Wasted almost 4 months of my time with this so called doctor, who was nothing but a high and mighty snob, who was out for herself and did more clock watching than therapy. Her breaks in between sessions were more of a priority than helping patients. And her attitude and pompous behavior was the worst I've seen from someone in her field. Here is my not so pleasant experience: When I first spoke to Dr. Gawrych on the phone before setting up an appointment, I mentioned that I was pursuing a job that would be in NYC and asked her if she had night hours. Her response was--let's see if you get the job, but why not get started and if our schedules aren't a match, there are books I could give you. I thought that was strange because I was looking for a therapist to meet with, not books to solve my issues of general and social anxiety. I started with Dr. Gawrych and the first sessions went OK. I was trying to get a comfort level with her and she was attempting to learn about me. She said that the sessions were 45 minutes. But I noticed in the first 4 sessions, she would end them after 38-41 minutes. The next session I politely brought it up and she was just like OK. She didn't acknowledge any wrongdoing and obviously got the message that she was shortchanging me because sessions after that were the complete 45 minutes. As the next month and a half went by, our sessions were up and down. Some I felt were productive, others not so much. She didn't contribute much often, it was more me talking. I ended up getting the job, but found out that I could work from home. Yet I asked Dr. Gawrych about night hours because between traveling to her office, waiting for her come out (which could be as long as 15 minutes after the time the session was scheduled to start), seeing her for 45 minutes, and then returning home, it made it where I would have to take an extended lunch break and didn't want to get in trouble with my job. Dr. Gawrych seemed OK with this, but I sensed that she wasn't thrilled with it. We met for 3 straight sessions at night and I felt a strange sense from her. She seemed to have this look of disapproval on her face during a significant portion of our sessions. It was the type of look you get as a child if your parents are mad at you or a teacher was annoyed at you. I wondered if I was reading into something incorrectly. She also was contributing very little feedback and anything she said was repetitive and wasn't helping. I considered possibly stopping, but decided to give it more time. Then we had a couple of sessions which went well and I started to feel a more positive feeling. My next session after that was on a Monday at 5:30. Dr. Gawrych called me the previous Friday night and asked if I could move it to either Monday or Tuesday at 1:00. She insisted that she would definitely get started at 1:00 sharp, that early in the day she can always come out more quickly. I called her back, left her a message that 1:00 on Monday would be OK. I came on Monday a little before 1:00. At 1:06, no sign of her, so I asked the woman at the desk if she was in. She said she would locate her. 4 more minutes went by and no sign of her. I went back to the woman at the desk and was a bit impatient at this point and asked again. Dr. Gawrych came out a few minutes later. Did not offer an apology, just walked me back to her office. I brought up the issue of starting at 1:00 and her promise to do so. She gave me an attitude, saying that I don't know how it is in your business, but in healthcare we sometimes have emergencies and I was on the phone. She said if you can't stay a full 45 minutes, we can cut it short. So I should not get a full session because she was late? I told her that we can do the full 45 minutes, yet she cut it short by ending it after 38 minutes. And she had that same disapproving type of look the whole session, which made me realize that I was not reading into anything incorrectly before. I made another appointment for the following Monday, but when I thought about the whole recent experience, I decided to make it my last session. As it turned out, I had to go to Chicago on short notice and called her the previous Thursday and left her a message to let her know. She never called back, so I e-mailed her on Saturday. However, I also brought up in both the voice mail and e-mail that I needed to commit to night hours. She responded on Monday by e-mail and all she said was that she got both my messages. She made no mention of setting another appointment, while I had brought up doing so even though it was going to be my last one with her, although she didn't know that. So I figured she obviously wanted to dump me as a patient and figured it wasn't really worth going one more time for closure, that it wouldn't accomplish anything significant and haven't contacted her since. Why bother with a therapist who in less than 4 months did several things that I wasn't comfortable with, had a high and mighty, take it or leave it attitude, and wasn't helping me with my issues?
