Best counselor ever. Helped me get out of abusive relationship & become more evolved, healthy person. Highly recommend!

by JetCityMama xxx.xxx.248.18

June 30, 2022

Mental Health Counselor Douglas Bartholomew Stripped of Domestic Violence Cases
By Nina Shapiro Wed., Mar 6 2013 at 12:00AM

Last January, we wrote about the anti-male bias many people perceive in family court. Part of the story dealt with a veteran mental health counselor named Douglas Bartholomew, who provided a damning court-ordered assessment of a man accused of abusing his wife--an assessment one judge said was the worst he had seen in his 22 years on the bench.

Thanks to a Department of Health action just made public, Bartholomew will no longer conduct such assessments in domestic violence cases, once a mainstay of his practice. The assessments are key to family court cases because they often determine whether someone (usually a man) accused of domestic violence can see his children and under what conditions. And as we we reported last year, allegations of abuse are common, and sometimes used strategically, in contentious divorce cases.

The case that led to a DOH investigation concerned a man dubbed in our story as "Richard." In his report, Bartholomew said that he couldn't determine whether Richard had assaulted his wife. Yet the counselor described the man, a successful engineer, as suffering from a variety of obscure-sounding psychological problems, including an inability to describe himself and his son in an "I-Thou manner." Bartholomew judged that the man posed "some risk of further psychological abuse" and recommended he go through a domestic violence treatment program.

Last fall, the DOH released a statement of allegations against Bartholomew that called the counselors assessment "unprofessional and biased." For one thing, the counselor had opined that the abuse allegations made against Richard were merely the "tip of the iceberg" without any "supporting evidence," according to the DOH statement.

The DOH statement also noted that the counselor spent much more time interviewing Richard than his wife, something that you might suppose would lead to a favorable outcome for Richard. But the husband's point of view did not exactly come across in Bartholomew's report, in part because the counselor misquoted Richard, according to the statement. Richard described his wife as exhibiting various controlling behaviors, but in Bartholomew's assessment, the behaviors were mysteriously attributed to Richard.

Bartholomew has not admitted any of the allegations. But he has agreed to something called a "stipulation of informal disposition," which was made public by the DOH last week. That stipulation is responsible for stripping Bartholomew of domestic violence cases, meaning he can neither write assessments for the court nor testify as an expert witness. Bartholomew can continue to practice as a counselor, but he must be monitored for at least two years, according to the stipulation. He is also obligated to refund Bartholomew the money he charged Richard when assessing him.

Bartholomew has not yet responded to a request for comment. But in an interview last year, he painted himself as a victim of a "homegrown hate group of men ...whose stated intention is to destroy the [domestic-violence] intervention system."

As for Richard, he declares himself pleased by the result. "I wasn't expecting this level of severity," he says, adding that he hopes counselors will get the message that there can be consequences for falsely portraying men as abusers.

by Doug Barf-all-over-you xxx.xxx.130.157

July 06, 2014

> Report this review

Was this provider late to your appointments?

Sometimes, it was a little frustrating

Was this provider's staff friendly?

No, they were rude

Did this therapist help you better understand your partners point of view?

Absolutely not, we still fight like cats and dogs

Is this provider willing to pursue advice from other providers when necessary?

Not at all. They were too arrogant to ask for any assistance, even though they knew it would help

Did this therapist seem interested in helping you solve your problems?

No, they actually seemed annoyed

by Anonymous xxx.xxx.171.202

December 25, 2013

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Avoid this provider at all costs! In 2007 during a divorce dispute this provider labeled a loving father a "habitual offender". Due to this, a no contact order was issued and the father was not allowed to see his son for 6 months. The child's mother was awarded temporary sole custody due to this providers assessment. Bartholomew never even interviewed the woman or the child and disregarded all outside testimony regarding the mothers abilities as a parent and the statements of the parties said to be victims of the fictitious abuse completely contradicting the allegations. The 15 year old child was often left alone for days at a time and when the mother was home the environment was violent. The child was skipping school, smoking pot and drinking, this was the environment Doug Bartholomew thought was a "safe place" for the child. At the end of the divorce, the mother awarded full custody of the child to the father and dropped all futher proceedings. Luckily, with love and support the child, now a man, was able to cease the previous behavior and has really made something of himself, however still harbors great resentment towards this provider and he was not consulted about any alleged abuse. This man should not be practicing!!!

by Disappointed in system xxx.xxx.49.20

July 29, 2013

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Caution: Doug has a many year history of complete anti-male anti-father BIAS . Avoid hiring him like the plague.
http://www.seattleweekly.com/news/942439-129/lawcourts
PHD level GAL in my divorce said he was "Nice."
At which point you how the GAL is going come out as custody and parenting plan.
wish I knew
can't do DV work now. Owes $69,000 for professional misconduct and an extra $5000 fine
and refund of his $2900 fees.
http://superiorcourtjudgesassociation.com/?p=386#comment-181

Doug Bartholomew petitioned for protection under Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. According to the documents it appears that he did this to evade accountability from the Washington State Department of Health and is using the legal system to “RE-VICTIMIZE”.
As part of the stipulated agreement with DOH Bartholomew agreed to a $5000 professional fine (to be paid over several years) refund of his professional services fee to the victim in the amount of $2900, and restitution to the victim for the defense of the professional misconduct- a STAGGERING AMOUNT OF $69,000!!!!
But as a expected tactic of avoiding accountability Bartholomew has filed BK, “always the abuser and always somebody else’s fault” I have not been able to find one single instance where Doug Bartholomew accepted personal or professional accountability for his actions, if you know of one please let me know I will post it upon receipt.
Here are his recent BK filings and also those from 2002 and 2003 (yes he is a habitual filer, but within his constitutional rights however)

by Anonymous xxx.xxx.255.42

May 05, 2013

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