Tasmanian prison psychologist suspended for inappropriate relationship with released ex-client

A Tasmanian psychologist who self-reported a relationship with a client — whom she first treated while he was an inmate at Risdon Prison — has been suspended from practicing for months.

Risdon Prison. Picture: Chris Kidd

A Tasmanian psychologist who self-reported an inappropriate relationship with a client – whom she first treated while he was an inmate at Risdon Prison – has been officially reprimanded, and suspended from practicing for six months.

Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal deputy president Richard Grueber upheld an application from the Psychology Board of Tasmania for registered psychologist Louisa Straatsma to face sanction for professional misconduct, over her involvement with the inmate while he served time in Tasmania, and later NSW.

The board’s application to TASCAT, held without a hearing and determined on written submissions received from both applicant and respondent, alleged the therapeutic specialist failed to maintain professional boundaries with the client during the course of a treating relationship which began in 2018.

The board alleged that the psychologist kissed her client on two occasions during counselling sessions in Tasmania, then engaged in an inappropriate intimate relationship with the inmate once he was extradited to NSW and their treating relationship had ceased.

The board submitted Ms Straatsma had provided the inmate with her personal mobile number before he left Tasmania, had used her professional development travel allowance to visit him in jail in NSW, and then engaged in a mutually agreed intimate relationship upon his release from prison.

In January 2021, the psychologist made a self-notification to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, reporting misconduct in breach of ethical guidelines in relation to her behaviour in NSW.

In June 2022, AHPRA received a separate confidential notification relating to the practitioner’s conduct, which became the basis of the board’s application to TASCAT.

TASCAT found that the psychologist had admitted breaching the Australian Psychological Society code of ethics, which prohibits psychologists engaging in sexual activity with former clients within two years of terminating their professional relationship.

Deputy president Grueber said he was satisfied Ms Straatsma’s conduct was of a serious nature, given her transgression of the professional standards, the period of the professional relationship, and the circumstances of the patient.

“The importance of general deterrence is clear in cases involving sexual contact between health practitioners and patients,” he said.

“I consider that the matters of protection, deterrence and censure are properly reflected in suspension of the practitioner’s registration for a period of six months.

“That period takes into account the steps that the practitioner has taken to regulate and support her professional conduct, but also reflects the seriousness of the conduct, which was plainly and unmistakably in breach of the APS code of ethics and was deliberate, repeated and extended over a significant period of time.”

Deputy president Grueber also ordered the practitioner to be supervised by another registered psychologist in relation to ethical practice for a period of nine months upon her return to work.

Originally published as Tasmanian prison psychologist suspended for inappropriate relationship with released ex-client