By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law
The tragic news about a licensed mental health counselor recently being stabbed and killed here in Orlando by her ex-patient really hits close to home for me. Sadly, Rebecca White, LMHC, was murdered on January 19, 2026, in her office on Lee Road, only a few miles from this firm’s main office in Florida.
Violence and Threats Toward Health Professionals Becoming More Common.
I am being contacted and retained by more and more health professionals, mostly mental health counselors, psychologists, and psychiatric nurse practitioners, about clients and patients who have threatened them or who are stalking them, and even several physicians who have been threatened or assaulted by patients or even their colleagues. Violence and threatening behavior seem to have become normalized, thanks in no small part to our current administration. You should not put up with this!
Beware the Client or Patient with Borderline Personality Disorder.
I am currently representing at least three psychotherapists who are being victimized by former clients. These clients were all diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, who not only were stalking them, but now have filed Department of Health complaints against their licenses, continuing their victimization.
What is Borderline Personality Disorder?
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) says that borderline personality disorder is a serious mental illness. It affects how a person feels about themselves and others. This disorder makes it hard for them to function in daily life. The disorder often involves difficulty regulating emotions, leading to impulsivity and, especially, troubled relationships with others. Difficulties in relationships can lead clients to transfer emotions onto their therapist. If the therapist terminates the relationship, the client may feel abandoned and stalk the therapist in an attempt to be taken back.
Effective treatments for borderline personality disorder are available to manage the symptoms. However, this may involve treatment with prescription medications that the mental health counselor or psychologist may be unauthorized to prescribe. Early referral to a board-certified psychiatrist for medication management is a key component in ensuring the client/patient receives the appropriate level of care. Referral to a mental health counselor or psychologist specializing in the treatment of borderline personality disorder is also highly recommended.
What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder?
People with borderline personality disorder, according to the NIH, often experience intense mood swings and uncertainty about how they see themselves. Their interests, values, and feelings can change quickly. They also tend to view things in extremes, such as all good or all bad. This is often seen in social interactions, which may swing from extreme closeness to extreme dislike, resulting in unstable relationships and emotional pain.
Other symptoms can include:
1. Avoiding real or perceived abandonment. This can happen when people quickly enter or leave relationships. They do this to feel in control of ending the relationship.
2. A pattern of intense and unstable relationships with family, friends, and loved ones.
3. High sensitivity to rejection and feelings of alienation or isolation.
4. A distorted and unstable self-image or sense of self
5. Intense and highly variable moods, with episodes from a few hours to days.
6. Chronic feelings of emptiness or worthlessness.
7. Inappropriate, intense anger or problems with controlling their anger, and lashing out at others.
8. Feelings of dissociation, such as being cut off from oneself, observing oneself from outside the body, or feeling disconnected from one’s surroundings.
9. Self-harming behavior, such as cutting.
10. Recurring thoughts of suicide, threats of suicide, or suicidal behavior.
11. Impulsive or reckless behavior, such as spending sprees, unsafe sex, substance use, dangerous driving, binge eating, and stalking or threatening others.
12. Just because someone is a health professional doesn’t mean they cannot have a borderline personality disorder or be a stalker. I have seen many examples of this over the last few years.
NIH warns that if these behaviors happen mostly during times of elevated mood or energy, they may be symptoms of another disorder, for example, a mood disorder, rather than borderline personality disorder. Not everyone with borderline personality disorder experiences all these symptoms. The severity, frequency, and duration of symptoms vary depending on the person.
People with borderline personality disorder have a significantly higher rate of self-harm, suicidal thoughts, and behavior than the general population. However, we have found that some people use the threat of suicide to make others feel guilty. They do this to try to get the other person to “take them back.” This is a way to avoid being left and to control the relationship.
What is Stalking?
