Sussex Psychology

"Sadly we didn't have a very positive experience with Sussex Psychology, which I was surprised at, given the nature of the business. The initial communication wasn't great and it took a very long time to get an appointment. The process started with an initial parental consultation (which is very expensive - but we were desperate and waited so long). It was an virtual consultation, which wasn't ideal, but we were really keen to get help as quickly as possible The therapist couldn't pronounce my daughter's name, and I spent the initial part saying her name over and over, with the therapist repeating it back to me incorrectly - this negatively impacted on a therapeutic relationship being formed, given that her name is not complicated in anyway. The consultation felt unstructured . For the most part I felt I was just repeating exactly what had been said in the referral, and in other parts the therapist focused on areas of her own professional interest, rather than the actual issues. It's tough baring your soul to a stranger but harder when you don't feel a connection. Another gripe was that the therapist suggested a number of assessments (to be carried out by parent/teacher). She used acronyms to describe these assessments - without explanation. I had to say to her that I had know idea what these assessments were. I was given the names, but no clinical reasoning behind them or what they would uncover. The assessments were extortionate - especially seeing as we were completing them ourselves. The assessments themselves were absolutely dreadful and in parts we're completely inappropriate - both culturally and in terms of my child's age. I.e. when 'they' visit the grocery store can they manage their money. My child is seven. Both the teachers and I felt they were not appropriate. I later spoke with another child psychologist who questioned why this assessment would be used - given the nature of our referral. Anyway, we had paid for the assessment so completed and returned them. We then had to pay more for the assessments to be scored , and then pay more to discuss the findings. This is when we parted company. We had lost faith in the service. When I emailed to say we weren't continuing with the process, we simply received an email saying that was fine. They didn't appear interested at all in why this was, again, very surprising given the nature of the business."

"I preplanned an appointment at this practice before Christmas due to recent mental health issues. After Christmas I was given an appointment for February and paid an upfront fee of £250. 1hour before my appointment I received a phone call advising me my appointment was cancelled due to a medical emergency. I requested a refund which would be made by a bank transfer, this was agreed however after 10days i still haven't received my refund and after chasing multiple times and promised a payment would be made, no payment still hasn't been made. I honestly couldn't recommend enough to anyone NOT to use this service."

"I'm an adult, I feel on the autistic spectrum but would like an assesment to confirm it. Sent an email on march 2022, not reply. Call them on Jan 2023 and after keeping me on hold I was told that they will send me an email with all the information I will need, still waiting. Unacceptable, specially due to the matter of their business"