The Gateway Institute - Costa Mesa

I had been suffering from anxiety for several years, which eventually morphed into OCD. Traditional talk therapy did nothing to help and the situation felt hopeless. The counseling I received from Gateway helped me gain a deeper understanding of my anxiety and OCD, and provided me with the tools to manage it and live a happier life. Like anything that is worthwhile, it takes some time and effort to obtain results, but it does work! Special thanks to Jacques Esses, who was a great therapist and guided me through the process.
Apr 2nd, 2024

Made my issues 100x worse. Unapologetic and unwilling to take responsibility for their actions. Very disappointing and let me down at a critical point in my life. If you do decide to go, avoid Christopher Trondsen.
May 28th, 2023

I attended the anxiety treatment in the past for about 3 weeks. It is a very overrated program. I have read self- help books and online sources that were a lot more helpful than this program. I had Kaiser so I did not have to pay anything for this program but if I did not have insurance, I would have had to pay over $12,000 dollars.  This program really is not worth the cost and is way overpriced. When I was attending the program, my therapist mostly focused on one technique to overcome anxiety. Implementing that technique just made me overthink more, made my compulsions worst, and worsened my anxiety. Even if it gave me lower anxiety, it was only temporary and made my compulsions and overthinking worst in the short and long run. My anxiety is a lot better today because of using my own method and implementing tips I learned from self- help books and online sources, not because of Gateway. For me, using Gateway's method of forcing myself to think, say, or write about an upsetting thought over and over again caused me more anxiety and made me feel more bothered by my thoughts, distracted me from the present, made me more likely to do compulsions, and it felt really unnatural for me. Looking back, I erroneously believed I ended up not doing any compulsions at all or doing very little compulsions the last few days I was there at the IOP program. I realized I was wrong looking back because I felt for me, just thinking about my upsetting thoughts alone felt like a compulsion in itself because it felt like I had to implement Gateway's advice of forcing myself to think about something repetitively in order to lower compulsions in the long run. Ironically, I felt that doing an action in an attempt to eliminate compulsions and fear felt like a compulsion in itself already. It felt like I was doing an action repetitively in order to try to solve the problem which was anxiety and compulsions. In my subconscious and conscious mind while I was at Gateway, implementing their exposure and response prevention technique made me perform more compulsions and made me more upset about a thought. I felt this was true at all times in Gateway, including the last week I was at Gateway.For me, just distracting myself by thinking about something else, doing other things, and forcing myself to not compulse not only helped me lower compulsions in the long and short run, but it felt less upsetting to me, felt more natural, and made me be able to be more present in what I am currently doing in life. One of the anxiety disorder specialists I saw later on after I left the Gateway program told me that in my situation with anxiety, Gateway's technique of exposure and response prevention was not an effective treatment plan for me. That specialist offered me other strategies that I found more useful.
Jul 11th, 2022

I have been attending Gateway for almost 2 years now and I feel very fulfilled by my experience there and time spent with my therapist Karen Alonso. I highly recommend her, we've been working together and I can't give her enough credit for all of my progress made. I appreciate her patience, expertise, and understanding. Gateway makes sure that the therapist the pair you with is compatible to your needs and I truly feel like Karen was the perfect match. Not only is she caring, empathetic she makes you feel comfortable in a setting which can be a vulnerable experience. Thank you Karen! Thank you Gateway!
Mar 22nd, 2022

The experience I had at the Gateway Institute was amazing. Before the intensive treatment program, I could not really function on a day-to-day basis because of my OCD. My life was consumed by it and it was extremely distressing. I had not felt like myself in years and I had honestly forgotten what it was like to live without the interference of OCD. The guidance and support they give you during the program is excellent and because of this I no longer battle with OCD on a daily basis. The employees have a deep understanding of OCD and never made me feel out of place no matter what my compulsions or thoughts were. My therapist, Chris was fantastic. While the therapy may seem intimidating at first, I can assure you it is beyond liberating to free yourself from the grip of OCD. I completed the program over 6 months ago and I am better than ever. The tools they give you during the program are useful for overcoming more than just OCD and can be applied after therapy as well. I cannot imagine having done any other therapy program.
Jan 12th, 2022