Post by falcon on Aug 10, 2008 11:06:00 GMT 12
Sunday Star Times > National News > Story
Sacked psychologist: why I fell for violent criminal
by Donna Chisholm - Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 10 August 2008
Email a Friend | Printable View | Have Your Say
Related Links
Subscribe to Archivestuff
Have your say
Advertisement
Advertisement
THE FORMER high-flying psychologist struck off for her love affair with a violent prisoner says bullying by mental health worker colleagues left her vulnerable to the man's advances.
Keriata Paterson, the former president of the Psychological Society, was found guilty of professional misconduct for her affair with the man she had counselled in jail.
Now she says she may never recover from the abusive relationship which cost her her career.
The Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal heard last week the pair had had an intermittent 14-month relationship after the man described as a "high risk, serious violent offender" was released from jail early last year. His name is suppressed.
Paterson acknowledged the irony of a person who had been trained to recognise the psychology and politics of domestic violence submitting to an abusive relationship and being unable to get out of it on her own.
She became attracted to him while counselling him in a residential violence prevention programme and, after he told her he thought she was beautiful and reminded him of his late wife, she reported her feelings to superiors and ended the counselling sessions.
Paterson, 52, of Thames, said she then "descended into a state of deep depression, anxiety and emotional paralysis", could not complete work required and was sacked by Corrections.
The prisoner phoned her repeatedly after his release and when they met in March last year, they began a relationship which she knew was inappropriate, misguided and unethical.
"I had no job and I was in such a bad way that I was operating at some pretty primal survival level. I just thought I have love being offered to me and I was too stupid to realise that the person who was offering me that was setting himself up through me. He had no money and no home so he took all my money and moved into my home.
"Remember how they did those experiments on baby monkeys where they put them in wire cages with fur around the wire and every time they wanted to be nurtured they got hit? That's what it felt like to be in this relationship."
She said many of her problems began when she was bullied in a former mental health job.
"The team leader frequently referred to my weight and physical characteristics and I became increasingly isolated and tearful." She took a personal grievance but later withdrew it and resigned.
"I kind of lost respect for my profession. I found that the kind people were few and far between. I was trying to do the best for people," she said.
"I have always worked with a caring heart."
She has learned that "you can't take risks with your profession" but adds "there is a very judgemental part of the profession and the fact that I was president of the society kind of made it more exciting for them to oust me".
When her relationship with the former prisoner became abusive, she fled several times to a women's refuge.
"I think I kept on trying because he was so hurt by life. He was so charming at first. He could be so beautiful, so spiritual. He cooked for me and at times he was caring. We talked of love and a relationship. He asked me to marry him.
"He knew all the right things to say and I used to believe him until I would get this icy blast of reality.
"He threatened to stab me in the heart. He punched me in the head."
Her friends, she said, wanted him dead. "They want him in the ocean. They thought he was going to kill me and they didn't want to come to my tangi. But they don't realise I still have incredible feelings for him."
Paterson's former lesbian lover Jos Erickson, with whom she was in a relationship for eight years and who is still her closest friend, became so concerned for her safety that she alerted police and the Probation Service to the relationship.
"I was angry at her for calling the police because it resulted in him being put in jail for breaching his parole conditions but she had to do something..."
The prisoner, she said, is out of jail and still in touch.
"He blames me for ruining his life."
Sacked psychologist: why I fell for violent criminal
by Donna Chisholm - Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 10 August 2008
Email a Friend | Printable View | Have Your Say
Related Links
Subscribe to Archivestuff
Have your say
Advertisement
Advertisement
THE FORMER high-flying psychologist struck off for her love affair with a violent prisoner says bullying by mental health worker colleagues left her vulnerable to the man's advances.
Keriata Paterson, the former president of the Psychological Society, was found guilty of professional misconduct for her affair with the man she had counselled in jail.
Now she says she may never recover from the abusive relationship which cost her her career.
The Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal heard last week the pair had had an intermittent 14-month relationship after the man described as a "high risk, serious violent offender" was released from jail early last year. His name is suppressed.
Paterson acknowledged the irony of a person who had been trained to recognise the psychology and politics of domestic violence submitting to an abusive relationship and being unable to get out of it on her own.
She became attracted to him while counselling him in a residential violence prevention programme and, after he told her he thought she was beautiful and reminded him of his late wife, she reported her feelings to superiors and ended the counselling sessions.
Paterson, 52, of Thames, said she then "descended into a state of deep depression, anxiety and emotional paralysis", could not complete work required and was sacked by Corrections.
The prisoner phoned her repeatedly after his release and when they met in March last year, they began a relationship which she knew was inappropriate, misguided and unethical.
"I had no job and I was in such a bad way that I was operating at some pretty primal survival level. I just thought I have love being offered to me and I was too stupid to realise that the person who was offering me that was setting himself up through me. He had no money and no home so he took all my money and moved into my home.
"Remember how they did those experiments on baby monkeys where they put them in wire cages with fur around the wire and every time they wanted to be nurtured they got hit? That's what it felt like to be in this relationship."
She said many of her problems began when she was bullied in a former mental health job.
"The team leader frequently referred to my weight and physical characteristics and I became increasingly isolated and tearful." She took a personal grievance but later withdrew it and resigned.
"I kind of lost respect for my profession. I found that the kind people were few and far between. I was trying to do the best for people," she said.
"I have always worked with a caring heart."
She has learned that "you can't take risks with your profession" but adds "there is a very judgemental part of the profession and the fact that I was president of the society kind of made it more exciting for them to oust me".
When her relationship with the former prisoner became abusive, she fled several times to a women's refuge.
"I think I kept on trying because he was so hurt by life. He was so charming at first. He could be so beautiful, so spiritual. He cooked for me and at times he was caring. We talked of love and a relationship. He asked me to marry him.
"He knew all the right things to say and I used to believe him until I would get this icy blast of reality.
"He threatened to stab me in the heart. He punched me in the head."
Her friends, she said, wanted him dead. "They want him in the ocean. They thought he was going to kill me and they didn't want to come to my tangi. But they don't realise I still have incredible feelings for him."
Paterson's former lesbian lover Jos Erickson, with whom she was in a relationship for eight years and who is still her closest friend, became so concerned for her safety that she alerted police and the Probation Service to the relationship.
"I was angry at her for calling the police because it resulted in him being put in jail for breaching his parole conditions but she had to do something..."
The prisoner, she said, is out of jail and still in touch.
"He blames me for ruining his life."
