Jordan P.
2/5
I have been to this facility on three separate occasions in an attempt for treatment towards my depression. All I can say is that if you can afford anything better, please do that instead, as this place clearly gets its money from court ordered programs and the staff show a total lack of interest.
In my first visit for my evaluation, the first problem I encountered was that the receptionist was disgustingly sick, to the point where she absolutely should not have been working that day. She openly spoke to a colleague, waiting room full, about how she had pink eye, cough, and a debilitating cold. On another visit, 6 weeks later, I arrived 20 mins early to my appointment and waited for 15 until the receptionist showed
up to the main desk, I could hear her talking and laughing with a colleague in the back.
When I went to see the therapist on two different visits (two separate therapists, one an older man, one an older woman) I couldn't help but feel they were both more depressed than I was, and did not care whatsoever, or perhaps had heard so many terrible things throughout the years that it had effected them emotionally. In any case, neither had any enthusiasm whatsoever and I felt as though I was being put into a therapy machine, their approach felt so formulaic and uninspired. After deciding to opt out of therapy, I made an appointment to see the psychiatrist.
She was booked 6 weeks out so it was quite a wait, but that's not her fault. One thing that did make me fairly upset was that upon entering for my appointment, they tell me as I come in that I am not meeting with an actual person but rather am talking through a Skype feed to the psychiatrist who is in Florida. I personally feel that someone might like to have this information beforehand and I can see a person with mental illnesses being very discouraged by not having a physical doctor present. It's just a very impersonal way to have an appointment.
Don't go here unless you have to. The staff are sub par at best, and it is hardly professional in it's approach. I get the impression that things have been sliding in this direction for quite a while and from what I've read about the Des Moines branch, they pay their lower staff members very little while the upper levels make the majority of money. If you need medication, it might be worth it, but if you want a therapist who cares, I suggest other options.
