Kurt and Barbara Gronowski Psychology Clinic

Pull up a chair and make yourself comfortable. I am about to scoop you on how this place works and what you can expect to get out of your experience IF you are willing to work at your therapy.
The Gronowski Clinic offers counseling on a sliding scale to individuals, couples and families. It is run by Palo Alto University. The student counselors/​therapists are all under close supervision of licensed clinical psychologists. The clinic also has a great psychiatrist available to its patients, Dr. Perrin French.
First let me say that I am so grateful to the Gronowski Clinic. I have been a patient there for about 2 years and I am currently on my 3^rd student therapist.
In the beginning, I was referred to the clinic by Stanford Arbor Clinic during a very hard time in my life when I had no health insurance but, was suffering from some serious issues. I was taking medication but, really needed talk therapy to help me process the crisis, daily frustrations and in time work on getting back on track.
I knew what I needed and what I wanted and that was someone to listen to me and help me process but, not necessarily tell me what to do. I think what made my experience so positive was that I understood from the beginning that I could only get out what I put into therapy. I already had a basic understanding of how CBT works and the stages of change. Change is a slow process and so it would be very unrealistic and unhelpful to expect that things are going to go smoothly 100% of the time or that one should expect to get any tangible results from a few sessions.
My first student therapist was great. She introduced me to the clinic and how it works. I was already familiar with HIPAA and felt comfortable that my personal information was safe and this was a professional environment. Unfortunately, my first student therapist and I only spent about 6 sessions together before I was introduced to a new student therapist and I was well aware of the need for them to reassign me to a new student therapist because I was informed of how the clinic is run the very first time I went in for a session. It is what I signed up for. My next student therapist was also great and before I new it I was assigned to my current (3^rd) student therapist, who is awesome. I have spent a lot of time (once per week) over the past 2 years and it has really paid off. I have made a lot of progress and I owe a lot of it to the Gronowski Clinic.
The Gronowski Clinic offers a unique opportunity to many people, who might not be able to afford to pay full price for therapy, to access this valuable service.

UNPROFESSIONAL & DISORGANIZED
First I questioned the need for a 2hr assessment but was willing to go thru with it due to thoroughness I was told it would provide. Another part that wasn’t too favorable for me was the fact that these were «student therapist» only there until June, but offered a sliding scale and were under supervision of a doctor. Didn’t realize a school association so seems I came in right before spring break and had no help while school was closed. (Seen other trainees & interns in other centers and have never had this experience.)
Disorganized scheduling caused the director to give me a call directly and apologize for everything. I explained my situation what I was looking for and I told her my frustrations that I needed to make sure this would be a good person to be with. She told me she had the perfect intern for me to meet with and was going to set up a time for us to get together.
Because of further scheduling mix up, we were not able to do any of the assessments, so Zack told me graciously that he would allow me to have another 2hr session at no charge but it wouldn’t happen till they came back from Spring Break!
Eventually, we finished another 2hr assessment & me explaining my life situation. He said he uses video tapes to review the notes prior to each session and talks with his director in between. I was anxious to find out what the assessment would tell so I could start my therapy. The next time was to be our first session. During this session however, I wanted to share with him some of my journaling because it was very important to where I’m going with my healing. He seemed rushed and distracted by time, not managing the time well, knowing that I brought all this information in for me to share with him & mentioned it at the beginning of our session. (I also brought in a brochure from a class I want to take at a church & asked him to share it with his director so that she could determine if this would be good for me. He said he would.)
When I returned for my very 1^st session, he wanted me to fill out another 2 forms & SPIED ON ME to know when I’d finished! After that it seemed as though it got worse…
— He asked, «What do want to talk about?» after I just spent OVER TWO 2hr sessions previously explaining why I was there! so I asked him about the assessments. He said he would give me the results in a little bit. (We never did get to those.)
— I asked him if he had shown the brochure to this director and found out some feedback if she thought it was a good course for me to take. He said that he did it would talk to me later about that. Come to find out, he never did talk to her! HE LIED to me about it! That infuriated me and I told him, «Its hard to trust when you do things like that.»
— He then proceeded to talk about something, and when it came time for me to share my journal he told me we had EXACTLY 1MIN. He KNEW I wanted to share that and that I had to really deep things in it come out since the last time we had met that I wanted to go over with him. He did not keep track of the time & I thought my session went longer. I left feeling frustrated and angry and that I couldn’t trust him! I was in tears.
LEAVING, I went to the front office to speak to the director. Of course not available. I asked them to have her please call me so I could look at getting another therapist. They said she would and she never did.
So, just now I called the office and spoke to someone again and asked him the same thing told them to have the doctor call, NOT ZACK. Instead ZACK called me back and tried to talk to me about making an appointment with HIM to talk about things! I said only if you will not charge me for my session will I come in and have a meeting. He refused. I asked to speak to his director and he said, «She is not your therapist, I am.» I told him I wanted another therapist, and he told me that wasn’t not possible!
I do not recommend this place to anybody one way shape or form! There is no accountability or professionalism. Try JFK.

The worst, if I could leave 0 stars I would. A couple of years ago my nephew who has a disability (he is a young adult) called the center to get an assessment. He left a message but got no call back. I was dismayed but encouraged him to try to connect with them again. He left a second message about 1 week later. Still no phone call back. Horrible.
I ended up calling the center 2 weeks after the initial phone call and got a live person. The woman I spoke to said the Center was being reorganized and would not be taking patients for 2 more months. Couldn’t that information have been provided on their answering machine?
I told her about my nephew and his poor treatment. I asked to talk to a manager person, she said none were available but would relay the message. Sure she did.
Here is a facility that is meant to help people with disabilities and psychological issues. They should be shut down, if they don’t return phone calls, what does that say about their treatment?
A facility who treats special needs people badly, shame on them.

