Vincent Papaleo & Associates 51 Denmark Street, Kew, Victoria 3101

"I've provided a detailed 1-Star review of Dr Ben Jones at another Google Review location (search "Dr Ben Jones review" to see it and several other reviews). I won't articulate my concerns again in detail - other than to observe that several earlier reviewers here and elsewhere appear to be bringing up themes/patterns such as those related to bias, lack of rigour and potentially poor appreciation of complexity in family matters (i.e. particularly in relation to alleged domestic abuse, coercive control and parental alienation). Those with concerns about this practice are not lone voices in raising similar issues when it comes to Family Report Writers / Family Consultants in general - as detailed in an Attorney-General’s Department consultation paper on ‘Improving the competency and accountability of family report writers' released in late October 2021 (there's more about this on my other review). I fundamentally agree with another reviewer here (Nick Sos) that those with strong concerns should lodge a complaint with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Aphra) - as well as, perhaps, their local Member of Parliament and the Family Courts. However, where I respectfully differ from Nick's views is that I think it is vitally important for concerned individuals to provide detailed feedback on Google Reviews such as this as well. Vincent Papaleo & Associates charge VERY high fees for their (in my view) less than adequate approach and I feel it is important for those with negative (and positive) opinions to detail their thoughts in places like this so that potential clients can be fully informed before committing to anything. It appears some people have had the polar opposite experience with Vincent Papaleo & Associates (as well as Dr Ben Jones) to mine. With family matters being complex and nuanced there are a lot of layers that could come together to contribute to someone's lived experience with this firm - whether it was an overall good or bad one. To suggest that everyone who has lodged a negative review is dishonest or has not told the whole story (as another reviewer has done) is something I find terribly insensitive and regrettable. Especially when you consider how some reviewers are commenting on challenging domestic / child abuse situations and we can have no idea how inferring they are liars or that their negative experience is their fault might impact on someone's mental health (on top of everything else they've been through). Court cases/prosecutions against other Family Report Writers / Family Consultants in recent years have shown that all professionals working in this field (including psychologists) MUST be rigorously scrutinised and held to the highest standards of accountability. The individuals ultimately impacted the most when Family Report Writers / Family Consultants get it wrong, or do less than they reasonably should, are our children. They deserve nothing less than stringent professionalism from firms such as Vincent Papaleo & Associates."

"Vincent Papaleo is a great psychologist. He knows what he’s doing. In my opinion if anyone has an issue with him, it’s because they haven’t been honest in some regard or not telling the whole story. He helped my family enormously."

"Writing a bad review about Papaleo does nothing, report him to AHPRA . This guy is a psychologist not a doctor. He is playing with lives. Want results, want to hold him accountable? Contact AHPRA and put in a complaint."

"If it was possible to give zero stars I would. We saw Ben Jones as part of a court ordered Family Report. To say that he was biased in the father’s favour would be a gross mis understatement. He seemed to take everything my ex said as the absolute truth without question while most of what my son and I said was completely dismissed as either lies or not included in the report. I described a 20+ year domestic violence relationship but his comment was that what I described did not fit the legal definition of family violence. Having now done studies in this area as part of a Diploma course, everything I described was completely within the legal definition of family violence. Ben Jones is a dangerously influential forensic psychologist in the Family Court system and I can only recommend staying as far away from him as possible!"