Darvo in a Form Letter: My Response to a Attempt at Intimidation

(The email exchange screen shots are at the bottom of this response)

Yesterday, August 10, 2026, the nurse who chose to break laws and professional ethics when I was inpatient in The Guidance Center’s PAC unit sent me an un-lawyered “Cease and Desist” form. I have many answers to her missive, which I consider an extraordinary attempt at intimidation and an obvious example of DARVO. I have posted the images above of her form letter—which didn’t even come from an attorney—as well as my direct response. To be clear: the nurse I speak of operates under two professional names. I believe she should be held accountable for severe harm under both. Nurse Kylie Hansard is also Nurse Kaia Marie Manas. They share the exact same professional nursing license number. If you have experienced harm from a nurse by either of those names, it is the same person.

The Abuse of Power in May 2024

What happened in The Guidance Center’s PAC unit from May 8–10, 2024, was pure, unadulterated abuse in a psychiatric hospital. There is no other way to describe it. It should never happen to anyone, under any circumstances. Directly following what occurred in TGC’s PAC unit, I began experiencing horrific, daily flashbacks that ultimately landed me in the hospital at FMC seven more times. I cannot begin to adequately describe the four months of continuous flashbacks I endured that summer. Just remembering that time brings me to tears. It was so agonizing that it became its own standalone trauma. Today, I still experience debilitating flashbacks—typically one to four days a week, with two days a week being most common. During those episodes, I am completely incapacitated. But when they pass, I get right back up and continue my work to hold The Guidance Center and its staff accountable.

The Anatomy of DARVO

DARVO is a well-documented form of institutional and interpersonal gaslighting. The acronym stands for: Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender. By attacking me for speaking publicly about the clinical violations that occurred in the PAC unit under her direct supervision, she is actively deploying DARVO. She completely bypasses the reality that long before I ever sat down at a keyboard to document these events, she had already inflicted profound harm on me in a locked facility. This is the standard behavior of abusers: using DARVO and gaslighting to avoid taking responsibility for their own actions.

Ms. Manas asserts that I “put her in danger” by documenting her dual professional identities, claiming she has a history of trauma and changed her name for protection. While I have genuine compassion for anyone who has survived trauma, personal history never excuses abusive actions toward a patient. As a whistleblower, I have a duty to ensure that future patients and the public understand who she is and what she did. This responsibility is even more urgent because Ms. Manas clearly does not recognize the harm she caused. She remains convinced of her own innocence, which makes me deeply concerned for anyone who might encounter her clinical care in the future.

Public Transparency vs. False Claims of Doxxing

I do not believe her personal safety is in jeopardy from my writing. I did not dox her. Her home address, phone number, and private location are nowhere on my website. I published only her verified professional names, her public license tracking, and her documented clinical actions. I believe it is far more likely that Ms. Manas was recently separated from The Guidance Center because her regulatory history became too great of an institutional liability. She is now discovering that having her documented clinical track record indexed publicly impacts her ability to secure a new position in inpatient behavioral health. My intention is straightforward: to ensure that her clinical record and nursing board complaint filings are completely transparent, so that vulnerable patients are protected from similar psychiatric hospital abuse. What happened to me in that unit was wrong, and I will not allow it to be quietly buried.

Layers of Responsibility: The Institution and the Individual

There is a false narrative circulating that I am only focused on the institution, not the clinicians. Let me be clear: I am holding both The Guidance Center and the individual clinicians fully accountable.

The Guidance Center created and maintained a toxic corporate culture with near-zero investment in training, fostering an environment where ethical violations occurred. Leadership bears institutional responsibility for every patient harmed under their roof.
The Individual Clinicians made the conscious choice to follow that culture, violate their professional ethics, and inflict harm on patients in their care. They made binding commitments to their state board of nursing and to their patients, and they broke those promises.

These are distinct layers of responsibility. Both the corporation and the licensed practitioners are fully accountable.

Grief for a Broken System

While my initial reaction to her un-lawyered C&D was disbelief and sharp amusement, what remains beneath the surface is a profound sadness for this entire reality.

I am sad for myself. Being contacted and targeted with intimidation tactics by a former abuser is inherently triggering. When I sit down at my keyboard, my writing is sharp, direct, and unyielding—but navigating the aftermath of that trauma remains a heavy personal reality.

I am sad for her. It is tragic that she was trained to believe this type of clinical dominance is acceptable. It reflects a deep dehumanization of patients—a complete failure to understand trauma-informed care, collaborative treatment, or the severe psychological consequences of institutional abuse.

The fact that she believed a basic form letter would intimidate me into silence shows how accustomed she became to institutional authority, failing to realize that outside those locked doors, manufactured power vanishes.

Above all, I am horrified that our behavioral health system continues to normalize this level of cruelty. This is why I document every receipt. This is why I publish open letters and regulatory filings. This is why Between Trust and Trauma exists: to ensure that abusive practices are brought into the light, and that those who inflict harm are held accountable by the public, by licensing boards, and by future employers.

Below is screen shots of the email exchange. I have hidden her email address; because there is no intent to dox, and I am nice that way.