Paul Krueger, BSW

I saw Paul Kreuger for several months for individual therapy and stopped seeing Paul because I felt he lacked empathy and gave mixed messaging in sessions. I would hesitate to recommend him overall because I've found him to be pretty cold and somewhat lacking in human connection, but I offer this review because I think that he could still be helpful to a subset of people. Three examples: One time I was discussing my struggles within the healthcare system and he made a comment about lots of patients faking illnesses. Usually when I have mentioned struggles the therapist empathizes or offers insight to help me advocate for myself. I have never had a therapist make accusations. It caused me to doubt his perception of me and instead of referring me elsewhere he continued the relationship and continued to make off-color comments that made me question his honesty in the relationship. I didn't feel safe discussing my private life with him anymore. The second example is he would make remarks about me that I felt were demeaning. For instance, one time he said I should get a boyfriend and when a family member called me the b word that that was just his way of expressing his feelings about our estrangement. I don't find that to be very professional. The third example: One time I mentioned to Paul that autistic women can have a hard time with communication because of the way we are expected to present and he said communication is actually harder for men, which I found interesting, but perhaps lacking in empathy. I have never actually felt overly judged by a therapist, but I really felt judged by him and continued to feel that way but I kept giving him the benefit of the doubt because I wanted to believe he had my best intentions. Sometimes he would seem supportive but he made many off color comments that made me doubt his sincerity. When I tried to address my concerns and suggested ending the relationship if we aren't in the same page he didn't address any of my concerns and terminated our relationship via email, which I found interesting since he always encouraged me to speak up during session. I didn't think that was very professional. Positives: He is very charming. I think he would be a good fit for someone seeking general therapy but not for someone with issues they viewed as perhaps stemming from disability/trauma/gender inequality and didn't need a lot of empathy that he could be the right person for them. But again, not the right fit for me. He also advertises emdr but when I saw him he said he doesn't really do it so I don't think he should advertise that.