Sex Offender As Therapist?!

[sedna]

There is no way to post to his website, so I cannot warn anyone that way.
I did, however, find...

That is absolutely disturbing that Psychology Today doesn't screen even for basic back rounds before they endorse..everybody uses that! :wideeyed:

Wow..half the high school kids and their parents here have counselors they found on there for one thing or another. I have to say it never would have occurred to run a sex offender check on my sons counselor.

 

[EveHarrington]

God I sound horrible. I say what I say as a CSA survivor. And now that I've read all of his backstory, it doesn't seem like he's innocent in any sense of the word. It sounds like he's a serial offender.

 

[sedna]

I don't know how sentencing works in the U.S but 6 years prison in the UK would indicate a fairly serio...

Six years is a cakewalk in the States. It's very different here, and it varies widely on the State you're in, then the county etc. You can do a year for unpaid traffic tickets if you live where the jails arent over crowded.

 

[BuckarooBanzai]

Eve, I live in California and he lives in Virginia. We live as far away from each other as can be. Yes, he is on both the Virginian and US sex offender registries - all anyone has to do is google his name and up it pops. However, I must be careful how I use the registry information. If it were possible (it's not) for me to plaster his neighborhood with posters, I could be legally liable for harrassment.

I agree with you that he didn't get into this field out of integrity. While I suspect he will never purposefully reoffend, knowingly putting himself into a professional with vulnerable clients in a one-on-one situation in a closed room reeks of irresponsibility. He obviously lacks appropriate boundaries, and so treating clients would put him in a position of being 'tempted' to reoffend.

In my mind this would be like a recovering alcoholic choosing to tend bar for a living. A wise person in recovery does not purposefully put himself in a position where he would be tempted to reoffend.

So, these vocational choices, plus the fact that he is continuing to lie about what happened, tells me he is not a person of integrity, even if he is determined to never offend again.

Ben

 

[BuckarooBanzai]

As a pastoral 'counselor', is it an option for him to work with the incarcerated?

Yes, I would think that would be an option. I had hoped he would choose this option. After all, they say that therapists are at their best when they treat people who have the same disorder the therapist once suffered from but then mastered. Unfortunately, he refuses to work with the offender population. In fact, he advertises himself as being qualified to treat everything BUT sex offenders. The sex offender population is the one population he refuses to acknowledge.

And, get this! His practicum at the graduate level was in TRAUMA THERAPY! My G-d, do you realize how many people are in trauma therapy due to sexual abuse? What would it do to a survivor to pay $150 per hour to a man like him, only to find out that he is a registered sex offender! Talk about destroying vulnerable lives!

My opinion: you need to be upfront with him, and tell him that as long as he's trying to operate in private practice, you are going to be dogging him. If you believe that's your ethical responsibility, then, there it is.

Joey, I have no relationship with him whatsoever. We don't even trade Christmas cards. So, no, I don't have his phone number and I would never call him.

He must realize I am dogging his footsteps, though, because the licensing board, when they called him up on the carpet, told me they were legally required to tell him that I was the informant, and give him my statement in writing. So, he knows.

I must say, I am frightened of him. No, I do not believe he would ever fly across the US and hurt me physically, but I am still frightened. It is an unrealistic, I assume, PTSD -type fear.

Ben

 

[joeylittle]

I have to say it never would have occurred to run a sex offender check on my sons counselor.

Background checks are mandatory, I believe, in all states. So, as long as a counselor is formally licensed, the odds are strong that they will not be on the registry.

Some states have loopholes, it seems, that allows registered sex offenders to become licensed drug and alcohol counselors.

 

[sedna]

As a pastoral 'counselor', is it an option for him to work with the incarcerated?

My opinion: you...

I totally agree with that. It's not about judging the brother, it's about a moral and ethical responsibility to any community the brother is in. There's too much history of stuff, it's not one event or relationship that was a mistake he can say he learned from. He has to know when he put the effort into all that prison college he'd be highly unemployable in that area. It's an intimate job with vulnerable people, that's grooming territory. He could have gotten a masters in computer science and graphic design and have a better higher paying job. This isn't kosher to me.

 

[BuckarooBanzai]

God I sound horrible. I say what I say as a CSA survivor.

No, Eve, you don't sound horrible. Not at all. I am also a CSA survivor, and I relate to your stance.

I am doing everything I legally can to be responsible and make sure he can't hurt anyone else. But, I must admit, I really have very little power.

Six years is a cakewalk in the States. It's very different here, and it varies widely on the State....

Well, six years is not a cakewalk in the States, but it is very true that a person can be sentenced to everything from probation to many years in prison.

In fact, my brother expected to be sentenced to probation. He was shocked to be sentenced to prison at all.

Of course, that is what HE SAID. I really don't know the truth of it all.

Ben

 

[BuckarooBanzai]

Background checks are mandatory,

Yes, true, but then background checks were mandatory before they were to allow him to practice in their supervised clinics, too. But, either they DIDN'T file a background check, or they did but decided to allow him to practice anyhow. Either failure or decision was reprehensible.

How do I know he won't get around clinics and professionals in the future? My mother said he is 'good' at talking people into doing what he wants them to do for him. And, now that he has the psych training, he is especially good at manipulating people.

He is searching for counseling positions all across the US. Chances are, he will find someone who will hire him;

Some states have loopholes, it seems....

I know that the California licensing board laws state that there is NO offense or background that requires them to refuse to license someone with the proper education. So, to be fair to him (that's also how the Virginia Board put it to me), they must allow him to state his case. They can license him for any sub-specialty they feel comfortable licensing him for.

He has to know when he put the effort into all that prison college he'd be highly unemployable in area. It's an intimate job with vulnerable people, that's grooming territory. He could have gotten a masters in computer science and graphic design and have a better higher paying job. This isn't kosher to me.

Cocoa, I totally agree with you 100%. The whole thing reeks of danger.

 

[sedna]

Background checks are mandatory, I believe, in all states. So, as long as a counselor is formally l...

Background checks are mandatory, I believe, in all states. So, as long as a counselor is formally l...

I thought that he said his brother wasn't licensed while he was on the list? maybe I didnt read that right, there's a lot here and its late for me. Thats what I also found shocking, that there wouldnt be valid license checks along with back round checks. I think people I know, where I live, assume that its a privilege to be on the list because it generates business, so there must have been a process to have you and your therapy specialty listed.

I can honestly say it never would have occurred to me question too much about that, I look on that list of photos and I personally know 4 or 5 faces there, I figure the rest are fine also. Worst case scenario is you get somebody that wants to balance your chakras and tinkle wind chimes for 80 bucks an hour.

With my personal history, I'm honestly a little shaken up that I let my guard down. I've hired counselors off that list for my kids without ever questioning anything beyond what they told me.

 

[BuckarooBanzai]

That is absolutely disturbing that Psychology Today doesn't screen even for basic back rounds before they endorse.

Oh, even worse, Psychology Today had given him a giant green check mark at the top of EVERY SINGLE AD PAGE indicating that they had validated him. They called it something like the Psychology Today Approval.

Ben

 

[BuckarooBanzai]

I thought that he said his brother wasn't licensed while he was on the list?

True, he wasn't licensed when he was listed as a practitioner amongst the therapist listings on the Psychology Today website!

I've hired counselors off that list for my kids without ever questioning anything beyond what they told me.

Yes, and most people would.

Ben