Kansas City Relationship Institute

After struggling to communicate effectively and considering walking away, my husband and I found a lifeline in couples therapy with Michelle Washburn-Busk. With warmth, compassion, and exceptional skill, she helped us save our marriage and family. Michelle identified childhood trauma that was hindering me specifically and suggested individual therapy alongside our couples sessions. Her ability to make us both feel seen/understood and her guidance on new communication methods were instrumental in our healing journey. Michelle empowered us to trust ourselves and eventually transition away from therapy. Thanks to her support, we recently celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary, knowing that our improved relationship wouldn't have been possible without her expertise. We are grateful for her role in helping us navigate challenges, communicate effectively, and work towards resolutions together. We finally have the relationship that each of us craved but neither knew how to achieve.

If you are ready to be open, honest, and do the work that therapy requires, I cannot recommend Michelle Washburn-Busk more.

I highly recommend KCRI. They are an amazing group of talented clinicians! Christina Wilson is particularly wonderful! She is the perfect blend of relatable and personable while also being incredibly knowledgeable about how couples can navigate difficult challenges.

I highly recommend The Kansas City Relationship Institute as a resource for couples in distress. They have incredibly competent therapists. I personally have worked and trained with Sally Hodges and see her as one of the best couples therapists I know. From my observation, Sally's main strengths are her abilities to express care, warmth, and transparency with all of her clients. Sally is exceptionally observant and guides clients towards greater self awareness. She cares deeply about relationships. She is committed to finding ways to strengthen clients' relationships so they find new meaning in their personal lives, as well as a renewed sense of commitment within their relationship.

I cannot recommend KCRI enough! Christina Wilson, in particular, is warm, affirming, and incredibly skilled in what she does. If you are someone struggling with connecting to a partner, or even interested in learning more about your own desires for life and your future, there is no one in the area I would recommend you see more than Christina. Amazing therapist!

Sally is the best therapist I've ever had. She is very compassionate about each of her clients and more passionate about the help she gives to each client. I will always recommend her.

Sally is an amazing therapist. She provides a safe and secure therapeutic environment for clients, and displays genuine care and support through her interventions. She addresses relevant topics that clients bring in and works with them in a collaborative manner to aid them in meeting their therapeutic goals. In her work with couples, Sally helps increase intimacy and connectedness within the relationship, while also challenging each parter to grow and develop individually. Sally attends to cultural dynamics at play within each client's context, and tailors treatment to meet their individualized needs.

The woman of my dreams and I have been seeing Sally for months, sometimes twice a month to work through things from our past relationships, sometimes our own relationship blocks, and learn how to better communicate with each other. Sally has the ability to help us hear each other unlike we can on our own. I think relationship counseling and seeing Sally has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Thank you!

Expert knowledge, supportive, non-judgmental, competent and helpful clinicians! High standard of care, quality service. Highly suggest Sally and Dr. Anderson. Give your relationship and your family the best - what it deserves. Check out what KCRI can do for you.

This facility is run by some of the best clinicians out there. I have personally worked with several of them and they are all incredibly qualified, empathetic, knowledgable, and wonderful to work with. I highly recommend KCRI to anyone seeking help in their relationships!

These people have genuinely great therapists working there. Therapy can be tough work at times, but the clinicians are excellently trained.

Most qualified and experienced therapists you will find in Missouri, hands down.

I thought about this review for a long time and felt it was best to be honest to save another couple the same experience. If you are in a relationship in crisis please go somewhere else. While I believe the counselor we were seeing would be very well suited for family counseling or even communication issues unfortunately she was completely ineffective for us. When I approached KCRI it was because of a relationship in severe distress. Instead of offering individual counseling as I have discovered other places highly recommend before working on very serious relationship issues they threw us both into a couples counseling as if our problems were simply just communication. On several occasions when I attempted to address these concerns with the counselor individually, she would basically dismiss them and asked that I bring them up in a couple's session... additionally, she was only available in person one day a week and that unfortunately was our busiest day of the week so it created further stress. After several months I contacted the clinical supervisor to bring to his attention to the fact that we needed be reassigned to someone else who has more experience in the seriousness of the problems we were facing. Instead of addressing the issues he told us that our counselor was perfectly capable and that we should talk about that with her. When I did bring them up to her she basically told me if I felt like the relationship was not safe for me that I should just leave. That was enough for me. This is exactly why I contacted them in the first place. I was very disappointed in the quality of service that we received. The fact that very dire concerns were not addressed and the elephant in the room basically ignored, I cannot recommend and don't believe this clinic is equipped to handle any sort of abusive behaviors. If you find yourself in crisis I have learned there are better counselors out there available. Unfortunately insurance never covers such things anymore so while they do work with you on making it a you do get what you pay for.

The person we were assigned, Christina, seemed very new to counseling. While she was a very sweet person, I don't believe this is her field. My husband and I said many times where we specifically needed help, she would reply her style is different and she preferred doing things her way. As deeper issues opened up, she wasn't capable of responsibly ending sessions at a safe, stopping point until the next session. As I said, very nice person but I recommend therapy elsewhere.
EDIT: After some reflection I feel it necessary to provide an update. This institute is very costly for couples already in distress. It weighs on my conscience for vulnerable people and relationships to be mishandled. Upon seeing this review Christina emailed both my and my husband's personal emails insisting why she chooses to use her methods. Suddenly, copy/paste-type five-star reviews began to surface, naming Christina explicitly. I work in mental health and although I didn't intend to hurt her ego, it's apparent attempts have been made in desperation to aid her professional career. I do apologize if my experience is hard for her to hear, in the email she asked for my suggestions. I won't charge $125 for 45 minutes to share, but I will let others seeking help be aware. During one of the sessions, after many expensive weeks of re-explaining the same things to Christina, I bluntly asked what progress my husband and I were even making going there if we repeat the same information each time. At this, Christina reached her hand out toward me to either touch me or get my attention. It's an incredibly inappropriate move to make in therapy for many reasons. My anxiety was heightened being near her after that; my husband discontinued the sessions. Since then, I've moved on to such a cool therapist. Once more, Christina is a very nice person, but I strongly recommend against couples settling on her to repair their relationship.

This facility never answers the phone or responds to email, voicemails & etc. This is very unprofessional & unreliable. You’re in a delicate industry & clients should be able to make an appointment. I thought I found a good match when I found Cynthia Wright & was relieved to think we could begin our new, necessary journey. I was wrong. I’ve lost track of how long I’ve tried to contact this facility.