OPTIMIND

I will start with the way that I was called rapidly from the reception team down at Optimind in Mornington; but, face-to-face, there was a different story.
I arrived for my appointment to see a psychiatrist. 15 minutes had past from my appointment and I saw my psychiatrist bring in another patient to his room, to which should have been my time.over an hour had past, and I started becoming quite anxious and unsure of what to do, I then went to the front desk and asked ‘hey, sorry but my appointment was an hour ago, I’m just wondering what is happening? ’
I was then met with an attitude and was asked ‘well…. Who are you seeing? ’
At this point I was quite obvious in distress within my mind that I had forgotten then name of the doctor I was to see.so I said ‘i don’t know’
Again, with the attitude of an adolescent teenager I was asked ‘well…? What’s your name then? ’
I said my entire name and then told that there had been a ‘medical emergency’ with a patient. Which I can understand, I do however, wish I was advised of this complication in order to be well aware of a possible delay.
I wish to bring up the point, that this is betokened to be a mental health facility. Why are there people working on the front desk being impudent to mental health patients? The posture, rudeness and degradable tone is not fitting for a mental health facility. If your receptionists do not relish their own jobs; then they progressively should find other work, or better yet, optically discern a psychiatrist themselves.this is not rocket science, being kind to people is not chore and it costs nothing.
I ended up leaving the facility as there was a confusion commix up, I was visibly upset, anxious and frustrated. I was not charged thankfully, but I would not go back.
The organisation skills are better at home from what I see with my two year old daughter.
Good fortuity to you all.

Terrible experience, the admin team are rude and unprofessional. The appointment process is drawn out and ridiculous. I have never dealt with such incredibly bad customer service. Never again. Please look at training into empathy and understanding for people with mental health issues.

Cannot comment on the professional staff yet I will not be attending this clinic due to the clear incompetence of admin. I just had someone else's very detailed referral sent to me as mine. Even after confirming my DOB and name and asking twice if details were correct due to booking being for a different? Diagnosis.
I wouldn't trust any company that so easily breaches your medical privacy.

Had an appointment with Dr Owais who was really great.

He said I needed a follow up appointment in three months time. However, the Optimind reception said there was nothing till Jan. I called about five times and they finally answered and gave me an appointment a couple of weeks past the three month mark.

The clinic seems like a practical joke. The referral process was elongated for months with me having to call up weekly to remind them, a receptionist fully sighed in exasperation when I asked preemptively if the psychiatrist had research in women’s ADHD. And on my most recent call the receptionist slammed the phone down pretty much when I said that it was really unsafe to accept a patient under care, then not have an appointment available to monitor the medication (even though they actually did have one after I pressed for one).

For anyone who is really struggling DO NOT go to this clinic, it’s completely unsafe the way that it’s managed.

Only giving two stars because my Psychologist Adriana Ventura and my psychiatrist Venkat Chekuri are absolutely amazing and who I’ve been looking for for years! I’m so incredibly supported by both of them and can’t fault either of them.

However, the customer service at this place is appalling. You can never get through on the phone and it’s always left on hold, you have the option to request a call back but you never get said call back or you sit waiting on hold and it takes 20-30 minutes for anyone to answer. Yet you go into the clinic for appointments and there’s multiple people sitting at or near the desk who could easily pick up a phone.

I was getting seriously fed up with the admin side of things but it took me so long to find a mental health team willing to listen and take care of me so that’s the only reason I stay.

Adding on to the terrible admin, I had an appointment two weeks ago and they have not processed my Medicare claim. The computer system was down when I went to pay after my appointment so they emailed me out an invoice (quick to do that funnily enough) which I paid straight away and informed them I had paid and still nothing has been processed and my email to say I had paid was never acknowledged.

As I said, the only reason I keep going is for my psych’s but absolutely cannot bare this horrible service from admin

Two stars because I really like my dietitian and psychologist however dealing with Optimind itself is really difficult. I cannot call and get through and if I do they don't do what they say they will do.
Last year they were charging multiple appointments incorrectly and it meant I had no medicare sessions left for another professional elsewhere. I had to drive down to get help because I couldn't get through via call or email. I am now waiting on hold as they hung up on me twice but I am calling about my appt in 45 min as I never got my telehealth link. Not sure if they're super busy or whats going on but it's so difficult trying to deal with reception/admin related issues there is almost no point. I hope the practice sees this and realises they need more staff as I am sure the receptionist/admin people are really busy.

This is primarily a warning to anyone who is triaged to Dr Sue Cockman. Although it's worth mentioning that Optimind "forgot" to notify patients when one of their psychiatrists left the country, leaving patients without access to treatment for months.

(TW - ableism, medical gaslighting, mention of s.abuse).

Dr Cockman is one of the worst psychologists I have encountered. I was triaged to her following a late in life autism diagnosis, the culmination of 20+ years drowning in the cold and uncaring void of misdiagnosis limbo. Expecting to be met with a warm and compassionate hand, I was instead met with a cruel and arrogant boot to the face, more interested in asserting dominance than providing any semblance of duty of care.

Dr Cockman lacked even the most basic level of empathy or understanding of neurodiversity, which she attempted to compensate for with a disturbing level of condescension and aggression. She constantly invalidated and infantilised me throughout the session, struggled to let me speak without relentlessly interrupting and interjecting, and demonstrated clear examples of every cognitive bias underlying the prevalence of misdiagnosis in autistic adults.

She began by correcting the way I was sitting, insisting that autistic people have a moral duty to not "make" other people feel uncomfortable with their body language. She explained that masking my autistic traits would lead to better outcomes in life, despite the overwhelming body of evidence demonstrating that shaming autistic people into masking leads to horrific outcomes in physical and mental health.

