Utah Valley Psychology 568 East 1400 South, Orem, UT 84097

"**update** Since posting this review I have been emailed several times by the business owner asking to remove my review. I haven't been to this place for therapy in over a year. Just a heads up that if you go here they will still contact you months after. I've never seen a business owner be so concerned with a negative review but do nothing to actually resolve the issue. I saw Dr. Skidmore. The front was helpful, very friendly, and kind. Billing was weird. No 2 appointments cost the same amount. For therapy I just wanted to have a better mindset about exercising. I was transitioning out of a sport and just wanted someone to talk to about it. About 3 months into therapy we finally started discussing this. During a session, he wanted me to sing to him. Yep, that's right, sing to him. I said no but he kept pressuring and nagging me too. It was such a power struggle and he kept insisting. When I kept saying no he told me I had too rigid of thinking and that'd I'd never change. He never explained what singing had to do with me processing or working through my relationship with exercising. Overall, not a great experience. Definitely not a safe environment or a therapist that seemed to care about a patient's well-being or knew where they were at."

"I can tell Dana cares about people. I really appreciate how she texted me back so fast when I was really worried about my son. She is awesome with him. And we still go see her even after she moved. Thank Dana"

"This review is purely about Dana Emmons. I haven't met with anyone else at this office, and they may be great. The 70 minutes I spent this afternoon with Dana Emmons comprise the worst therapy experience I've ever had in my life. She talked at least 90% of the time. My partner and I learned all about her life while she learned hardly anything about our lives. The stories she told us about her life tangentially related to our situation, but weren't helpful in the slightest, and in some ways were detrimental. For example, she asked us what the side effects were to my partner's medical treatments. We mentioned "sensitivity to sunlight." So she went off on tanning for several minutes...the suntan lotion she bought last week that she doesn't know if she's going to use, how tan people are becoming less common, and (my favorite) how she thinks "brown fat" looks better than "white fat" (insinuating that she thought she was fat and that tanning would make her more attractive). She says this knowing nothing of my history with diet culture, fad diets, and disordered eating. It was triggering. And why did she get off on this tangent? Because we mentioned that my partner has sensitivity to sunlight, which is not even a factor in how difficult his chronic illness is for our relationship. She also brought in lots of assumptions (even though she told us she would ask us questions to avoid making assumptions). When she asked us our birth order in our families of origin, she made assumptions about my partner being the youngest. That he must have gotten everything he wanted by crying for it. I told her "actually he had a very traumatic childhood" and she didn't ask about that, even though it is relevant. I've been to half a dozen therapists, and none of them have talked this much about their own lives. She asked us very few questions, made lots of assumptions, and talked at us for far longer than our appointment (making us late to pick up our child). We should have left 10 minutes into the conversation when she talked about brown fat and white fat. I regret not saying "this isn't a good fit" and leaving. Save yourself the time by not going."

"I have had such a great experience here. The front desk is friendly and always helpful and willing to work with your schedule. I cannot speak highly enough about Shawn and how much support he has given me. You will truly feel like you have someone in your corner and he will lift you up and out of any situation, and having you remember who you are and where you want to be. If you are looking for a therapist to jump head first and pull real emotions out of you so you can FINALLY have progress, see Shawn."