Simply put, without a doubt I would recommend her to anyone who has been through a high conflict divorce and had any type of Parental Alienation or Estrangement Issues with their children. Wendy is thoughtful, respectful, professional, and very educated on various methodologies and relationship dynamics. Above and beyond that Wendy actually cares more about helping people rather than running up a large bill. Her high level of integrity and ability to successfully drive Reunification in a compassionate way while holding everyone accountable for doing their part in a neutral fashion is second to none. Wendy is highly sought after as she is helping many families through very difficult times, even still, she always makes time to help and make herself available for the children and both parents so that everyone can work together in a positive fashion towards the ultimate goals. Do not call Wendy if you are not ready to put in the work you need to do on yourself or cannot be objective as you must be willing to try and create an amicable dynamic with your ex for the best interest of your children. If you want to continue fighting with your ex and damaging your children's lives while wasting tons of money then call someone else and do not waste Wendy's time as she is genuinely making a positive difference in the world for children and parents who have been through hell and back in the family court system. Wendy gets my highest possible recommendation. My family is forever grateful... Thank You Wendy!!! read more

I was forced by my ex's attorney to use Ms. Campbell. I attended all the sessions and really thought she might actually get where I was coming from but boy was I wrong!!! She can't tell when a 10 year old has been coached to lie over the truth. It was a waste of money and she didn't have the children's best interest at heart unless we kept paying and seeing her. My ex lied over and over again, it was like pulling teeth but in family court and referred mediators that's how it works, as long as they keep getting paid. I would run the other way and find someone else to mediate unless you want to lose your kids!!! There is no such thing as the "Truth" anymore, money is what talks and no one care who gets hurt in the process!!!! You can file a complaint on the link below. http://www.bbs.ca.gov/consumer/file_complaint.shtml read more

I have been practicing family law in the Sacramento area since 2000 and have utilized Ms. Campbell as a private Child Custody Recommending Counselor and Child Custody Evaluator on several occasions. I have found Ms. Campbell to be extremely competent, thorough and decisive which is invaluable in custody litigation. Ms. Campbell is also well respected by the courts, and is also excellent as individual therapist especially with teenagers. Ms. Campbell has always provided her report in a timely fashion and on the timeline that she indicated at the beginning of her involvement in a case. She is also extremely professional and by the book as far as the applicable law is concerned. There have been times when I have disagreed with her recommendations, but I have never felt that she made any decision that did not make sense and was focused solely on the children. It does not surprise me that there are negative reviews. Child Custody Evaluators/Child Custody Recommending Counselors are never going to win a popularity contest is they are doing their job and Ms. Campbell always does. I suspect the negative reviews are from people who were unhappy with the result. read more

Wendy was recommended by the opposing attorney in my case, so she was not of my choosing for CCRC mediation. I came into mediation on the defensive as my ex wanted to move my child out of town (after six successful years of co-parenting in the same city, mind you). The process through the courts, attorneys, and mediation was painful with the thought of losing my child to the other part of the state just so the opposing party could get a different job. Wendy took hundreds of pages of court filings, made house visits, considered both parties submissions of information, and spent several hours with my ex and I in person, with the attempt to work though a mutually agreed upon outcome. We simply could not agree because the job of my ex was 'so important', and I didn't want our child moved away from an environment in which she was thriving with both parents. Ultimately, since we could not agree, Wendy had to make a recommendation to the court in the best interest of our child. I will simply state, that after all of that, it was adopted by the court that our child stay in the town she was born and raised, and it was recommended to my ex that she stay as well in the best interest of our child. Result: my child stayed, the ex stayed, and the child continues to thrive with both parents in the same town. Wendy didn't waste much time, she got the facts, and when she found out we weren't going to agree, she encouraged us to give her our closing thoughts, and then she made her recommendation. I recommend her to both male and female clients in need of mediation involving families. She heard everyone out, and made her recommendation based on the best interest of the child. read more

Wendy Campbell was very thorough in her review of our family to ensure she could provide the best recommendations for the children and to ensure father and I could come to agreements to co-parent the children effectively. Our situation was somewhat of an unusual situation where it took place in two phases due to nature of situation involving high conflict divorce and custody battle. The first phase was about 2.5 months and Wendy performed the following actions. * Wendy had both father and I complete a questionnaire of how we met, our family history, incidents in our life that led to our current situation to separate and how we personally view our relationship to be with each of our children in order to obtain background information regarding father and I and how we perceive ourselves and the situation. * Wendy received vast amounts of documentation relating to the situation which helped her to gain further insight of the situation and to assist in some of the questions and conversations when meeting with the father and I together, meeting with each of us separately, meeting with the children together and each of them separately. It was definitely a lot of information and Wendy took the time to read all of it. * To further gain knowledge of the family dynamics, Wendy spent time in the father's home and my home and observed the conditions of each home, how each of us interacted with the children and the comfortability of the children in each home. Based on the data gathered Wendy generated a detailed recommendation for custody that would serve in the best interest of the children. The second phase was about 1.5 months and in the second phase, Wendy worked with both the father and I to establish consistent household rules and guidelines, communication regarding children's behaviours', school, sports and medical appointments to co-parent more effectively and so the children could witness unification between father and mother. In this phase, I did not fully agree with her decision on custody based on what the children continued to express nor the schedule however I still believe her decision was based on what was best for the children moving forward. Based on the thorough time spent to truly identify and understand the family dynamics, to listen to the children's needs and to consider what would be in the children's best interest I would recommend Wendy Campbell as a family evaluator. read more

This review is long overdue...... Let me first say the experience in family counseling is ridiculous. The mediator, in this instance, was manipulated by my ex wife. There was no understanding from the mediator of any cultural diversity/upbringing. The information i shared during mediation was used against me. Accusation after accusation was thrown my way by my ex wife and all along the mediator did nothing to control the situation. She allowed my ex wife to run her mouth with no consequences. In fact, without just cause, i was ordered to perform anger management courses on here-say. Bottom line is that the judge wanted to know how the children felt about equal custody and when the mediator met with the children again, they both said they wanted 50-50. I have no understanding how she could write up her report outlining two different schedules for the school and non school year knowing what the children had told her. During mediation, the mediator specifically recommended that running back and forth with different schedules should be avoided at all cost. The children should try and get acclimated to a consistent schedule as best as possible. Not only did she not achieve this, she had no basis to recommend anything other than what the children wanted. The children were 10 & 14 at the time. In my opinion, this mediator can not remain impartial nor understand cultural diversity. She totally missed this one! Needless to say, I WOULD AVOID USING THIS MEDIATOR AT ALL COST!!!!!!!. read more

After years of numerous efforts with various marriage and adult addiction counselors, Wendy Campbell was the first to truly listen and actually hear everyone's experience, most importantly that of our disappointed and discouraged teenage children. She saw through parental misrepresentations and defensive posturing and with a kind heart, thoughtful inquiry and firm but gentle coaching, she was able to break through the smokescreens and actually not only see our truths, but she helped each other to see their truths too. Most importantly, Wendy is an advocate for the children-she always has their best interest front and center at all turns and I am thankful every day for her protection of my greatest gifts. I absolutely give big credit to Wendy Campbell for ensuring my children's health and well being through a very difficult and lengthy divorce. They are joyful, accomplished students and athletes and solid contributing members of their community. We laugh and love every day! Thank you Wendy-I will cherish you always. read more