I have received services for my bipolar and ocd medications much of my adult life. In doing so, I had always been directed to a community mental health center in whatever state or town I happened to be living. My experience caused me to believe that the long wait times, sudden changes in clinicians, and dingy hard to find offices were par for the course. When I moved to Colorado, that norm completely changed for me. The first time I called Wholeness Center, the secretary spent almost 30 minutes on the phone with me answering all of my questions in complete detail. She gave a brief introduction to each clinician available to me and broke down the cost for both initial and follow-up sessions with or without insurance. At the end of my initial call, I was able to make an appointment with Gail Dawson, who I have been seeing ever since. When I showed up to my first appointment with her, I honestly thought I had the wrong address. Wholeness Center was a bright and modern building that stood as night and day from my past experiences as one could get. When I walked in I was greeted with kindness and respect, as opposed to simply being asked to "sign the clipboard". To my pleasant surprise, Ms. Dawson appeared at the exact minute of our scheduled appointment and saw me for the full duration of our time slot. After almost two years of receiving services at Wholeness Center, I have never been seen late for an appointment. In fact, the one time I was caught in traffic and arrived late (almost at closing time), Ms. Dawson and several other members of the staff stayed in order to accommodate me.
In addition to the many wonderful things I could write, there are two specific services that Wholeness Center provides that others might find extremely helpful. The first is the electronic prescription program that was used to obtain my medications. I had previously researched the cost at several pharmacies and was fully expecting to pay upwards of $300-500 per month. Ms. Dawson found a local pharmacy in Fort Collins called City Drug that she could send everything to over the computer in seconds. They filled my medications within an hour for $70 a month. Over the course of almost two years, this has saved me over $5000 in medication costs. Another very useful feature I had never seen before is their "Patient Portal". Everything a patient does at Wholeness Center is documented and automatically sent to an online storage file along with an email reminder. You can access it from any computer with a code and keep it for your own records.
As someone who lives every day with mental illness, I rely on the ability to receive basic services and obtain my medications in a timely and cost-effective manner. In the past, I had come to expect that this would always mean having limited choices and a high tolerance for the level of care to which I would be subjected. Essentially, I have been "sucking it up" for many years. Wholeness Center is the kind of place I would expect to visit if I had the best insurance on the planet or a bank account infinitely larger than the one I currently own. As it happens, you need neither of these things to receive the utmost in professional service. I spent a lot of time calling around Northern Colorado looking for the same old community center and found several places that fit my old expectations. I hope at least one person reads this and benefits, as I have, from the superior services provided at Wholeness Center. read more
