Novell & Novell Counseling Services

This whole organization is a sham. Do not waste your time on this joke of a place.
Two minutes after I sat down with Mr. Novell, he said that he wouldn’t help me. I was there for all of five minutes and he took my money and would not refund it and billed my insurance. I will be reporting this fraud to my insurance company for sure.
I should have come here to read the review first.
Mr. Novell is slimy. His dead-​fish handshake and creepy eyes told me everything I needed to know. I should have listened to my gut and walked out. His personal office is a nasty, disorganized mess with dishes and crap everywhere, and I didn’t safe being alone in a room with this guy.
These people should not be in business.

Scheduled first appointment a few weeks out. I was accepted by Ben. The weekend prior to the Monday appointment, my daughter had a medical issue and I had to cancel appointment to take her to the doctor. I called Monday at 6:00 am to reschedule. Later that morning, I was told that there were two cancellations that would have worked. After requesting one of the cancelled appointments, I received a message saying that Ben needed to approve my reason for the initial cancellation and that he might, if he were so inclined, grant me a reprieve and agree to see me on one of the dates left open because of other cancellations. I get that a last minute cancellation means down time for the therapist, but seeking his approval so he «might» reschedule is a bit heavy-​handed. It is unfortunate that the bottom line ($) is more important than helping clients.

Really quite dissatisfied with the unprofessional nature of this organization. And with the poor reviews from others it is clearly a place to avoid. As one of the only outfits in town, I am willing to drive to another county for better services. I had used their counseling services which became more of an introspective journey into what I already know about myself. When i asked for tools or methods for dealing with life problems, I was told that they do not do that there. I stopped attending for a short while and my daughter wanted to speak to someone. Hopefully she would get some one other than mr. Novell this time. I tried to book an appointment for counseling for my daughter. Four phone calls with four voice mails, not one return call.

If I could give this place 0 stars, I would. My husband and I sought marriage counseling and saw Andrea Mclellan. The first visit was ok, but next time she wanted to see us individually before we sat down for another couples session. We had our individual sessions back to back, and it was a complete nightmare. Her advice to my husband was to «fake it til he makes it» and that divorce was going to cost him a lot of money. She offered no tools of help for me and kept trying to convince me that there was someone else and rolled her eyes when I defended him about things that weren’t true. She called me back in to tell me that my husband has something painful to tell me (he had already told her he wasn’t ready for a divorce), told us she saw no reason to continue with couples counseling and told us to talk somewhere else because she had another patient. I was shocked. We were teetering on the ledge and she darn near pushed us over. She has no business counseling anyone needing help and it was a devastating experience. I called the office the next day to talk to someone about our experience, and got Mr. Novell’s voicemail. I never did get a return call. Fortunately, we found the help we needed elsewhere.

I live out of state and my ex-​wife had Jason Agnetti provide counseling services for my daughter. After 6 sessions he never contacted me once on his own to include me in the process on how she was progressing and to seek input from me.

My son attends therapy with Mrs. Novell… and she has helped him tremendously. She is kind, takes the time to chat with patient AND parent, and generally seems empathic and caring. For those who are belly-​aching, therapy takes TIME, PATIENCE, and HARD WORK. It is not a quick fix, or for the faint of heart… it can be uncomfortable and frustrating. That being said, I believe Mrs. Novell truly enjoys working with her patients and takes an active interest in her craft. Thanks to you my son is doing much better!!!

BEWARE. Mr. Novell seems more about the money (and DPSS contract) than about helping kids. Even though I told him we would use a private Aetna insurance for therapy, as soon as he heard it is a foster child we are talking about, he refused to have a therapist we selected speak to us about her qualifications/​background.
Instead, we were continuously told that «we get referrals then we select the therapist».
Ya right. Like any prudent parent would allow their child to be counceled by somebody who doesn’t comprehend what they read or hear.
Makes me sick to my stomach that DPSS contracts with «specialists» like Mr. Novell.
Note: this is a review of Mr. Novell specifically, not the multiple therapists that work for him. I have no idea how good they might be…
Read Google+ reviews too, about Mr. Ben Novell. Actual details there of somebody whose child was counseled and how Mr. Novell misrepresented statements…