Caring Couples, Happy Lives

Caring Couples, Happy Lives is a complete waste of your time and money. The therapy we got from Martha at the Mclean office was OK, but the place is run like a corporation. If you miss a session, you have to pay the entire session fee, even in extreme emergencies. They want their money and they don’t care how they get it. We had to miss a session because our two year-​old son was rushed to the hospital the night before after an asthma attack and spent 12 hours in the NICU. When we realized the next day that we forgot about the session in all the craziness of the night before, we sent an email to our therapist explaining the extreme circumstances of our situation. She told us that she could have helped us if we had emailed her before the session (you know, when we were watching our two-​year old baby being wrestled down by nurses so they could get an oxygen mask on him, we were expected to remember to send an email). She didn’t even ask how the baby was doing, she just went through the list of reasons why we had to pay 140 dollars for the missed session. We sent a second email in response to hers, and all we got back was the receipt for the $ 140 (they make you put your credit card on file so they can take the money without asking permission).
Luckily, we were able to find an alternative therapist who charges a $ 50 dollar cancellation fee (which is much more reasonable), has a very flexible schedule, provides high quality therapy, and makes you feel like she really cares about you. I was able to find this alternative in less than 15 minutes after dumping Caring Couples. They are truly the worst therapists in the area. Everything the other reviews say about them is so true. There are plenty of alternatives, your relationship deserves better. DO NOT GO HERE!!!
Update: I received an email from Elizabeth Sloan, the owner of Caring Couples, on May 28, 2014 telling me that she was sorry for what happened. She said that there was a miscommunication with my therapist because the therapist told her that we had simply forgot our appointment, not that we had an emergency with our son. After I provided her with the email chain between me and my therapist detailing the circumstances of what happened, she offered to refund the $ 140 late fee. She also said that she would work on communication with her therapists to make sure this kind of thing didn’t happen again. I told her that the Caring Couples’ cancelation policy was not within industry standards and that none of the other therapists in the area have such a strict cancellation policy. She didn’t agree but said that it is their policy that, in emergency situations like ours, the fee should have been waived. I have raised my star rating of this business from 1 star to 3 stars. While I think the policies of Caring Couples need to be changed and that Caring Couples should align itself with industry norms, I do appreciate Ms. Sloan’s efforts in reaching out to me personally in attempt to provide good customer service and endeavoring to keep clients happy.

What an incredible waste of money, time, and emotion. My spouse and I saw Elizabeth when we were on the brink of separation or divorce at an incredibly stressful and painful time — infidelity, serious financial deceptions, and dangerous secretive behaviors were at the heart of it. Despite detailing these behaviors and my fears and suspicions of imminent new problems, Elizabeth paid no attention and kept on with her usual, rote, generic approach. SO frustrating. As I warned, financial crisis and more affairs DID happen as I suspected they would, and guess what? We were told to ignore this and focus on ‘communication’ and watching ‘letting go of shame’ DVDs. Seriously? She NEVER listened to, or suggested action on, what was actually happening in our lives.
At the end (after spending thousands of dollars for nothing), she basically told us she couldn’t help us anymore. Unbelievable. In our very first session, we were told the rules, one of which was that if either of us or she wanted to end therapy, we were required to discuss it over in one or two final sessions. Yet — she ended therapy DURING A SESSION ABRUPTLY, basically telling us she didn’t think she could help us and we needed to seek out individual therapy. Bye! See ya later! Completely unbelievable.
Not only was she no help, this experience was incredibly harmful psychologically and pragmatically.

It’s funny that it took nearly a year and a negative review on Unilocal to hear back from Elizabeth S., the owner of this company.
I’m sorry, but it’s too little, too late. Your receptionist did indeed take my credit card information and though I called back on three different occasions, I never heard back from you all which is why I came onto
and wrote a review.
In the future, I hope it won’t take a negative review on a public forum for you all to get back to a customer.
I hope this was a one time offense and that things are much improved with your company since my experience last November.
But that’s neither here nor there. I’ve since taken my business elsewhere and if any one asks my opinion of your company, I will be forthright and honest about my experience.