We've been using a profoundly helpful SW for couples counseling for 20 years off/on...and for better or worse, we're still married. LOL, she sets a good example of different approaches to each partner's communication and psy. issues of compatibility/incompatibility, not as a People's Divorce Court (or stay in troubled marriage, but as a true listener and focus-er! read more

I was a patient/client of social worker Lillian Nakasinde. I met her 2 times by zoom. I trusted her with very private mental health information. I provided her with a simple critique of a careless letter that she wrote for me at my request for my housing office. She then went to her supervisor Lisa Walker and claimed that I called her a horrid anti racial word, which is false, and I recorded each of my zoom meeting with her with my telephone's simple app Voice Recorder. For a social worker to do this to a mental health patient is profoundly abusive. First time since the 1990's when I began in mental health that anyone has done this. I told other medical clinicians and they were horrified. read more

My son was a client of Riverside. He ran away over the summer. An alert was put out by his hospital. The Riverside therapist misread it and sent me a message assuming he was found at a hospital. I immediately alert authorities. We ran around looking at all hospitals and ultimately another therapist from Boston childrens realized they misread the alert and caused unnecessary stress to a desperate mother. Fast forward to 6 months later after he is found. We're swimming in state services and overwhelmed. Signing countless releases Riverside just added to the noise. The day of my sons 1st appointment since running away 6 months ago i get a phone call from the admin saying his insurance expired. I know his masshealth is fine. I'm at work and can't talk so I thank her to end the call. I guess she wanted more of a response in the moment because she went ahead and told the panicky therapist I had cancelled services. I had recently cancelled a different bundle of services and not this therapist it was a different service. So I get another frantic phone call from the therapist asking if I'm cancelling my sons appointment she needs to be sure that the admin had said I cancelled. I've never seen a provider get involved in hiking disputes and I've never seen a billing dept relay to a provider an appointment is cancelled if the client never canceled the appointment personally. All just disorganized and passive aggressive. In any case this therapist is because the previous therapist moved away and we had to transfer. Before she left she informed me she didn't feel my son was getting much from the services and more than once suggested we end the service. So it's not like he'll be missing much. Usually people get a referral to work with Riverside we once had a therapeutic mentor that had no clue what they were doing and causing my son distress out in the community. I'd find other services I had a very sloppy experience with Riverside read more

Riverside Community Care - Imagine a mental health professional doing this to you? - Counseling & Mental Health Near Me - Dedham, Massachusetts

I overpaid for an appointment and they ignore my repeated requests for refund. The billing department doesn't even answer the phone. I leave messages and they never call back. Frustrating. read more

While the staff and counselors at Riverside Clinic are exceptional, I have serious concerns about some of their recent practices. The clinic has shifted from having licensed doctors diagnosing and prescribing medications to using "certified prescribers." While this could be acceptable, these prescribers are now diagnosing and prescribing potentially dangerous medications without a licensed doctor's approval in new treatment paths. Another serious issue is that Riverside's business managers/ supervisors are issuing "new medication policies" that directly alter patient medications. These policies often bypass the decisions of certified nurse prescribers and may not be in the best interest of patients. It appears that administrative personnel, who may lack the necessary medical qualifications, are influencing prescription decisions against the better judgment of certified prescribers. It seems that well-established medications are being restricted, possibly due to concerns about the potential for large-scale lawsuits. Instead, there is a push to prescribe less common medications with known side effects, which might be easier to manage legally if individual patients were to take legal action. The American Medical Association (AMA) Code of Medical Ethics emphasizes that physicians should make clinical decisions based on patient needs and not be unduly influenced by external entities. read more

Don't even bother using their emergency services line, THEY DON'T PICK UP. I don't know if it was shift change, a lack of staff, or just a blatant disregard of community needs, but regardless, it's ridiculous. I called three times and called another organization to help transfer me thinking that maybe there was a number they had that would let me speak to someone, and yet again NO ONE PICKED UP. I don't understand how you have a 24hr mental health service with this type of response. I pray to the heavens that no one else called last night with an emergency. I have begun the formal complaint process and will inform other families with mental health needs to steer clear of Riverside if they can help it. read more

I felt compelled to add to my previous review. Riverside doesn't even offer one-on-one therapy with a professional therapist. The employees they refer to as "therapists" are actually student interns from William James College or Lesley University. I was on a waitlist to meet with a student. This is disgusting and outrageous! I can't believe that this organization receives government funding read more

This place is the worst! They don't care and should not be considered a crisis center! They clearly only care about how much money they could be paid if they admit you to a hospital. The intake person did not look at me while I was speaking, he looked at my husband who was sitting right next to me. It was extremely unprofessional! DO NOT GO HERE!!!!!!!! read more

They are just there to take your money, nobody know what they are doing. Looking for a therapist for 3 months at that agency and they just want to have a zoom meeting every week with me but can't find a therapist for my kid. Awfu!! read more

They have no ethics, never put in referal, refuse to tslk to certain natural supports, fresh out of school employess, over bearing family partners, read more

Shared living with Riverside gets a low rating from this client, rules and regulations weren't followed and the provider, no matter how wrong, was always given the benefit of the doubt . Not recommend. read more

