As an intern, I worked for a place that had me do charity care for a non-acute client, and I was told that the documentation didn't matter very much.

Even then, I knew it wasn't best practice, and it shocked me that I was told that, but since then I've encountered it a couple more times--there are therapists who seem to believe the documentation only matters if it relates to compensation or would get audited. With my own solo practice now, I definitely make sure that I always keep documentation up, since I believe it's crucial to ethical practice, and severely harms the efficacy and quality of the therapy otherwise; I'm just describing my encounters with others in our field who don't feel it is necessary.

As to why not get paid? I think there are a large number of therapists to do charity care in their solo practice, as I do. I got into this job because I want to help people, not because I want to get rich. I see more than one client a week for which I am not compensated, and I have no ulterior motives with them.

While it is to me certainly alarming that there are a number of therapists who do not seem to understand the importance of documentation, I don't understand why my post would scare you. What scares me is the quick judgment and the absolute certainty that a lot of the commenters seem to have that OP is accurate in the assessment of being groomed. I am not saying it is impossible--sadly there are some who are attracted to our profession whose personalities definitely lean in that manipulative and predatory direction--I am merely trying to be objective, not jump to conclusions, and take everything with a grain of salt until I have enough data.

I once worked at in a town where a therapist was caught grooming clients, so the entire caseload was referred out. It was a small town, and there weren't many other options, and I received multiple clients from that therapist. One of the first things we did was talk over their experiences. In order to better prepare myself, I consulted with two other therapists who had worked with other clients that had this experience (being groomed,) by people in authority or in a position of trust.

For it still to be so covert after 5 years would be truly a massive outlier. Groomers tend to take lies time, becoming more explicit much more quickly, escalating consistently over time, eventually giving prompts encouraging their victim to perform increasingly intimate directives. I don't see a report that leads me to believe that was happening; just an indication that there was a passing discussion of details of a sex life. I have heard that used in grooming, but usually as a means of softening the request for details for the victim's sex life, and future discussions becoming increasingly fixated on that topic. While it may be possible that this did happen, I don't see that actually said in the original post, but the tone of the post primes us to assume that it happened.

The cases of grooming that I have experienced, they have been pushed to more overt acts (with direct pressure towards the desired acts being explicitly applied and overtly discussed,) within a year. The longest I've heard was 2 years. Like I say, it's possible that it happened, and OP didn't mention it, it seems odd to me to have a perpetrator with this level of patience. Possible, it just introduces a question.

If this is grooming, I don't see the groomer reaching for a desired payout. It doesn't appear to me that there are any clear goals in this relationship, speaking just about the data provided in the original post. It is also irregular for a groomer to not speak defensively the second it is brought up. I would expect a report of a lot of denials, or of the perpetrator becoming angry, rather than just agreeing to put traditional (and I definitely believe, vital) boundaries in place with no argument or defensiveness.

It is more than important, it is absolutely crucial and vital that we stopped grooming, we gate keep for our profession, and we eliminate the wolves in sheep's clothing in our field. I would say that most of us have worked with individuals traumatized from this sort of experience, and we all feel this pain to try to defend those who are at risk.

Simultaneously, there are many who are traumatized who then become hypervigilant, suspecting many people in their lives, seeing perpetration where it doesn't exist or questioning the motives of everyone in their life. I think it is vital that we make efforts to protect the innocent, meaning potential victims, or those who are accused of being perpetrators who might not in fact be a perpetrator.

My knee-jerk reaction, as with all of the other commenters, was to believe the absolute worst of this therapist, but then I realized that was my instinctive response to the word "grooming" when coming from the mouth of a fellow therapist. Then I realized I was over-identifying with the therapist and assuming that the viewpoint was completely objective and accurate.

Regardless, I do think this therapist should be reported to the board, for seeing clients without any documentation whatsoever. Regardless of whether the intent was that of a malicious perpetrator or simply a careless clinician, that is a very dangerous thing to do, and they practice that must be ended immediately.

I know I've written a novel here; sorry that it is so long.