TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE
TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE - Beware! Visiting Yvonne for couples counseling was truly the worst and most traumatic experiences I have ever had with a therapist. PLEASE do your research before signing up for any appointment. My partner and I signed up for a couples therapy session with Yvonne because we are huge admirers of the Gottman Institute and needed help with one specific area of our relationship. Yvonne was the first counselor we found who had availability at short notice, and after 25 minutes of our first session it was extremely clear why. Please don't make the same mistake as we did, and use caution before booking an appointment. I would also pay close attention to the other reviewer on Google who claimed that Yvonne was unprofessional, threatened and bullied her, and was left slandered and seemingly also traumatized by Yvonne's personality. It appears that Yvonne has only been a Counselor as her full time profession since February 2023. This was one month prior to our first and only appointment with her. Before that she was an IT project manager. I cannot speak to her skills as a hypnotherapist, only as a counselor. However, based on how quickly she escalated conflict between herself and me, her resistance to logical, reasoned discussion, and the speed and manner in which she withdrew support for those she was supposed to be helping, perhaps the one-sided format of hypnotherapy is more suitable for her. At the start of our counseling session, Yvonne asked very few background questions about our relationship. She clearly didn't appear to understand the nuances of the issues we were there to discuss. We were offered generic feedback that we did not believe were relevant to our situation. She appeared to be personally affected by me telling her so. After 25 minutes of our first session, Yvonne told us that it was not working and she felt like her message wasn't getting through. After her telling us she wouldn't help us any more, the next 20 minutes were spent in a standoff where I was trying to understand why she was not prepared to continue counseling. At one point I literally asked her what I could do or say to have her stick with us. It felt like I was the "adult in the room" and had to convince Yvonne to continue. On multiple occasions, Yvonne cut me off while I was trying to explain my point of view. What's even worse is that, despite getting no value from a session that SHE said wasn't working after 25 minutes, she still charged us $250 for what was supposed to be up to a 90 minute session. My expectation is that a counselor should possess the skills and experience to (1) manage conflict between herself and her patients, steer conversations to healthy resolution; (2) attempt multiple ways to get her message across and not give up when it wasn't initially landing; (3) present ideas and solutions that are relevant to the individuals' needs, not just canned scenarios that had no relevance to the invididuals seeking advice; (4) have the business ethics not to charge someone $250 for 90 minutes of her time when she shut down the communication after 25 minutes ("pulling the rug out"). I could go into much more detail, but the issues are personal to me and I don't want to disclose anything more in public. I'm honestly still shell shocked over this session and feel bullied and manipulated. However, for context, I can say that I am a healthy, high functioning individual, business owner, devoted father, community volunteer with very little conflict in my life. I rarely write any reviews like this, especially not bad ones. I have a very solid, low-drama, long-term relationship that just needed some guidance and advice. I have been to around 6 or 7 counselors in my life for different reasons. I have never experienced anything like what I did with Yvonne. In my opinion you would be well advised to do yourself a favor and stay far away.
By James G.