James L. Born, PsyD

"I just saw the review below from “Broek” and it’s clear that I need to leave a review. I have been seeing Dr Born since April 2022: so roughly 3-4 months, 1x week. What I find interesting about Broek’s review: she mentioned politics and religion being discussed by Dr Born but she doesn’t mention what she said that led to that reaction. Also take into account that her POV is subjective and she very well could have misinterpreted him. Notice she doesn’t mention: if you go onto the Mt Hood Counseling site it’s clear Dr Born is a Christian counselor. I’ve been to probably 8-10 counselors in my life, Christian and non-Christian. I am a firm believer that both can help- regardless of personal beliefs. However, when I made my initial appointment I had not researched him prior and had no idea he was a Christian counselor either. My lucky day, I’m a Christian. But I wasn’t practicing my faith at all when I scheduled and I KNOW God brought me to Dr Born. If you do research him, you’ll see that Dr Born recently ran for OR State Rep (district 52, I believe) as a Republican. HELLO BROEK! Are you going to also blame Dr Born for your lack of due diligence or is that his fault as well? A psychologist who doesn’t tell you what you want to hear in the initial intake doesn’t disqualify them, but it does say something about you: you were looking for affirmation and you didn’t get it. Go see Dr Woke next time, there are plenty of providers in PDX who will coddle you- but you are 1000% right: Dr Born won’t. He wants to actually help people, not tell them what they want to hear. I will say this: I have never in all my years of seeking mental health met someone like him. Not ONCE has he mentioned medication. Not ONCE has he cut me off or made me feel unheard. Not ONCE has he been inappropriately political or religious- this man has listened to me babble on so many times. When I do this and I start apologizing profusely, I also tell him how at times my behavior/communication is not well-received by people. Do you know what he says? He says, “you have a strong mind, that is a gift. Focus on those that accept you the way you are”. Sounds pretty awful, right? (*sarcasm). Broek, I would recommend in the future: do basic research of your provider before scheduling, accept opposite POV’s in life and use them to reinforce your own beliefs, take accountability. You and you alone scheduled with him- no one else did. You need to realize that not all providers are the right fit for everyone- stop blaming other people vs accepting responsibility. Realize that ANY mental health counselor that tells you exactly what you want to hear is probably not a good provider. You say he diagnosed you within 3 minutes, but it’s interesting that you didn’t mention what YOU said. What I hear is: within 3 minutes you made up your mind too. Clearly within that 3 minutes you were put off and didn’t give him a chance. You are tearing down someone’s well-being, how would you feel if someone did that to you? Critical thinking assessment/outcome: you didn’t hear what you wanted to and decided that the best way to get your voice heard was to write a negative review online and say Dr Born triggered you. How about this: don’t make someone else the scapegoat because they didn’t recite the indoctrination statement you wanted to hear. PTSD absolutely will cause a person to be dismissive in the way you obviously are- sounds like he was spot-on. You may need to work on vocalizing your concerns in real time vs online after the fact. “Keyboard warriors” are destroying society today; saying he “made up his mind” right away in a review online tells me maybe it was YOU who was quick to judge. For all we know you may have said, “I know Santa Claus is real” and he quietly sat shaking his head, pondering the best approach to that. Your review sounds vengeful. Maybe next time you schedule any type of personal care/mental health/physical health appointment: make sure you aren’t quick to categorize the provider. It goes both ways."

"Worst experience ever! Close-minded and extremely judgmental. He diagnosed me as having PTSD like it was a routine in about 3 minute. Okay, maybe it’s just me but I don’t want to talk about politics OR religion during any session. He brought both up multiple times and I made sure I didn’t give him an inclination of how I stood on either of the topics. He would keep mentioning Israel and how they do things there and mentioning people who I assume are in the bible. I do not care, nor am I interested. The 3rd visit he brought something up about politics and I didn’t agree with his statement but I was extremely respectful and just said “I understand but I don’t see it that way” and wanted to move on from the subject. Then I told him about a personal experience and he was adamant that I did not witness such a thing. I just nodded and said okay. He looked back down at his paper for about a solid minute, looks over at me with his neck literally shaking and says “you need to do some research.” And looked back down at the paper for an extended length of time…so long that I almost got up and walked out thinking he was just done with me. I wasn’t sure. Finally, he slowly looked up at me and says “okay, anyway…what are we working on today?” So, if you are comfortable with feeling judged because you have had different experiences or views than him…this is your guy."

"Fantastic service. Very helpful and caring. Highly recommended"