What you can do to help and a good news update

Presently, Jay is seeking a degree in Counseling from Wake Forest University and IS NO LONGER interning with the therapy office in Chapel Hill. The purpose of his internship is WAS to run group for men struggling with sex addiction.

I have already called Dr. Ivers, the Dean of the department at WFU and sent him a link to the facebook post from 2019 and expressed my concerns about their training him to be a councilor. Dr. Ivers said they did a background check and googled Jay's name and found nothing of concern before admitting him to the program. (this is why we created this blog). I emailed Dr. Ivers earlier today asking him for an update on what if any action has been taken from my previous conversation. 

We also shared the same information with the therapist in Chapel Hill a couple weeks ago and recently heard back from her. She called WFU and they did not report having taken any action or even speaking to Jay about the post or his past behavior.  She also hasn't heard from anyone in the community with concerns about him and so decided to allow him to finish his internship through April. She also reported doing a basic google search and finding nothing of concern before agreeing to sponsor Jay's internship at her practice in Chapel Hill. 

UPDATE 2/23/23: Many of you reached out to the therapist with your stories and experiences, as a result she has reported that she has cut ties with Jay and is no longer sponsoring his internship. 

To be fair, we absolutely think he should be able to earn a living, but given his history for compulsively abusing power dynamics for personal satisfaction, we don't think he can be trusted to work as a therapist with any population, let alone such a sensitive population where clear boundaries and strong ethics are vital. 

Based on what we are hearing from Dr. Ivers and the therapist, it's important that we not be the only people reaching out to share concerns with them if we expect action to keep Jay from working as a therapist in our community.  

If it concerns you that he is attempting to put himself in a position of power with a highly vulnerable population,  and you have personal experiences with him of a coercive or abusive nature, I suggest you contact the remaining organization presently supporting his training to share your experiences and express your concerns. 

Here is their publicly available contact information: 

1. The Therapist is NO LONGER sponsoring his internship

contact info removed

2. Dr. Nathaniel Ivers is the Chair of the Counseling Department and Associate Professor at Wake forest University where he is presently enrolled in their Counseling program. 

336.758.2317

iversnn@wfu.edu

Department of Counseling, Box 7406, WFU, Winston-Salem, NC 27109

3. Here is the contact information to file a complaint with the North Carolina Board of Licensed Mental Health Counselors, which is the state body that would eventually be responsible for issuing him a license:

(844) 622-3572

complaints@ncblchmc.org