In 2008 or 2009 I saw Joe Dallas for a few weeks about an issue that had weighed heavily on me for years. During our sessions Joe would let the phone ring, say excuse me, then walk over to his desk and answer the phone! If that wasn't bad enough, he ended sessions early and started them late.
When I felt like we weren't making any progress I asked him if our sessions were ever going to move past family history. He said we would start talking more about solutions (changes in behavior/thinking etc) the following week.
The next week I showed up to his office for our regular meeting time and his office was locked. I knocked several times. I waited for almost an hour to see if he would show up. I figured he probably just forgot about the session. I called his office to reschedule but I got an answering machine. I left a message but I never received a call back. I showed up the next week during our regular time and his office was locked again! I called again and told him that I was worried about him because this was the second week he missed our appointment. I told him if he needed to move our appointment time, I could do that. I never heard back.
For some reason, Joe just stopped showing up to our appointments. No call. No email. Nothing.
I've always wondered all these years why he just quit. As someone who was overwhelmed with what people thought about him, this was devastating for me.
I threw away all of Joe Dallas' books. Whenever I read a church article and Joe Dallas' name comes up--I stop reading it immediately. When I hear about him speaking at some conference or some church event, I cringe.
If you're thinking about seeing Joe Dallas, please take my advice--don't. Contact Applied Biblical Counseling instead. I stayed there for almost 4 years and my life has changed drastically for the better.