State reprimands mental health counselor Joe W. Gladden for threatening, disparaging client

A marriage counselor who “threatened’’ and made disparaging remarks to a client was reprimanded, fined $1,000 and told to undergo counseling for his behavior, according to a disciplinary order filed recently by the Minnesota Board of Behavior Health and Therapy.

The female client had confronted the counselor, Joe W. Gladden, formerly of White Bear Lake, about a personal relationship Gladden was having with her husband — also a client, the order said.

Gladden threatened to file a lien on the woman’s house and have her arrested if she “filed a Board complaint premised on a lie,” the order said. It also said he wrote, “You are a severely, psychologically disturbed individual … a prime candidate to resort to lies,” and suggested the board would not take her seriously.

“You are a severely, psychologically disturbed individual, with multiple chemical dependencies, including daily use of heavy amounts of alcohol, prescription and illegal narcotics, and marijuana -- which you regularly purchase from your drug dealer cousin. You are a raging alcoholic, with a severe personality disorder that makes you a prime candidate to resort to lies and unethical behavior when dealing with others. Your chart at my office is replete with references to your inappropriate behavior. With all this information, one is left to wonder if any claim you might make would be taken seriously once they requisition your chart, considering your long history of drug abuse, recent DUI arrest and multiple incidents of domestic violence involving your husband.”

Source: Jane Friedman, "Counselor cited for disparaging a client," The Whistleblower (blog section of Minneapolis Star Tribune), March 16, 2012.