Woman who had sex with therapist sues LDS Family Services for negligence

A woman has sued LDS Family Services for not taking action against a therapist she said convinced her that having sex with him would help her overcome a history of sexual abuse and the “demons” inside her.

Therapist William Chadwick Holbrook met with Vickie Jacobsen for years — seeing her several times a week, calling her in for sessions when other clients canceled, frequently calling her in the middle of the night, and inviting her to stay at his home — and diagnosed her with having multiple personalities before telling her that God wanted them to have sex, according to a lawsuit filed earlier this month in Ogden’s 2nd District Court.

“Holbrook told [Jacobsen] that he had prayed in the van of his garage whether or not it was appropriate to have sex with her,” according to the suit. “Holbrook told Plaintiff that he received an answer from God that they should have a sexual relationship. He further explained that being intimate would help her with her emotional problems.”

The two began the sexual relationship in March 2004, the lawsuit states. The first sexual encounter took place in Holbrook’s house and they later had sex in motels in Logan, Salt Lake City and Clearfield, at an Ogden campground and at Holbrook’s mother’s house, the lawsuit states.

LDS Family Services officials placed Holbrook, 45, on administrative leave in January 2005 after learning of the sexual relationship, the lawsuit states. But the lawsuit alleges they did not provide enough supervision over Holbrook while he was employed as a therapist there and failed to properly follow up on reports from the woman’s family that Holbrook had been acting unprofessionally toward her.

LDS Family Services also failed to investigate allegations of professional misconduct by Holbrook at another Weber County facility, where he had been terminated for violating policy, including telling a patient that he did not have schizophrenia but instead “had evil demons in him and needed to raise his arm to God,” the lawsuit states.

After Holbrook told Jacobsen he would not leave his wife for her as they had discussed, the woman attempted suicide and is now a ward of the state, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit states Holbrook admitted to the Department of Professional Licensing that he had a sexual relationship with Jacobsen.

Holbrook, who surrendered his license after the allegations surfaced, has been named as a defendant in a 2005 case stemming from the same allegations.

LDS Family Services officials did not respond to requests for comment Thursday. Holbrook declined to comment on the allegations, referring questions to his attorney. His lawyer, Jack Helgesen, could not be reached immediately for comment Thursday.

From the article: LDS Family Services officials placed Holbrook, 45, on administrative leave in January 2005 after learning of the sexual relationship, the lawsuit states...LDS Family Services also failed to investigate allegations of professional misconduct by Holbrook at another Weber County facility, where he had been terminated for violating policy, including telling a patient that he did not have schizophrenia but instead “had evil demons in him and needed to raise his arm to God,” the lawsuit states.

From the article: “Holbrook told [Jacobsen] that he had prayed in the van of his garage whether or not it was appropriate to have sex with her,” according to the suit. “Holbrook told Plaintiff that he received an answer from God that they should have a sexual relationship. He further explained that being intimate would help her with her emotional problems.”

Mormons emphasize "personal revelations" from God are automatically "legit" more than any group I know.

The problem is that Lds don't submit themselves to the Berean "test" outlines in the book of Acts in the Bible (Acts 17:11).

Luke, who wrote the book of Acts inspired by the Holy Spirit, was comparing the Bereans to the Thessalonians, and concluded the Bereans were more "noble."

Why?

Because, Luke says, they "examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true."

Going back to Joseph Smith, those following him -- and ever since -- tend to accept whatever the person says as a "revelation."

In this case, apparently the female victim of this "therapist" didn't bother to check this "therapist's" "personal revelation" against the backdrop of what the Bible says about sex outside of marriage.

It left her vulnerable; and this "therapist" knew how to exploit her...the same way Joseph Smith used religious conniving to con 11 already-married women into marrying him. [Smith would often send men away on "missions" if he wanted to steal their wives in adding to his polygamous harem]

During the last few years of his life, Smith averaged one new "wife" per month.

All these women were exploited religiously. And it's the women who don't know what the Bible says about how men should not take additional wives (Deut. 17:17; Lev. 18:18) that left them open to the lust-filled whims of flim-flam men like Smith...and like this "therapist."

Can’t you celebrate your own religion without attacking others’?

