Sagent Behavioral Health - O'Fallon

“The “queer therapist” asked, “Are you sure you won’t find a man one day?” The therapist also made derogatory comments about my height & build by calling me “a giant”. They charged a $200 late fee despite the therapist ALWAYS being late. The therapist tells her other patients about you as a patient. They didn’t process any of the appointments until today and called saying we owe them thousands. Also a little weird the therapist constantly called me “he/they” when I am female presenting and never stated otherwise.”

“Sandhill recently went through a change in their billing and communication system. Their previously consistent reminders for appointments were shut down without notice and only after I was notified that I missed an appointment was I also notified that their systems were transitioning and notification reminders were down. While I know I should have setup my own reminders for my appointment, and I understand that the policies are to protect a therapists salary, I can't say I understand a fee of $150 for missing one session. I shouldn't have relied on Sandhill's notifications but they had until now never let me down. I thought they were consistent and went with it and found out that I had overlooked an appointment and was not able to make it. Shame is I really like the therapist I was working with and now see it's money over mind in all cases. There is no appeal, there is no talking with someone in charge, I just got "It's the policy, I don't control it" response. This whole experience has really damaged my urge to seek help from therapists. I had never missed a session until now and $150 with a zero tolerance is pretty steep.”

“Apparently, my issue isn't unheard of. I spoke with the therapist for a consultation who seems so lovely and sweet. I was excited to have my son seen. On the day of appointment, I get a nasty call from customer service demanding a payment method. Not only was I never asked for this and it would have been provided if it had, but her unprofessional accusatory attitude, the fact that a third party handles the payments and her bold-faced lying saying the insurance "wasn't verified" when I asked the out of pocket amount were the nails in the coffin for me. She doesn't do insurance verification and simply had to say she didn't know then referred me to the proper person. Instead, she called like she works in collections and I owed them thousands of dollars. I am not setting foot in a "mental health" institution that operates like a predatory lender. I'll keep looking for CARE instead.”

“If I could give them 0/5 stars I would. I made weekly appointments with Andrea under the impression that my copay was $25, I will take partial blame, I should have done more research and looked into my copay myself. Each session, three weeks in a row, I was billed $25 and sent on my way. My fourth session I was greeted and brought in for therapy only to be told that my copay is actually $75 and that not only do I owe her $75 for that day, but I owe her $75 for ALL of the other sessions in the past, totaling $125-150. Also, if I can't pay $75 for that day's session I would be charged the late cancellation fee of $120. I don't know about you, but as a young professional I have to budget EVERYTHING and that kind of money doesn't usually fit in the budget. I had to stay for my session and pay the $75. Fast forward to almost a week ago 07/27/2022, I missed my appointment (my fault and I paid for it), when Andrea and I spoke she said we needed to set something up for me to get my balance paid off and I said that I would, but that money was really tight at the moment. Fast forward to today, 08/02/2022, Sandhill has my ENTIRE REMAINING BALANCE, $125 pending on my credit card. Thank goodness it's not on my debit card!! To sum this all up, there is a lack of ethics, professionalism, and empathy within this counseling service. Somewhere that is more worried about your money than your mental well being is not somewhere I would recommend to anyone.”