5 Signs Your Self-Care Practices Have Crossed a Legal Line

In the same way that it was very taboo to even mention mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, stress, isolation, etc., but it’s the complete opposite today. So many Americans today (also people worldwide in general) are turning to professionals more and more to deal with mental health issues that are becoming louder by the day.

This is also the reason the wellness industry is experiencing explosive growth.

In the United States, the link between mental health professionals and clients is not merely an ethical contract but a contract based on trust and protected under rigorous ethical codes and state statutes. 

Once that trust is taken advantage of by a provider, it is no longer a ‘bad experience’ so much as a ‘relational injury’ with potentially devastating physical and legal consequences. 

The first step in making sure mental health is protected is to know where the boundaries are. There are five red flags that signal a therapeutic relationship has transformed from one of healing to one of misconduct.

Boundaries & Ethics

Ethical boundaries and misconduct concerns in therapy settings are a prime concern today. This hasn’t been that relevant before. 

But with the rise of the wellness industry, these cases have become more common (unfortunately), and equipping yourself with a lawyer who specializes in such cases is a good idea now. This is a bit sad when you think about what you try to achieve with therapy, and that you could end up in an even worse rabbit hole than you already were in.

And this is especially important now that there are so many ways to access therapy (online, emails, text, in person). 

American therapists and coaches tend to be more accessible in the digital age. But there needs to be a fine line between a supportive check-in and ‘grooming’ behavior. 

To put it under U.S. legal language, ‘grooming’ refers basically to the gradual method of building a trusting relationship with a child, young adult, or at-risk adult, their family, and community to manipulate, coerce, or prepare that person for abuse. 

Red Flags:

• Sending and receiving personal texts from your therapist that have nothing to do with his or her intervention plan. 
• Messaging late at night or other ‘secret’ communication channels. 
• A therapist who discusses their own traumas or ‘life stress’ with you, in effect reversing the roles of caregiver and patient. 
• When a therapist seeks your help in their own emotional suffering, they are violating their obligation of care. 

Dual Relationship Therapy

‘Dual relationship’ is when your therapist tries to be your friend, your business associate, or your social partner. 

If he or she says you should meet up at a bar, join a private party, or be invited to informal hang-outs, hiking nights, coffee shop conferences, or ‘walk-and-talk’ therapy sessions.  These therapies do have some success, but they also require the most professional discipline. 

Once a professional ‘sanctuary’ is violated, the client no longer has a secure place to process the trauma. 

State licensing boards in the United States (such as the American Psychological Association) usually advise against these Dual Relationships. 

Examining Financial and Power Exploitation 

While legal misconduct often isn’t physical, it can also be financial or psychological abuse. Due to the ‘power imbalance’ within therapy, clients tend to be extremely suggestible. 

In America, if a practitioner gains leverage through financial inducement, in the form of free labor or expensive gifts from a client, it is an act of exploitation. 

Real holistic health is all about enabling the person to advocate for their own best way. A provider who fosters ‘dependency’, illicit feelings in people that they could not live or make decisions without that therapist’s specific opinion. This goes from promoting wellness to control that might be abusive. 

Violation Of Physical Touch and Space

Although many holistic practices in the U.S. touch (somatic experiencing, bodywork, etc.) are part of this category of practice, this practice falls under a highly rigid set of protocols. 

• In a traditional therapeutic or coaching context, unsolicited or ‘lingering’ physical contact is a key red flag. 
• The sexual act between a therapist and a patient is never consensual. Due to the ‘transference’ phenomenon, in which patients attach feelings to a therapist, the law acknowledges that a patient cannot actually consent in this power dynamic. 
• Sexual Contact: If initiated by the therapist, it is an awful breach of ethics. The reason so many survivors turn to specific therapist sexual abuse attorneys to hold these professionals accountable in a civil court is because of this. 
• The ‘Isolation’ Technique: In American wellness circles, a frequent mark of misconduct is when a provider encourages you to distance yourself from the network of people around you. They might tell you that your spouse, your parents, or your friends don’t get who you are growing into, or are ‘toxic’ to your process of growing. 

We often need to put limits around what we do to others, but we don’t have to rely on a therapist to be the only source of truth. 

Isolation enables a client to be more easily manipulated and harder to shield. 

Holistic and Legal Path to Recovery

The injury sustained from crossing these lines is often double-edged. 

This has to do with the fact that the trauma goes into betrayal first and foremost. What follows is a physical fallout (a.k.a. ‘visceral stress’) that’s recognized by spikes in cortisol levels, inflammation, and the general collapse of physical health.

The recovery from these types of situations is anything but easy:

• Somatic recovery: Having a real trauma-informed practitioner to reset the nervous system. Working out: Recover your body with some programs, such as Life Cross Training. 
• Legal Accountability: For some, the ‘mind’ will never fully heal unless the ‘wrong’ is dealt with. 
• A legal claim is not just a matter of financial rehabilitation; to pursue that recovery is to take the abuser’s power from them and guarantee they have no capacity to hurt another person in the wellness world. 

Conclusion

You deserve to be in a safe refuge. 

If your life was interrupted by professional misconduct, keep in mind that the law is a tool designed to protect YOU, not the perpetrator. 

And by focusing on your wellness (mental and otherwise), you can make sure you’re using the correct tool for healing and growth.