Barbara M. Balowitz, LCSW 4035 12th Street Cutoff Southeast, Salem, OR 97302

"My experience with Barbara was quite good and I'm dismayed by all the really negative reviews I see posted. Im aware that many people post reviews when they're unhappy with services, but forget to post when they're pleased, and why I'm here today. My husband & I saw Barbara about 6 years ago. We'd seen a previous counselor before. She was young and very "sweet" and kept telling us to remember why we loved each other and to practice it. It didn't work very well. Never did she probe deeply enough to find out what our issues really were. So 2 years later we saw Barbara. She was very professional and tested us both for depression, being concerned because I scored so highly on the depression scale. And she was right, but I already knew that . My husband was highly controlling and knowing this, I just let him speak first. And Barbara just let him talk. Then I had my say. And this is how things went for the next few sessions. My spouse was never cut off from speaking, ever. But the more he spoke, the more I recognized his comments were nonsensical, just as I had felt when we engaged at home. Yet Barbara did nothing at all to make him feel this way; she just let him run on. After several sessions, he was just furious: accusing me of tricking him by letting him talk first and thus "trapping him" into revealing all his "secrets". Divorce was not far off as I continued to learn more about him, but Barbara had pegged him from the first and she just let him talk. I did continue to see Barbara a few more times alone, because of the concerns about depression. But about the 3rd or 4th visit she just looked at me and said, " You're not depressed anymore!" And she was exactly right!"

"I decided to visit the Marriage Counselor in order to get some advice and help for my relationship. I was very impressed with the counselor's professionalism and their helpful advice. I highly recommend this business for marriage counseling!"

"I met Barbara when I was in a very low place in my life. She belittled me and my session with her was very damaging. Barbara projected her own experiences on me, which was unhelpful and unprofessional. Do not recommend."

"I took my daughter to her years ago. She ignored my daughter's problems she needed help with and insisted my then abusive husband be involved in the decision making and therapy. She violated my truth and my daughter's trust in mental health professionals leaving us both with more permanent trauma from asking for help and being ignored and blamed."

"Really? Went in with the wife for marital counseling. I was asked 1 question by her. I said a grand total of 5 words the whole 45 minutes. She asked all other questions to the wife. She deemed that not only did the wife and I need marital counseling but we needed individual counseling as well which she was happy to provide for a fee. I mean can anyone really determine if a person needs individual counseling after they say 5 words? What an intuitive and competent individual. It must be a burden for her to be so talented and decisive with so little information to go on. We didn't go back."