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Early life and childhood
Bernadine Fox’s life began in the vast openness of Alberta’s bald flat prairie, a place known for its wild beauty and expansive skies, but for her, it was a place of darkness. Her childhood was marked by unspeakable abuse and exploitation at the hands of people she was supposed to trust. For years, she carried those early traumas in silence, turning inward, finding strength where most would find only despair. But trauma, especially from childhood, doesn’t vanish with age. It shapes how you see the world, how you navigate relationships and how you protect yourself. For Bernadine, it created a quiet strength and a will to survive.
Trusting the therapist
But even with that strength, surviving childhood trauma is not the same as healing from it. Healing, she learned, would take years of reckoning with layers of pain, anger and trust issues that had been forged in those early years. As she began to explore mental health therapy to confront her trauma, she put her faith in the hands of a therapist, who seemed to represent everything Bernadine needed: a guide, a safe place, an ally.
Her therapist was reputable with a sterling reputation, highly respected in the mental health community as a leader in addressing trauma and abuse. She provided hope. She had impressive credentials and accolades. To Bernadine, it felt as if she had found a healer who understood her pain, someone who could help her navigate the shadows and finally emerge. But her therapist, Pam, was hiding something beneath her polished exterior—a dark agenda that would exploit Bernadine’s trust and vulnerability.
Betrayal and manipulation
Over time, Pam shifted from a trusted therapist to a figure of manipulation and abuse. Under the guise of ‘therapy,’ her behavior became more invasive, leading to inappropriate and ultimately exploitative actions. What Bernadine thought was a therapeutic relationship was slowly dismantled by Pam’s harmful motives, which were aimed at satisfying her own needs rather than helping her client heal. The lines blurred until Bernadine felt trapped, manipulated into believing she was complicit in the very actions that were causing her harm. Pam’s tactics were classic, grooming Bernadine under the guise of a unique, ‘special’ relationship. The emotional hold Pam wielded over her was overwhelming, making it nearly impossible for Bernadine to see the situation for what it was—abuse.
Breaking free and starting to heal
Eventually, Bernadine found a way to break free, but the damage had been done. Her trust was shattered and the trauma of being abused by someone she trusted and who was meant to heal left her questioning everything she thought she knew about recovery, mental health and trust. She lost her therapist, but she also lost a piece of herself in that process, left to rebuild yet again, this time with fewer illusions about the safeguards in place to protect vulnerable clients.
Writing Coming to Voice: Surviving an Abusive Therapist
Writing became a tool of survival and clarity. Her book, Coming to Voice: Surviving an Abusive Therapist seeks to make sense of the betrayals she had endured and witnessed. Writing in the third person, she found a voice that was safe enough to explore the depth of her pain. In crafting her story, Bernadine was able to examine her experiences and begin to process them. This memoir was a bold claim of ownership over her own life story and an invitation for others to break their silence.
Advocating for survivors of therapy abuse
With her book, Bernadine wanted to provide hope and insight for others who had suffered in similar ways. Her book serves as a guide, shedding light on what therapy abuse looks like, how it manifests and the damage it causes. She wanted readers to understand the power dynamics in therapeutic relationships, especially the potential dangers when that trust is misused. And for those who might feel isolated by their experiences, her book is a reminder that they are not alone and that their stories matter.
With the book completed, Bernadine’s journey took on a new dimension. She began advocating for survivors of therapy abuse, channeling her pain and insights into helping others navigate their own recoveries. Partnering with Therapy Exploitation Link Line (TELL), Bernadine works tirelessly to support others who have experienced similar betrayals. Through this organization, her advocacy is about speaking out and creating a community for survivors, offering them resources, connection and a platform to share their stories without fear or shame.
Addressing misconceptions and PTSD education
Bernadine’s work with TELL also allows her to address one of the greatest misunderstandings around trauma and PTSD: the idea that it’s linear or easily overcome. For most, PTSD is not a ‘fixable’ issue but a complex, chronic reality that resurfaces throughout life. With years of managing her own PTSD, Bernadine knows firsthand that the healing process is anything but straightforward. Society’s misconceptions often worsen the experience, suggesting that trauma is a weakness or something that should be easily resolved with the right therapy. Bernadine challenges these ideas, reminding others that healing is nonlinear and deeply personal, with setbacks and successes that shape, rather than define, the survivor.
Creating awareness and empowering survivors
Advocacy, for her, is both a mission and a way to continue her own recovery. She believes that society must do more to recognize the dangers of therapy abuse, educate therapists on the consequences of boundary violations, and, perhaps most importantly, empower survivors to trust themselves. As a culture, she argues, we need to move away from pathologizing survival responses like PTSD and dissociative identities, instead seeing them as coping mechanisms—extraordinary tools the brain uses to protect itself in the face of overwhelming trauma.
Bernadine is an author, artist, radio host, mental health advocate and public speaker who lives in Vancouver, Canada.
Tune in to listen to Bernadine on her syndicated radio program on mental health: ReThreading Madness
Visit her websites: Coming to Voice and bernadinefox.ca
Visit Therapy Exploitation Link Line (TELL) website for more information about this support network.
Supporting healing in others
Bernadine’s advocacy is grounded in the idea that trauma survivors should have ownership over their stories. She wants to see a world where mental health is approached with empathy, education and understanding and where survivors of abuse within the therapy system are not blamed, ignored or further traumatized. Her work with TELL allows her to offer direct support to other survivors, while her book and public speaking spread awareness on a larger scale. Ultimately, Bernadine has found her voice, and through her work, she helps others find theirs, proving that no matter how painful the journey, healing and hope are always within reach.
Mental Health
Bernadine’s mental health journey is a complex story of survival, strength and transformation. Living with the profound effects of complex PTSD from childhood until the early 90’s, she has grappled with dissociative identities—a coping mechanism that became a defining part of her life. Her relationship with silence has been fraught. Once a suffocating reminder of past abuse, silence still haunts her, making noise an essential comfort to ward off nightmares. Anger, however, has become a powerful ally. Often seen as a burden, she has instead harnessed it as a driving force, fueling her advocacy and propelling her forward in the face of injustice. With unique healing practices and creative expression, Bernadine has rewritten her story, emerging as a formidable advocate for mental health awareness and justice for survivors of therapy abuse.
Mental health challenges, like any form of disability, deserve understanding, dignity and respect. Just as we accommodate physical disabilities, we must recognize that mental health conditions require support and empathy, not stigma. Whether visible or invisible, disabilities shape lives in ways that call for societal change, acceptance and genuine inclusivity. True progress comes when we embrace mental health struggles as part of the human experience and commit to creating a world where everyone, regardless of their challenges, can find support, safety, and a sense of belonging.