Q: How do I report a therapist in California?
A: To the board that licensed them, and it costs nothing. The Board of Behavioral Sciences handles marriage and family therapists, clinical social workers, professional clinical counselors, educational psychologists and their registered associates;¹ the Board of Psychology handles psychologists; the Medical Board handles psychiatrists. The board's stated mandate is worth knowing before you write: "Protection of the public shall be the highest priority… Whenever the protection of the public is inconsistent with other interests sought to be promoted, the protection of the public shall be paramount."²
Anyone can file, and it is free. The board says a complaint "should be filed by anyone who believes that a licensee, registrant or applicant has engaged in unprofessional conduct," and that it "will review each complaint regardless of the source."³ Filing costs nothing and can be done online, by mail, by phone or by email.³ Anonymous complaints are reviewed but "may be impossible to pursue unless they contain documented evidence."³ Same for third-party complaints: because each client has a right to confidentiality, the board may be unable to investigate unless the people involved will authorise release of information.³
The form that actually starts the clock. This is the detail nobody explains. The limitations period runs from when the board "discovers" the conduct — and the statute defines that as the latest of the date it received your complaint, the date it learned of additional acts, or the date it receives from you a written release of information about your diagnosis and treatment.⁴ If you file and never return the release, the case may not move. Send it.
The deadlines. An accusation must be filed within three years from the date the board discovers the act, or within seven years from when it happened, whichever comes first.⁴ For sexual misconduct the outer limit is ten years rather than seven.⁴ Where a minor was involved, both outer limits are tolled until they turn 18.⁴ A licence obtained by fraud has no time limit at all.⁴ The Board of Psychology and the Medical Board use the same three-and-seven, three-and-ten structure.⁵ The board's own advice is to report "as soon as possible in order for the board to take appropriate action within the statute of limitations."⁶
What counts. The unprofessional conduct list is long, but the entries consumers recognise include gross negligence or incompetence; "intentionally or recklessly causing physical or emotional harm to any client"; sexual relations with a client, or with a former client within two years of ending therapy; practising beyond the scope of one's competence; and failing to disclose the fee, or the basis for computing it, before treatment begins.⁷
Sexual contact with a client is a separate thing, in three ways at once. It is a crime — sexual exploitation by a psychotherapist — and consent is expressly not a defence.⁸ It carries mandatory revocation for a Board of Behavioral Sciences licensee, and the statute says that revocation "shall not be stayed."⁹ And it supports a civil claim for damages where the contact happened during therapy, within two years of termination, or through "therapeutic deception" — a representation that sexual contact is part of treatment.¹⁰ In such a case your sexual history is protected from discovery except in two narrow situations.¹⁰ There is also a duty on any therapist who learns from a client that a previous therapist was sexually involved with them: they must give the client the state's brochure on rights and remedies, and discuss it — and failing to is itself unprofessional conduct.¹¹
What a board cannot do. It cannot award you damages or order a refund; it disciplines licences. It also is not your lawyer — in a disciplinary case the board's executive officer is the complainant and a deputy attorney general represents the board, with you as a witness.¹² A civil case does not block a complaint: you may file "at any time, whether the case is ongoing or concluded," and "a civil settlement cannot preclude you from filing a complaint."⁶ For a billing dispute, the licensing board is the wrong door — and note separately that a therapist may not withhold your records over an unpaid bill. How to get your records →
Do this: write it down while you remember it — dates, what was said, what was done, who else knew. File online through the board's system or on its complaint form, attach anything documentary, and return the release of information, because that is what starts the clock. Once you have filed, the board recommends not contacting the therapist, and telling the board right away if they contact you.⁶ If what happened may be a crime, that is a separate report to law enforcement, and you can do both.
Most therapists never come near any of this. But a licence is a public trust, and the complaint route exists precisely so that deciding whether something crossed a line is not left to the person it happened to.
Sources
- Business & Professions Code §4990.12 — the Board of Behavioral Sciences administers and enforces the chapters covering marriage and family therapists, educational psychologists, clinical social workers and professional clinical counselors — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Registered associates are covered as well.
- Business & Professions Code §4990.16.
- California Board of Behavioral Sciences, consumer complaints — who may file, review "regardless of the source," the limits on anonymous and third-party complaints, and how to file — bbs.ca.gov. Complaint form: bbs.ca.gov. Filing is free.
- Business & Professions Code §4990.32 — (a) three years from discovery or seven years from the act, whichever first; (d) ten years for sexual misconduct; (b) no limit where a licence was procured by fraud; (e) tolling where a minor was involved; (f) tolling during an ongoing criminal investigation; (g)(3) "discovers" includes "the date the board receives from the complainant a written release of information pertaining to the complainant's diagnosis and treatment" — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
- Business & Professions Code §2960.05 (psychologists) and §2230.5 (physicians and surgeons, including psychiatrists), which uses the same structure and adds that the limit does not apply to incompetence or gross negligence that the licensee intentionally concealed.
- California Board of Behavioral Sciences and Department of Consumer Affairs, Therapy Never Includes Sexual Behavior — the advice to report promptly, that filing is free, that a civil settlement cannot preclude a complaint, and the recommendation not to contact the therapist after filing — dca.ca.gov.
- Business & Professions Code §4982 — unprofessional conduct for marriage and family therapists, including (d) gross negligence or incompetence, (i) intentionally or recklessly causing physical or emotional harm to a client, (k) sexual relations with a client or a former client within two years of termination, (l) practising beyond one's scope of competence, and (n) failing to disclose the fee or the basis for computing it before treatment begins — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Parallel provisions exist for clinical social workers and professional clinical counselors.
- Business & Professions Code §729 — sexual exploitation by a physician, psychotherapist or specified counselor is a public offence, with penalties escalating by number of acts and victims, and "in no instance shall consent of the patient or client be a defense" — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
- Business & Professions Code §4990.40 — the board "shall revoke" a licence or registration on a finding of sexual contact with a patient, or with a former patient where the relationship was ended primarily to engage in it, and "the revocation shall not be stayed."
- Civil Code §43.93(b)–(d) — the cause of action for sexual contact during therapy, within two years of termination, or by therapeutic deception; the definition of therapeutic deception; the rule that contact occurring off the premises or outside a session is no defence; and the limits on discovery of the plaintiff's sexual history — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. The section itself contains no limitations period; which one applies depends on the facts, and that is a question for a lawyer.
- Business & Professions Code §728 and §337 — the duty to provide and discuss the brochure, that failing to do so is unprofessional conduct, and the requirement that the boards prepare it and give it to anyone contacting them about psychotherapist–client sexual behaviour.
- California Board of Behavioral Sciences sunset review report, 2025 — in a disciplinary pleading "the Executive Officer is the complainant" and a deputy attorney general represents the board.
All sections read 18 August 2026. This page describes the process; it is not legal advice, and nothing here is a substitute for talking to a lawyer about your own situation.