In a professional discipline proceeding, the panel found misconduct where the registrant provided therapeutic services to two clients with whom she was in dual relationships, creating a conflict of interest, and failed to obtain valid prior informed written consents to treatment.
The misconduct was aggravated by the registrant's subsequent romantic relationship with one client's former spouse and by her use of documents purporting to characterize the services as not being active therapy despite invoicing for therapeutic treatment.
Applying the Anthony-Cook public-interest threshold for joint submissions, the panel accepted a jointly proposed penalty as proportionate and consistent with public protection, deterrence, and remediation.
The panel imposed a five-month suspension, a reprimand, an ethics and boundaries course, and costs.
