Copelan Colleen MD

Dr. Copelan is all the worst things that you hear about psychiatrists. She is disinterested, distracted and unprofessional. She doesn’t seem to care for her patients.

I saw Dr. Copelan at her Camarillo location. I waited about 4 – 5 months before she was able to see me because she wasn’t taking new patients at the time. So when I actually got an appointment, I was very happy and really looked forward meeting her. At my first appointment, I waited for 50 minutes before I actually was taken in. Let me first say that am in the medical field, so I completely understand when doctors are running late. But what really irritated me that day was that I could hear her talking to her office staff about their weekend plans and general chit-​chat about life while her patients are all waiting outside. When I was finally taken in, I explained to her that the waiting was difficult because my husband was watching my 2 year old son (taking time off work) so that I could make this appointment. She didn’t seem empathetic and said we should just do a 30 minute session instead of the previously planned 1 hour. She also asked if I wanted to see another doctor? I waited so long to get this appointment that I just sucked it up and went through with it even though I wasn’t feeling comfortable nor happy with her. She wrote me a prescription and I went on my way. At our second appointment, she was 30 minutes late again. I had my son with me, so I didn’t feel as pressed for time. The first thing she said to me was, «The medication must be working because you don’t seem so angry with me at my tardiness». Who says that? That seems so unprofessional and also hurtful… implying that I was upset at our first visit because I wasn’t on meds. Again, I just sucked it up and went with it. She told me to schedule my visits later in the day so she would be on time? Huh? Usually the first appointment of the day is most on time because the doctor isn’t behind due to complicated cases or emergencies. How does she magically catch up later in the day unless she is cutting her time with other patients? So I scheduled a later appointment for my third visit. The day before, her assistant called me to confirm a 9 am visit (the first of the day). I told her that I had a different time on my calendar, but she said that I was mistaken and should come in at 9 am. So I was there… again…with my son… at 9 am. Dr. Copeland was not there. Her assistant had to tell me twice that she was running late, was on her way, then had to go back home because she forgot something, then was on her way again. And she had two 9 am patients waiting there for her. When I finally got into the room with Dr. Copelan (35 minutes later), she was on fire. She was super defensive. Apologized, but not in a sincere way. «What can I do, I was late? Do you want to spend your time talking about me… or you?» In addition, I could not get over the appearance of her office. There was a huge rib bone (for dogs) on the floor and dog hair all over her patient chairs. My allergies were going nuts. I realize that she does animal therapy with her patients, but it’s just not the cleanly appearance you’d expect from a medical office. I was so over it at that moment that I decided to leave her practice and never come back. As a patient with some generalized anxiety, it takes a lot of courage to finally seek help from a mental health professional because there is such stigma attached to seeing a psychiatrist. I can only say that Dr. Copelan did not help me, but in fact made me feel so violated that I’m not sure that I want to seek help elsewhere. It was a terrible experience and I would not recommend her to anyone.