Dr. Melissa Dawn Fickey, MD

Sarah Cash has been only mental health professional to help me.

I've been going to Embracing Life Wellness Center since my diagnosis in 2014. I started with Dr. Fickey and she just tossed around certain meds like she didn't really know what to put me on. She's always dressed to the nines and her office is really posh too. It seems as if she cares more about how much money she's making than the wellness of her patients. I went there when I was severely manic and demanded to be seen. She wouldn't see me since I didn't have an appointment so I just paced her waiting room with anxiety. She handed her staff samples of Seroquel, which I have been on before, and told me to take them and to call and make an appointment. I was MANIC!! I couldn't think straight, had zero attention span, couldn't drive....you name it. I ended up in the ER at our local hospital and from there sent to a Behavioral Health hospital for my first psych ward stay. When I was released from the hospital and got in right away to see her (the psychiatrist at the hospital made… the appointment and demanded I get in right away post discharge) she acted like my mania was not her fault at all and just wrote me another prescription for what the doctor at the hospital prescribed. I was sobbing uncontrollably and asked to be seen again in a month. She told me "these things take time" and told me she'd see me again in 3 months. I also had an attorney try to reach her countless times for a Social Security Disability case as I filed due to my Bipolar and Generalized Anxiety Disorder and she never returned the countless calls. Even my attorney stated that she's never had a psychiatrist never call them back. If you have a patient problem it goes through their staff which they all seem to be as posh as she is so maybe they are all friends of hers??? When she had her baby, maybe 3 months ago, she went to child and adolescents only THANK GOD as I was transferred to her Nurse Practioner, Sarah Cash. Sarah has helped me more in the 3 or so years that I've been seeing her than Dr. Fickey ever has!! Sarah listens. She's compassionate. She offers suggestions. If you want off of one med she will wean you off and start you on something new. She's even called me personally if I've had an issue. If you're an adult and need a psychiatrist get in to see one of their three NURSE PRACTIONERS. Her staff says that if you have a child or adolescent to be seen, now, that she only treats children. Let's hope she doesn't screw up kids as bad as she does adults!!

I've been going to Embracing Life Wellness Center since my diagnosis in 2014. I started with Dr. Fickey and she just tossed around certain meds like she didn't really know what to put me on. She's always dressed to the nines and her office is really posh too. It seems as if she cares more about how much money she's making than the wellness of her patients. I went there when I was severely manic and demanded to be seen. She wouldn't see me since I didn't have an appointment so I just paced her waiting room with anxiety. She handed her staff samples of Seroquel, which I have been on before, and told me to take them and to call and make an appointment. I was MANIC!! I couldn't think straight, had zero attention span, couldn't drive....you name it. I ended up in the ER at our local hospital and from there sent to a Behavioral Health hospital for my first psych ward stay. When I was released from the hospital and got in right away to see her (the psychiatrist at the hospital made… the appointment and demanded I get in right away post discharge) she acted like my mania was not her fault at all and just wrote me another prescription for what the doctor at the hospital prescribed. I was sobbing uncontrollably and asked to be seen again in a month. She told me "these things take time" and told me she'd see me again in 3 months. I also had an attorney try to reach her countless times for a Social Security Disability case as I filed due to my Bipolar and Generalized Anxiety Disorder and she never returned the countless calls. Even my attorney stated that she's never had a psychiatrist never call them back. If you have a patient problem it goes through their staff which they all seem to be as posh as she is so maybe they are all friends of hers??? When she had her baby, maybe 3 months ago, she went to child and adolescents only THANK GOD as I was transferred to her Nurse Practioner, Sarah Cash. Sarah has helped me more in the 3 or so years that I've been seeing her than Dr. Fickey ever has!! Sarah listens. She's compassionate. She offers suggestions. If you want off of one med she will wean you off and start you on something new. She's even called me personally if I've had an issue. If you're an adult and need a psychiatrist get in to see one of their three NURSE PRACTIONERS. Her staff says that if you have a child or adolescent to be seen, now, that she only treats children. Let's hope she doesn't screw up kids as bad as she does adults!!

