Complete Wellness — Local services in Baltimore

I went to this place 3 years ago. So, maybe it has changed, but if it hasn't, I feel the need to speak my mind. I worked with Jessica Page Sullivan, who was, at first, a perfect psychiatrist. She listened to me when I said I had concerns that I was undiagnosed with more things than previous doctors had just assumed. She put me on new medication. I asked for a psych test, to see if they could uncover some of the things that were harming me.

Guys, when I say this psych test was an absolute sham I mean it. I told the practitioner I often tested strangely with self-report tests, yet when he got my results back, he accused me IN the psych report of lying on my test. He also implied to me that my problems were my own fault for being too sensitive and anxious, and when I cried because of this he asked me leading questions like "are you crying because you think I'm right?" I nodded yes because I have a fear of authority and I'm not going to stand up to this guy - though maybe if I'd known he'd accused me of lying in writing I would have said something. This psych test indicated all I had was severe social anxiety and a little depression. We'd been checking for bipolar, but that didn't show up. Jessica decided to continue treating me for bipolar anyway, ignoring the test, because "bipolar often doesn't show up well on those tests". Fine. At least she was treating me for bipolar.

Then the medications started making me feel ill. I was nauseous all the time. I got a marijuana certification and thank god I did, because if I smoked before meals I could eat without gagging. I told her the medication was making me nauseous, but something had changed. She stopped listening to me. She told me it was probably the marijuana reacting badly with me. So on the nausea medication I remained. (I know what it is now, btw - it was Lamictil, if anyone else has any similar problems when they go on Lamictil).

Then I started to suspect that maybe I had ADHD that had been overlooked all my life. I brought this up with Jessica on three separate occasions, and she denied even checking for it on all three. She told me the test I had taken was quite good at picking up ADHD. Two things on that: the man told me that he knew "right away that you didn't have ADHD because you didn't fidget". Which, many of you may know, is a B.S. way of diagnosing ADHD. Secondly, when I went and got evaluated by an ADHD expert, he told me that the kind of test they gave me is actually very BAD at picking up ADHD. This was after I left Complete Wellness. I left because of Jessica ignoring my queries on ADHD without further explanation than a test that we were already ignoring for my bipolar disorder, and because communication really started to break down.

I don't know if Jessica had some personal problem in her life at this time, but she became impossible to contact reliably. That, or she just didn't like me, I don't know. Maybe I annoyed her. It was, regardless, pretty unprofessional. Now I go to a psychiatrist out of my network in Cockeysville who has been working with me for maybe a year and a half now. He took me off the medication that was making me so ill, completely changed my regimen, and has completely changed my regimen several times since as we work on treating my resistant-to-treatment depression and other things. He's extremely responsive to questions, his secretary is the best I've ever seen at putting in prescriptions in a timely manner, and he truly cares about getting me into a healthy space. The man APOLOGIZES to me for how long it's taken. I've never seen a psychiatrist apologize - if you don't get better on the medications they recommend for you, somehow it's your fault, you know? This isn't an ad for him, but his name is Dr. David Goodman, I wholeheartedly recommend him. HE'S what I was missing while I was wasting time here with a psychiatrist who would no longer listen to my questions or complaints. I hope she's gotten better, but I just don't know. Every practice seems to have a horror story, and I guess...

Starting with the good… I want to say that Dr. Whitten is a great therapist and helped me a lot with my DPDR symptoms. However, the management and billing team is very unprofessional and kinda a scam. I paid $95 for my no show fee because I was depressed at the time and couldn’t bring myself out of bed. I understood that. A week later, come to my surprise when I was then sent an email billing me additional fees I was ASSURED I wouldn’t be billed due to critical family health crisis. The week in question and the week prior, my parents had severe health problems. My mother had seizures then my dad was in the ICU and was hospitalized for 2-3 weeks which lead to me not being able to make it to my appointments. I called beforehand and was TOLD there would be no fees as it was a family emergency so they “understood.” One month later I get sent a bill and a collections notice about the balance!!! I didn’t even know that the balance existed before I got a collections notice through the mail!!! WHAT IS THIS?!! I called today and the exact person that notified me that there wasn’t going to be fees went back on their word and stated he would have never said anything like that in risk of jeopardizing his job. So now the billing management, specifically this guy, is denying any reassurance of my responsibility to the fee the sneaky collections notice that came WITH the bill that was sent through email A MONTH after the fact. A bill they didn’t tell me I had last week when I paid $95 for fees! The therapists and on-site staff are amazing, but the billing team doesn’t care if your parents are dying, they’ll charge you for the session anyways. For a therapy organization, it is disheartening how much they lack in understanding for your life outside and how it affects your treatment. Don’t get me started on the parking. 3/10 would not recommend to anyone who cares about their finances, let alone an...

Takes CareFirst and doesn't require you use their counselors to see a prescribing psychiatric nurse practitioner. The office has moved to 10 E. Baltimore Street, 14th floor.

When I got there the receptionist was gone for 15 minutes, and came in with no apologies and 4 people waiting. The furniture all looks like it's from Second Chance. The only furniture in the waiting room is a cheap microfiber corner couch. Thankfully the four men in the room allowed 2-3 of the women waiting to sit and just stood awkwardly.

I got into the practitioners office and once again it had the Second Chance thrifted feel, where she had no shelves or hook for her purse, an old beaten-up table, I sat in another awkward sink-in love seat that was at an awkward angle to her desk.

The artwork is terrible, there's plenty of room for waiting area seating that is completely unutilized. The receptionist had new patient information sitting on her undersized desk for all to see as opposed to the typical set-up with a multi-level desk with privacy barrier.

The practitioners were very casually dressed, and it's no wonder. Nothing about the physical built environment feels respectful of patients or providers. There are cords running everywhere along the walls despite the space seeming built-for-use. Where is my money going as a patient? I will be looking for a new psych for my re-check, I just can't give my money to a place this...