Valerie R Houghton, LMFT

I just wanted her to mediate a simple settlement with my ex, but after three long trips from the north peninsula to San Jose, I finally gave up. She is cold and rude, in fact that is why she insisted I drive the second and third times, because she felt she doesn’t come off well over the phone. Well I can tell you it’s no better in person, complete lack of empathy. She is unprepared, several times I sat there thinking about my money ticking away as she looked up this or that on the internet and read it during the session. She is disorganized and unresponsive, she repeatedly misconstrued the state of progress and failed to take the next steps because she incorrectly remembered something, she repeatedly failed to return my emails and text messages, and if she did she scrambled the story, so there was never any progress. At one point I found out she did actually hear back from my ex, but she failed to inform me or follow up with her. $ 750 and three hours of driving, for nothing. I will be following up with a complaint to whatever state board governs LMFT’s, and probably a small claims case. I was looking for help but got more headaches than when I started.

Valerie does make a good first impression.
However, as she list. She is an attorney first, and a counselor second. She shorted a lot of my sessions to appear in court. Obviously, that pays more. She would say, «I owe you 35 minutes» for example. But when I left her she did not make up the time as promised nor did she refund my money.
Another negative is that she can be incredibly callous at times. I have a problem with anxiety, especially around people. She often would say, «I think you are scared spitless,» (when it came to social situations).
If you want a good attorney you should probably consider her. However, if you want a good counselor look elsewhere.