Brain Wellness Institute - Costa Mesa, California

Edina A.

I am very disappointed with my experience with Brain Wellness Institute mainly due to Dr. Andrew Miller. First I will say one thing and that is in the beginning we met once a week and I was amazed by his ability to be able to listen and literally repeat back everything I said in a coherent way. However starting with the fact that he kept telling me “I’m ok” no matter how distressed I was, was comforting at first but eventually our sessions became almost like a situation where I always presented him with how I was truthfully feeling about serious issues, and he brushed them off until I ended up in the hospital for an attempt. When I got out, I joined an outpatient program and he started to pawn me off on them. I still needed individual therapy and he was never available all of the sudden. I should mention prior to the outpatient program he started to mention meeting less often even though I asked if it was possible to meet twice per week for a short time until I am stable. I was told that it wasn’t an option because he has a life and can’t do twice per week with me. I even read a book he highly suggested about a Buddhist approach to staying in the present. I wrote an email to him about how I don’t think I can be helped anymore because 1.) I was still feeling awful about life half the time and crying out for help and 2.) because he kept dodging me all of a sudden and I wasn’t getting the therapy I needed. He called me and we discussed it and agreed to continue treatment and he was able to fit me in finally. Then about a day or two before that appointment, I got an email that he cancelled it. I called the practice and asked if I could get a call back from him regarding the appointment cancellation because I thought I deserved an explanation. He told me “well you said I can’t help you anymore so I figured you don’t want to see me anymore.” I kept quiet about this since September but I am still without a therapist, struggling and feeling like I poured my emotions out to this man only to be terminated without warning or being given an explanation or pointed in another direction. He just dropped me. I don’t know if I can even trust another therapist after this.

Bottom line: this guy’s schedule was full. He used to accept my insurance but when I just checked he doesn’t anymore, nor is he accepting new patients. And now I see why he didn’t want me as a patient anymore. I literally listened to this guy’s stories and hobbies and was so patient and grateful to have a therapist that I thought cared about patients regardless of their social status. That was not my experience. It’s going to take a long time for me to be able to be vulnerable and trust another therapist again.

Alice F.

I would go with 0 starts but unfortunately, this is not an option. My therapist was absolutely amazing and did help me through a lot. But for those of you who don't know many or all of the therapists and Drs. are contracted out to brain wellness. Brain wellness itself is a VERY sketchy business. They will charge random amounts to your card with no invoice or reason, even after you discontinue treatment. I was charged nearly $400 and fought with them for 4 months on it to no avail. I personally didn't realize I could have had my bank fight for me! So my bad on that. Whoever answers the phone is polite until you point out weird, strange, or inappropriate activity regarding charges to your card. They then get very defensive and give you NO evidence as to what the charges are for and why you are receiving them after discontinuing treatment. I was yelled at over the phone and told "NO, you are not listening to me!" when I questioned why I had extra charges after I quit treatment. Very disgusting and inappropriate customer service and fraudulent charges!

Amy G.

I've been delaying writing a review for a year now but after seeing the other recent bad reviews and similar experiences, I felt like it was my duty to warn others about this scam organization! BWI and my insurance confirmed that the recommended services would be covered. I started getting random large charges from BWI and I called them immediately to remove my credit card from their system to avoid any more random charges and figure out what happened. Their billing department said that my insurance didn't cover it and that I owed them thousands of dollars for an incomplete service (they literally forgot about me after my in-person visits and didn't send me the final services I requested but they charged me fully). I reached out to my insurance and gave BWI plenty of proof that I don't owe them more money. I communicated clearly the situation but they ignored my questions and emails and sent my personal information to debt collection instead! I was in shock because I was in constant communication with them to try to solve the problem. After some back and forth, I spoked to their owner on the phone. He was nice and said he would remove my debt from collections and work with his team to figure it out with my insurance. I find out later he lied and didn't do any of that! I believe it's their tactic to avoid any responsibility. They rarely email you back and try to call you for everything so that there isn't a written record. Thankfully I always recap what I do in an email to them after calls so I have something to share with the BBB when I report them for their unethical actions against neurodivergent people! How many bad reviews do you need to get to stop this bad practice?! Set up a better system so that you can set up realistic expectations with your clients. You can't charge people thousands of dollars if you told them their insurance covers it! Stop prioritizing profits over people. You've probably spent more time, energy, and money on dealing with complaints than providing quality service this year. Stop scamming people please and focus on helping them!

Kristen P.

Pros: Working with Dr. Jason Dorin to get some testing done was a dream. The front desk person Julie is really nice.

Cons: Between their billing company (third party who does the insurance billing on behalf of the medical practice) and the person Jasmine who works for Brain Wellness Institute, I don't recommend this business. The person who answers the phone for the billing company consistently gave me incorrect information on what was going on with a in-network claim charged out-of-network (even with a patient advocate on the phone), the billing reminder company doesn't tell share which date of service you owe the money from, and the billing company didn't tell me much about the status of these claims that they refused to resubmit (which were all in-network) until almost a year after the original date of service when I finally talked with someone competent from the billing company. And don't rely on Jasmine to follow up, even if she says she will.

It was a horrible experience and would still be seeing one of the providers, but they lost my business due to an incompetent billing company. I lost money that I didn't owe and hours of my life following up.

cristian C.

Horrible place to be evaluated at. My girlfriend is extremely stressed out because these people are charging her for a service she provided insurance for. It turns out their billing department made a mistake when submitting the claim and submitted inaccurate information to her insurance company she has called them countless times to fix this they said they would not charger her card. Which they did now shes in negatives with overdraft fees while on disability. Horrible place, horrible service if you can run from this place i would not wish this on anyone my girlfriend is too nice and they are giving her the run around for her money saying that the refund takes 7 days then 45 days this is ridiculous and very unprofessional. She should not be paying for their mistakes. Very unprofessional

Ibraheem M.

Extreamlly bad experince with no patient care. I completed my all paperwork and send them back 1 month before the appointement. At the time of appointement I clicked the link they send me and waited for 45 minutes and nooneshowedup when i call them they took another 45 minutes to let me speak with their supervisor which was so rude and bullshitig around. If i could give this place Zero I would. extreamlly bad practice.

Kim M.

I would rate this a zero if I could. I was referred through my insurance for an urgent appointment, and got one set up. When I met with the therapist I found out it was a student who was only going to be around for a few more weeks.

I was rescheduled for another provider- several weeks later, and the NIGHT BEFORE the appointment the time was changed via a email with no notice to me. When I called the office they claimed it was a computer glitch.

I was then scheduled with a DIFFERENT provider, who straight up told me he hadn’t seen clients for years and was an “industrial psychologist” AKA not an actual individual therapist in practice. He then refused to see me without providing any referrals, demonstrating any compassion, or providing any alternatives! Talk about ethical lapses!!

Josue C.

Do not share your bank information with them if you have insurance they will charge you and charge your insurance company and play like its a mistake give you false information when you call them always a different story they dont even deserve 1 star they are scammers and very unprofessional.