State suspends mental health counselor Holly Vashti George for sex with client

September 22, 2013

On May 24, 2013, the Washington State Department of Health (DoH) censured mental health counselor Holly Vashti George (aka Holly Vashti Jones) and suspended her for no less than one year.

According to the DoH’s statement of charges, George entered into a sexual relationship with a patient.

George met the patient in March 2011 at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and 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 personal 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 evidently 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 [George] were a cause of his attempted suicide.”