Abbe Center for Community – Hiawatha

We came in for same day access and were able to be seen in about 20 minutes. Took 2 weeks to obtain an appointment with a therapist. Good experience so far.

Having appointments missed because of a system failure, a doctor's failure to answer a call... this place is punishing me for calling at 10 AM to say, "Hey, no doctor, I didn't get the link at all." I got a message at… 10:30 that my appointment would start soon, but it was at 10. When the clerk was able to get to my call, she had tried to reach the doctor and couldn't. She even put me on hold and came back saying, "He's not answering. I don't know where he went." I was assured it wouldn't count against me, so today I got a message on my chart that I missed the appointment, and their system logged me at 10:30. So they blamed me for the mistake they made.

Unprofessional/unethical psychiatrist Megan Shaekel. Today at the end of the session she just announced it into my child's face: "I think you have ADHD". You think?! And what is he supposed to do with this information,… being underage? She said she needed one more session to gather more information BEFORE diagnosing him. And yet with no hesitation she hurt kid's self esteem, that any parent wants to strenghten. She should have rendered it to me in private or hold off till the next session. When I addressed it, she gave me a stare of death. Ok, you think you're one heck of a great professional, im not telling you what to do. Im protecting my son from your inconsiderate and harmful methods. Not recommended.

Dr. Jarvis did not care one bit about my anxiety, depression, or life circumstances. She asked me to not complain about people with purple hair or to air my grievances. Fact. Recorded via spy cam. The therapists where… hired for EMDR and CBT and after 6 visits I never participated in what I hired them for. They just told me their life experiences and told me I don't fit this world because I am conservative and honest.

Do NOT recommend DONT go here

I have been receiving resources through the Abbe Center for years almost a decade I started when I was 12 at the anamosa location I now go through the CR location. Just because you don’t like a doctor doesn’t mean they… are a bad doctor. Some doctors are a better match for your specific needs when they may not be a match to another doctor. I took me a couple different doctors before I found the one that works for my specific needs the most.

Looked at the list of available providers they offer here today, felt inclined to pick someone that I felt a genuine pull towards, and with whom had credentials matched to my particular needs. Under the listed providers… name it says "Accepting New Patients," so I called Abbe Center to schedule with my soon to be new provider. On the phone when I inquired about this doctor , I was told "just so you know, this doctor doesn't typically schedule new clients." Which I then said, "Your website literally says accepting new clients, it's the only reason I called." Receptionist- "yeah, (sigh) I know." Instead of scheduling me with the doctor advertised as available, I was advised to drive to the SE location for a walk in evaluation and mental health screen, which after I would then "be seen by somebody." First of all, I don't know about anyone else but I certainly can't afford to take a random drive 3b towns away for a strong possibility the end result is of me becoming some random doctors patient. I was a patient there prior and have a decent file id say, so why exactly am I being treated like a new person who's preference as a care recipient doesn't matter? Im not just going to take whaever doctor is leftover there's usually a good reason why a doctor doesn't have many clients..I research my choices beforehand, and I absolutely have the right to decide my own doctor. You cannot sit and falsely advertise the openness and availability of your staff here, it's not just wrong but isn't it illegal to do as well? If you don't actually offer certain services can you advertise having them anyway? WTH is the point of that ? This place is incredibly ridiculous, and I think those employed here have forgotten who they work for ...

I've had two appointments with Rachel Bowers so far and am really appreciative of how thorough she has been with my mental health history and providing an adequate treatment plan for me. She has spent an extensive… amount of time to get to know me and to figure out my prescriptions. It's clear she truly cares about her clients and im really grateful I came to the Abbee Center!

Because they have Change of how late you can be now you can be late Five minutes otherwise The provider don’t see you and I think that’s ridiculous. People get stuck in traffic or they get caught up with something that… they had to finish up that cannot wait and getting in to see my therapist can be a little hard because she doesn’t have availability every week like she wants me to see her. Quite frankly staffing does not understand what’s important that includes the check-in desk For the mental health stuff reason why I say this is because I was one minute past my five minute late mark and they told me the provider could not see me i’m sorry that’s ridiculous, especially when they don’t have anyone else after you

The director went to Capella. No nurse is under 3 bills. Tells you all you need to know.

I love the new Abbe Center building. They have really progressed since their last building. Sometimes communication can be off but that’s everywhere. Once you find the right people apart of your care team, you will love… Abbe Center. They have lots of recourses available for the bus/getting to appointments. But sometimes scheduling can be tricky.

I had a scheduled therapy appointment today but was unable to join despite multiple attempts. I have experienced ongoing technical issues with UnityPoint’s telehealth system and have previously contacted IT for… troubleshooting, without resolution. Unfortunately, this resulted in a missed appointment that was entirely outside my control. After reading similar experiences in other reviews, this appears to be a recurring problem. I’m disappointed that these technical failures continue to impact patient care, especially for mental health services where consistency and access are critical.

