Therapists - Edmonds, WA

"I've been seeing Dr. Fenlason for about two years. He's very attentive and easy to talk to. He tries to incorporate new methodologies that he believes will help (with my permission). He is also not just a Christian counselor, as I am not religious and he has never made me feel a need to change. "

"I will keep the brief. I was looking for a counselor for myself and stumble upon Doralissa. We had a few sessions and during one of them, she told me I felt slightly dangerous/she’s in danger, may be a psychopath, may be a social path, and in the spectrum. I listened and said ok. She asked if I knew why she might say that and I said that perhaps she’s having a hard time reading me. She said yes and that most of her clients she had crying by a session or 2. She then seems bothered that I wasn’t bothered. I asked her why would I be? She’s supposed to be the professional and I’m more curious why she may think that. Now, I know that nobody reading this knows me but I am 100% none of those things. I’ve had many family counseling sessions over many years and this has never even been hinted at. She recommended I see someone else, which I did. I asked him to look for any signs that she may be on to something and after 5+ sessions, they were confident that was a clear misdiagnosis and did not have any idea why she would say that . For me, it’s become a funny story but I think that downplays the seriousness of her statement. If she thought I was dangerous or she was in danger, didn’t she have an obligation to do something? If she felt I was a psychopath and or social path, and also told me so, isn’t that something that needed addressing? I considered my sessions with her a waste of time and my first experience with a poor counselor. "

"My (now Ex) wife and I went to Ray for counseling and we put in a considerable amount of time with him. Our marriage had completely disintegrated because of my ex's horrible behavior. I understand now that she was a sociopath; an extraordinary one at that and possibly even a dangerous . Looking back at how I described my concerns and issues to Ray, he should have been able to spot this for what it was a mile away. Instead, he chose to view us as just any old couple who had grown apart, as though we simply needed better communication skills. The police ended up at my home more than a dozen times, I and others now have restraining orders protecting us from her, and both of our sons have ended their relationship with her. The outrageous stories of her behavior that was not just bad, not just illegal but truly crazy and preposterous could fill a book. And we need better communication skills? Really? Through all the sessions we spent with Ray, I felt like he gave us text book approaches without understanding the true nature of our problems. I'm going to a professional because I need real expertise and meaningful insight; I don't need someone who is going to pass me some generic communication exercises that he copied out of a text book to go home and practice (this is exactly what he did) As I've come to understand, there's no hope that a sociopath will ever understand or better manage their behavior. I had to end the marriage. And that's okay, but it should have been Ray helping me understand what this behavior was so that I could have come to that conclusion earlier and saved years of ongoing agony. It took going to a different counseler who understood very quickly what my situation was. Ray should have been listening harder and observing more and considered the possibility that our situation was so much more than simply growing apart."

"The short of it is: we were charged about $750 before any actual therapy happened. These were 3 intake sessions. Yuwei was not transparent in her rates - which are buried somewhere in the many pages of documents you have to sign. Nor is she transparent about not accepting any insurance despite the forms she has you fill out has a section where you upload your insurance information. For all of the "equity" talk on her website - she is completely oblivious to how much money this is for a normal working family. What couple could possibly afford the $1250/month worth of therapy she is going to prescribe to you? Despite us saying that we're not in crisis, simply interested in gaining more tools as a couple, she bulldozed over what we had requested - which was monthly sessions, and then urged that we do two sessions a week! 8x what we were doing with our previous therapist. $750 - and all that happened was getting our backstory. No actual help, nothing at all tangible. So I can't comment on if this massive investment will ever have any payoff. With the price that Yuwei charges I'm certain going on a monthly vacation would be a much more productive use of your money. P.S. You cannot claim you're an "equitable" therapist and do nothing to accept health insurance."