Metropolitan Counseling Associates

(Note: I second Zachary Davis review of Alexandra Swe.)I attended Metropolitan Counseling Associates' Ascend Lite program in January of 2022. I want to caution patients about this practice, as I am still suffering from the repercussions of my traumatizing time with Ascend Lite. Since the program, I have learned what therapy should look like and want to ensure that parents and young adults are equipped to know what to look out for when it comes to choosing a mental health provider.For parents who are struggling with their relationship with their young adult child, you may find it helpful to know that my Ascend Lite experience resulted in my going no-contact with my parents. Throughout my experience, I did not observe improved parent-child relationships, but instead the opposite. Confrontations were initiated before either party was emotionally prepared for them, under the guise of therapeutic best practices. Rather than let results speak for themselves, therapists told parents that it will get worse before it gets better."In my opinion, MCA takes an oppositional stance towards its patients. Rather than guide patients towards the skills needed for sharing emotions, therapists had us all sit in silence for 20 minutes while waiting for one patient (who had a hard time speaking during group sessions) to share a difficult experience. Patients were frowned upon for what was interpreted as withholding information. Practitioners did not consider that a key component of fostering a group dynamic where patients are ready and willing to share their feelings is maintaining emotional trust and safety, and that following this best practice can result in patients sharing their feelings of their own accord.On an organizational level, decisions were made haphazardly at best and not communicated properly, resulting in distressing confusion over graduation requirements, diagnoses, therapeutic recommendations, and so on. I experienced being told one week that I would need to transition to the full Ascend IOP, the next week that I could remain in the Ascend Lite program, and then the next week that I could not remain due to not meeting sufficient requirements in terms of functioning, such as maintaining a job and a certain number of functioning hours. I was then recommended an expensive residential program instead. (I ll note that I actually had maintained the required functioning hours and that my therapist simply forgot that I had told her about starting a new activity.)I would argue that if functioning is a prerequisite for succeeding in a therapy program that is aimed at helping young adults learn how to function, then practitioners are essentially exonerating themselves whenever a patient s results are less than stellar and taking credit whenever a patient s existing skills are sufficient to get them through the graduation requirements.For my part, I have gained more from attending a DBT group where patients are not docked points for failing to complete homework or tardiness. Instead of interpreting instances when patients fail to complete their homework as "willfulness" (a misuse of an important DBT term), experienced practitioners will recognize that the failure is due to deeper issues that require emotional processing. Even though they may feel personally frustrated, they will recognize the importance of separating their frustrations from work.At MCA, as long as you filled out the homework, you were given points for completing it, regardless of the quality or your sincerity. An earnest patient who failed to complete their worksheet because of perfectionistic tendencies was labeled as "willful" and docked points.I advise you to be wary of financial incentives here. Some of these reviews are from associates of the practice's founders, and others are from patients prompted to push back against a negative review I had previously written and deleted (as it was incredibly emotionally distressing for me and I had wanted to move on). By posting this, I hope to rectify the deletion of my original review.

I genuinely advise against seeing Alexandra Swe for counseling services. I cannot speak for the rest of the team here, but Alexandra has demonstrated to me an extreme lack of the fundamentals of what I believe makes a great therapist- compassion, empathy, and respect. I am choosing not to disclose specific events, but I will say this: her Psychology Today page says that she specializes in grief... That is completely untrue. There was blatant disrespect when my own grief was called into question- to the point that she even began to insult me, and suggest that I keep my feelings on the matter to myself. This therapist is going to do some serious, detrimental damage to someone if she continues to behave this way towards people who are hurting. Seriously, shame on you Alexandra.

Metropolitan Counseling is an incredible place and changes people's lives. Our daughter was a part of their Ascend program a while back and having a team surround, support and help her learn about herself and how to navigate life was exactly what was needed. They bring the family into it as well so that everyone learns and supports as a unit. I have recommended them to others and will continue to do so as I really believe in what they do and who they are.