Professional Conduct notice / Jacqueline Johnson

Outcome Details

This outcome was reached by agreement.

Reasons

Jacqueline Johnson, a BACP member/organisation agrees to the following outcome of the investigation into a complaint of professional misconduct under reference [ . . . ].

1. Background

1.1 Jacqueline Johnson has been a BACP member since [ . . . ].

1.2 Membership currently suspended

1.3 On 28 March Year 2 the Complainant [ . . . ] who was a client of the member made a complaint to BACP about her professional conduct:

1. The Complainant received counselling from the member from September Year 1 to March Year 2.

2. On 21 February Year 2, the Complainant told the Member that he had developed feelings for her, as she was the first person he had ever confided anything with. The Member then admitted to him over the course of the conversation that she had feelings for him too. During this session, the Complainant had brought up a discussion about people’s eyes and how they can tell a lot about what people are thinking and that the eyes cannot always hide your true feelings or emotions. The Complainant then spoke about how he had heard about forms of meditation where you stand and face one another looking into each other’s eyes. Both parties said yes to trying it out, and from then on, the conversations became more about feelings about each other, and not his counselling;

3. The Member messaged the Complainant after the session asking how he was feeling, and believing that he did feel something, he told her as such, and she agreed. The parties agreed to meet up on 26 February Year 2 whilst the Complainant was walking home from [ . . . ], and they kissed and spoke in the car;

4. On 28 February Year 2, which was the following session at the Member’s place of work, the parties discussed more about everything that they were feeling, while the Member asked the Complainant if he was deleting messages – ‘as this cannot be found out’. The parties kissed some more during this session. The Complainant then caught Covid a few days later, but they continued to message, and on 12 March Year 2, when the Complainant was better, the Member said how much she missed them being together, and the Complainant asked if she wanted to come to his house. The Member agreed, and this was the first time that they had sexual relations;

5. On 14 March Year 2, at the Complainant’s house, the parties had sexual relations again. This was the last time. The Complainant is [ . . . ] and after these events happened, he felt in a very similar place to [ . . . ] that followed leading to him requiring therapy to overcome depression and trauma. It has taken the Complainant a while to get to this point to realise that he feels he has been taken advantage of. He is vulnerable and has been used for someone else’s benefit. It has put the Complainant off going to counselling again in the future and trusting in people in general. The Complainant has been left feeling embarrassed and afraid to hear the truth about the feeling of being taken advantage of.

2. Admissions

2.1 Ms Johnson makes the following admissions which the BACP accepts.

1. In February and/or March Year 2 the Member had a sexual relationship with the Complainant.

2. The Member failed to take appropriate steps to mitigate the effects of her conduct in that she:

a) Did not discuss her conduct with her Supervisor; and/or

b) Asked the Complainant to delete messages between them disclosing their relationship; and/or

c) Failed to take action to address the possible harm caused to the Complainant by the relationship.

3. The Member continued to practise when she knew or ought to have known that she was psychologically unfit to do so.

3. Mitigation

Ms Johnson puts forward the following in mitigation, which has been taken into account by the Investigation & Assessment Committee (“the IAC”) in deciding the appropriate outcome:

“During the last few texts that were exchanged between the complainant and myself I apologised twice, stated that I understood why he felt like he did and asked the Complainant if there was anything I could do to help him.

I have undertaken my own Counselling in order to work on myself; this is ongoing, and I am finding it extremely helpful; I have learnt more about how stress affects me and what was going on for me at the time to make me make such a dreadful decision.

I am taking longer, more frequent breaks from counselling and noticing signs of stress in myself.”

4. Conclusion

4.1 The issues identified and admitted by Ms Johnson amounted to breaches of the Ethical Framework, in particular:

Paragraph 34 - We will not have sexual relationships with or behave sexually towards our clients, supervisees or trainees.

Paragraph 35 - We will not exploit or abuse our clients in any way: financially, emotionally, physically, sexually or spiritually.

Paragraph 48 - We will avoid any actions that will bring our profession into disrepute.

Paragraph 52 - We will ensure candour by being open and honest about anything going wrong and promptly inform our clients of anything in our work that places clients at risk of harm, or has caused them harm, whether or not the client(s) affected are aware of what has occurred by: a) taking immediate action to prevent or limit any harm; b) repairing any harm caused, so far as possible; d) notifying and discussing with our supervisor and/or manager what has occurred; e) investigating and take action to avoid whatever has gone wrong being repeated.

Paragraph 18 - We will maintain our own physical and psychological health at a level that enables us to work effectively with our clients.

Paragraph 91 - We will take responsibility for our own wellbeing as essential to sustaining good practice with our clients by: b) monitoring and maintaining our own psychological and physical health, particularly that we are sufficiently resilient and resourceful to undertake our work in ways that satisfy professional standards; c) seeking professional support and services as the need arises; d) keeping a healthy balance between our work and other aspects of life.

4.2 One of the aims of the Professional Conduct Procedure is to protect members of the public. The IAC, in considering what sanction may be appropriate in the circumstances of this case, has taken into account the interests of public protection.

4.3 In relation to the findings above, the IAC considers it appropriate that Ms Johnson’s membership of BACP be terminated.

4.4 Ms Johnson agrees that this agreement may be published by the BACP and that it will be disclosed to the Complainant.

4.5 Ms Johnson agrees that she will not act in any way inconsistent with this agreement such as, for example, by denying the findings in paragraph 2 above.

(Where ellipses [ . . . ] are displayed, they indicate an omission of text)