Mccarthy Counseling Associates's Online Review Report Card

This place was recommended by a dear friend. Initially I had an excellent therapist (Katie West). She left the practice and I was assigned someone else. My sessions were not productive and I would find myself moody at the end of the sessions. I then started seeing the new therapist, if I can even call her that, who wasn't helpful either and when I experienced a crisis she became biased and was not even listening to my concerns. I felt judged and disrespected. I requested my record to be transferred and her notes don't reflect the substance of our sessions. The notes are generic in content and only denotes what they want to portrait of me which is not reflective of my persona. If I could, I would give them a complete "0". Stay away from this place. Do not accept their suggestions and if it involves large amounts of money, please seek a second opinion.

We were referred to Dr Mccarthy by our primary physician for our son. After medication was not giving the desired results we followed up on the referral. The first two visits went as expected. And even the QEEG was acceptable. After the QEEG test we were told by staff that we would hear results within about two weeks. After reaching the aforementioned time we contacted the office to be told it would be a few more weeks. We again called and were told it would be a few more weeks. Again we called back and told it would be another week. With no medication or treatment for our son, we were growing quite desperate. Finally I went to the office and the front desk clerk set me an appointment for the following Monday. That Monday we had weather that delayed my children from going to school at their regularly scheduled time. My appointment was at 8 AM and the kids didnt go to school until 9:30. Obviously as i recieved this notification less than 24 hours prior to the appointment I could not make the appointment. As father of 5 this presented a problem as I was not able to take 5 children with me to the Dr's office. The appointment was rescheduled. We finally received our test result via snail mail along with an invoice for a missed appointment. After contacting the office we were told this was their policy and the payment would be expected. I was told I would need to contact Dr Mccarthy to have this overridden. Ultimately we were discharged from his practice due to our disagreement on his "zero tolerance policy." I would recommend any counselor besides his as his only form of treatment is LENS neurofeedback. Consider all other options as this treatment is not covered by most insurance.

So, every once and a while you need some help. Back in May I decided to start seeing a counselor to help me with somethings that I had been struggling with and help me be a better person for my family and myself. After discussions with some friends, I decided on McCarthy Counseling Associates, they came highly recommended. I never missed an appointment, I did have to change a couple but always did it ahead of time with no problems. I had an appointment scheduled for July 3 and they called to confirm on July 2, which I did. This was before my husband ended up in the ER and then total incapacitated for approximately 2 weeks. Now, my fault I did forget my appointment, but when I did remember, a little till 5, as I was driving by the place of business after I had just picked up my husbands medications from cvs. I immediately called and spoke to the woman at the front, I believe her name was Catherine, and told her what had happened and apologized profusely. I did notate a bit of an attitude from, Catherine, but carried on as I had so much going on with Jack and managing the rest of my family. I did not make an appointment for last week but did make one for today. Today, I arrived at said appointment and spent my allotted time with my counselor, who shall remain nameless as this really has nothing to do with her. I went out to pay and the girl at the payment area said "your balance today is 70$". (my copay is 20$) I asked why today so much, she stated that I had a missed visit. I said, my husband was in the ER, it certainly wasn't done on purpose. She looked at me with this sheepish grin and pointed at Catherine and told me I would have to speak with her. I stuck my head around the corner and again told her what had happened and if she didn't believe me that I would be more than happy to bring in paperwork to prove that I just didn't skip out on a visit. She then proceeded to tell me that those were the rules and there was nothing that she could do about it. "People call all the time and try to get out of appointments cause their kids are sick or they just can't get there", this is her explanation. I again explained that this was not the case that my husband had been very ill and had ended up in the hospital admitted 2 days later and we still had no idea what was wrong with him. Obviously there was no talking to this woman, so I walked back to the lady to pay and said pay the amount due but I will not be back. I then walked back to the counselor's door and knocked. When she came back I told her that they were charging me for the missed visit and I would not be back. When I walked back around, Catherine was in the window where I was paying and I said to her "I just want to let you know who cruel and heartless I think you are, you are supposed to be a counseling center and you can't make an exception. I've never missed an appointment and called to change when ever needed. I will be telling everyone I know just how heartless you are here and hopefully they will tell everyone they know and you will end up losing patients, because I can't imagine anyone wanting to come somewhere to be helped when you are not concerned with helping anyone." She started to say something and I said..I'm not done..and continued to tell her how poor of a way to run a business and how again I WILL NOT BE BACK. Catherine, then told me as I was walking away that is the rule. I told her that there are exceptions to every rule and this one was not set in stone....and I shut the door firmly behind me. So, what I'm asking is please share this with your friends especially in the Myrtle Beach and surrounding areas. McCarthy Counseling Associates will not make exceptions to ANY extenuating circumstances, which by the treatment of me and my circumstance today would only assume that any accidents, no matter how critical and possibly any deaths, will also not be excused. How can somewhere that is supposed to help and nurture people in times of needs be so cruel and money hungry. I do understand that they have a business to run and if I was someone who routinely did not show and call ....I get it. But I had a legitimate, legal, serious reason....and they couldn't make an exception. Even the counselor said when I didn't show she knew something serious must of happened because that just wasn't me. I do not recommend McCarthy Counseling Associates and will tell as many people as I can. Please just share this story at least once and lets see if we can't get the word out. If I save one person from having to go thru what I just went thru...I will feel so much better inside