I think I have made a gross error and wondering what to do now. As a psychotherapist and life coach I saw a patient for a brief time and his mom felt that he needed a male therapist. I agreed and made a referral. Mom asked about coaching for self. I did coaching on and off for 2 yrs. Recently this client asked me to help start a teen program. I informed client that I had a youth program that I was starting and after much discussion she stated that she would be interested in coordinating the program. I struggled with this, and we discussed this dual relationship at length. Since this was a different program from my coaching and psychotherapy I was very explicit about the access to records, confidentiality etc. I removed all records of persons that this client may know as well as her son's records. She had absolutely no access to any of this confidential information.
The program she would be coordinating has nothing to do with psychotherapy or coaching. Now the mess... After 4 weeks of trying set up meetings and unreturned phone calls regarding the program I asked this individual to please collect her belongings and return her keys. I needed to maintain service to the contractor and clients and this individual had not made any contact with clients for over a month. I hired a new staff member through ads in various publications. Well - this former worker becomes enraged because she finds out about the new worker who is the sister of the girlfriend of the half brother of her significant other! Evidently the SO and half brother are at odds. So now the SO has sent me a vile email accusing me of all sorts of things and states that she has made a complaint with the licensing
board. I am a wreck. I know that I made an error by hiring this former coaching client as an independent contractor for the youth program. I have terminated the new worker- who was totally understanding etc. This Significant Other also called social services on the new worker and reported that she was working while receiving public assistance. This was her very first day! I don't know what to do next. Any suggestions?