Female prison psychologist admits sexual relationship with a male prisoner – and you’ll never guess what happened to her job

• Prison psychologist engaged in ‘professional misconduct’
• Began sexual relationship with man jailed over aggravated burglary
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A female prison psychologist has admitted to being in a sexual relationship with a former inmate patient who was jailed over an aggravated burglary.

But despite having been found to have engaged in ‘professional misconduct’, Caroline Gorman is being allowed to keep seeing clients.

Ms Gorman started treating the prisoner in September 2018, assessing him at clinical sessions, including a violence risk assessment, and signing his psychological reports until November 2019 when he was moved to another jail.

The man was released in October 2020 and contacted Ms Gorman on Facebook the following month, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) heard. 

Within two months, in January 2021, they were in an ‘intimate and sexual relationship’, which continues to this day.

Prison psychologist Caroline Gorman (pictured) has admitted to being in a sexual relationship with a former male inmate patient who was jailed over an aggravated burglary

Though VCAT reprimanded Ms Gorman on Monday for her behaviour, it did not suspend her registration as a psychologist.

The Australian Psychological Society’s (APS) code of ethics says psychologists must not ‘engage in sexual activity with a former client … within two years after terminating the professional relationship with the former client’.

If a psychologist wants to have a sexual relationship with a former patient after two years, they must ‘explore with a senior psychologist the possibility that the former client may be vulnerable and at risk of exploitation’.

They must also ‘encourage the former client to seek independent counselling on the matter’, the APS ethics code says.

VCAT heard that Ms Gorman breach the code by engaging in the sexual relationship 14 months after last treating her patient and by also not taking the required steps before doing so.

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Ms Gorman admitted her conduct was ‘wrong’ and apologised, but said her clinical relationship with the prisoner was not an ‘extended or consistent one’. 

The tribunal was told that no ‘specific harm’ is alleged to have happened to the man since their sexual relationship started in January 2021.

The psychologist agreed not to repeat her error, said she would in future adhere to the APS Code of Ethics and submitted that ‘her error was a solitary lapse of judgment and out of character’.

In August 2021, the Psychology Board of Australia (PBA) imposed conditions on Ms Gorman’s registration, meaning she could only practice in places approved by the board.’

She also had to be supervised by a registered psychologist about ‘maintaining professional boundaries’. 

Ms Gorman followed the conditions – which she said helped her gain ‘substantial insight into her error’ – and they were removed from in March 2023.

The PBA said Ms Gorman should not only be reprimanded, but should be suspended for six months and then have further conditions imposed on her registration at the end of that period.

But VCAT ruled that suspending Ms Gorman’s registration or imposing new conditions were not necessary, despite there being a ‘power imbalance’ between her and her ex-prisoner partner.

‘It is not an equal relationship. Ms Gorman’s conduct was a boundary violation of a substantial nature, not a minor or moderate departure of standards,’ tribunal members Judge Caitlin English, Marian Power and Carolyn Manning said.

‘It is a clear violation of the APS code of ethics.’

Ms Gorman started treating the prisoner in September 2018, assessing him at clinical sessions, including a violence risk assessment. A man’s arms are pictured poking through jail cell bars

‘It is not in the public interest to suspend Ms Gorman’s registration as it will be disruptive to her patients and not in keeping with the facilitation of access to services, particularly at a time when demand for services is high and the availability and access is low,’ they added.

The decision also referred to ‘the high degree of insight shown, and rehabilitation undertaken, by Ms Gorman’. 

The tribunal heard the psychologist and her partner are in a ‘stable, happy and long-term relationship’ and ‘no harm was done to (her partner) because of her relationship with him’.

Ms Gorman now works for Succoris Psychology in Sunbury, where she ‘focuses on supporting her clients to achieve their goals through a range of therapeutic approaches’.

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