I’ve been coming here for about a year and a half and have always had wonderful experiences. All members of the staff are kind and helpful– they take confidentiality seriously and I’ve always felt respected and cared for. I have now seen 3 councilors here and enjoyed all of them for different reasons. The schedule is really flexible and has always worked with my hectic personal schedule, I have referred a number of people here and will continue to do so!

The Gronowski Center will likely not treat you if you have emotion regulation difficulties.
I became upset because I was mislead during the intake about protocol. My therapist reassured me that I was not going to be filmed without being told, asked, and completed with signing consent forms. She then began filming before notifying me.
As someone who values trust I was upset. I said that the process felt haphazard. She appeared very shaken and went on to try and be soothing for a couple minutes (I wanted a genuine apology but didn’t need a best friend, obviously I didn’t know the person well). This was the reason behind the center’s refusal to treat me, though they proceeded with the full intake. The center gave me other reasons for my rejection lumped together nicely, with weird inferences attached to each, but my response to being mislead was the reason for those faulty assumptions. The facts recorded from my intake were which were also erroneous. Example: I was asked about my ‘drinking’ and described the behavior of the previous night, which was then interpreted as consistent over the course of a couple weeks by my therapists supervisor, despite information I gave about the unusual nature of this behavior.
I agree with Joyce (who also gave the center one star), the clinicians are judgmental and a bit negligent, though they do respond to people who call in at the very least. I called them to express I felt I was being discriminated against because of my mental health status and they actually responded. Impressive? I’ll let you decide.
Here’s something you should know though: the Gronowski Center doesn’t treat people who drink alcohol or self-​harm, both of which are common mental health themes. Anyone who drinks is automatically an alcoholic, and anyone who has self-​harmed is automatically a lost cause. So if either of these things have been present in your life recently, it’s really best if you don’t come here. The level of involvement of self-​harm in your life in general doesn’t matter. They won’t take into consideration that you’re seeking help. They won’t ask you how you’re seeking help.
What’s worse is that they seem to believe there are other resources available for people with gender identity concerns elsewhere in Palo Alto. The director who spoke with me seemed too obviously happy to try and ‘pass the buck’ to Stanford, where I happen to know there’s a waiting list of a least a year and no specialized care available. In summary, the supervisors at this clinic seem pretty ill-​informed and even stigmatizing of some basic mental health problems. It was a hurtful and inhumane experience for me, and if you can identify with episodic drinking or any form of self-​harm it will likely be an equally unpleasant experience for you.
If you’re a happy and well-​adjusted person I’m absolutely sure there’s room for you at the Gronowski Center. If you’re having a hard time I suggest going somewhere with more professional and compassionate care.
If you’re going to try the Gronowski Center it my advice is this: don’t let the center process you before you’ve interviewed the people in charge. See if the clinic will meet your needs before you’re put through a bunch of arbitrary processes and rejected without legitimate reason. Ask to speak to a supervisor immediately, whether he or she likes you will most likely be the determining factor in your care.

I’m glad that other people had better experiences than I.
If you need help immediately, they may not be for you, they weren’t for me. They have an academic schedule, and in crisis you may want to talk to someone more than once a week, but that is all you’re allowed. It’s their schedule — not yours.
Also, I found them judgemental, arbitrary, as well as a bit negligent.
I brought my therapist a flower from my garden, an unusual tulip, that I picked as I was getting into my car to go to our appointment, and grabbed a few ripe tangerines for her as well. At the following therapy session she questioned and implied that she and her instructor assumed I was trying to «influence» or bribe her!
After dealing with this clinic, I was in need of REAL therapy.
My initial phone interview was with a wonderful compassionate person. Unfortunately it was the only positive interaction I experienced here.

I can highly recommend this clinic. It is run by student psychologists who work with licensed psychologist to create treatment plans and monitor progress. Therapy is offered on a sliding scale based on your income level. There is also in-​house psychiatric services for those who may not have access to these through a health plan. Services are available for children, adults, couples, and family therapy. There are also special services for lgbt, people with shyness, and those interested to reducing stress by inner resources and meditation skills. Therapists help people with problems in their relationships, jobs, schools, families, and also with more serious problems like depression, anxiety, ptsd, serious mental illness and drug use. In depth initial intake interviews are completed before people are matched with treatment.

When I was looking around for specialists around El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, I came across this clinic. I called and asked if they were accepting new patients. I was then transferred to someone who did the 20 minute initial phone interview of me, and asked what kind of services I needed and why. I was then happy to know that I was given an appointment scheduled for 2 days later, which was really quick. The process of how the clinic works was explained to me. This clinic has graduate students working with the patients. The graduate students are under the supervision of licensed therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists.
My first appointment was a 2 hr assessment session. Because this is a clinic with graduate students, all therapy sessions are videotaped. Confidentiality is strictly enforced. Videotaping is done for the purpose of graduate students studying cases through watching videos for training and research purposes. This can only be done with the written permission of the patient.
This is a low-​cost clinic which I like. Most therapists, on average, go by $ 120 for 50 mins. This clinic goes by a sliding scale, and I was happy to learn my therapy sessions were going to be affordable for me for the next weeks.
I was very pleased to leave the clinic feeling better and knowing that a therapist they had in mind was going to be a good fit for me. I also felt like I was contributing tremendously to graduate students learning. With my life experiences, I feel that my videos will help and make a big impact, and will do a whole lot of teaching in itself.