Board suspends license of mental health counselor Scott Tellier

July 18, 2013

On October 31, 2012, the Rhode Island Board of Mental Health Counselors and Marriage & Family Therapists summarily suspended mental health counselor Scott Tellier.

The Board’s documentary states that Tellier began treating a 21-year-old female client in 2006. On several occasions, he asked her to engage in non-sexual physical contact, such as placing her feet in his lap, to assist her to become more trusting, which is not acceptable practice by a mental health counselor.

He also began to counsel the girl’s mother.

He started a personal relationship with the mother in 2007 and began visiting the family home every day for a period.

Tellier would walk into the girl’s room without knocking on more than one occasion and would call her phone repeatedly, including 20 calls in one half-hour period.

Tellier continued to make harassing calls to her even after she terminated the client-therapist relationship.

Tellier would also call the mother up to ten time a day and, in June 2012, borrowed up to $5120 from her, which he paid back.

Both mother and daughter stated that Tellier was antagonistic and verbally abusive to the daughter while he was visiting them in their home and that he asserted to the mother that his behavior was therapeutic would benefit her.