Ending therapy is supposed to close a professional chapter. Some therapists treat it as an opening instead. They wind down treatment, sometimes at their own suggestion, then start a sexual relationship with the person they were treating. Former patients in that position often believe they have no recourse because, on paper, the therapy was over. Illinois law takes a closer look.
This kind of claim does not require that anyone was charged or that a report was ever made. In a civil case, attention goes to the employing practice or agency: its knowledge, its constructive knowledge and its response.
What Section 2 Provides
Under 740 ILCS 140, the Sexual Exploitation in Psychotherapy, Professional Health Services, and Professional Mental Health Services Act, Section 2 authorizes a lawsuit by a patient or former patient against a psychotherapist for injury caused by sexual contact. Contact while psychotherapy was ongoing is covered. Coverage after the professional relationship ended depends on one of two conditions.
Condition One: Emotional Dependence
The first condition is emotional dependence. The Act defines it by looking at the patient's condition and the type of treatment provided. When those factors mean the therapist knows or has reason to believe the patient cannot withhold consent, the patient is emotionally dependent.
That definition places the burden of awareness on the clinician. Whether the former patient felt free at the time is not the deciding point; what the therapist understood is.
Condition Two: Therapeutic Deception
The second condition is therapeutic deception, meaning a therapist represents that sexual contact fits within, or forms part of, the patient's treatment. Survivors sometimes worry that having believed this weakens their case. The opposite can be true, because the statute treats that representation as a basis for coverage after therapy ends.
Reconstructing the Timeline
How much time passed between the last appointment and the first sexual contact is part of the analysis. Calendars, appointment reminders, billing statements and messages can help pin down those dates. Separately, the deadline to file depends on case-specific facts, which makes an early legal review worthwhile.
The Scope of "Sexual Contact"
The Act uses an expansive definition. It includes intercourse and kissing, along with intentional touching of the genital area, groin, inner thigh, buttocks or breast, whether skin to skin or through clothing. A therapist's request for such contact also qualifies, and the definition applies even if the former patient agreed. Section 2 further provides that location is no defense, so contact outside a session or away from the usual office is still covered.
Responsibility Beyond the Therapist
Cases like these commonly target the practice or agency that employed the therapist, often on a negligent retention theory with other claims alongside it. Section 3 holds employers liable when they fail or refuse to act reasonably after learning, or having reason to learn, of the therapist's sexual contact with the plaintiff or any other current or former patient.
Employers that hire licensed counselors owe a duty to supervise them, and an internal complaint creates its own record. With most such employers being private, the public-body Tort Immunity rules usually do not apply in the same manner, and the statutory claim can be combined with standard institutional liability claims.
Checking Your Former Therapist's Status
Therapists answer to IDFPR through boards that are separate from the one overseeing physicians. A free online search by name or license number shows whether someone is licensed, and IDFPR's consolidated disciplinary reports list actions with dates and brief descriptions. Complaints may be filed online or by paper form with the Division of Professional Regulation. Discipline is the possible result, not compensation.
Requesting Your Records
The Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Confidentiality Act, 740 ILCS 110, governs therapy records. Section 4 lets anyone 12 or older who received services inspect and copy their own record upon request. Personal notes the therapist kept to themselves, shared only with a supervisor, consulting therapist or attorney, fall outside the definition of the record. Wider sharing brings them back in.
Answers to Common Questions
The relationship started months after our last session. That can still fall under the Act if emotional dependence or therapeutic deception was present. Expect the dates to be scrutinized.
My therapist insisted it would help me heal. Framing sex as treatment is the therapeutic deception the Act describes, and it may help your claim.
There was never a criminal case. That does not matter for a civil claim, which uses a lower standard of proof and usually targets the employer.
I want to stay anonymous. Options to protect your identity in court records exist, and we cover them before filing.
First Steps With Our Firm
An initial conversation commits you to nothing and does not require details. Afterward, we look at no cost into who employed the therapist, what that employer knew, what records exist and whether a claim is still timely. You get a candid evaluation and make your own decision. Declining ends it, confidentially. Proceeding means we take responsibility for filings, deadlines, records and the insurance carriers, with identity protections available.
Contact Information
The firm's Chicago office is located at 60 W Randolph St, Suite 333, Chicago, IL 60601, and its phone line, (708) 671-6858, is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Ervin Nevitt, a Coplan + Crane partner, has practiced law in Illinois since his 2014 admission.
RAINN's National Sexual Assault Hotline, 1-800-656-4673, offers confidential support at no cost at any time. Anyone in immediate danger should call 911. A hotline conversation does not limit what you can do legally. To learn more, visit: https://survivorsofabuseil.com/therapist-sexual-abuse-lawyer-il/
Attorney advertising. Nothing here should be read as legal advice for your situation.
