Abused by a Therapist or Counselor in California: What You Need to Know

Sexual contact between a California therapist or counselor and a client is unlawful, and the client's agreement at the time is not a defense (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 729). California treats it as a crime. It may also support a civil claim for compensation and a complaint to the therapist's licensing board, and each of these can proceed separately.

What Counts as Abuse by a Therapist or Counselor Under California Law

Sexual misconduct is the most clearly defined category. California makes it a crime for a psychotherapist, physician, or alcohol and drug abuse counselor to engage in sexual contact with a patient or client (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 729). The statute is direct on the point many survivors worry about most: "in no instance shall consent of the patient or client be a defense."

The reason is the structure of therapy itself. A client shares their most private thoughts, often during a hard period of life, with someone trained to understand them. That creates a power imbalance and a duty of care (a legal obligation to act in the client's interest and avoid foreseeable harm). The law treats a therapist who uses that position for sexual purposes as having exploited it, whatever the client said or did at the time.

Not all misconduct is sexual. Boundary violations can also be serious professional misconduct, including:

• inappropriate dual relationships, such as a therapist becoming a client's business partner, employer, or close social companion
• financial exploitation, such as pressuring a client for money, loans, or gifts
• emotional manipulation, coercion, or deliberately fostering dependence
• deliberate psychological harm

These rules reach the main licensed mental health professions in California. Psychologists are licensed by the California Board of Psychology. Marriage and family therapists (MFTs), licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs), licensed professional clinical counselors (LPCCs), and licensed educational psychologists (LEPs) are licensed by the Board of Behavioral Sciences.

California Law and the Duty Therapists Owe Their Clients

Sexual exploitation (Bus. & Prof. Code § 729). This is a criminal statute, but the conduct it prohibits is also the foundation for civil liability. It covers current clients. It also covers a former client "when the relationship was terminated primarily for the purpose of engaging in those acts." In plain terms, ending therapy in order to begin a sexual relationship does not make the relationship lawful. Penalties increase with multiple acts, multiple victims, or a prior conviction.

The "two-year rule." Many people search for this phrase. It usually refers to professional ethics standards and licensing board rules about sexual relationships with former clients, which vary by profession. The point that matters is the same across them: the end of therapy does not, by itself, make sexual contact with a former client permissible, and § 729 separately reaches cases where therapy was ended to make that contact possible.

The disclosure brochure (Bus. & Prof. Code § 728). When a client tells a new psychotherapist that a previous therapist had sexual contact with them, the new therapist, or their employer, must give the client a state brochure describing the client's rights and remedies and discuss it with them. Failing to do so is unprofessional conduct. This duty belongs to the next therapist, not to the one who caused the harm.

Sexual harassment in a professional relationship (Civ. Code § 51.9). This statute creates a civil claim for sexual harassment within a professional relationship and names "physician, psychotherapist, or dentist" among those relationships. A claim requires conduct of a sexual nature that was unwelcome and "pervasive or severe," and resulting harm, which the statute says includes emotional distress.

The standard of care. Apart from specific statutes, every licensed therapist must practice within accepted professional and ethical standards. A breach of that standard that causes harm is the basis of a professional negligence claim (sometimes called malpractice).

Mandated reporting (Pen. Code § 11166). Therapists are mandated reporters: they must report known or reasonably suspected child abuse they learn of in their professional work. That duty concerns abuse of children, often by someone outside the therapy. It does not cause a therapist to report their own misconduct toward an adult client. When the person who caused the harm is the therapist, any complaint, claim, or report generally begins with the client or someone acting for them.

Filing a Complaint with California's Licensing Boards

A licensing complaint is an administrative process, separate from any court case. Complaints about psychologists go to the California Board of Psychology. Complaints about MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and LEPs go to the Board of Behavioral Sciences. Both boards sit within the California Department of Consumer Affairs, which provides general complaint information and an online portal.

What a board complaint can do:

• prompt an investigation of the therapist
• lead to suspension or revocation of a license
• result in conditions or restrictions on the therapist's practice

What it cannot do is pay the survivor. Board discipline protects the public; it is not a compensation process. Compensation comes, if at all, through a civil claim or, in some cases, a state victim program described below.

A complaint does not prevent a civil lawsuit, and a lawsuit does not prevent a complaint.

A complaint form typically asks for the therapist's name, license type if known, approximate dates of treatment, and a general description of the concern. A complaint is generally kept confidential while it is under investigation, but formal disciplinary actions become public record. An attorney can help a survivor understand how a complaint and a civil claim interact before either is filed, and that conversation does not require a written account.

Civil Claims Against a Therapist or Counselor in California

Three separate systems can respond to therapist misconduct: the criminal process, the licensing board, and a civil lawsuit. They are independent. A civil case is brought by the survivor, seeks compensation, and does not depend on criminal charges being filed. The differences are explained further in our guide to civil vs. criminal cases.

