Joseph Bak

My husband and I saw Dr. Bak for about 4 months. He made a huge difference in our lives in those few short months. He is not warm and fuzzy, so if that’s what you’re looking for, look elsewhere. He does have a sense of humor, but he uses it sparingly and only when appropriate. He really helps you problem-​solve and create rules that work for your relationship. What we liked most about him is he didn’t tie everything back to our families of origin. He really helps you live in the here-​and-​now and move forward. His schedule is flexible. He does evening appointments and let’s you schedule your appointments week-​to-​week. There were absolutely NO administrative issues, all of that was very simple.

Dr. Bak is a great therapist. If you want to do the work and get on with living, he’s your guy. If you want to tread water in the sea of your problems; if you want to hang out for an hour killing time so you can tell others (or yourself) that you are «in therapy»; if you want to take years to resolve important, timely issues, look elsewhere. Dr. Bak is quick, he’s wise, he has helped me and others I know solve problems quickly. And those solutions last!

I have to vigorously disagree with Ann N (whose one-​star review seems to have disappeared nearly two years after she wrote it and I wrote this response). If you want a lukewarm wet noodle who empathizes with all your baggage, Joe Bak is not your man. However, if you want a therapist with a penetrating intellect who makes well-​timed interventions with well-​crafted observations, you need look no further.
My wife and I go to him together and we find him brilliant along several veins: (1) Suggesting effective strategies to resolve issues, (2) serving as a referee in our discussions during therapy, and (3) maintaining a low-​key, non-​threatening approach.
He’s been very flexible in scheduling appointments and we’ve had no billing or other admin issues. The «brusque» manner that Ann N. bemoans I find to be a thin veneer stretched over a very dry humor. If I have any complaint about Dr. Bak, it would have to be that he has a tendency to be a bit late to appointments (he runs between two offices — we see him at the one off of Dairy Ashford near I-​10).