State issues complaint against counselor Holly V. Jones for sex with patient

January 4, 2013

On July 10, 2012, the Washington Department of Health (DoH) issued a Statement of Charges against counselor Holly Vashti Jones. According to the DoH’s document, Jones entered into a sexual relationship with a patient.

Jones met the patient in March 2011 at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. She began treating him in August 2011. During treatment, she hugged, held, caressed and made sexual comments to the patient on several occasions.

Jones allowed the patient to stay overnight at her house and shared person information with him, including details of her family and marital situation. She additionally purchased an airline ticket for him to accompany her and several others to Hawaii, where the two stayed in a villa she’d rented.

The patient began treatment with another mental health care provider about a month later.

In March 2012, the patient attempted suicide. The DoH’s document states that the patient’s “fear and depression from his experience with [Jones] were a cause of his attempted suicide.”