Pennsylvania Counseling Services (Harrisburg)

A few years back I started working with them and was overwhelmed by the amount of understanding and care I received it felt so good to be heard. I even gave a 5 star rating at the time because they had done so much for me. Well I felt that because they have helped me they might be able to do the same for my son. Boy was I wrong and I am absolutely beyond any doubt PISSED! ..... From day one all the therapist wanted to discuss was him having Fibromyalgia although he had never received the actual diagnosis we only felt he might have it. So began this whole well you should do this for it and do that for it because it is what I do for mine. Or it's what someone I know is doing for theirs. So why am I pissed you ask? A) the therapist was playing doctor for a diagnosis he never received. B) she then would backtrack and say oh well not that I am saying you have it. C) every appointment after that always comes back to his pain not his mental health in general. YES he has pain it is very real. YES we felt that perhaps he might have some mental health issues that were contributing to it. It's a vicious cycle the worse you feel physically the more it affects your mental health and vice versa. He did receive a psych eval and began working with Dr. Witman (amazing individual) she is the medication side of it all. And just like she did with me she began the process of finding the right med or combo of meds that would help him. ... However my kiddo was getting very frustrated with the therapist and her nonsense. She wasn't dealing with anything that caused his mental health issues all she focused on was the pain he was experiencing like how the exact hell is that going to help him? He needed her to help him deal with his past and start the process of healing. She isn't a pain management specialist. He decided that he just couldn't work with her any longer he was not getting any benefit from it. So he told her that he no longer wanted the therapy services but that he did want to continue with med management. He was dropped from both because apparently if he did not continue with therapy he work with the psych doc for the medication side of treatment. Had he known that little gem in advance he might have simply asked if he could work with a different therapist and found some benefit to talk therapy. No treatment means no meds, no meds means increased depression and anger and whatever else comes along with his diagnosis. They didn't even offer him the opportunity to work with someone else so that he could continue to receive help. THIS IS BULLSHIT. ..... I am fighting every urge I have to call them up to let them know exactly what I think. It's the if you can't say anything nice say nothing at all deal. And right now I have nothing nice to say. I have had to edit this post four times to take out certain words. I really hope they see this. I wouldn't be here if I had not gotten the help when I did. But I guess my son doesn't matter to them.

I was a patient under two separate counselors via PCS. Both of the individuals were mediocre therapists. But my real problem, and why I ultimately left, is because of billing/registration. Onboarding paperwork is a nightmare; expect your first two sessions to be devoted entirely to paperwork. My therapist then ended the second session after 40 minutes of this "onboarding" with no actual therapy involved. And yes, you will be paying for the whole hour (they wouldn't even see me without a credit card on file). Beyond that, expect about 10-15 minutes of the sessions to be spent in silence as the couselor attempts to schedule your next appointment/make notes on their computer. And worst of all, communication from billing was non-existent as they randomly charged my credit card whenever they felt the insurance didn't pay enough (after two instances of this I called and cancelled my account). I get that it's not a charity, but jeez.

Honestly this place is an absolute mess! They scheduled us for an initial appointment with a therapist then the therapist calls us to reschedule it when we show up for the appointment there’s no appointment in the book! After waiting for a call back from the therapist and no callback two days later I call and they tell me that therapist is no longer with them!!! So then I’m sent to scheduling again and the scheduling people tell me there’s nothing within 30 days at that office and they cannot see the schedules past 30 days so keep calling back so ridiculous. They are an absolute mess. Their scheduling is an absolute mess and it is a waste of your time don’t go here.