Amy Gawrych, PSY.D Reviews
Wasted almost 4 months of my time with this so called doctor, who was nothing but a high and mighty snob, who was out for herself and did more clock watching than therapy. Her breaks in between sessions were more of a priority than helping patients. And her attitude and pompous behavior was the worst I've seen from someone in her field. Here is my not so pleasant experience: When I first spoke to Dr. Gawrych on the phone before setting up an appointment, I mentioned that I was pursuing a job that would be in NYC and asked her if she had night hours. Her response was--let's see if you get the job, but why not get started and if our schedules aren't a match, there are books I could give you. I thought that was strange because I was looking for a therapist to meet with, not books to solve my issues of general and social anxiety. I started with Dr. Gawrych and the first sessions went OK. I was trying to get a comfort level with her and she was attempting to learn about me. She said that the sessions were 45 minutes. But I noticed in the first 4 sessions, she would end them after 38-41 minutes. The next session I politely brought it up and she was just like OK. She didn't acknowledge any wrongdoing and obviously got the message that she was shortchanging me because sessions after that were the complete 45 minutes. As the next month and a half went by, our sessions were up and down. Some I felt were productive, others not so much. She didn't contribute much often, it was more me talking. I ended up getting the job, but found out that I could work from home. Yet I asked Dr. Gawrych about night hours because between traveling to her office, waiting for her come out (which could be as long as 15 minutes after the time the session was scheduled to start), seeing her for 45 minutes, and then returning home, it made it where I would have to take an extended lunch break and didn't want to get in trouble with my job. Dr. Gawrych seemed OK with this, but I sensed that she wasn't thrilled with it. We met for 3 straight sessions at night and I felt a strange sense from her. She seemed to have this look of disapproval on her face during a significant portion of our sessions. It was the type of look you get as a child if your parents are mad at you or a teacher was annoyed at you. I wondered if I was reading into something incorrectly. She also was contributing very little feedback and anything she said was repetitive and wasn't helping. I considered possibly stopping, but decided to give it more time. Then we had a couple of sessions which went well and I started to feel a more positive feeling. My next session after that was on a Monday at 5:30. Dr. Gawrych called me the previous Friday night and asked if I could move it to either Monday or Tuesday at 1:00. She insisted that she would definitely get started at 1:00 sharp, that early in the day she can always come out more quickly. I called her back, left her a message that 1:00 on Monday would be OK. I came on Monday a little before 1:00. At 1:06, no sign of her, so I asked the woman at the desk if she was in. She said she would locate her. 4 more minutes went by and no sign of her. I went back to the woman at the desk and was a bit impatient at this point and asked again. Dr. Gawrych came out a few minutes later. Did not offer an apology, just walked me back to her office. I brought up the issue of starting at 1:00 and her promise to do so. She gave me an attitude, saying that I don't know how it is in your business, but in healthcare we sometimes have emergencies and I was on the phone. She said if you can't stay a full 45 minutes, we can cut it short. So I should not get a full session because she was late? I told her that we can do the full 45 minutes, yet she cut it short by ending it after 38 minutes. And she had that same disapproving type of look the whole session, which made me realize that I was not reading into anything incorrectly before. I made another appointment for the following Monday, but when I thought about the whole recent experience, I decided to make it my last session. As it turned out, I had to go to Chicago on short notice and called her the previous Thursday and left her a message to let her know. She never called back, so I e-mailed her on Saturday. However, I also brought up in both the voice mail and e-mail that I needed to commit to night hours. She responded on Monday by e-mail and all she said was that she got both my messages. She made no mention of setting another appointment, while I had brought up doing so even though it was going to be my last one with her, although she didn't know that. So I figured she obviously wanted to dump me as a patient and figured it wasn't really worth going one more time for closure, that it wouldn't accomplish anything significant and haven't contacted her since. Why bother with a therapist who in less than 4 months did several things that I wasn't comfortable with, had a high and mighty, take it or leave it attitude, and wasn't helping me with my issues?