Complaint Review: Lisa McCorrie - Birmingham Select State/Province

I was first introduced to Lisa McCorrie by a Journey Therapist called Jan Ricketts who thought I needed someone who had more skills and experience to get inside my head than her. At the time I was looking for the emotional cause(s) of my illness (MS) and to try to heal from it by healing the emotional trauma that was responsible for causing it in the first place. Jan contacted Lisa on my behalf but received no response. I then found Lisa's web site and wrote to her via the contact form on it, but still no response was forthcoming. Eventually I got a phone call from Lisa's PA Rebecca to say that Lisa would call me the following day for a chat. She called later than arranged (I was getting quite anxious by the time she finally called) and she also asked me to call her back on Rebecca's mobile to save herself cost. During the phone call Lisa was very assertive and dictatorial. At the time I thought this was a good thing if it was for the purpose of guiding and leading me in the right direction health-wise. She told me that the reason for the delay in getting back to me was because she & Rebecca had taken extra time off over the Xmas holiday. She also said that she was unable to see me for another 2 weeks which was a bit of a blow as I wanted to get started ASAP. We set a date for the Thursday of the first week she was available and she gave me various assignments to do before then that were to be e-mailed to her prior to our meeting. These included my Future Vision of the way I wanted my life to be, a chronological history of all the major traumas in my life and an account of my medical history & symptoms. She told me that she would find a place that was wheelchair accessible as the place she currently used wasn't. She also said that her fees were 210 per session and that she didn't offer discounted rates for people like me who were on benefits and had a low income - I was on DLA: Disability Living Allowance - but that I could pay in instalments.
 
After our telephone conversation I sent Lisa an e-mail asking for some testimonials and evidence of her ability to help/cure people with my condition or similar, particularly of improving their mobility and walking again after they'd been wheelchair bound for a considerable period of time. I also said that I'd spent a fortune on trying alternative treatments to no avail and wasted 1000s and she sounded so confident of her ability to help that I felt this time I should wait to get an improvement and turnaround before I paid her as I was sick of paying out for treatments that claimed to promise success but then didn't deliver.
 
Again no response was forthcoming or to the subsequent e-mails I sent. Eventually I received a very curt e-mail from Lisa. She threatened not to treat me if I sent any more "challenging" e-mails. She also said that she wasn't obliged to provide any evidence/testimonials as she wasn't medically trained (yet advertising herself as treating medical conditions) and demanded the full amount for my forthcoming session up front on the basis that I'd apparently "betrayed her trust". She said that I had no right to expect a response straight away (I hardly call nearly a week straight away!), that she was under no obligation to respond to my e-mails outside of our meeting times and that she was in fact on holiday for 2 weeks - she'd only just come back after an extended Xmas vacation! I wrote back to Lisa saying that I couldn't possibly afford to pay her fees in advance as I'd already explained that I was on DLA. Again there was a long delay followed by another dictatorial and unbudging e-mail from her making monetary demands yet refusing to provide any evidence of her ability to heal.
 
Although I was starting to get cold feet I was loath to abandon Lisa yet as her web site sounded so good + she'd been recommended to me, so I did the assignments she had set me and e-mailed them to her. I heard nothing back and as the time of my appointment drew nearer and there was still no word from her or positive response back about payment I started to get anxious and edgy. I called her PA Rebecca's mobile and left messages but still got no response. Eventually a couple of days before I was due to meet Lisa Rebecca answered her phone when I called and told me that Lisa was currently in the process of reading the assignments I'd sent her and would call me in about half an hour when she'd finished reviewing them. More than an hour later Lisa finally called. I greeted her enthusiastically, but the 1st comment she made in an ominous tone was a threat not to treat me if I "stepped out of line again", sent any more e-mails in a tone she disapproved of and didn't do exactly as I was told. She once again demanded full payment up front and said that she wanted it by midnight that night. When I said I couldn't afford it and had only been able to proceed because of the payment instalment plan she replied coldly and heartlessly that this wasn't her problem. She then gave me a list of various additional charges that I was expected to pay including 25 for wheelchair access at a different venue, 10 for using Paypal as my payment method (ie to refund her the estimated fees that were her responsibility not mine) + 75/hour for our e-mail communication and to read the assignments she'd set me and call my friends & family to talk about me, amounting to 225 which she very generously (please note the sarcasm!) discounted to 50 an hour = 150. I tried to reason with Lisa but all she diid was cut in and threaten to terminate our conversation within the next few minutes. At this point I was shaking with anger & emotion and I completely gave up and put the phone down on her and ended our conversation. So thick skinned was she that she sent me an e-mail entitled "following up on our phone call" containing confirmation of her demands and charges with a time limit of midnight that night to comply with them. This was followed by another e-mail attaching a dictatorial list of conditions for me to work with her that was tantamount to a bossy schoolteacher berating a naughty pupil rather than a professional person addressing a new client.
 
Lisa McCorrie's behaviour was extremely unprofessional in asking for full payment up front, especially when a) I had never met her before and b) I had no evidence of her ability whatsoever or that she could help me. Also she didn't just ask for payment up front, she demanded it repeatedly and refused to provide me with any testimonials of past patients that she had helped. In fact she demanded payment in advance because I wanted proof of her evidence to restore my health & mobility and asked her for testimonials of past patients with chronic conditions that she had helped saying that "I had betrayed her trust" by asking for these and I was to be punished for this "misdemeanour" by "having my privileges removed", ie the payment instalment plan even though this was the condition I had accepted treatment with her on because otherwise I would have been unable to afford her exorbitant rates which despite saying she did lots of voluntary and charity work she refused to discount for me even though I am on benefits which most practitioners do in the name of good customer service and as a gesture of goodwill. Also if you go see a private doctor, they ALWAYS invoice you afterwards - that is the professional/accepted thing to do and as when I went to see a cosmetic surgeon, they ALWAYS provide you with evidence of their ability to help you and improve your situation, eg by showing you before & after photos of their work or providing you with references and/or(anonymous) testimonials. Not only did Lisa McCorrie behave in an unprofessional manner and put her obsession with money & payment way and above any concern for my health, but she was also rude, abusive, demanding, arrogant, belligerent, threatening, patronising and dictatorial, telling me things like she was the one who dictated the tone of the conversation not me and ordering me to only speak when I was spoken to and do what she told me without question etc. I cannot believe that she calls herself a "specialist in emotional and mental health & wellbeing", her behaviour was absolutely diabolic & totally inappropriate and our communication made my symptoms way worse - I was in a terrible state emotionally, mentally & physically for ages afterwards. Not only is it no way to talk to a new customer whom you should treat politely and respectfully, but you simply don't upset and traumatise someone further who already has a chronic illness and physical symptoms caused by emotional trauma, especially when that is the nature of your business and you should know better! Some healer she is, she has no people skills at all - she treated me like a delinquent child instead of a valued customer, and as for charging a wheelchair user for an accessible clinic and the use of a disabled toilet, how unprofessional and discriminatory is that? Surely that should be all part of the service for a health professional, let alone adding layer upon layer of charges for someone who is on DLA and already struggling financially including PayPal fees that are her responsibility to pay not mine, and changing the payment arrangements making it impossible for me to afford her services and then telling me that this "is not her problem". Who does she think she is to treat a vulnerable individual in such a way? Clearly she has mental issues herself and is not fit to practise. She is a ripoff and a scam and I advise and warn people, especially those with chronic health conditions, to stay away from her.