Reviews of Cardinal Counselling and Mediation (Psychiatrist)

Jason Mckinnon

NEVER Trust this man to protect your children unless you are a female. My ex has now gotten away heading for 3 years of child abduction and this "person" was brought in to help protect them. John Thompson has ignored facts via videos, texts, and relatives submitting audio of drugs in the home, abuses of all kinds towards my kids, theft, and fraud from my Ex to control us all. Has even ignored the court order being ignored and has even wanted to tell the judge to remove his POLICE ENFORCEMENT CLAUSE to allow my accesses to happen WHEN THE MOTHER SEES FIT. This man NEVER defends men / fathers and expect to lose under all circumstances if you are one. There is websites DEVOTED by fathers sharing their stories of people like this. Hes 1in 4 listed Ontario wide.

Sarah Vandonk

I had really great luck being placed with a counselor when I was sorting through some life changes. I tried another service when I moved away and was so unhappy I have been making the trip back to KW to see my original counselor. Fast response from email. Very open and encouraging staff. I often recommend to others.

Ethan Thompson

very professional and caring team

David Spafford

I hired the employment of John Thompson as a parenting coordinator, from Cardinal Counselling and Mediation as a requirement from family court. I had been an equal parent of my children for five years at this point and our major issue was that my former wife had “family court disease” -- repeated attempts using four successive divorce lawyers to overturn our divorce order in family court. John Thompson spoke and took action against me at every opportunity, driven by his world view that I was an inferior parent on the basis of my gender. He set me up to receive parenting advice from his 20 some year old intern who was living at home with her parents and employed at the Le Chateau teenage clothing, Conestoga Mall, Waterloo. John Thompson ordered that I pay to receive mental health counselling from his wife, Joy Lang, for the purpose of further profiting from my circumstance. When it was over, it was a pleasure to take disciplinary actions on the basis of the toxic, unprofessional and unethical behavior of John Thompson and Cardinal Counselling to the Attorney General.

Carolyn

Joy sucks beyond belief. I would be curious to see where she even went to school, and can almost guarantee she finished in the bottom 25% of her class. My husband and I went to her, saw her two times, then he saw her alone and had her read an email of mine from during our worst fight ever (in 5+ years, where he had been incredibly deceitful), and she was throwing diagnoses around for me, and telling him to beware and that in her opinion there was little hope for me. That is a level of derelection I cannot even put into words; any counsellor worth their salt would have to meet with someone one on one 10-15+ times before even zeroing in on a potential diagnosis. Even my husband says he went there and manipulated/slanted the situation in his favour to garner support, which I get from him, but what sort of counsellor condemns someone they have only met twice based on one side of the story?? Also, someone who cannot even build a good relationship with their own step children shouldn't be counselling others on personal problems, should they? Run far away from this practice!!

M K

The people here are great. They exercise cognitive behavioural therapy, focusing on practical solutions that you can start using right away, while still inviting further dialogue if desired. If you're considering to try them for the first time, their first sessions are fantastic for setting expectations and ensuring that you are getting what you want out of the sessions. It is definitely a focus of theirs to work with you. Personally, I sought sessions for depression, anxiety, and general self examination and took a lot from the help I got here. The only complaint I might have is that they do not often answer the phone, but they make up for it in their consistent follow up from messages. You deserve to take time to better yourself, and this place can do that.

Heather Peterson

My husband and I were going through a difficult time and had decided to divorce. We met with John who was kind and understanding. In the end we were able to work through our difficulties and stayed together all because of the great work John did in helping us understand all of our options.

C Xo

I recently had some work-related stress, anxiety and possibly even depression. Issues like these were something I had never once had to deal with before (I am so lucky!) and therefore it was my first time seeking counselling. I was quite nervous, I am not one to talk about myself or my feelings in front of others, I'm more of a listener. My first visit was with Joy Lang; she was everything I would have wanted in a counselor, friendly, approachable, compassionate, personable and understanding. I felt somewhat better after that visit. Unfortunately, she had a rather long vacation come up soon after my first appointment, and when I was in need of another one I had to see a different counselor. This time I had my session with Cookie. I was extremely disappointed in this visit, even somewhat embarrassed. She made me feel idiotic for coming in because, to the human eye, I looked fine, wasn't crying, might have cracked a joke here and there but inside I felt terrible. It was quite obvious by her actions that she thought I had no reason to be there. I'm not sure if this is because she felt a little weird, starting where another counselor finished off, but it came across as a little rude to me. She even asked "Are you nervous? You seem like it." which made me feel uncomfortable and aware of every single move I was making. After she asked I pretty much wanted to just bolt out of there. Maybe it sounds dramatic, but she honestly turned me off from counselling. I was scared of feeling stupid and unimportant from the beginning and that is exactly how she made me feel. In summary, I wish I could make the stars higher for the establishment as the majority of my experience was satisfactory. Unfortunately, I just can't get over my final experience and I'm not sure seeking counselling again in the future will be something I voluntarily agree to due to the experience.