According to the Oxford English Language Dictionary, “stalking” is to “harass or persecute (someone) with unwanted and obsessive attention.” The United States Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) states that stalking is a crime of power and control. It is a course of action directed at an individual that causes the victim to fear for their safety, and generally involves repeated visual or physical proximity, nonconsensual communication, and verbal, written, or implied threats. (See DOJ, OVC, “Stalking” at https://ovc.ojp.gov/topics/stalking, accessed Jan. 21, 2026.) The OVC states: “Research shows that victims of stalking are more likely to experience anxiety, insomnia, social dysfunction, and severe depression compared to the general population.” Thus, there is real harm being experienced by the victim of a stalker, even if no physical violence is actually threatened. Law enforcement officials, regulatory authorities, and employers must realize this.
Both federal and state laws make stalking a criminal offense. In the case of federal law, 18 U.S.C. Sect. 2261a, makes it a federal felony crime punishable by up to five (5) years in prison. All states have state laws that prohibit and punish stalking. In Florida, Section 784.048, Florida Statutes, makes stalking a misdemeanor of the first degree (the highest level of misdemeanor) and repeated stalking a felony.
What is Cyberstalking?
Cyberstalking is the same conduct as above, only using the means of modern electronic communications, including text messages, direct messaging, postings on social media sites, e-mails, telephone calls, and other similar methods.
In Florida, Florida law specifically defines “cyberstalking” as:
1. To engage in a course of conduct to communicate, or to cause to be communicated, directly or indirectly, words, images, or language by or through the use of electronic mail or electronic communication, directed at or pertaining to a specific person; or
2. To access, or attempt to access, the online accounts or Internet-connected home electronic systems of another person without that person’s permission,
causing substantial emotional distress to that person and serving no legitimate purpose.
Applicable in all states is the federal law, 18 U.S. C. Sect. 2261a(2), which defines it as using “the mail, any interactive computer service or electronic communication service or electronic communication system of interstate commerce, or any other facility of interstate or foreign commerce to engage in a course of conduct that:
“(A) places that person in reasonable fear of the death of or serious bodily injury to a person, a pet, a service animal, an emotional support animal, or a horse. . . or
“(B) causes, attempts to cause, or would be reasonably expected to cause substantial emotional distress to a person. . . .”
The federal law makes it punishable by up to five (5) years in prison.
The DOJ OVC states: “Each year, January is recognized as National Stalking Awareness Month in an effort to educate the public about serious—and at times deadly—crime of stalking.”
What Are Some Examples of Stalking?
Examples of stalking include:
– Following a person around.
-Showing up at the same public events as another person.
-Filing complaints with government regulatory agencies, such as the professional licensing board, after the other person has terminated the professional relationship.
-Showing up at a person’s home or attempting to access a person’s home, condo, or apartment, without a specific invitation.
-Showing up at a person’s office or workplace without an appointment or other valid reason to be there.
-Sending a person unwanted or unrequested letters, gifts, or packages.
-Attempting to use other relatives or persons (children, babysitters, school teachers, so-workers) to have forced contact with someone.
-Parking outside the house or office of the other person when there is no legitimate reason to be there.
-Dressing exactly like another person.
-Purchasing an automobile that is identical to (year, make, model, and color) the other person’s car.
-Using other people, such as other professional colleagues, clients, or patients, to attempt to communicate with a person.
What Are Examples of Cyberstalking?
Examples of cyberstalking include:
-Sending multiple text messages or e-mails to another person when that person has made it clear they do not want to receive them.
-Making multiple telephone calls to another person when that person has made it clear they do not want to receive them or has blocked them.
-Telephoning you after normal working hours or outside of the normal course of the professional relationship.
-Posting messages or comments online or on social media about a person after that person has terminated the relationship.
-Using other telephones, telephone numbers, or e-mail addresses to attempt to communicate with another person after that person has terminated the relationship.
-Attacking or altering another person’s website, online postings, or media accounts.
-Pretending to be the other person in online posts and communications.
Remember that cyberstalking is just a subcategory of stalking.
What Can or Should Be Done to Eliminate Stalking by Clients or Patients?
1. Be quick to terminate a client/patient or refer them to another professional if it appears that the person is emotionally attracted to you or starts stalking you.
