Mary Petersen-Cleary, LCSW-R

I too had a similar negative experience with Mary Beth. Although having begun the healing process, it was suggested I might benefit from EMDR due to childhood trauma. She started our first appointment late (I was 15 minutes early). She looked at her phone 4 times during the initial session and when I pointed this out to her asked me if 'it was going off'. When I set boundaries for our discussions (ironically an issue I was trying to improve upon and I didn't want to waste time discussing behaviors I used to have), she accused me of not being honest. My honesty was confessing that I felt the purpose of a therapist is to be an objective individual to help those in periods of crisis and help introduce strategies to cope in the future. My impression of Mary Beth is that she feels the therapeutic relationship should be lengthy or quite possibly as long as the insurance holds out.

I saw Mary Beth to help me handle some family issues. I found her to be mature, insightful, and non- judgmental while still pointing out my part in the issues. She gave me excellent suggestions towards a very satisfactory outcome and ultimately peace of mind.

I went to Mary Beth twice a few years ago for help coping with psychological and emotional abuse from my mother. The experience with her was traumatic in itself. I confided in her about my experience with my mother in the past. That's all I talked about with her - just how hurt and confused I was. I went to TWO sessions. The second session - I was stuck in traffic and having a bad day. I started venting about the morning with my mom. She looks at me with a straight face and says - "you are narcissistic and probably bipolar." I burst out in tears and she almost looked relieved to see it. Just awful.. that's not how you "relay" the news to someone even if those things were true, especially during the beginning of the second session. I don't know where to report this. I've gotten therapy since but I don't want anyone to experience something like this. I am in a much better place emotionally than I was and this experience still affects me to this day. She should NOT have a license.