I’ve decided on the topic of my Sunday Coffee talk for this coming Sunday.
A Successful Board Complaint: What To Do Next?
I received an email from a parent who indicated that their licensing board complaint against an involved mental health professional was successful. They credited information from me as helping with the successful board complaint.
Unfortunately.
It means that the damage was severe – and the damage was done.
The ‘children’ are adults now. Happens. The pathology remains unresolved – because of the problematic mental health person. Accountability is necessary – don’t leave them for the next parent and family.
We need standards.
However, accountability is not a solution – accountability remains partial until it leads to a solution.
And if you’re successful in your board complaint, that’s the beginning… there’s more you can do… and… there’s more the now-adult ‘child’ can do.
The next step off of a successful board complaint is to roll the licensing board sanctions into a malpractice lawsuit – this will trigger their malpractice insurance carrier… again.
They already have an open case with their malpractice carrier based on your board complaint, they hired an attorney’s representation through their insurance carrier… and they lost. Now they face a malpractice case… and that can mean damages.
The board complaint is strongest on ethical violations of Standards. A malpractice lawsuit is strongest on failure in their duty to protect – AND – a finding from the licensing board of ethical violations.
The goal for the malpractice lawsuit is… settlement… and existing licensing board sanctions… encourage… settlement by the malpractice insurance carrier.
With already existing licensing board sanctions, the malpractice insurance carrier sees a losing malpractice lawsuit. They know what the case is, they already represented the mental health person on the board complaint… that they lost.
The way settlement works is that it must cost less money for them to settle in damages than for them to fight it, lose, and then pay. They’ll look at their numbers-table and settle on a number.
All the attorney people will say it’s hard to “quantify in dollars” the emotional suffering of the parent and child. That’s their concern, not yours. There’s board sanctions, there’s malpractice, they can figure it out.
Your malpractice attorney is hopefully for the settlement, not the litigation. Once the licensing board has sanctioned their license – malpractice is the next roll-over action.
And… and… the now-adult ‘children’ have a strong claim against the ignorant and incompetent mental health professional who failed to protect… them. Even stronger than the targeted parent.
If the now-adult ‘child’ awakens within the statute of limitations… and there’s a successful board complaint… that could mean trouble for the incompetent mental health professional from the now-awakened now-adult ‘child’… who they abused.
Parallel Process: Do you know how there’s those child sex abuse victims of Catholic priests who don’t disclose during childhood, but then establish their foundation and make their allegation in adulthood – as a now-adult ‘child’ of sex abuse by the Catholic priest?
The role of the Catholic priest is played by the incompetent mental health person who participated in the child abuse to meet their own emotional and psychological needs – it’s not sex abuse though – it’s the ripple; psychological child abuse.
There’s spousal abuse as well using the children as the weapon. They failed to protect you, the targeted parent, from spousal abuse as well. There are grounds.
All your pain. All your suffering. Yeah, I know its source in your ex-spouse… BUT… the involved mental health person should have protected you… and they didn’t.
There are even stronger grounds with the now-adult ‘children’ if they choose. It’s a consideration for them to consider. The treatment for child abuse is to help the child abuse victim find their voice.
Child abuse thrives in silence. Speak. Protect. Two parts.
The greatest danger to the ignorant and incompetent professional is not from the parent, it’s from the authentic child-client if-and-when the authentic child ever awakens and understands what happened.
The therapist betrayed them. The mental health professional who should have protected them from child abuse… participated in their abuse… and destroyed their childhood and their lives as a result.
This Sunday I’m going to talk to parents about licensing board complaints.. and what happens when you’re successful and how. And I want to speak to the now-adult ‘children’ who find their authenticity, what can you do?
You’re the victim, you the child now grown. The other people were adults, you were just a child. They should have protected you, they should have seen and understood. They didn’t.
They failed you as a child. They failed you as their client. They failed in their duty to protect you.
In abuse pathology, it’s important to help the victims find their authentic voice. The abuse victim often feels it was their fault, that they did something wrong to ‘deserve’ it. No, you didn’t.
It’s not your fault. You did nothing wrong. Bad people did bad things. We are going to make them stop.
That’s the first sentence we tell an abuse victim upon rescue. I’ve told that sentence to you targeted parents before. You did nothing wrong. Bad people are doing bad things, we are going to make them stop.
I’ll tell that sentence to the child – as a child and as an adult – it’s not your fault, you did nothing wrong. Bad people are doing bad things and we are going to make them stop.
One bad person is a parent – that is deeply unfortunate. But that parent is pathological – they have a problem inside that needs to be fixed – they are damaged.
One parent is damaged.
There is no excuse for the mental health professional. They’re not the damage that needs fixing, they are the fixers of the damage… except they didn’t.
They didn’t see it – they participated in causing the damage to the child. They failed in their duty to protect the child – they betrayed their obligations and sacrificed the child to meet the therapist’s own emotional and psychological needs.
The betrayer – the one who should protect… and doesn’t.
Typically the betrayer role is filled by the mother in sex abuse/incest who sacrifices the child to the father to save her marriage. She knew, she just didn’t ‘want’ to know. In the family courts, the betrayer role is filled by the mental health professionals who should protect… and don’t.
They failed in their duty to protect – failed to protect the targeted parent from brutal and savage spousal psychological abuse using the child as the weapon – failed to protect the child from severe psychological child abuse by a pathological parent that destroyed the child’s childhood… and life.
The board complaint is the first step. Board complaints are free to the consumer. The board won’t re-try the facts of the case, they only care about violations to procedural issues… like violations to ethical Standards – 2.01 Boundaries of Competence (vitae) – 2.04 Bases for Scientific and Professional Judgments (reports) – 9.01 Bases for Assessment (“not based on information and techniques sufficient to substantiate their findings”).
I’ve given you the grounds – the foundations in professional psychology for your complaint.
As you encounter and move through incompetence, document what happens while you’re in the encounter (don’t remain, move on).
Letter to a Stranger (Wrightslaw). When you email someone, you’re not writing to the person, you’re writing to the magistrate who is going to hear the matter of your future complaint. Know your purpose.
Don’t be ham-handed. Be clear. You’re not making argument, you’re generating the evidence you’ll need later – understand the evidence you’ll need later – now – while you’re still here.
At the time of issues – you are not making argument, you are documenting the evidence, arguments will come later.
Don’t be passionate. Be clear. Passion is discounted. Clarity isn’t. Simple is good.
We’ll talk. How about this Sunday at 8 Pacific here on Facebook Live and saved to my YouTube channel, does that work for you?
It works for me too.
Craig Childress, Psy.D.
Clinical Psychologist, CA PSY 18857
GreatCosmicMothersUnite 