Selwyn_Times: February 14, 2024

Selwyn Times Wednesday February 14 2024
20
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Investigation into mental health
worker’s paid sex with patient
• By Anna Leask
A SOUTH Island mental health
worker is under investigation
after a formal complaint from a
patient claiming he paid her for
sex soon after she was released
from a secure unit.
The patient also alleges she
sought help from the man during
a particularly rough time
– but instead of helping her, he
drove her to a secluded location
and touched her intimately.
Te Whatu Ora says it is “extremely
concerned” about the
complaint and has launched a
full investigation into the man.
Text messages provided to
the NZ Herald reveal the man’s
pursuit of the patient.
It is understood the messages
were sent from a Te Whatu Orafunded
work phone.
The Herald has agreed not to
name the man or patient while
the investigation is under way.
The patient reached out to
share her story soon after making
the formal complaint.
She said she wanted to expose
the man, who she felt had taken
advantage of her, and make sure
he was properly investigated for
his behaviour.
Over the years the patient has
struggled with bipolar and drug
addiction.
She is a sex worker – a job she
is proud of and enjoys without
any shame.
“I genuinely love my job and
my bookings and want to be
a really good escort,” she said,
adding that was a big motivation
for seeking treatment.
She said she met the mental
health worker through a church
in their hometown a few years
ago.
She spoke to him then about
her occupation and her personal
struggle with addiction.
Last year she encountered him
again when she was admitted to
a mental health unit to help with
COMPLAINT: The patient says she was struggling with
addiction and bipolar when the mental health worker
from a secure unit she was admitted to for five weeks paid
her for sex.
PHOTO: GETTY
her bipolar, and a drug relapse.
She said during her admission
the man “took a genuine interest
in helping me”.
“We talked about my want to
begin sex work again,” she said.
“Five weeks later I was discharged
on a Friday and began
sex work on the Saturday. Then a
week later I get a private number
call and it was (the mental health
worker) wanting a booking to
have sex with me.”
She agreed to the booking and
the pair had sex.
This happened again on a
second occasion.
The man told her he was
watching explicit videos she had
uploaded to an adult website.
“He began calling me masturbating
over the phone,” she said.
“Our last booking was before
Christmas and he said he’d sold
one of his guitars to pay for me.”
Last month the man sent the
patient a text message to try and
book a further appointment with
her.
She disclosed to him that she
had been struggling with her
mental health and addiction
again and asked if she could
speak with him.
She felt that she had no one
else to turn to and was comfortable
with the worker as he knew
about her history and had said he
wanted to help with her issues.
Text messages show the patient
suggested the pair meet for a
drink.
“Not a booking, just a chat,”
she wrote.
“I’m working late tonight and
don’t drink. I would have rather
had a booking but only have $75
. . . I’ll just have to wait . . . maybe
I just look up your (web)site for
relief LOL,” he replied.
He went on to say: “I can’t wait
to see, smell, taste & feel you”.
He agreed to meet her for “just
a talk and coffee” and suggested
coming to the patient’s home.
She said her flatmate was home
and he agreed to pick her up and
take her somewhere.
In her complaint she said the
purpose of the meeting was
“to hang out just as people as I
wondered if I could talk to him
because he’s aware of my past”.
She said the worker picked her
up from her home and drove her
to a secluded location.
She began to disclose her
recent struggles and he said he
“couldn’t help but take off his
clinical hat” because he wanted
to be intimate with her.
She said he stopped her talking,
and began to touch her intimately
and telling her he wanted
to have sex.
“I said no because I wasn’t feeling
well, I asked him to drop me
off,” she said.
She said he “prayed” for her
before she left the vehicle.
“I felt really sad that the one
person I thought could help had
made me feel cheap and stupid,”
she said.
“My mental health spiralled
and I just lost my shit.
“I couldn’t stop crying and felt
so helpless I wanted to take my
own life.”
She said there had been a couple
of times she had “desperately
needed” to readmit herself to the
mental health ward but she was
too scared in case she saw the
worker.
“He said if he ever saw me in
there he’d sneak into my room
and f**k me,” she said in her
complaint.
The patient said she made the
complaint after telling a friend
about what had happened.
It was only then she realised
that the worker’s behaviour was
inappropriate.
“I realised he was wrong – I
TEXT: The
mental health
worker (grey
text) wanted a
booking for sex
when the woman
asked to meet
and talk about
her struggles.
PHOTO: NZ
HERALD
asked him for help and he turned
around and that to me instead of
giving me the mental health support
that I wanted,” she said.
The patient said she was angry
at the man and wanted him held
accountable for his actions.
“I thought he was innocently
expressing his sexuality – until
I needed help and he didn’t care
but pursued his own needs,” she
said.
“I’d just be happy for him to be
exposed and made an example
of because the more I think of it
the more I realise how f**ked up
it was.
She worried there would be
others like her out there who
may be in similar positions,
which is why she reached out to
the Herald.
The director of operations
for the hospital and specialist
services in the area where the
patient lives acknowledged the
complaint.
“Te Whatu Ora is extremely
concerned about the complaint
received and is taking it very
seriously,” she said.
“Our usual complaints process
is being followed and a full investigation
will be undertaken.
“Until that investigation is
complete it’s inappropriate for us
to comment further.”
The patient said a Te Whatu
Ora Health NZ representative
had been in contact after she
made the complaint, advising
her the worker had been “stood
down”.
– NZ Herald
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