I Was Violated by a Mental Health Provider — Now What Can I Do?

I am right there with you; and I know it takes a while to get over the harm they do to us. I continue to cycle through tears, flashbacks and fury even as I write this piece. I imagine you do some of the same. I am here to stand in solidarity.

Nothing About Us, Without Us.

I want to go over the most impactful complaint options that we have; knowing that there will be differences from state to state — but these are the overall options we have throughout the country.

First, you must decide which laws or ethics rules you believe were violated, and by whom. To be honest, I personally used AI to help me make sense of that chaos. I also highly recommend getting your medical records from the provider; but in saying that, please armor yourself — it is entirely possible that someone you trusted wrote some stuff that is hurtful. It is actually more than possible. It is likely.

Most effective

The most effective complaint avenue by far is individual licensing complaints. Anyone who is licensed to practice any type of medicine — including mental health care — is licensed by a state board and is accountable to that board to follow laws and ethics regulations. If you believe you can point to an individual who has engaged in behavior towards you that was unethical, then this is your avenue. The individuals who broke good faith have a lot more to lose than the institution, who can and will continue to hide behind their money and expensive lawyers. You should know their names and licensing from your records — from there you can look up your local state licensing board, search for that person, and file a complaint. I have done this several times now and will be happy to help you and/or support you through the process.

Insurance / Medicaid / Medicare

Another form of complaint that can be highly useful is the insurer. If you are insured through state Medicaid or Medicare and they paid for your care, then you can file a complaint with the insurer, which reaches into state funding. This is your avenue if you believe the organization has engaged in larger bad-faith actions that were knowingly and predictably harmful. In my case this was not effective — NARBHA, and through them The Guidance Center, was too well-connected and unethically protected by that relationship (in my opinion, of course) — however, I believe in most cases this can be an expensive avenue for them, and can produce some results related to training. Please note that different states will have different statutes of limitations for this. I am happy to help with this as well.

Attorney General

Another avenue for complaints is your state Attorney General’s office. File here if you can prove fraud — the most prevalent complaint is billing fraud. Fraudulent record keeping, ADA violations, treatment that touches on illegal or criminal acts, or treatment you didn’t consent to all belong here.

Office of Civil Rights (OCR)

OCR is a federal organization, and complaints to them can feed into a federal funding pipeline. OCR complaints should center around discrimination or different treatment of a protected minority — or if you can prove HIPAA violations. To be clear, HIPAA violations are not only about your confidentiality; they also cover how providers manage and protect your medical records more broadly. My personal experience filing with OCR was lackluster, and I want to be honest about that. Still, it is a way to build a paper trail and to let a file build against an organization — and it may feed into a larger pattern investigation down the line.

I can assist with filing through all these avenues, but before you jump in, I want to make a note of caution. I personally believe using these complaint processes is important — but you will not get even close to what you deserve through these procedures. The systems are designed to protect the organization. This is simply reality. However, filing the complaints does a few things: it forces them to spend money on self-defense, and that isn’t cheap. It also forces some introspection. It can require some level of internal training — not enough, but something.

And this cannot be said loudly enough: the organization you file against will retaliate. Retaliation is illegal, and worth documenting — but they will lash out and do everything in their power to silence you. This is a reality you must be prepared for. Move your services somewhere else, because they are about to do their best to harm you.

Filing complaints gives us — the survivors — a voice, a way to stand together, and a way to develop language to accurately describe the abuse so many of these organizations engage in. This is not nothing. Grassroots work will be ongoing for years to come to hold mental health organizations accountable for the harm they frequently do. By standing together and developing that language, we help each other and the cause move forward.

Between Trust and Trauma, and I — Malene — are here for you every single step of the way if you decide to go this route. We stand together. We stand in solidarity. We work for improvement of services.