Sutter Says:
That he is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC)
under the "Ohio Revised Code" and qualified to handle:
"Crisis Intervention, Rape Crisis, Domestic Violence, Sexual Abuse, Stress & Anger Management, Suicide/Homicide Intervention, Substance Abuse, PTSD, Depression, Anxiety, Rational Emotive Therapy, Innovative Solution Management, Effective Communications, Clinical Counseling."
A snapshot from Sutter's solicitation:
Another claim to being an LPCC (in addition to many other false accreditations)
can be found
here.
On his "Just the Facts" page, Sutter claims to have received "CEs and certifications in Crisis Intervention, Domestic Violence, Suicide Prevention, and Hostage Negotiation." He also boasts of having "a PhD in Trauma Psychology."
The Truth:
The Ohio State License Center has no record, either active or
expired for Jim Sutter. Neither does he meet the official requirements for
the specialties that he is claiming (source).
Neither is there any record of Sutter having a PhD in Trauma Psychology, which
would be quite a trick given that he has no undergraduate degree.
By his own admission in 2007, Sutter was pretending to be a licensed counselor with a PhD in Trauma Psychology when working with the Free Clinic of Cleveland, Ohio. A local newspaper called the Cleveland Scene confirms that he was indeed associated with the organization's suicide intervention program, called the Together Hotline (8-3-2000).
Since the work that an accredited person would be doing is literally a matter of life and death, the LPCC is not a simple license, and the State of Ohio sets the qualification bar quite high. Candidates for the LPCC must have a very specific graduate degree in counseling and at least 3000 registered hours of supervised experience (source).
As can be seen in the image posted on his personal website, Sutter actively advertised his false credentials in an effort to solicit customers suffering from rape trauma and severe depression, including the suicidal. Not only does it take a certain sort of sickness to exploit such victims, but even the unintentional damage that an unqualified individual can do to someone in the most vulnerable of conditions is staggering.
It is difficult to fathom the depravity of such an individual, much less put into words just how serious a matter this is. What sort of pervert must a person be to trick rape victims into telling him their stories? One can only hope that exposing Sutter in this way will prevent him from abusing others.
[Update: Despite the fact that Mr. Sutter is falsely advertising himself as a qualified counselor, we have been unsuccessful in getting the State of Ohio's Counselor, Social Worker and Marriage & Family Therapist Board to take action to protect the citizens of the state from this dangerous man.]