You know, "my own religion" says to protect those vulnerable and being exploited by others in power, including those using religious power.

Women like this mentioned in this article need protection.

Sometimes, all it takes for a woman to be protected from abduction is for someone to advocate putting a light in a dark parking lot. Well, I'm simply advocating that a light be put in the dark parking lot of Utah.

I suppose you would simply like the shut the light off of these series of immoral pursuits (and isn't it criminal for therapists to take advantage of clients in this way?), so that other women in similar situations won't be wary?

And since the first statement out of your mouth on this thread seems to indicate that you're an advocate of the perpetrator here, what do you actually think of the victim? (Is she worthy of your attention?)

mormon 'therapist' applies his church's 'doctrine' to pray about something (in this case extramarital sex), receives his 'confirmation' and takes advantage of the woman. This points to a dangerous aspect of that 'religion' and people have the right to know

This article doesn't touch upon the fact that mormon women are taught to bow to the "priesthood holder" in a relationship. This was not only professional abuse, but religious abuse.

This jerk took advantage of this woman in several ways, she attempted suicide and is now a ward of the state. I'd be curious to know how she is being treated by the members of her ward.

LDS Family Services is culpable in hiring him. His temple recommend didn't do their Human Resources people much good, did it?

Seekers of truth,

If you peruse the Free Republic religion forums you will notice a pattern. There's an anti-Mormon group of people here that spends a great deal of their time attacking the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They post regurgitated propaganda on an almost daily basis.

They have a misguided obsession. You can witness many different tactics employed that you might find quite interesting. The straw man argument is a big favorite and is frequently preceded by cherry-picking quotes or other material. After the "quotation" the attacker will misrepresent what has been said or what was meant and then attack their own interpretation.Later they will have the audacity to claim they were "only" quoting our own material.

They will of course insist ad nauseum that they are merely using our sources and are therefore innocent of any deceptive practice. LDS persons have no issue whatsoever having our scriptures or leaders quoted as long as it is presented fairly and accurately. This is rarely (if ever) done.

Another favorite is posting scripture or statements which on their own really present no dilemma. They make something out of nothing while never bringing up a single objection that hasn't been addressed a hundred times before.

You might note a couple of other tactics used to try to antagonize is the use of disrespectful or insulting terms or language and/or pictures. That's a Christlike thing to do right? Yeah I don't think so either. It does speak volumes about them though.

Sometimes they cruise the headlines of the day seeking any story that might be twisted into making the Church look bad. Anything will do, just watch the progression of posts following it and see what I mean.

After reading their posts, I invite you to seek the truth about whatever "issue" they seem to be "revealing" or "exposing". I promise that if you do so with honest intent, the "ahah" moments you will have will be many and frequent. You will start to recognize the tactics employed to cleverly twist and attack and will likely chuckle the more you see. In actuality, there's nothing new here. It's all been addressed many times before.

The latest twist in the anti-Mormon propaganda machine is to actually go to the links provided, but then they cherry pick what they want, then quote and straw man attack that. Clever. It almost appears that they are helping you, the seeker of truth out by doing some footwork for you. Not so much. Don't be insulted, look for yourself. It's not the haystack they want you to think.

Here's a few links to get your started from a different viewpoint. I have found that the vast majority of the "issues" brought up can be found and addressed at http://www.fairlds.org/ but here's more:

http://scriptures.lds.org/
http://www.lds.org
http://www.fairlds.org/
http://www.mormonapologetics.org/
http://www.mormonwiki.com/Main_Page
http://www.lightplanet.com/response/index.html
http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDS_Intro.shtml
http://www.answeringantimormons.com/index.htm
http://promormon.blogspot.com/

Now you will likely notice the "you never address our points" posts pop up as usual. All after providing the answers just as you have here.

Sometimes it is claimed that these sites present a needle in a haystack. Far from it. But if you give up before you try you won't know will you?

Will you wear blinders too? Seek truth. Find out for yourself. Want to chat with someone on any topic? A few of these sites provide just that. So do your homework sincere seeker of truth. Listen and read from both "sides". Make up your own mind.

I witness to you of these truths and wish you the best, in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

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