2. Be sure that your office is in a building that has an outside entrance that can be separately locked and, if at all possible, has a security guard or receptionist to stop a person from walking in unannounced. Now is the time to be moving to another location or remodeling your office to include safety features.
3. Make sure your office has an alarm system that includes “panic buttons” at convenient locations (especially at your desk) that will immediately call the police if you press them.
4. Make sure your office has video surveillance cameras, including outside the front entrance (even a”Ring” doorbell is better than nothing), inside your office, waiting room,m and lobby, and where you park your car (buy a video camera for your car if necessary). These may become necessary to prove stalking behavior to a judge, police, or licensing board.
5. Do not give out your home address to any client and make every effort to have it removed from public view.
6. Be sure you have a work cell phone or telephone that is different from your personal cell phone or telephone. Never let clients/patients have your personal phone number or communicate with them over your personal phone.
7. If a client or patient is in your office and threatens you or refuses to leave when you tell them, secure yourself in a locked back office or bathroom and call 911 to immediately send law enforcement to your office to take them away.
8. If a client/patient threatens you in any way, immediately terminate them and document in your termination letter why you are doing so.
9. If you have an employer or landlord, notify them immediately, in writing, if you have a suspected stalker or desire to ban a client/patient from the premises.
10. Notify your employer or landlord in writing immediately if a client, patient or co-worker threatens you in any way, especially with physical violence or harm; if the employer/landlord refuses to take action to eliminate the threat, be prepared to sue them. A landlord or an employer can be held liable in civil court for monetary damages if they have been warned about a potentially violent situation and have done nothing.
11. Notify the local law enforcement agency (police department or sheriff’s office) and make sure there is a report made if you are stalked or are threatened by a patient, client, or co-worker. Demand a written report and obtain a copy of it. DO NOT wimp out and tell them that you do not want to press charges or do anything about it (you will regret this decision later).
12. Retain an attorney to prepare and send cease and desist letters, no trespassing letter, and go to court to get an injunction against a former client, patient, or co-worker, if necessary.
13. Use common sense. For example, if you have been or are being stalked or have been threatened by a former client/patient or co-worker, do not stay late alone at work.
14. Do not delay in taking action, believing that the situation will just go away. Patients, clients, co-workers, and even strangers are becoming more and more violent, encouraged by today’s society and current government. Be smart and act to protect yourself.
The death of a Florida mental health counselor is a devastating loss for her family, her clients, and the profession. For healthcare professionals, it is also a legal and ethical wake-up call. It is a sobering reminder that clinical work can carry real-world danger.
Contact Health Law Attorneys Experienced in Representation of Mental Health Counselors, Psychologists, Social Workers, and Family Therapists.
The attorneys of The Health Law Firm provide legal representation to mental health counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and family therapists in Department of Health (DOH) investigations, Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) investigations, professional counselor board investigations, board hearings, FBI investigations, and other types of investigations of health professionals and providers. To contact The Health Law Firm, please call (407) 331-6620 or toll-free at (888) 331-6620 and visit our website at www.TheHealthLawFirm.com.
Sources:
Spitzer, Michelle. “Florida mental health counselor killed by former patient: What we know.” Florida Today. (January 23, 2026). Web.
Shepherd, Skylar. “Ex-client bursts into therapy session, fatally stabbing therapist, Florida deputies say.” CBS 12 News. (January 22, 2026). Web.
About the Author: George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., is Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law. He is the President and Managing Partner of The Health Law Firm, which has a national practice. Its main office is in the Orlando, Florida, area. www.TheHealthLawFirm.com The Health Law Firm, 1101 Douglas Avenue, Suite 1000, Altamonte Springs, FL 32714, Phone: (407) 331-6620 or Toll-Free: (888) 331-6620
“The Health Law Firm” is a registered fictitious business name of and a registered service mark of The Health Law Firm, P.A., a Florida professional service corporation, since 1999.
Copyright © 2026, George F. Indest III, The Health Law Firm. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form in any medium without the express written permission of the copyright holder. The copyright holder reserves the exclusive right to have his name associated with this work.