Office is good but the white noise machine makes me wanna get a ladder and yank the whole damn system out in order to shut it up someone please tell these people this is nausea inducing and to put any other then that… anxiety induced white noise bullshit off

My experience with ABBE has been very positive. Whether I'm dealing with the receptionists, the therapists, the nurses, or my medication manager, I've always been treated with kindness & professionalism. Mental health… issues can be difficult to navigate, but the people at ABBE have made things much easier for me.

If I could rate this place 0 stars I would. First of all, the receptionists are constantly bitchy and rude; I will wait 10-15 minutes for them to pick up my call, only for them to answer my questions like I'm stupid.… (though they give no information otherwise) I was 8 minutes late to an appointment I desperately needed for med refills - and now I have to schedule with "Bridge Clinic" that only accepts walk-ins at 10:30 and 2:30. I work full-time at an under-staffed daycare, I DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR THIS SHIT. I literally, NEED to be able to schedule ahead of time. I am currently tapering off all of my medications, I started with my antipsychotic because the withdrawals are by far the worst, as I'm at the highest dosage. Dr. Jarvis, who *should* know about the effects of withdrawal - encouraged I just abruptly stop the prescription. I spoke with my mom, who is a medical professional, and she said absolutely not, its medical malpractice to even consider that. In context of the other reviews, I have not had nearly as bad of an experience - yet I still insist THIS ESTABLISHMENT IS A JOKE. I'd highly, highly recommend that if you're considering Abbe Mental Health Center as a provider - CHOOSE ELSEWHERE.

Zero stars, let me repeat that for people in the back ZERO STARS!! This place is unbelievable for a mental health care facility. I am not the person that needed their services but I am the parent. I would take my kid,… have to sit in the waiting room and listen to the receptionist being cold and rude to people. Then my kid did not at All in any way shape or form get any help, actually she got worse! I found other care for her and they are awesome with her. Also the new place I took her to looked on her mychart and there was no care plan for her, DID YOU HEAR ME? NO CARE PLAN! You disgust me and should be shut down. Shame on you calling yourself a mental health care facility. On a side not if you need blood work for your medicine, good luck getting an order sent to a lab. Absolutely unacceptable!

They use to be helpful but since they've made new restrictions on appt. times, etc., it's rather stressful and it's not made very clear to the patients about what's all going on and the reasons for the changes

I can safely say the rules are the rules. But, It's not a good idea to sit there and throw it apart in space when they forget about something. Since unity took over abbey there has been a lot of changes in the rules… they have. Understandable. But it's not Understandable when there used like a weapon. To say, I have had issues about a rule that I can say is Understandable, BUT there are times 1 forgets. It not right to treat a person like there an offender. Nor is it right to make them feel as if they are on trial. If somebody in a medical profession is going to talk down to a clieit and treat them as if they are a Keller or something, that's not in any way a good thing in a job that works with people.

Good review page keep up the good work Sincerely miss kitty

0/10 do not recommend. I’ve been a patient for years and I have given up. I truly believe that not a single person in that building cares about patients or their mental health. You’ll get a therapist but you can only… see them twice in a year cause they’re so booked out. You can’t make progress with someone who doesn’t even remember your name. Ellen Natvig put me on a new medication, upped the dose and denies upping the dose even when I present bottles of the medication she prescribed with her name on it. She won’t refill the medication she put you on, so you’ll end up in the emergency room with severe withdrawal and they’ll act like it’s your fault. Don’t waste your time here. Go literally anywhere else.

Extremely unprofessional. This place is a joke

I started here when i was in 9th grade during civic and ive had nothing but good experiences here everyone is so nice and caring i know that doesn't seem to be most peoples experiences but I've had great experiences and… they've all helped me so much

I have given up with this organization. I advocated for myself last week w the IC location and I was sent to CR location. I get a message to meet with my provider 45 minutes before the meeting. I guess there's a belief… we live by our phones, waiting for them to call. Of course I missed it but it will be twisted in a way that it's my fault. I wave my white flag! I'm leaving this review for anyone who's considering this organization and piggybacking off others who left the same type of review. Please go somewhere else if you need mental health care. Something has changed w them...there's a lack of compassion and grace. There's no ownership of their unethical behavior and a clear message that they hate their jobs and the clients particularly by the front desk gatekeepers. Like others, I've had to go cold turkey with the meds I've been on for 17 years...it's pure hell. Places like this are what keep Iowa last in mental health care.

Bob the therapist talk about themselves rather than listening to the needs of their client and when trying to setup a new Therapist has been an absolute disaster. This is extremely unfortunate especially for those who… need serious help and have to shell out sometimes up to hundreds of dollars just to set up a so called appointment.

honestly, with how little stars they have, I don’t even know how this place is able to still be open and function. They treat every patient as if they are an addict even if you’re not not saying that addict deserve that… because they certainly don’t I missed one appointment and was told that I could no longer be seen and as I don’t have a vehicle right now this was my only option for mental health resources. They told me to call every day on Monday at 12 o’clock to hopefully be seen by my provider, refused to schedule me with anybody else and now I am facing going off all of my meds because of these people if I could give them no stars, I honestly would the way they treat their clientele is absolutely important. Keep in mind. I’m a young mother who is struggling with depression and anxiety on a daily basis being refused, my meds, being refused to be scheduled by a different provider is wild.