I've been going to Embracing Life Wellness Center since my diagnosis in 2014. I started with Dr. Fickey and she just tossed around certain meds like she didn't really know what to put me on. She's always dressed to the nines and her office is really posh too. It seems as if she cares more about how much money she's making than the wellness of her patients. I went there when I was severely manic and demanded to be seen. She wouldn't see me since I didn't have an appointment so I just paced her waiting room with anxiety. She handed her staff samples of Seroquel, which I have been on before, and told me to take them and to call and make an appointment. I was MANIC!! I couldn't think straight, had zero attention span, couldn't drive....you name it. I ended up in the ER at our local hospital and from there sent to a Behavioral Health hospital for my first psych ward stay. When I was released from the hospital and got in right away to see her (the psychiatrist at the hospital made… the appointment and demanded I get in right away post discharge) she acted like my mania was not her fault at all and just wrote me another prescription for what the doctor at the hospital prescribed. I was sobbing uncontrollably and asked to be seen again in a month. She told me "these things take time" and told me she'd see me again in 3 months. I also had an attorney try to reach her countless times for a Social Security Disability case as I filed due to my Bipolar and Generalized Anxiety Disorder and she never returned the countless calls. Even my attorney stated that she's never had a psychiatrist never call them back. If you have a patient problem it goes through their staff which they all seem to be as posh as she is so maybe they are all friends of hers??? When she had her baby, maybe 3 months ago, she went to child and adolescents only THANK GOD as I was transferred to her Nurse Practioner, Sarah Cash. Sarah has helped me more in the 3 or so years that I've been seeing her than Dr. Fickey ever has!! Sarah listens. She's compassionate. She offers suggestions. If you want off of one med she will wean you off and start you on something new. She's even called me personally if I've had an issue. If you're an adult and need a psychiatrist get in to see one of their three NURSE PRACTIONERS. Her staff says that if you have a child or adolescent to be seen, now, that she only treats children. Let's hope she doesn't screw up kids as bad as she does adults!!

bsolutely terrible! I waited quite a while after my 2 year nightmare experience with Dr. Fickey and her staff to post this review because I didn't want to post something in haste out of hard feelings that might be damaging to a doctor's reputation. Now however, I feel I would be doing a disservice to others by not being honest about how bad this doctor and her office staff are. At best, pill pushers, snooty, uncaring, non-compassionate, and at worst, incompetent and irresponsible. Doctor rarely had correct information on what she had me on as far medication goes and was consistently confused regarding doses, actual drug name etc. I wish I could share everything here, but her lack of proper care caused me to nearly destroy my life with choices I never would have made in my right frame of mind. She did nothing she should have done when it comes to me and my situation and now I face the consequences. My life is forever changed due this doctor and her bad attitude and uncaring,… irresponsible personality that only seems to care about money not about people at all. If you value your mental health and that of your family's. Don't go here. Don't risk it.

Spent 15 minutes with me after an almost hour long wait. I arrived on time. My insurance was accepted with a larger co-pay than normal which wasn't a issue for me but would have appreciated advanced notice. My diagnosis was changed after a couple of years and my medications as well. I'm looking for another psychiatrist at this as Ms. Fickey seems unknowledgeable of my situation, when it comes to increasing or decreasing my medication. I'm sure she's like this with others aa well. Simply in a hurry and less concerned about my own mental health. PLEASE STAY AWAY and FIND a PROFESSIONAL PSYCHIATRIST and PSYCHOLOGIST. A waste of insurance money and my own while no better off. She's even sent me to the ER before because a medication she gave me made me gave me a seizure.

