Kelowna child's $3,000 autism assessment turned out to be useless

Photo: The Phoenix Centre

Xander Phoenix

A Kelowna mother is looking to get the word out to other parents after her three-year-old daughter's expensive autism assessment turned out to be useless.

The woman, who Castanet will refer to only as SJ to protect the identity of her daughter, was referred to a Lower Mainland therapist this past spring for an autism assessment, by a Kelowna company her daughter was receiving therapy from.

“It's not unusual to get a referral to somebody, so that's why I didn't question it,” she said.

The assessment is used by the Ministry of Children and Family Development to determine appropriate funding for parents with autistic children. SJ says there's an option to be assessed through the government, but that option has a waiting list of more than a year. So she paid $3,000 to have her daughter assessed by therapist Xander Phoenix, who was operating the Phoenix Centre out of Burnaby at the time.

But when she sent off the assessment to the Ministry, SJ says her social worker told her Phoenix is not licensed to conduct those assessments. Additionally, registered psychologist Dr. Catherine Currell, whose name was on the paperwork as a “supervisor,” said she was not involved with Phoenix at all, and had never acted as his supervisor.

SJ says she was one of five Kelowna families whose children were assessed by Phoenix in April 2022.

“The thing is, we're desperate,” SJ said.

Earlier this month, CBC News reported Phoenix is no longer practising in B.C. CBC reported Phoenix has a psychologist licence in Florida and had applied for a licence in B.C., but he withdrew his application after the College of Psychologists of B.C. Investigated allegations that he had a sexual relationship with a patient.

But Phoenix insisted to the CBC that he “never lied about [his] qualifications.”

On the College's website, it notes Phoenix “is not ‎and has never been registered to practise as a psychologist in British Columbia, and has no other ‎association with the College of Psychologists of BC.”

The posting also notes that Dr. Catherine Currell has never been associated with Phoenix, while Dr. Harry Stefanakis, another psychologist, has not acted as Phoenix's supervisor since May 2021.

SJ was able to get her money back after she confronted Phoenix.

“He says, 'I'm so sorry for the misunderstanding.' And I'm like, 'What misunderstanding? You alluded that you could do something that you can't do.' And then he never argued with me,” SJ said.

“All he asked me was to take down a post I shared about him. That's all he wanted, because he doesn't want people to hear about it.

“Even my social worker said that he's very calm, very cool, he's very like, 'Oh, it's just a misunderstanding, this is going to work itself out.' And he just kept saying that even after he paid me back.”

SJ has spoken to the Kelowna RCMP about the matter, who've confirmed there is an open investigation ongoing into Phoenix's actions.

“There is an investigation currently, but the Kelowna RCMP have only been asked to obtain statements and forward them back to the Burnaby RCMP who are the lead investigators,” said Const. Mike Della-Paolera of the Kelowna RCMP.

SJ believes Phoenix has since left the country, but she wants others to be aware of her experience. Three months after going through the ordeal with Phoenix, her daughter is back on a waiting list to be assessed for autism.

“So we're back on a waiting list for at least eight months, starting from ground zero again,” she said.

“This is just so wrong, that this is just like, 'Oh, well, what can we do? He's not licensed. Your children are the ones that suffer but who can't like that, but oh well, we can't do anything.' And that's wrong ... there needs to be something held accountable for these people who are running around alluding that they're something they're not in regards to health care.

“We get referrals to physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, I'm seeking her to go to a geneticist/rheumatologist that you get referrals for. And I've never had to look into any of them before.”