Dr Minnie Joseph, Child & Adolescent Consultant Psychiatrist

There was difficulty in communicating with Dr Joseph during our sessions. I wasn't sure if my questions were consistently poorly worded or whether she was struggling to be detailed in her responses. The report that she produced was so poorly written that we were embarrassed to share it with our son's school. For someone working in psychology, she had little or no sympathy/empathy. When assessing our son she didn't seem to make any adjustment to her approach to engage him, and concluded that he must have obstacles to social interaction.Rather flippantly we both felt she announced a diagnosis with no prior warning mid-session in front of all of us. There was no consideration for blurting this out to our young son.Also her note-taking appears to be sketchy as several of the details included in our report were incorrect (family medical history, ages, etc).To top it off we only dealt directly with Dr Joseph in the booking of our assessment, yet she managed to get her timings mixed-up, accused us of being 30 minutes late, did not offer to honour the original time for the second session, gave us 30 minutes less than was originally booked across the two sessions AND when the timings issue was brought up at the second session she was not in the least apologetic at her mistake.I'm not questioning Dr. Joseph's ability to diagnose or her qualifications, but her interpersonal and professional behaviours might be a point of focus for her. Once we've had a second opinion, perhaps I can comment on the actual diagnosis and methods, therefore conservatively I've assumed that clinically her skills are not lacking.

My daughter had behaviour issues and even though my daughter was referred to cahms several times they finally saw her and said there’s no diagnosis as she is not like it at school . Even though every day she had challenging behaviour were I was black and blue and verbally attacked they put it to family environment and parenting. I did not believe this and as they say a mother knows her own child well this was the case . I was recommended by a friend for my daughter to see Dr Joseph . It was the best thing I did. Dr joseph asked so many questions, she listened to us and watched my daughter behaviour she was professional and new a lot My daughter was diagnosed with autism, anxiety and depression.All this time cahms their system failed my daughter with her needs and support. It was like a weight that had been lifted off my shoulders . Words can not express my emotions as cahms made me feel like a bad mom , a failure .Please never give up on your child/children even if you keep failing like I did . Just remember without us seeing Dr minni Joseph my child would of slipped through the net and would of suffered as well as myself and her siblings .

Dr Joseph has helped myself with anxiety and PTSD. my 36 year old brother who has been Incorrectly diagnosed his whole life; now he has his correct diagnosis of ADHD and the correct medication and support. My 6 year old son who has also been failed by the NHS has now received his diagnosis of PDA, ADHD and anxiety. My son now has the correct diagnosis and treatment. Without the diagnosis of PDA which would of been missed by the NHS I dread to think what the future would of held for my son. I find Dr Joseph direct which I appreciate, honest, professional and supportive! Furthermore, she clearly has a great wealth of knowledge and experience. I am very thankful the help my family and I have recieved from Dr Joseph.

Dr Joseph did nothing for my child - instead of helping, she made her feel worse. Within 15 minutes of first contact she said it was clear my daughter had more than dyslexia" however

We approached Dr Joseph after my 8 year old daughter had for some years presented with violent challenging behaviour, high anxiety and school refusal. 3 years on we were getting nowhere with CAMHS and so we felt it was time to source a private Psychiatrist with knowledge of PDA.Our first session was done via Skype (due to Covid lockdown restrictions), where my daughters history was taken in addition to a 1-1 session with my daughter. Dr Joseph was quick to put my daughter at ease and focused on her special interests in order to engage with her.The school and myself were asked to complete a number of detailed Autism questionnaires, after which Dr Joseph invited us to attend a second session at her offices, where she did an observation assessment of my daughter in order to see for herself where my daughters difficulties lied and whether she was indeed on the Autism Spectrum. It is important to note that this is the same assessment tool used by CAMHS and the NHS.3 days later we had a full report, detailing the observations from the 2nd session as well as incorporating information from the questionnaires, and a previous SALT report I provided before our initial appointment. Dr Joseph also listed in the conclusion further assessments that my daughter would need, as well as recommending an EHCP so that she could benefit from the appropriate scaffolding needed in order for her to be able to continue to access an education.As a parent who has been told for 3 years that my parenting was to blame for my daughters behaviour, it was a shock and a relief to be given a diagnosis that supports the concerns we share as a family.The whole process from start to finish took a matter of weeks. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Dr Joseph to any parents who find themselves in a similar situation with their children.