Intake coordinator has no problem ignoring request for appointment for several weeks. Psychiatrist makes recommendations by reading verbatim out of a book and asking you what you think, he has no personal experience prescribing to medication to share with you and has no insight into the most current opinions about treatment. Counselors are often interns who seem to be learning their social work curriculum backwards, and don't write down or review what you've been talking about together. And when confronted with criticism they can only utter unemotionally "you're feelings are perfectly valid." These people have less social skills than their patients. They walk around with plastered smiles on their faces and speak to you in tones they may feel sound professional, but actually come across as distant and patronizing. read more

Riverside honestly has to be the worst crisis intervention center I have ever seen in my life.. I came in here once because I didn't have a place to go and was suffering a depressive episode. I was left in a room for over 4 hours without food or water to be told that they had found a place for me to go that was almost an hour away and that I had to get there immediately or couldn't sleep there because of there check in day.. I asked if there was food there the answer was no so needless to say I ended up sleeping in my car .. Second time I dealt with them was sent to a respite house in Norwood , absolutely horrifying, the night in arrived there was a man roaming around the hallways coming up to me and hitting on me and following me and the staff was laughing saying " oh don't mind him he's a wack job " ( in nicer terms" ) Barely slept an hour before I left as soon as possible. read more

Horrifying, terrible place. The first time I went there I was 16. They held me in a room away from my dad after I begged him not to leave me. I was left alone and other patients began coming into the room and warning me to leave. Later, they sent a woman in who did not identify herself, and she began making threats. She said if I did not calm down and agree to stay in the home she would call child protective services and have me and my two younger siblings removed from the custody of my father. We had just lost our mother to cancer, so as you can imagine, hearing this threat come out of the mouth of someone who was supposed to help me was traumatic. I was 20 when I was sent there the second time, against my will. They placed me in an adult home in Norwood that included women and men, all who were over a decade older than me (something I was extremely uncomfortable about.) I was given a roommate who stole my phone and told me she had rubbed her dirty underwear on my mattress (yes, mattress--they did not give me sheets) in order to infect me with her "disease." I sat in my room terrified all day. The bathroom was disgusting, there was human waste in the shower and when I told that to the staff they told me it was my job to clean it. The first night there I finally built up the courage to go get something to eat from the kitchen thinking the other patients were asleep. I was in the kitchen when suddenly a very old man came in through the back door. I was frozen with fear, I had been told that the doors locked at night and nobody was allowed outside, which made me think this was a random stranger breaking in. He smelled like alcohol and appeared to be extremely high. He walked over to me and began groping me and begging me to help him kill himself before opening his mouth and unleashing heaves of pitch black vomit onto me. I started sobbing and ran to get the staff. The office door was locked and I began banging and yelling. Eventually they cracked the door and asked what I had done. When I explained, they brought me into the office, showed me to a small closet with a chair inside it they called the "sensory room" and locked me in. They made another patient clean the vomit from the kitchen floor and discharged me that night. The entire time I was there I did not meet with any counselors, therapists, or psychiatrists. I did an intake interview where I told them I had extreme anxiety and being in an environment like this would only make my symptoms worse. They ignored that. It was a waste of time as I was there for a whole day and never treated, and more than that it was a horrible, traumatic experience. Riverside has destroyed all of my trust in the mental health system. To this day I have not been able to seek treatment because of the way they handled all of this. They have left an extreme amount of fear and distrust in me and as a result my condition continues to worsen. read more

The respect that I have received from my psychiatrist at Riverside Community Care in Upton has been minimal. I was recently subjected to the commission of fraud by a family member that culminated in an involuntary hospitalization, though such was short in duration as the circumstances indicated that no crisis or anger management issues were involved. This family member even admitted to me as being the source in a position of a responsibility, seeking a validation from me in the justification for it. My psychiatrist did not even address the issue, or a therapist there that should have provided legal clarification as an advocate. There have been rude gestures towards me by these two women at the Upton clinic that were supposed to advocate on my behalf. I instead discovered a negligence that betrayed a line of thinking of a concealed support of this family member that I was not intelligent enough to observe in them. There have been too many insults to my intelligence to go without a formal address, and to secure new psychological counsel outside of that clinic. The personal and professional prejudice that I have had to endure was reflected in this psychiatrist placing her hand on my back, and literally shoving me out of her office. She then closed the door without a qualification. When brought to the attention of the therapist, she laughed at this display of a blatant disapproval of me. My interpretation of these events is not the product of my state of mind. These two professionals are welcome to slander my intelligence. read more

Do yourself a favor and stay clear of Riverside Community Care. I have yet to find another business as poorly run and with an incompetent a staff as Riverside. The months long (and waiting) process of finding a counselor after Intake can be understood, as Riverside Newton is clearly understaffed. I was incorrectly told by several employees that Group Therapy is a free service. Since my last session, Riverside continues to add charge after charge to my billing statement, costing me in the hundreds of dollars. Likewise, I was told a copayment wouldn't be required for my Intake session or short meetings with Counselors to discuss group therapy. These additional charges were also added to my billing statement months later. In the Boston area, we are lucky to have access to many high quality clinics and therapists. Sadly, Riverside is not one which provided high quality care. If you want to want to wait many months for a meeting with an intern therapist however, Riverside is for you. read more