Coming to Voice: Surviving an Unethical Therapist
by Bernadine Fox
Ms. Sleeth was a well-known expert around child sexual abuse working with some of the most profoundly traumatized survivors.
Emma was one of Pam’s clients.
In October of 2015, a year after her death, a women’s sexual assault center in Vancouver BC announced an event to honor Sleeth's feminist work to end violence against women. Pamela had, at one point, saved Emma's life. She had also transformed into one of Emma's worst predators.
The space between Pamela’s impressive contributions and Emma’s experience of her is this memoir.
Dr Colin Ross, in the Foreword, writes, “Bernadine Fox is doing other survivors of sexual misconduct by professionals a great service by telling her story. Such misconduct is not rare, whether the professional be a therapist, priest, doctor, camp counselor, gymnastics coach or a football coach. Telling such a story takes a lot of courage. Pamela Sleeth was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Her obituary lauds her for her many contributions to helping women survivors of sexual trauma. Now the full story is being told.”
P. Susan Penfold in the Introduction offers, “In this memoir we can see how the therapist, Pamela, repeatedly abandoned her fiduciary duty to Emma, seeking to meet her own needs, and manipulating, coercing and humiliating Emma. … Although profoundly damaged by the abuse and its after effects, Emma’s intelligence, determination, resilience, and insight allow the memoir to end on a hopeful note as Emma fully realizes the enormity of [Pam’s] betrayal and exploitation and can begin healing.”
Nine out of ten victims of exploitation by their therapists do NOT report.
Bernadine is working to change that.
P. Susan Penfold in the Introduction offers, “In this memoir we can see how the therapist, Pamela, repeatedly abandoned her fiduciary duty to Emma, seeking to meet her own needs, and manipulating, coercing and humiliating Emma. … Although profoundly damaged by the abuse and its after effects, Emma’s intelligence, determination, resilience, and insight allow the memoir to end on a hopeful note as Emma fully realizes the enormity of [Pam’s] betrayal and exploitation and can begin healing.”
Nine out of ten victims of exploitation by their therapists do NOT report.
Bernadine is working to change that.
A brilliant account.
"This book is a treatise for survivors of childhood abuse, for friends and families of survivors, and for anyone who works with victims of abuse in a helping capacity, from family doctors, to clergy, to mental health and social services practitioners. This is the true story of a woman who, unwittingly, became the victim of an accredited counselor, while she underwent therapeutic treatment. It deftly delineates both the profile of an individual who systematically abused her position of trust and the repercussions for the victim. It is also the gut-wrenching story of a cast-off child whose only defense was to disassociate in order to withstand inconceivable early age trauma."
by Laurie M. on October 05, 2018
Bernadine Fox is a graduate of Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design. She is an artist, writer, social activist, and public speaker in Vancouver BC who constructs narratives that explore various social issues in need of voice. On the issue of abuse of power she has also established an information hub (www.abuse-of-power.ca) to provide resources for those healing from exploitation by their therapists or doctors. Fox raises her grandson and resides in a forest with three cats, three rats, and a few ghosts.
