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A Montreal psychologist could face sanctions after repeatedly spanking a patient’s nude buttocks during therapy sessions, according to a ruling by Quebec’s Order of Psychologists.
After reviewing the evidence, a three-member tribunal found that Steven Schachter engaged in sexually abusive practices while treating a young man from 2013 to 2014. In testimony before the tribunal, the patient claimed Schachter pulled his pants down to his ankles and slapped his bare buttocks while yelling, “feel the shame,” “feel the guilt,” and “let it sink in.”
This happened over the course of up to 10 therapy sessions, according to the order’s ruling, which was published in July.
Schachter was temporarily suspended from practicing therapy in June 2015, at the beginning of the hearings. He did not appeal the suspension but still works out of an office on Queen Mary Rd.
Schachter lists himself as a mental health consultant and hypnotherapist on his LinkedIn profile. The Montreal Gazette left a message on Schachter’s answering machine but it was not returned on Tuesday.
The patient who launched the complaint had sought Schachter’s help in 2010 to help treat anxiety, panic attacks and self-esteem problems. He was 19 at the time and told Schachter that his father had physically abused him throughout his childhood.
It was the client’s strained relationship with his father that led Schachter to suggest a new “therapeutic method” to address the lingering guilt from his childhood. Though he’d initially refused to be spanked by Schachter, the patient eventually accepted to undergo the “treatment” in September 2013.
Read more here. (Leader Post)
After reviewing the evidence, a three-member tribunal found that Steven Schachter engaged in sexually abusive practices while treating a young man from 2013 to 2014. In testimony before the tribunal, the patient claimed Schachter pulled his pants down to his ankles and slapped his bare buttocks while yelling, “feel the shame,” “feel the guilt,” and “let it sink in.”
This happened over the course of up to 10 therapy sessions, according to the order’s ruling, which was published in July.
Schachter was temporarily suspended from practicing therapy in June 2015, at the beginning of the hearings. He did not appeal the suspension but still works out of an office on Queen Mary Rd.
Schachter lists himself as a mental health consultant and hypnotherapist on his LinkedIn profile. The Montreal Gazette left a message on Schachter’s answering machine but it was not returned on Tuesday.
The patient who launched the complaint had sought Schachter’s help in 2010 to help treat anxiety, panic attacks and self-esteem problems. He was 19 at the time and told Schachter that his father had physically abused him throughout his childhood.
It was the client’s strained relationship with his father that led Schachter to suggest a new “therapeutic method” to address the lingering guilt from his childhood. Though he’d initially refused to be spanked by Schachter, the patient eventually accepted to undergo the “treatment” in September 2013.
Read more here. (Leader Post)
