“Therapist” Paul Fischer Pleads Guilty to Assaulting Patient, Agrees to Stop Pretending He’s a Therapist

See also: Therapist Paul Fischer’s Counseling Session Included Slapping a Woman
See also: Paul Fischer Case Has More Details

“Therapist” Paul Fischer — the non-licensed therapist “family and marriage counselor” who assaulted a woman in the middle of a counseling session earlier this year — accepted a plea agreement in Phoenix Municipal Court last week.

Fischer was arrested in February after being accused by a woman of pulling her hair, slapping her in the face a bit, and eventually “forc[ing] his fingers down her throat” in the middle of a counseling session at his Phoenix office.

According to Fischer’s plea agreement, his 27-day jail sentence is suspended, he has to be screened for a possible counseling program, and he’s not allowed to “practice psychotherapy counseling of any kind in any manner without a valid license to do so.”

He does not have a valid license to do so, which makes it sound like he’ll have to stop doing counseling out of his office, and possibly at a local non-profit recovery facility we’re told he works at.

According to a report from the Phoenix Police Department, Fischer “admitted he was aggressive” with the victim, but said no assault occurred.

A recorded phone call between Fischer and the woman told a different story (more from the conversation can be found here):

Woman: You told me you wouldn’t harm me in your office.

Fischer: That’s true

Woman: You don’t think slapping is harming?

Fischer: OK, I was wrong.. Please give me an opportunity to make amends to you. I pushed it to[o] far.

Once officers came into the interview room to take Fischer to jail, he told police “my life is over” and “I fucked up,” according to the police report.

Fischer is not a licensed psychologist, behavioral analyst, social worker, counselor, substance-abuse professional, or marriage and family therapist, according to state records.

His plea includes one year of probation.