Prosecuting The Victim, Gender Biases, and The Psychological Impact of Injustice

Introduction

The events described in this story began on October 1, 2004. It is true that I am writing this in late 2024. I recently applied for a job in the mental health field. I previously had been working for Freedom House Recovery Center on the Mobile Crisis Unit and before that at Cottage Health Care Services. In the latter position, I worked one on one with a small number of clients of various ages, men and women.  

So, between early 2022 and into mid-2024, I thought that the trauma and victimization that I endured were in the past.  

At the Mobile Crisis Unit, I worked with everyone from children to older adults. I served several hundred individuals spread out over many counties in North Carolina. I had been able to put behind me the horrifying events that occurred beginning on October 1, 2004, and continuing for the next few years.  

I fully embraced my role at Cottage Health Care Services, in 2022, and then at Freedom House Recovery Center on the Mobile Crisis Unit from mid-2022 until 2024. I fully embraced the truth that I am a gentle, caring, compassionate and empathic person. For over two years, I felt like I could leave everything behind.  

Obviously, clients and their families must trust me. That includes people who have been harmed or traumatized., themselves. I embraced the truth that there was no reason not to trust me... and I embraced the truth that everyone is safe when they are with me.   

For a time, I didn't second-guess whether anyone could trust me. I fully embraced the truth that I am gentle, non-violent, caring, empathic, compassionate and caring.  

Contrary to what the perpetrator alleged back in 2004; I knew the truth about who I am.  

Then there were cutbacks on the Mobile Crisis Unit and so they had to make some cutbacks. I was out of a job and had to spend months finding another job. My passion is working in the mental health field and helping others who deal with psychological and emotional issues.  

One of the reasons that I would NEVER harm anyone was because I had seen how it affects people.  

As I was saying, after the cutbacks at Freedom House Recovery Center, I spent several months looking for work until I was given a job offer with a different company in the mental health field. The job offer was contingent upon a background check. The new employer had to check with their legal department to find out if there was any problem hiring me based on the "serious" nature of the charges.  

I had told them what they would find on a background check. I pointed them to content on the web that tells my side of the story. I included a letter from the Orange County Rape Crisis Center (OCRCC), asking an employer to overlook what may show up on a background check.  

I had noticed that the original charges showed up on a background check and not just the actual conviction. Since the perpetrator who harmed me made a false accusation with a sexual component, I had hoped that the letter from the Rape Crisis Center asking that they overlook what may show up on a background check, I thought that coming from this agency on their own letterhead would carry a great deal of weight. The OCRCC would not want someone who would harm others to be working with vulnerable people. 

The letter from OCRCC also addressed gender biases in terms of who can be a victim. Even if it is most likely the woman who is a victim that doesn't rule out the chance that a male person can be a victim of a woman. 

I was told by my new employer that because of the serious nature of the charges they wanted me to work on a different unit where I would be more closely overseen. It was so disturbing to realize that the injustice or reversal of justice was affecting me again. 

This is a true story about a victim and a perpetrator with a twist. Back on October 1, 2004, I was the victim of a brutal and bloody assault, and I had done nothing wrong. This is not a whodunnit. The police didn't have to go looking for who victimized me. No one had to wonder about the parties involved.