Counseling Associates of Southern Illinois
Reviews
My husband and I were seen at your office today. The staff was very friendly, the wait time was impeccable however the counselor (Scott Baer) did not seem to mediate helping my husband and I with our differences in an impartial way. At one point I made a comment about something that bothers me that my husband does and the counselor stated verbatim in a nonchalant kind of way..."well that's all guys". Which led me to believe that he was saying that I need to just get over it. At another point in conversation my husband made a statement about something I do that he doesn't like and I responded to what he said then the counselor immediately smiled at my husband and said "I now see what you mean", seeming to refer to what my husband said about me. Isn't a counselor supposed to listen to both sides impartially, and help them to learn how to better communicate? It doesn't take a degreed counselor to know that this was very unprofessional and inappropriate as a counselor. All this counselor served to do is further distance my husband and I. My husband was just loving this little session and as we were leaving took up for the counselor...I mean why wouldn't he right? I chose a male counselor to make it easier for him to want to go and in the end what I did by doing that was to put myself alone in a room with what seemed like two he man woman haters. All in All in all we spent 45 minutes with this counselor, it was our first time with this counselor and our first counseling session since 1988. In 88 our counselor was also a male (for my husband) and never did he say, "well that's all guys", nor has any counselor ever pointed out in such a cavalier way that they agree with one party while seeming to insult the other. The counselor we had back in 88 did not do this. Instead he helped us to identify what each of us were doing to upset the other and helped us to find ways of communicating in a manner that would be conducive to our relationship. I just can't help but to wonder how many couples have come to Mr Baer seeking his help but ended up leaving with more problems than what they came in with. I let Mr. Baer know I didn't appreciate his comments and let him know we wouldn't be returning. He offered the option of us seeing a different counselor at counseling associates but given his behavior I can only surmise what I could expect in your clinic. I am certain there are others out there who have had problems with this counselor but just didn't say anything ( I can't imagine there isn't after my experience) but I just can't do that because their are couples whose marriages (with small children) depend on the help they seek from counselors in order to keep their marriages healthier which also may transend into healthier parenting as well. Thank you for taking the time to listen to my concerns.