John Fleming

In a professional discipline proceeding subject to a publication ban protecting the client’s identity, the panel found that the member committed professional misconduct by engaging in repeated boundary crossings and a sexual relationship with a vulnerable counselling client during and after the therapeutic relationship.

The panel held that the admitted conduct contravened multiple provisions of the Professional Misconduct Regulation and the College’s Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice Handbook, including obligations concerning sexual misconduct, conflicts of interest, professional boundaries, and responsibility to clients.

The panel accepted an agreed statement of facts and a joint submission on penalty, applying the principle that a joint submission should not be rejected unless following it would bring the tribunal’s integrity into disrepute.

The member’s certificate of registration was revoked, re-application was barred for five years, a reprimand was ordered, and costs of $5,000 were imposed.

Following prior findings of professional misconduct arising from boundary violations, inappropriate sexualized comments and disclosures, and deficient record-keeping in counselling sessions with a vulnerable client, the Discipline Committee determined penalty and costs.

The panel held that public protection, maintenance of confidence in the profession, general deterrence, specific deterrence, and remediation required a written reprimand, a five-month suspension, publication, and tailored remedial terms including coursework, reflective essays, employer notification, and practice supervision if the member returned to practice.

The panel treated the absence of mitigating factors flowing from non-participation as significant, while emphasizing the seriousness of the misconduct and the vulnerability of the client.

It also awarded the College $20,000 in costs, payable within 18 months, as fair and reasonable relative to the actual costs incurred.

A discipline panel found that the member committed professional misconduct by making sexualized comments to a vulnerable counselling client, pursuing sexual topics after the client expressed discomfort, and disclosing intimate details of his own sexual history.

The panel also found longstanding and serious failures to maintain required clinical documentation, including progress notes, psycho-social assessments, and treatment plans across multiple files.

Applying the balance of probabilities standard, the panel accepted the evidence of the client and corroborating witnesses as clear, cogent and convincing.

All allegations of professional misconduct were proven.

The Discipline Committee considered whether a member committed professional misconduct by failing for years to disclose a Florida health-care-fraud conviction, a foreign licence revocation, and an Ontario impaired driving conviction in annual registration renewals.

The panel held that the admitted misconduct breached multiple reporting, honesty, record-keeping, and professionalism provisions under the governing statute, regulations, and standards of practice.

Applying disciplinary penalty principles centred on public protection, public confidence, and general deterrence, the panel revoked the member’s certificate, imposed a three-year bar on reapplication, directed publication with identifying information, and ordered an oral reprimand.

The panel also ordered costs of $20,000 payable within three years.