Sinister way sexual assault counsellor Greg Jackman groomed patient
Jessica*, 24, was vulnerable when she sought help from a Geelong sexual assault service. Her counsellor took advantage of that. Warning: Distressing
EXCLUSIVE
WARNING: Graphic content, sexual assault, suicide
When Jessica* sought help for sexual abuse she suffered as a child, the last thing she expected was that her male rape crisis counsellor would end up sending her photos of his penis.
The year was 2018. Jessica, a 24-year-old university student, was dealing with panic attacks, nightmares and flashbacks. With trepidation, she contacted Geelong Sexual Assault & Family Violence (SAFV) Centre, seeking face-to-face counselling.
Her greatest fear was that she wouldn’t be believed. Or perhaps that she would be blamed.
She never expected her counsellor would end up using her for sex.
“I’d been trying to seek support with my mental health for a really long time,” says Jessica in an exclusive news.com.au interview.
“I was sexually abused as a child. And then in my late teens, I was also in a domestic violence relationship that I had to flee from. I was hoping to receive support.”
It was then she met Greg Leonard Jackman, a married sexual assault counsellor more than 10 years her senior. She liked him immediately.
“I was really nervous going in. It was the first time I’d ever talked about these issues and what had happened,” says Jessica.
“And in the intake session he was really friendly and nice and for the first time I sort of felt really comfortable with someone.”
Jessica began weekly counselling sessions with Jackman, and slowly, she began to trust him.
“I felt like he was really listening to me. He didn’t seem to be shaming me or making light of my experiences. I’d never had that before. It just meant the world to me,” she says.
For over a year Jackman saw Jessica as a client but gradually the dynamic began to shift.
“It’s really hard to find the line where this started to go from a normal counselling relationship into something, I guess, more sinister than that, because there was a really long process of grooming,” explains Jessica.
News.com.au contacted Greg Jackman for comment but he hasn’t responded.
It started simply, with Jackman loaning Jessica his books. Before long, the two were emailing each other about books and other hobbies. By January 2019, they were exchanging emails daily, sometimes multiple times a day.
News.com.au has been given access to more than 400 pages of written emails and messages exchanged between the two over this period. It makes for distressing reading.
More than once Jessica expresses concern to Jackman, that perhaps they are emailing too much. But each time, Jackman quickly reassures her. In one email sent in January 2019 he writes:
“Re[garding] contacting me nearly every day, keep in mind the last week a lot of our emails was (sic) just discussing books and movies, which I had plenty of time to do. This is a massive change that is happening in your life – it is completely understandable that you need the extra support right now … this is part of healing.”
The emails also capture how intensely vulnerable Jessica was.
In one email she writes: “I have been hating every cell in my body and feeling repulsed by myself … I just feel like everything is meaningless and hopeless.”
In another: “There has been a lot of self-hating … Self hating to the level of thinking I’m a waste of oxygen.”
Suicide and self harm are also repeated themes across dozens of Jessica’s gut wrenching emails.
Jessica also confides in Jackman her problems maintaining sexual boundaries with men: she describes herself as “submissive”, “people pleasing” and says she “sexualises herself” to feel worthy, and is therefore easy to exploit.
He would run his hand down my arm
In response to Jessica’s soul-bearing emails Jackman was always supportive and non-judgemental, like a good counsellor should be.
But over time, that support began to morph.
He began “planting little seeds that perhaps my boyfriend wasn’t very supportive of me,” says Jessica.
He also showered Jessica with extreme praise telling her repeatedly how “impressed” he was by her, adding that “we are obviously very different to any typical counselling relationship, however that’s something I value”.
At one point Jackman offered to loan Jessica his kayak. Then he helped her apply for a scholarship. More and more Jessica was becoming dependent on him as he insinuated himself into her life.
So in February, 2019, when Jackman suggested meeting up to go hiking outside of counselling, Jessica jumped at the chance.
“You don’t sort of really realise [the relationship is] changing because it’s so subtle,” she says.
“It got to the point where he shared his personal phone number with me.”
That was a critical turning point. Once numbers were exchanged, Jackman began texting constantly, and things quickly escalated.
“[During hiking] he would bump into me or just run his hand down my arm.
“There were times where we’d be texting and he’d throw in a comment like, ‘I couldn’t keep my hands off you today.”
“I kept asking again and again and again like, ‘is this OK?’ because I didn’t want to get him in trouble.”
By March, Jackman had begun sexting with Jessica: “During the day, in counselling, he would be ripping open memories of my rapes, and then at night he would be sending me masturbation videos of himself, asking me to reciprocate,” says Jessica.
Finally, in April, Jackman began having intercourse with his client.
“On Good Friday 2019, Greg took me to the Grampians with him. He took me into the heart of the bush,” says Jessica.
“On that day, we were completely isolated on a remote mountain top. He was my ride out of there. He unzipped his trousers. I knew what he wanted and I did it. My only focus was on making sure I was good enough for him. I couldn’t bear to think he might be disappointed in my performance.
“Later that day, he started on me again and we had sex on a picnic table. Internally, I was screaming. I could hear loud voices in my head telling me it was so wrong and begging it to stop.
