Dr Polak is a PhD, not a medical doctor. She's nice but for the money you pay 350$ per hour it's not worth it. These thieves all charge more than a lawyer yet they're just social workers! They take advantage of the fact that it's court ordered and you have to stick with them! You'll pay for her travel time, her sessions, and at least 20 hours to generate a report. It'll cost you 30k. And that's for a basic report. If you want the full report you'll have to pay the extra 7k.
We went through a court ordered process and several things made me wary of her skills/interest/ethics. First, she charges for travel time to see your child at the above rate. Second, she kept dozing off during our interviews. Third, her research and "advice" is all pro-father even with domestic abuse. Her report was full of mistakes both quantitative data (like dates etc) and qualitative such as things we recounted to her about events. So how do we trust she was alert and awake during note taking when it comes to the welfare of your family? Fifth, she never followed up on a couple issues she said she would despite reminders - then mentioned this in her report despite lack of facts from corroborating people. Lastly she asks for several contacts to corroborate your side of things then discounts them completely or "doesn't weight them" - how blatantly convenient. So what's the point of getting others involved in the BS of our lives?
Overall mediocre. Not the worst but definitely not the best. She's in it for the money and her fancy Range Rover and hair blowouts. Uncaring. And obviously entitled. Stay away.
Apparently now I cannot put correct rebuttal information. I stand by my review. It’s about my experience with this therapist. Not yours.
I disagree with the above person's complaint. Dr. Polak helped my children and I from the abuse we all endured. Thanks to her professionalism, objectivity, and neutrality (she was court ordered), my family is in a much better place. These "anonymous reviews" are not only very harmful, but do a disservice for many individuals who use them to inform their decisions on who they see, let alone, Dr. Polak who acted professionally and with integrity.
I’m glad the system worked for YOU Anna. Disproportionately, non-white people are not so lucky. Reviews are based on experience and you were NOT there during my family’s sessions. My experience was totally different from yours which is not unexpected given racial disparities. So no thanks for your input into something that’s not your business “Karen”.
And by the way Karen, you’re anonymous too. No one has the ability to verify who you are. Why don’t you publish your number and address if you really want to be transparent about your identity and authenticity?
And my last points….
It’s funny how you tried to “help” Shely on complaints board. It’s called complaints board for a reason. If you have a positive review go to Yelp. And on top of this you’ve infuriated me by brushing aside my real review. How do I know your “positive review” is real? Maybe you’re Shely or her BFF posting a positive review in defence.
I will tell you that Shely, the court system, school system etc are all biased and racially unaware. They worked in unison with their expert opinions and “unbiased” input to get my ex 50-50 custody. Within 1.5 weeks yes 1.5 WEEKS of getting 50-50 he hurt my child. I’m sure Shely is wondering why she never got called to testify. It’s because her 30,000$ report is useless. 20 pages 1500$/page of garbage. My ex won’t dare go to court now that police and CAS were involved after he hurt my child. The violence was witnessed by daycare and another third party. Thank god! Shely was supposed to weed out the issues of violence and instead judged him as normal and a loving father.
My child is the one living with the violent memories and I’m the one living with trying to help them heal and move past. It’s the worst place to be. I had virtually shouted from the rooftops to avoid this scenario.
So before you anonymously judge me and my input into MY review about my family’s experience with Shely, think about how lucky you are that the system worked for YOU and your white privilege.
Anna aka Karen, you’re also basically anonymous on this platform. Get off your high horse.
My review was based on MY family’s experience with Shely. Your review depicts YOUR experience.
I find it insulting that you’re attacking my review as fake and harmful based on your experience. Who are you to dispute this? You weren’t at any of our 20+ visits so you actually have ZERO right to accuse me of faking my review. My review is accurate and depicts exactly what happened without releasing any sensitive information that would identify my child on this platform.
You’re extremely lucky and fortunate that the system worked for you. Like many families in abusive relationships, most aren’t as lucky to be believed by the system and Shely is part of the broken system.
Karen is clueless
It’s my experience with this firm. It’s truthful and I am a valid client. Post your own fake review elsewhere.