Therapy depends on trust. Patients share their history, their fears and their most private struggles, often with someone they see every week for months or years. When a therapist or counselor turns that trust into sexual contact, the harm runs deep, and many survivors are left unsure whether what happened was even wrong. In Illinois, the law answers that question clearly, and it gives patients a civil claim written specifically for this situation.
You do not need to have reported the abuse, and nobody needs to have been charged with a crime. A civil claim asks something different from a criminal case: what the practice or employing agency knew, what it should have known and what it did.
A Different Board, a Different Paper Trail
Therapists and counselors in Illinois are licensed by different boards than physicians. That means complaints about them follow a different trail, a detail that gets missed when the two professions are treated as one.
Employers of licensed counselors also carry supervision duties. A complaint made to an employer, rather than to a regulator, still creates a record. Those records can become important later.
The Illinois Statute Written for Therapy Abuse
Illinois has a civil law aimed squarely at this kind of harm: the Sexual Exploitation in Psychotherapy, Professional Health Services, and Professional Mental Health Services Act, 740 ILCS 140.
Section 2 of the Act gives a patient or former patient a cause of action against a psychotherapist for injury caused by sexual contact. Contact is covered if it happened while the person was receiving psychotherapy from that therapist. It can also be covered after therapy ended, if the former patient was emotionally dependent on the therapist or if the contact came about through therapeutic deception. That term means the therapist told the patient that sexual contact was consistent with, or part of, their treatment.
The Act defines sexual contact broadly. Beyond intercourse, it includes kissing or intentional touching of the genital area, groin, inner thigh, buttocks or breast, including over clothing. A request by the therapist for that kind of conduct also counts.
Section 2 shuts down two common defenses as well. It is not a defense that the contact happened outside a therapy session, or away from the office where sessions were usually held.
Consent Is Not the Question
Many survivors believed at the time that the relationship was mutual. That belief is often shaped by the therapy itself, because the therapist knew your history and knew what you needed to hear. The Act's definition of sexual contact applies whether or not the patient consented. The statute looks at the therapist's role and what the therapist knew, not at whether you said yes.
When the Practice or Agency Is Responsible
A therapist sexual assault claim is usually brought against the practice or employing agency, not only the individual therapist. The theory that most often carries it is negligent retention, though several theories tend to run together, and which one fits depends on your facts.
Section 3 of the Act sets out when an employer is liable. An employer of a psychotherapist may be liable if it fails or refuses to take reasonable action when it knows or has reason to know that the therapist had sexual contact with the plaintiff or with any other patient or former patient. The employer's knowledge does not have to be about you. If a group practice or agency had reason to know about an earlier client and did not act reasonably, that can support a claim by a later client.
The responsible organization is usually private, so the Tort Immunity rules that govern claims against Illinois public bodies do not apply in the same way. The Act also sits alongside ordinary institutional liability theories, and a claim can rest on both.
Checking a License and Filing a Complaint
Therapists in Illinois are licensed by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR). Separate boards advise the Department for professional counselors, social workers, clinical psychologists and marriage and family therapists. You can look up any therapist online by name or license number, and IDFPR publishes disciplinary actions with the date and a short summary in its consolidated reports.
A complaint can be filed with IDFPR's Division of Professional Regulation online or on a paper form. That process can lead to discipline, but it does not compensate you. It is separate from a civil claim.
Questions People Ask
Does someone have to have been convicted? No. A civil case uses a lower standard of proof than a criminal case and is usually brought against the institution rather than the individual.
Will my name be public? Steps can be taken to protect your identity in the court record. We explain them before anything is filed.
My counselor was not licensed. Can I still bring a claim? Yes, potentially. The Act covers anyone who performs or purports to perform psychotherapy, licensed or not.
It happened a while ago. Timing depends on the facts and should be checked with a lawyer.
What Happens When You Contact Us
Asking a question does not set anything in motion.
- You speak with a person, not a form or intake script. You do not have to describe what happened to have the conversation.
- We look into who had a duty: which practice or agency was responsible, what it knew, what records exist and whether a claim can still be brought. That work costs you nothing.
- You decide. We tell you plainly what is possible. If you choose not to go ahead, that is the end of it, and what you told us stays confidential.
- If you go ahead, we carry the case, including filings, deadlines, records and the institution's insurers. Steps can be taken to protect your identity in the court record.
Talk to an Illinois Therapist Abuse Lawyer
Ervin Nevitt is a partner at Coplan + Crane and has been admitted in Illinois since 2014. Calls to (708) 671-6858 are answered 24 hours a day, every day. The office is at 60 W Randolph St, Suite 333, Chicago, IL 60601. Nothing you say is shared with anyone else.
If you need to talk to someone right now, the RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline is free and confidential at 1-800-656-4673, 24 hours a day. If you are in immediate danger, call 911. Talking to a hotline does not affect your legal options or create any record you have to share with us.
Attorney advertising. This post is general information, not legal advice.
