Mental Health Providers in Evanston, Illinois

I’ve gone back and forth about writing this review to share my experience with NFI, specifically regarding the care my daughter received last year, but given her progress since we’ve switched to a different group, I feel it’s important. I want to be clear that I understand many families may have had positive experiences, but unfortunately, this was not the case for us, and I feel it is important to explain why. Last summer, my daughter was diagnosed with combined ADHD, depression, and an eating disorder. We began to try different medications to address her diagnosis, right as she was starting her freshman year. During this time, her psychiatrist, Dr. Gautum, instructed me to contact her immediately if my daughter ever expressed suicidal thoughts and to discontinue her medication if that occurred. So when her school contacted me to report that my daughter was having such thoughts, I followed those instructions and reached out right away. I did not expect an immediate call back, but the message I received was surprisingly curt, essentially, “Call the ER or wait for your scheduled appointment.” It felt dismissive, especially given the seriousness of the situation and the guidance I had been given. It was actually the school social worker, who took the time to evaluate my daughter, assess her risk level, and stay with her until I could return from an offsite work event. Later that day, I was five minutes late to our scheduled call due to traffic while rushing back to my daughter. Despite the fact that sessions with Dr. Gautum often began 10–20 minutes late, she called my phone repeatedly and then reprimanded me for being “disrespectful of her time” and for not taking the situation seriously. Her tone was harsh enough that I broke down in tears during the call. In a moment when empathy and support were needed most, I felt judged and scolded instead. Although she later called to apologize, the damage to our trust had already been done. Beyond these incidents, we also struggled with inconsistent communication from the care team. We received conflicting guidance about what my daughter needed, at times we were told to keep her busy with activities to “distract herself,”. My daughter regularly attended weekly sessions, even though focusing after a full day of school was sometimes difficult for her. Only once there was conflict that occurred due to the last minute nature of knowing if she’d be competing in a sports Event, but we gave 24 hour notice. Even with an email showing the advanced notice of more than 24 hours, I was still charged 250 dollars for the cancellation. When her mental health started deteriorating shortly after, I was told that “she should be attending more sessions and not skipping them for her sports events”. This was confusing to me, because several times I raised concerns that she needed a more intensive, structured program, but I was strongly discouraged based on “statistical data,” yet the alternative recommendation was an intensive after‑school program lasting several hours each day, which was unrealistic for her needs and attention span. Ultimately, it was my daughter herself that asked for a day program. We made that change, and within four months her medication was stabilized and she began to thrive. The contrast in her progress has been significant. I am sharing this feedback not out of anger, but out of concern. My daughter often left sessions feeling inadequate and misunderstood, and I felt unsupported during critical moments. I hope this information is taken seriously and used to improve the experience for other families, especially those with children who have ADHD or complex mental health needs. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

I’ve had an extremely frustrating experience with this clinic due to repeated breakdowns in basic care coordination. After my child’s original provider rescheduled multiple times and then left the clinic, we were reassigned to another provider. Since then, getting a routine prescription refill for a psychiatric medication has been unnecessarily difficult. Multiple refill requests were submitted by the pharmacy and through the patient portal, yet staff repeatedly gave conflicting information—saying the prescription was sent, then later saying they couldn’t find any request at all. Front desk staff stated they were “messaging the doctor,” but there was no clear follow-through or accountability, and no one could explain why the prescription wasn’t being filled. As a result, my child missed school due to lack of medication. Communication was inconsistent, guidance on filing a grievance was unclear, and I was left doing the work of tracking and escalating what should have been a simple refill. Mental health care requires reliability and continuity. Unfortunately, this clinic did not provide that. I would strongly caution parents to consider whether this level of disorganization is acceptable when timely care truly matters.