“But outwardly I went along with it and went through the motions. I pretended that I was enjoying it because I felt I owed him because he’d given me so much extra time, so much extra support, extended my counselling sessions, talked to me outside of session and in his own time.”
Just three days before the sexual intercourse, Jessica had sent Jackman an email saying she was suicidal. He had rushed to book her an extra appointment, as he had many times before. Now Jessica says she was terrified that she would lose her trusted counsellor if she told anyone about the intercourse or sexting.
“I wanted to protect him because I felt so lucky to have someone in my life who actually cared about me.
“I felt indebted to him … I felt like I needed to stay quiet and not tell anyone about it because I needed to keep him safe. But then on top of that, I didn’t feel like I could tell anybody because of feeling ashamed that this was happening with someone who was married.”
Reporting Jackman’s misconduct
Finally in November 2020, Jessica made the brave decision to report the sexual misconduct to the Geelong Sexual Assault & Family Violence Centre.
She had stopped counselling with Jackman some time ago, and found a new counsellor who she eventually opened up to about Jackman’s misconduct.
“I don’t want to deter anyone from accessing counselling help, as it was a counsellor who eventually got me help with what Greg was still doing to me,” says Jessica.
Jackman resigned immediately and is no longer a registered psychologist with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. He has signed an undertaking not to practise as a psychologist.
News.com.au understands Jessica was promptly supported by the Geelong SAFV Centre after she reported, and remains positive about the profession generally.
“This isn’t a story about them,” she said. “It’s a story about him. He didn’t just victimise me, he betrayed a service that has done so much good. It was the act of one lone person who doesn’t represent the extreme majority of counsellors and therapists across the profession who support their clients and who have also helped put me back together after what he did.”
Geelong SAFV Centre have also updated their client-manual with a list of behaviours counsellors should not engage in. Jackman violated virtually every item on the list:
After Jessica reported the sexual misconduct to Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) in 2020 she thought her ordeal was over.
But months later in 2021, she discovered that AHPRA only regulates the psychological profession, and Jackman, who is also a social worker, was still operating in the Geelong region.
“The next place that he was found working was an NDIS support service in the disability sector. And then from there he went to work at an Aboriginal support service.” News.com.au has confirmed this.
“It made me feel sick that he was out there working with people potentially even more vulnerable than when I went to see him,” says Jessica.
Outraged, Jessica contacted the Health Complaints Commissioner, the professional watchdog which regulates the social worker profession in Victoria. After a lengthy investigation that lasted over 12 months, Jackman was slapped with a nine month Prohibition Order, in August last year.
He will be eligible to resume working as a counsellor as early as next month.
For Jessica this isn’t good enough.
“I’ll be living with this for the rest of my life. So nine months feels like a slap on the wrist and an absolute insult,” she says.
“My ability to trust people is just destroyed and it’s impacted every part of my life.
“I was particularly vulnerable to what he did because I’m autistic.
“I was there to seek counselling for sexual abuse, and that means giving the most vulnerable parts of yourself over to someone who you trust to do the right thing.
“There is a power imbalance there. He used everything that I told him in therapy to control me.
“It’s impacted my feelings of safety, it’s this feeling of shame about having been groomed and having fallen for it. But most of all, to have trusted someone like that and then have had that person use me for sex, has just devastated me.”
When contacted for comment, a representative from the Health Complaints Commissioner said, “The Prohibition Order was put in place using our available powers.” They have encouraged anyone with knowledge of a breach to come forward with information.
Last August, the Commissioner, Adjunct Professor Bernice Redley, said “the safety of Victorians continues to be our number one priority. I have issued this nine-month ban on Greg Leonard Jackman providing any general health services involving counselling or psychotherapy services as I believe he poses a serious risk to the health, safety and welfare of the Victorian public until he has completed prescribed training and activities that ensure he is fit to practise.”
Jackman has not been charged with any offences in relation to his conduct.
Reclaiming her voice
After many months of therapy and working with lawyers, Jessica says she is now determined to see restrictions tightened against therapists who use their clients for sex.
“I’ve chosen to speak out now, to highlight the failings of those systems that are supposed to protect the public from health professionals who do harm; they’re not actually doing their job of keeping people safe.”
“It’s never OK for a counsellor or psychologist to have sex with a client.
“To get to this point, I have had to make complaints to multiple agencies. That has meant sitting through three hour interviews reliving my experience over and over,” she says.
“But I’m doing it because I want people to know what is going on. I want people to be safe. If telling my story can stop this happening to even one person then it’s the price I’ve been willing to pay.”
Nina Funnell is a Walkley Award winning journalist and sexual assault survivor advocate. She is the creator of the #LetHerSpeak campaign and #JusticeShouldntHurt campaign.
Do you have a story to share? Contact: ninafunnell@gmail.com
*Jessica is a pseudonym as she has chosen to remain anonymous
Where to find help: If you or someone you know is experiencing sexual abuse or family violence contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence Counselling Service 24-hour helpline 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732. Or call Lifeline on 13 11 14
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