I attempted to explain the difficulty I experienced in University as an undiagnosed autistic student, as well as struggling with stressful content featuring nudity and sexism. Before I felt comfortable enough to explain how this difficultly stems from childhood sexual abuse related trauma, Dr Cockman dismissed the problems I had as merely a product of "cancel culture. " She insisted that there aren't any issues with sexual abuse in the industry I was referencing, that I was delusional, and that she knows more than me about it because she has an art degree, and I don't.

When I attempted to push back against her gaslighting me about sexual abuse, she doubled down and went on one of the most unhinged ableist rants I have ever heard. Insisting that the social problems experienced by autistic people are because "people with autism don't understand human behaviour or emotions, " that we "lack theory of mind and empathy", and "need to be taught how to understand humans in the same way that an A. I.is taught maths".

She followed this up by denigrating my relationship, as my partner is also autistic. She insisted on interrogating me about my gender identity, and got noticeably upset when I referenced sociological elements which she dismissed as "grand narratives". My attempt at addressing her attitude resulted in her becoming increasingly hostile, which lead me to end the session early. The receptionist noticed how badly I was shaking on the way out and offered to call the CAT team for me. It's fairly absurd when a receptionist displays more empathy and duty of care than a psychologist.

Since this appointment I have begun formally studying psychology, and found Dr Cockman's theories on autism stem from an antiquated misunderstanding of neurodiversity. The myth that autistic people lack empathy/theory of mind was dispelled decades ago, and provides a chilling demonstration of the deep level of incompetence and ignorance embodied by Dr Cockman. Her methodology of ignorantly pathologising every aspect of autism was historically used as justification to dehumanise and abuse autistic people, in an attempt to erase autistic culture; a eugenics style ideology which Dr Cockman seemed very committed to reviving.

I'd strongly advise avoiding Dr Cockman.

Vikki Holmes has been wonderful and professional but very caring and very knowledgeable. My complaint of the last month or so is it has been difficult to get through to reception to book an appointment with being stuck for 20 mins plus and having to leave a message instead of talking to someone at reception. Maybe they are short staffed.

Sent a referral off, didn’t hear back from them for over a month, had to ring them and ask what was going on, was told I was booked into see a specific DR, then got a call the day after saying I’m seeing another DR now and that it’s only a Telehealth appointment which is so much worse than a face to face as seeing all aspects of someone and they’re mental health is absolutely detrimental for correct treatment, I was also told that the closest appointment was another 3.5 weeks away and that was the best the could pretty much do, absolutely horrendous and to see the reviews on the website is just shocking

I’ve dealt with 2 psychiatrists at Optimind and both of them were exceptional in their manner and treatment. As some people have said, it can be hard to get an initial appointment. In my experience, this is the case with all excellent medical practitioners as they only have so many hours in a day to deliver quality treatment. Thank you Optimind for helping me and my loved ones craft lives which are truly awesome.

Admin staff are incredibly rude and cannot follow through on inquiries. Very poor management of service very difficult to get information about making a complaint

Friendly and helpful staff. I could not have asked for a better service. Nothing was too much trouble - thankyou. PS. I love Daisy

Refuse to discuss their services over the phone unless I provide a referral first. I'd already told them that I would provide one if they were suitable. Their rude email let me know that they're not.
Bad for mental health!

Terrible.threw me out after claiming i made a threat!? I never did.rude and were no help.dr sharma was my doctor she did not listen to anything i had to say about my anexiety issues and offerd no explanation just threw me out, after having to wait 3 months for my meeting. Terrible doctor

I loved the psychiatrist I saw she was amazing! Best I've ever seen! And staff were amazing and kind! Highly recommend!

Do not go to this place.
No duty of care, incorrect diagnosis, dont listen and cost a fortune

Terrible! Steer clear!
After over a month of waiting for a callback to make an appointment and with several phone calls from us to find out what was going on, we were then told that we had to make an appointment with a different Doctor as the particular one we were recommended and referred too was no longer taking new patients. We should have been told this from the start. This has now delayed diagnosis, recovery, everything. It's wrong to put people's lives at risk. We are now back to square one. Mental health and particularly suicide should be taken far more seriously.

Embarrassing, confusing and laughable.after a misdiagnosis by my previous doctor in Mt Eliza, i was next referred to what i definitely consider to be the most expensive and shocking 500 dollar invoice for a one sided consultation, resulting in no diagnosis, any remote emotional support or input or just the natural empathy that youd expect from a doctor - but for an entire hour i spoke in painstaking detail of some of what i have experienced and only received an invoice, another follow up appointment in JUNE and what i can only describe as a completely gormless, open mouthed and non-response, from a doctor that seemed more like a substitute primary school teacher on recess yard duty than a seasoned clinician.

I still cringe to remember, but they just literally watched me cry; to which there was no reply or diagnosis.just a gormless expression that said more about them than the useless self proclamations of good will and charity that was straight up bizarre, essentially just pompous self embellishment, which i had to endure even prior to when they let me begin my reason for the appointment.never before have i heard such drivel spoken from a highly paid under-qualified chaplain who squandered my hopes for any kind of guidance or references of reassurance.

An absolutely horrible ordeal, embarrassing and confusing. By far the most expensive amount of hot air and self important rubbish you could ever imagine, spoken from a trained psychiatric doctor with apparently 25 years of "experience".

shame shame shame.

I ended up getting a 2nd opinion somewhere else, the Psychiatrist at Optimind could not diagnose properly given the info i gave. Waste of time.