I saw Shauna Cavalli for counseling to help me overcome the abuse I experienced as a child. I feel like I had both a positive and negative experience with her. I experienced her to be be an excellent listener as well as kind and compassionate. I feel like her careful attention was a meaningful thing for me. With her help I discovered that it is safe and important to feel and express emotions. I also experienced Shauna’s patience as I was not the easiest client. I believe I grew a great deal in our relationship. I feel like the problems began the more that I grew and I was able to start noticing her inconsistent boundaries.
When I called her out on the inconsistencies I feel like I experienced her insecurity which showed up by her becoming quite defensive. I feel like she had a hard time keeping the sessions about me because it felt like she really struggled to keep her own issues and feelings out of the relationship. I have been working with another mental health professional since leaving Shauna and I feel like I am experiencing a far more stable therapeutic relationship which has carried over into my personal life as well. I also feel like what I had with Shauna was more of a friendship rather than a client/therapist relationship. After my final appointment with Shauna I called her attention to several things that I felt/feel like were defensive behaviors on her part. In my opinion Shauna never owned up in anyway despite having several opportunities to do so. It is also my opinion she either cannot see her own faults/shortcomings or refuses to admit to them, in order to save her reputation. I can now see how her inexperience in being a therapist possibly led to her inconsistent and defensive behaviors with me. However, I feel there is absolutely no excuse for not owning up to one’s own mistakes especially when coming from a professional in relationships. In my opinion her attempt to save her reputation by not owning up in the first place has instead hurt it, which is the reason for the lower rating...