Personal Counseling Services, Inc.

“I am the honest Indian woman I want your honest family of 9 to own this nation. I am living in Marengo. Your second oldest brother is an honest judge in my town. I have never hurt anybody and have been mentally messed with for 64 yrs. Of my life. My life starts all the way back when the Marengo warehouse was an army barracks.”

“I would recommend going just about anywhere else. My therapist would consistently end sessions early, the last one ending 30 minutes early after I had said some pretty heavy stuff to which he had no comment on and rescheduled me and walked me out. The only advice I got from him was "to look at all the blessings in my life". So "just be happy" was his main point in every session. They also have no one else available as of right now.”

“This place is horrible. I would never recommend them to ANYONE! The lady who provides the medication is only available on Wednesdays, which doesn’t leave much room for scheduling if you have a full time job. She doesn’t listen to your concerns at all. I have several diagnoses and she refused to give me any medication for my severe anxiety because she kept saying it was stress. I’ve had more than enough stress in my life but that is irrelevant. Stress or not - I am still diagnosed with anxiety and have been on medication most of my life for it. Because I am on the smaller side, she refused to up my medication dose because I was petite. Petite or not - if the medication isn’t working it isn’t working. She and the receptionist will not call you back to reschedule. They scheduled me for a day I wasn’t even in town and flat out didn’t call my back when I left several voicemails to reschedule. They stopped scheduling my appointments for 3 months straight and wouldn’t provide refills. It was like pulling teeth just to get a refill of the medication I HAVE to have in order to function. I’ve had to literally ration out my medication and only take half my daily dosage because if I didn’t have my medication I would get very sick with bad side effects. The medication works, but doesn’t count if they DON’T REFILL IT OR SCHEDULE MY APPOINTMENT TO REFILL IT. The therapist I provided was great, but also, was a scheduling issue. They quit scheduling me for her, also. Therefor I had no medication, and no therapist because everyone in the office is incompetent at scheduling. I’m by no means trying to be a Karan and I am NOT one to complain about anything. But, you should not have to FIGHT for a medication they provided to you. I would never in a million years recommend them to anyone.”

“About five months ago, I began seeing Emily for weekly therapy sessions. At the first appointment she asked me why I was there, i.e. what I needed from therapy and I told her, "I drink too much". I had no idea what was in store for me. Drinking was the tip of the iceberg. It wasn't until this morning that I really took the time to reflect on everything that I've been learning through the hard work of therapy. It took very little time to create a huge list of what I titled, "The Gifts of Therapy". I'll post some of them below for anyone who wants to take the time to read them. It might explain what therapy is about for those who are wondering. But suffice it to say, therapy is completely revolutionizing my life. I think the most frightening part of the experience is finding a skillful therapist you can trust. I highly recommend Emily at Personal Counseling Services. Without any hyperbole I can honestly say her clinical support and guidance is saving and renewing my life. I think therapy is still somewhat frowned upon in our society, now that I'm experiencing its benefits I want to sing its praises and do my best to normalize healthy living. I am astonished at all the areas of my life therapy has touched. My list of benefits is below. Remember I showed up to "manage my drinking"! lol. 1. I’m becoming emotionally self-aware granting me the ability to analyze what I am feeling and process why I am feeling it at a given moment. 2. I’m choosing to face childhood traumas with courage instead of denial and dishonesty. 3. I am gaining the ability to identify emotional triggers, which enables me to no longer react in inappropriate ways to common and everyday stressors. Essentially, I don’t misplace my emotional energy and take my feelings out on the wrong person or situation. 4. I am forgiving others who have wronged me. In addition to that, I am forgiving myself for the wrongs I have done against myself and those I love. 5. I am learning to be present with the people I love instead of mentally and emotionally dissociating from them. 6. My purpose, vision, mission, and goals have never been more clear. 7. I am becoming a more patient father and partner. 8. I am learning how and why it is critically important to draw boundaries in relationships. 10. While therapy initially triggered some depression (my therapist prepared me for this) once I pushed past it I acquired a deep personal joy that is only awarded through hard work and personal perseverance. But this joy runs deep and is drawn from a source I never knew existed or had access to. 11. I am sober. I see and understand my connection to alcohol and addictive behavior in a new light. Alcohol is nothing to me. It doesn’t matter, it never did. When I focus on my spiritual and emotional well-being addictions take care of themselves. Addictive behavior is like a deep sleep we enter to escape life. But spiritual/emotional growth is like swimming in a summer pool on a gorgeous sun-splashed afternoon. You don’t think about sleeping when you’re laughing and playing in the pool! 12. I am releasing anger that has been stored inside my heart for a lifetime. 13. I am learning to express my needs in relationships and to provide self-care to myself that I would quickly and readily give to others. Prior to therapy, I was quick and generous with my time and attention. I fed the hungry around me but did not save any “leftovers” for my own needs. I became a spiritual and emotional walking corpse. 14. I have entered a deeper spirituality and found a richer connection to God. 15. Therapy has improved every meaningful relationship in my life and is helping me to eliminate those that are not.”