Counselling

I don't know that I've ever posted a negative review on Google before, and I'm sad that to feel compelled to do so now, especially with respect to a counselling office, as I am a huge proponent of therapy. I would preface by saying that my review is not of all of Cornerstone's Psychologists, and that it is focused on the specific Provisional Psychologist I met with, as well as the Administration Staff. I was assigned to a Provisional Psychologist as I was a student and this option was less expensive. Due to several recent events in my life, I was in really bad shape, and perhaps I didn't communicate clear enough to the Administration Staff just how desperate I was feeling, and that perhaps a provisional student psychologist wasn't appropriate given my circumstances. Having been diagnosed over 10 years ago as a major depressive, I have lots of experience with psychologists, so I feel as though I have adequare knowledge and experience to be able to post a fair review. I have never had such a poor session with a psychologist. Ever. This girl asked probing and painful questions, which is fair. But that was literally it - She offered no solace, support, strategies or coping mechanisms, nor did she offer any kind of plan for the future for us to conqur these issues. She asked me questions for an hour, from which I was in tears, and then sent me on my way. The largest sentence she strung together during the hour was "That must be hard for you". I honestly left much worse off than I went in. I didn't leave feeling optimistic or supported. Then perhaps a month later, I received an email asking me to review my experience and fill out a survey online, so I did. The last question of the survey was something like "Would you be willing to be contacted regarding your experience?" and I said "Yes", why not. The next day, a member of the Administration Staff called me because she said I had clicked in the survey that I wanted to be contacted, and so she was asking me what I wanted to be contacted about. I explained that no - it asked if I was willing to be contacted regarding my review. Her response was basically "Well if you don't need anything, have a nice day". It honestly made me even more angry - it was total indifference, even AFTER i had told them how terrible my experience had been. 0/5 stars.

The incredible team at Pregnancy Counselling AB has supported us so much as a couple looking to adopt a baby. They listen to our needs, respond to our questions and concerns, and really take the time to understand us and our needs inside and out. The level of comfort this team provides to their clients is incomparable.

I started out with Insight working evenings and weekends as a part time job while attending university. Currently, I have been with the company for almost two years and my position has grown into managing the north Edmonton office. Insight is a great organization that allows me to grow with the business. Insight makes me feel like a valuable employee - my skills are utilized and I am challenged. It’s really great working for a company when you believe in what they do. The psychologists at Insight are very caring and compassionate and I have formed friendships with many of them.

Melanie at the Credit Counselling Society has done an amazing job of helping me manage my Aunt's financial matters. I first met with her back in Novermber of 2017. Recently I had more questions around debt management, budgetting, stragegies for dealing wtih creditors, and the psychological and time demands for acting as Power of Attorney for a 93 year old who has created a huge debt problem for herself and me. She had great advice on how to proceed including, bankruptcy, consumer proposals, and simply not paying the creditors. She always responded quickly to my questsions via emails and was always willing to set up a meeting. She is a great listener, communicator and has great knowledge about the legal aspects of debt, the duties/risks of a POA as well as dealing with people issues such as my aunt.

It wasn't the right time for me, but I think it could certainly work for others. My 2 cents; from a non-psychologist. Although I certainly found benefit, I don't believe it was effective as it could have been. We went through the process of CBT, then on to EMDR. I believe I wasn't legitimizing past issues. The CBT did help me recognize some things, but the process felt cold, quick, and as though I had to come up with all the answers. I'm sure it can be more profound if you come to the conclusion yourself regarding the psychology behind someones actions, but in a $190/50min session I sure felt the stress of not getting my money's worth rather than my own issues when I spent over a minute trying to understand the direction the psychologist was leading me to when it could have been said right away. Then the therapist implemented EMDR shortly after I didn't feel the stresses associated with the issues we were working on because it wasn't real enough. So I brought my stress level from a 5? (out of 10) to 1. Anyone dealing with PTSD from a traumatic event, this is right for you. In my case it was early childhood development; and I learned more & "felt" more from a Gabor Maté lecture than I did with 6 session with my assigned psychologist. My last point; I continuously asked for homework that I could have done on my own, but nothing was ever offered. This is the wrong approach I believe, as something like "self authoring" suggested by my new Councillor has been amazing!

I absolutley love that this place operates on a sliding scale. Makes it affordable for myself. My counselor is so easy to talk to, shes so compassionate and kind. The atmosphere here is very peaceful and easygoing. My counselor really makes me feel as if she understands me so well. A d I love that while I'm waiting if another counselor walks by they say hello and see if I'm doing alright. The only thing I dont like so much is that they only take cash so I have to pull out mo ey every time. I wish they took debit,credit or etransfer.