06/22/2025
Sadly, Kingwood Counseling Center has closed. I know this was shocking, unexpected, abrupt, and disruptive to your care and I sincerely apologize for that. I know there are many people questioning what happened so I will attempt to explain.
Our mission statement included the goal of making quality mental healthcare accessible to all. We did that by accepting all insurance and EAP plans, including Medicare and Medicaid, offering reasonable cash rates to the uninsured, telehealth to those who couldn't make it into the office, and offering appointment availability outside of normal office hours so our patients didn't have to miss work or school. While we have always been passionate about this mission, the business side of running a large group practice entails more than most people would imagine, and it's not something our patients should have to concern themselves with, however I'm aware there are a lot of questions around why we closed so I'm disclosing the reason. We have been operating at a deficit for over a year and a half. Numerous events in 2024 culminated in us essentially being bankrupt. Already dealing with post-Covid industry changes, we, along with the rest of the community, dealt with numerous weather-related closures due to floods and power outages, including two declared disasters - the "April Floods" and Hurricane Beryl. We also dealt with the departure of 11 of our in-office clinicians for various reasons, plummeting our monthly revenue while our expenses remained the same. We pay our clinicians two to 8 weeks (or more) before we receive reimbursement from insurance. Sometimes claims are denied, we face "pre-payment audits", or we didn't have the correct insurance information to start with, resulting in claims not being paid. As the owner, I paid myself half my usual salary in 2024 trying to help the business stay operational, and even less in 2025. I exhausted my savings and took on a significant amount of debt trying to stay open so we could continue to provide the care we were all so passionate about.
Both our clinical staff and our admin staff were incredible. Katherine and Mary in the front office, Tricia verifying benefits and keeping us HIPAA complaint, Cara managing the office and HR, and Donna behind the scenes doing credentialing were all top-notch. Our therapists - Erika, Angela, Mia, Sharon Brittany, Draughn, Jenniesha, and Christian are all incredible clinicians who are truly invested in this work. All our staff were caring and committed to the work we were doing. That, combined with all the patients who came through our doors seeking the help they needed, caused me to keep trying and keep believing that the financial situation would turn around, but it didn't. I kept trying and kept holding onto hope and honestly, I waited way too long to wave the white flag. In retrospect, we should have closed last October or at least by February. When I informed my Office Administrator early last week of my intention to have a meeting with the staff and announce the closure, she made the decision to put out a statement announcing the closure to all the patients before I could meet with the staff. That forced me to send an email to all staff informing them because I didn't want the patients to know before the staff were informed. I have since met with each of our in-office clinical staff individually. Yes, this could have been handled much better. It should have been planned out and announced in advance, but that can't be changed at this point. I'm sincerely sorry for the abruptness of it, without the opportunity to terminate sessions appropriately.
I have asked all clinical staff to reach out to their patients via email and any patients who have contacted the office have been provided their therapists email address so they can indicate their desire to follow them wherever they end up working.
The therapists email addresses are as follows:
In Office therapists:
Marie "Mia" Baumgartner - mia@kingwoodcounselingcenter.com
Sharon Sieler - Sharon@kingwoodcounselingcenter.com
Brittany Kicker - Brittany@kingwoodcounselingcenter.com
Christian Clem - Christian@kingwoodcounselingcenter.com
Telehealth Therapists:
Erika Rebstock - Erika@kingwoodcounselingcenter.com
Angela Doolittle - Angela@kingwoodcounselingcenter.com
Jenniesha Figueroa Torres - Jenniesha@kingwoodcounselingcenter.com
Draughn Emerson - Draughn@kingwoodcounselingcenter.com
All records requests need to be sent to Sydney@kingwoodcounselingcenter.com
As it is literally only me dealing with everything at this point, including closing down, moving, and organizing all the records, it will take me several weeks, but I will get to your request.
Should you not wish to follow your therapist, we refer you back to your insurance company or EAP for a referral to another therapist.
Should you feel you are a danger to yourself or others, please contact 911 or go to your nearest hospital emergency room.
Again, this is a sad, unexpected, and tragic end to a business that was originally dreamed up by my son. It took him two years to talk me into expanding from solo practice, which I'd done for 11 years, into a group practice. I had come to recognize the need for additional mental health providers in the area but was still reluctant as my focus was and still is on patient care and not on managing a business and all that entails. Once we began as Kingwood Counseling Center in 2017 the first two therapists I hired were almost immediately full, reinforcing the fact we needed more providers in the area. The following year we relocated and expanded to our current location. I used the entire proceeds from my mother's life insurance policy (she passed away July 2018) to make that move October 2018 and purchase all the furnishings. We expanded again in 2020 and again in 2021, again with the intention and desire to meet the mental health needs of the community. My son designed our logo, and designed and built the signs and website, and business cards. My husband and I, both beyond middle age, spent countless hours shopping for all the furnishings and everything in each office was carefully selected. We spent many nights, just the two of us, building almost every piece of furniture and hanging all the pictures in those offices at the beginning and with each expansion. I made all the succulent arrangements myself. The goal was to create not just a functional space, but also one that was warm, comfortable, and welcoming to our patients. To see it come to an end is bordering on devastating. I sincerely apologize to everyone who has been impacted by our closure. Please know it was not due to a lack of effort, a lack of care, or a lack of commitment or personal sacrifice.
Sydney Adams Ordonio, LCSW-S
