Man who offered therapy, sex surrogacy denied psychotherapist accreditation

TORONTO — An Ontario man who worked as a sexual surrogate as well as a therapist has been denied certification as a psychotherapist after two regulatory bodies found there wasn’t enough separation between his two practices.

Earlier this month, the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board upheld an earlier ruling by a committee from the College of Registered Psychotherapists and Registered Mental Health Therapists of Ontario refusing to grant the man grandfathered certification.

The college was established in 2015 and gave existing practitioners two years to apply to have their qualifications recognized in order to keep working.

The man, whose name has not been made public, is trained and practises as a psychotherapist and also serves as an intimacy coach and surrogate partner, a role that may involve sexual contact and possibly intercourse, the board’s decision said.

Sexual relations between a psychotherapist and a patient are prohibited and considered sexual abuse, the board noted.

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In his application to the college committee, the man said he maintained a clear separation between his two services — an argument neither the committee nor the board accepted.

He said new clients would come in for a consultation during which the appropriate form of treatment — psychotherapy or intimacy coaching — would be determined, the board’s decision noted.

Some psychotherapy clients may eventually transition to his other services but only after being referred to another therapist, who would then refer them back to the man, he explained, according to the decision.

“The applicant submits that his motive is not to exploit former patients for his personal pleasure, rather it is to offer a valid healing alternative to patients,” it read.

“He submits that if his purpose was to have sexual contact for his own pleasure, he would not choose the most shy, inexperienced, anxious, fearful, conflicted or ambivalent, traumatized, sexually dysfunctional, or otherwise unattractive people he could find, and then intentionally await permission from an independent third party to whom he would report his activities.”

The college committee said that the initial consultation was already part of the psychotherapy process, and that the possibility of the man having sexual relationships with recent psychotherapy patients was unacceptable.

The board agreed with that finding.

“Clients in an initial consultation that could lead to psychotherapy or another service are receiving a psychotherapy service,” it said. “Clients that receive psychotherapy and then go to another psychotherapist for referral back to the applicant for sexual services or intimacy coaching could not be considered to be fully independent of the applicant’s psychotherapy practice.”

In his appeal, the man had suggested his application was rejected due to bias from religious or conservative members of the committee, but the board rejected that argument, saying there was no evidence to support it.

Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press