In my Opinion, Dr Joseph has actually provided the most legitimate and proper help I have had in at least the final few years. She has a really professional approach to helping me with the problems I face. I and my dad discuss many issues with her during our meetings and she has quite a lot of knowledge and power at her disposal- being even able to help us by contacting the school and persuading/directing them when we are unable to talk sense into them or otherwise are being ignored by them. It is reasonable to say that I underwent a very serious and stressful situation in the past year and the majority of this year, and had very dangerous and destructive states of mind, being prone to break down or lash out violently with fury burning within me. It was Dr Joseph that prescribed the correct medications for me, both last year and this year, and as I took them accordingly to how we were instructed by her, the medications where probably a major part of the help we needed, as thanks to my medication I feel pacified and calmer and happier than I have felt in a very long time, I have never lashed out or had a mental breakdown or the urge to die/harm since I took the prescribed medication and so right now It is a fair thing to say that Dr Joseph's help literally saved my life, as I dread to think what would have happened if i haven't got the correct medication or help in the time I did. Dr Joseph is very good and it is clear she is a professional, and for me seeing her when I do really helps as we address any problems, and she has a professional answer.

I am so grateful for the help and support we recieved from Dr Jospeh, even during this difficult time she still managed to professionally do an assessment for our son. We felt as though we were being taken seriously and we were understood. Such a kind and caring person.I am thankful for the help we recieved and the impact the support from Dr Jospeh will have on our sons future.

I have observed several assessments of children by Minnie Joseph as an independent supporter of parents.I have also taken my highly anxious autistic daughter to see her for an assessment. To gather suppoting evidence for an EHCP. I wanted an overview of her mental health.She was very through, she liased with all the NHS and Private professionals involved with my daughter and was able to make a further helpful diagnosis of PDA. She provided an extremely accurate and helpful picture of my child in a report with some good recommendations.I trust Dr Joseph as a professional.I value her opinion.She will always ensure the gold standard in criteria is met before giving a diagnosis.In my opinion, she will not give a diagnosis just because a person is paying.

Please do not use this lady. I am releived to read 2 other reports above where Dr Joseph had very poor communication, memory and was abrupt and rude. The report was badly written and I had to ask her to amend 12 mistakes that she had made before I could pass it onto the school. She has since incorrectly sent me another child's reports, with all of their personal details. She made my daughter feel very uncomfortable and I am questioning whether her report is worth the paper it is written on.

We took our 9 year old son to see Dr Joseph at a time of desperation. The NHS wait was too long; he was struggling with high anxiety and was a school refuser, having violent meltdowns. He was very sad and in need of help. We chose her because she came highly recommended online and had a wealth of experience in children’s mental health, inpatient and outpatient.Dr Joseph was calm and direct. She helped us see things more clearly and helped to explain our sons behaviour. She was very professional and had a wide ranging knowledge. She spoke to my son at his level and was honest and sincere in her findings.We received a very thorough and accurate report providing her opinion and diagnosis for our son, which has been accepted by the nhs team and our school. She also provided the correct medication for him which has been life changing.Dr Joseph has been a great very support to our family, even when our son didn’t want to engage with her she was able to communicate with him. Before we met her, we spoke on the phone to find out if she’d been able to help, and she has always been very responsive and reliable with emails and communication.We would highly recommend Dr Joseph. She has helped our son so much and in turn our family. We are so glad we found her!