Legal theories. A civil claim against a therapist commonly rests on one or more of these:

• Professional negligence: a breach of the standard of care that caused harm.
• Sexual battery (Civ. Code § 1708.5): intentional harmful or offensive contact with an intimate part of another person. The statute provides for general damages, special damages, and punitive damages (an additional award meant to punish especially wrongful conduct).
• Sexual harassment in a professional relationship (Civ. Code § 51.9), described above.
• Intentional infliction of emotional distress: outrageous conduct intended to cause, or recklessly causing, severe emotional distress.

Defendants beyond the therapist. A practice group, clinic, hospital, or other employer may also be responsible. Two theories come up most often. Negligent hiring means the employer failed to screen a therapist it should have recognized as a risk. Negligent supervision means the employer knew or should have known of misconduct and failed to act. Where the employer is a government agency, such as a county clinic, additional procedural rules apply, and establishing whether the defendant is a local public entity or the State is the first step.

What a claim may recover. Civil damages can include compensation for psychological and emotional harm, the cost of medical care and therapy to treat that harm, lost earnings, and other losses the law allows. Every case is different, and no result can be predicted from the type of claim alone. More on the overall process appears in our overview of a California sexual abuse lawsuit.

Deadlines. California's general deadline for personal injury, including battery, is two years (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1). That is a starting point, not the full picture. Discovery rules (rules that can start the clock when the survivor discovers the injury and its cause, rather than when the conduct occurred) can affect timing, and California has separate, longer deadlines for many sexual assault claims. The law in this area has changed several times, and some older claims have been reopened by statute. A full overview is in our page on the sexual abuse statute of limitations.

If the survivor was a minor. Childhood sexual abuse follows its own statute, Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 340.1. For abuse on or after January 1, 2024, there is no time limit. For abuse on or before December 31, 2023, the deadline is generally the later of the survivor's 40th birthday or five years after discovering the harm. A separate revival window for older childhood claims closed on December 31, 2022. Our guide to childhood sexual abuse covers these rules in more detail.

What Proof Is Needed: and What Survivors Often Worry About

Physical evidence is not required. Emotional and psychological harm is ordinarily shown through records and testimony: treatment records, medical records, witness accounts, and expert testimony from mental health professionals.

Evidence that commonly supports these claims includes:

• journals, notes, or calendars written at the time
• text messages, emails, or social media messages from the therapist
• billing and payment records, which can show session dates and unusual arrangements
• records from later treating providers describing the harm

The therapist's own session notes and billing records are often obtainable through discovery (the formal process in a lawsuit for requesting documents and testimony from the other side). A survivor does not need to hold these records already. Nothing needs to be gathered before speaking with an attorney.

California Resources for Survivors of Therapist Abuse

Several resources exist outside a lawsuit, and they can be used alongside one.

• California Victim Compensation Board (CalVCB). CalVCB may help pay for therapy and other losses for victims of qualifying crimes, which can include sexual assault by a therapist. Eligibility depends on the circumstances.
• RAINN. A national organization offering support and referrals to local services, including in California: rainn.org.
• California Courts Self-Help. General information about civil cases in California courts: selfhelp.courts.ca.gov.

Questions about privacy in a civil case, including filing under a pseudonym, are covered in our article on confidentiality in abuse claims.

How Justice for Survivors Approaches These Cases

Justice for Survivors is a California law firm that handles civil claims for sexual abuse and sexual assault, including claims arising from misconduct by therapists and counselors. Its attorney is licensed in California.

A first conversation is private and paced by the survivor. No complete account, timeline, or set of documents is needed beforehand. The attorney's questions focus on legal points: the type of professional involved, the general time period, whether an employer or clinic was involved, and which deadlines may apply.

The firm's practice is limited to civil claims. It does not handle criminal defense, and it does not represent people in licensing board proceedings. Someone who wants to understand the criminal process, or who plans to pursue a board complaint alone, may need other resources, and the firm can say so plainly when that is the case.

If You Have Questions, Privately

A survivor of therapist or counselor misconduct in California may have the right to pursue a civil claim against the therapist and, in some cases, the practice or employer. Through that claim, the law allows a survivor to seek compensation for emotional harm, the cost of therapy and medical care, lost income, and other damages California permits, along with the justice a claim may provide. Deadlines matter, but California has extended and revived deadlines over the years, so options may exist even when the misconduct happened many years ago.

A confidential conversation can cover how California claims of this type are evaluated, which categories of defendants courts have held responsible, and how deadline rules generally apply to cases involving therapist misconduct. It is free, private, and carries no obligation. Nothing needs to be decided or organized first, and no one has to describe what happened in order to ask.

To speak privately with a California attorney about how these laws generally apply to therapist misconduct claims, call Justice for Survivors at (866) 694-1630 for a confidential, no-obligation conversation.