Mrs. Fickey does not take the time to really assess what you're going through. She's diagnosed me and changed my diagnosis a few times over the past few years and changed my medications too often to keep up with. She will give more attention to those with insurance but you still get an inaccurate diagnosis and a handful of anti-depressants and mood stabilizers for anything from ADD to Bipolar. She is self-centered and only cares about how much money she can bring into her new office or home. The wait is long and Melissa Fickey lets you know she's the pilot and you are to listen to her alone. Your personal feelings are not her concern. Potential patients beware. She is a quack and only out for the greenback and not your mental well being. I couldn't believe how much money she's bringing in until I found her personal Facebook under Melissa Fickey Giacona and saw the extravagant lifestyle she lives with her family. ( A real eye opener ). Self-pay patients are merely supplying… her with Kleenex or Napkins in my opinion. Do yourself a favor and find a better psychiatrist. She almost destroyed my life with all the medications she was changing around. Good luck

Melisssa Fickey "now" that she remarried last year and is a new mother now has started to pawn off at least some patients to her nurse practitioner Sarah Kash. So at least some of us don't actually get to see her if we're a regular. She always has a know it all attitude. The last time I actually saw Melissa herself she was rude as usual and talked to me like I was trash. She's increasing antidepressants and mood stabilizers now while decreasing benzodiazepines like Xanax and Klonopin dramatically. You're lucky to get 4 mg per day of either Xanax or Klonopin from her these days. That's bad when you are constantly having panic attacks out the roof and she knows it. She started me off 8 or 9 years ago with 8mg of Xanax per day as needed because of my Chronic Anxiety attacks years ago and has changed my other mood stabilizers so much I don't know if I'm coming or going. She knows I need more than 4mg of either Xanax or Klonopin per day, but has taken a dislike to me I feel. I called a… couple of pharmacies and the 4mg she's now trying to go down to is the recommended amount. I'm not even stabilized. Her notes are also inaccurate when she read some of my own history to me, I realized she wasn't paying attention during years of 10 to 15-minute previous sessions and I have been seeing her almost a decade. She's rude, arrogant and although she may be eye candy to some patients and acts like she knows more than anyone else, that's not what I'm there for. She doesn't look as " hot " as she did prior to pregnancy but acts like she's all that and a bag of chips. She has her nurse practitioner Sarah seeing some of us and I'm personally being treated like crap now that I disagreed with some of her statements. She used to be the best give me my Prozac, Mood Stabilizers such as Seroquel or Depakote, and enough Xanax or Klonopin to feel normal and handle Chronic Panic Attacks from flashbacks and severe depression, but since she went into her own private practice last year called " Embracing Life ", she has done an about face. I wait twice as long as I should now to see Sarah who has a better attitude but I am paying to see Mrs. Fickey and not a Nurse Practioner filling in like a puppet. I did get to see Mrs. Fickey again recently and she was rude, talked to me like I was a piece of dirt and complained about how I'm not getting better. How can I when she is increasing my mood stabilizers and dramatically decreasing my Klonopin or Xanax. ( her choice of the day, depending on her mood. She needs a reality check. Just because she has her own clinic, she shouldn't treat me or anyone else like a second class citizen.

I had a very negative experience with this doctor. She prescribed many different medicines for me that weren't right for me. When I informed her that I wanted to wean off the medications altogether, I went through *horrible* withdrawal symptoms and ended up in the hospital. To her credit, she seemed to be much more responsive and sensitive to my concerns following my release from the hospital, but she went back to what she apparently does best: prescribing meds by the fistful. In acute withdrawal and feeling rock-bottom awful, I was vulnerable and accepted her prescriptions. BIG mistake on my part. Months later, my new doctor and I are in the process of weaning me off the boatload of medicines she put me on--a process that will likely take a year or even longer. Less is more, especially with pharmaceuticals, but this doctor sadly doesn't grasp that.

Terrible human being who destroyed me prescribing SSRI after SSRI when the DNA test she took clearly showed they were no good for me. Im have been suffering from severe mental akathisia for over a year now because of her mess.