TV sex coach Mike Lousada is allowed to “harm another person” while Britain’s broken system allows numerous therapists to work unhindered

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A A woman who claims she was raped by her sex counsellor says her eight-year fight for justice has exposed loopholes in Britain’s “broken” system and raised fears that rogue therapists are operating unhindered.

Ella Janneh was awarded more than £200,000 in damages on Wednesday after filing a civil lawsuit alleging that sex coach Mike Lousada raped and sexually assaulted her during a therapy session in 2016.

A court found that he had reduced 37-year-old Ms Janneh to a childlike state, triggering a panic attack, before penetrating her and performing several sexual acts to which she could not consent.

Now forced to take her case to the civil courts, Ms Janneh warned that the lack of current regulations left therapists with “unchecked power” and the potential to harm vulnerable people.

Ms Janneh said The Independent Her eight-year struggle was “brutal and all-consuming.”

“I can’t tell you how many hours, days and months of my life this has cost me,” she said. “That’s the better half of a decade. I’m just a regular person on the street, this didn’t have to be my life to hold a man accountable for this.”

“It doesn’t even stop him from continuing his practice, it doesn’t limit his freedom to harm another person – at every stage it is completely and simply broken.”

Lousada, who rose to fame in a book by feminist author Naomi Wolf, has been a celebrity sex coach for over a decade, appearing on national television, in press articles and in a series of Durex videos.

Ms Janneh contacted him in 2016 seeking help for panic attacks she was experiencing during sex as a result of sexual abuse as a child. She had already had two sessions with him in 2011 and 2012, during which no sexual intercourse took place.

According to her testimony, his website “looked really serious and professional, like he was the leading therapist in his field.”

There was no indication on his website that penetration was part of his therapy plans; he practices “psychosexual somatic therapy.”

However, Lousada told the courts that his practice also included “therapeutically assisted orgasms and intervaginal massages, or full sexual surrogacy.”

During the assault, he allegedly told Ms Janneh: “You have a problem with penetration, so I think we should use my penis forcefully to absorb the trauma. The glans can act like a laser beam and burn the trauma. Send me the trauma.”

A testimony from Lousada’s ex-wife states that he learned the “technique” of penetration from a tantric guru named Shantam Nityama just two weeks before his session with Ella.

Although Lousada lost the civil case, he is not prevented from continuing his practice, even though he claims he has not treated anyone since the lawsuit was filed.

While impersonating a doctor can result in jail time, the terms “therapist” and “counselor” are not protected terms and anyone can use them. There are no requirements for private therapists to be regulated by an official body.

In a 2019 podcast, he talks about ambitions to work with the NHS, although it is not clear whether he ever did so.

Lousada attempted to establish his own professional association, the Association of Somatic and Integrative Sexologists, to create ethical codes for his field of work.

However, Tuesday’s ruling found that Lousada had not even complied with those codes and had also left the organization following the incident with Ms Janneh.

Documents presented to the court reveal that NHS staff who treated Ella at the referral clinic for victims of sexual assault had serious concerns about Lousada’s method of using sex as therapy.

An email said: “While the Trust would normally pursue these concerns through security and regulatory channels, the alleged events occurred outside the Trust’s jurisdiction and apparently without an appropriate regulatory framework.”

In another letter, they wrote: “I know it is notoriously difficult to bring a rape claim to court, but there is so much here that speaks to unprofessional and harmful practices that need to be challenged in the public interest. I guess I’m just concerned that this will be lost if the focus is too narrowly on the rape claim.”

Catriona Ruebens, the lawyer for Leigh Day, who represented Ella, warned after the verdict was announced on Monday that the lack of regulation could lead to even more dubious therapists.

“There’s nothing to stop that. A lot of therapists, by the nature of things, go into therapy when they’re feeling vulnerable,” she said. “Currently in the UK there’s no regulation at all. Unless a therapist registers with an organisation, there’s nothing stopping them from having shiny, impressive websites that say they’re trauma-informed therapists. There’s no protection for what they mean and I don’t think the public realise there’s no regulation.”

According to Ms Rueben, a first protective measure could be that coercion in the context of therapy becomes a criminal offense, according to the amendment to the law.

In May 2018, prosecutors informed Ms. Janneh that they would not seek a criminal conviction, forcing her to proceed to her civil trial. To succeed in a civil trial, you must meet a lower burden of proving that allegations are true under the “probability standard” than under the criminal standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

she said The Independent She also felt “completely mistreated” by the police when she first reported the incident.

“I think they only did the bare minimum in my case,” she said. “I didn’t feel like they took me seriously.”

“Nobody wants to expose their face to rape, nobody wants to say they digitally penetrated me and spat on me; nobody wants my sex life, my private life and my genitals to be discussed as a matter of course in several rooms full of people.

“But that’s exactly what was needed: to make myself a role model in order to be able to initiate a discussion about a justice system that doesn’t work.”

Of the CPS’s failure, she added: “How can you reconcile the fact that this man with the power and authority continues to have access to vulnerable people? When I left his clinic and wanted to die? How can you reconcile that?”

The CPS said: “Criminal and civil cases require different standards of proof. In criminal cases, we must prove beyond reasonable doubt that a person is guilty. After carefully reviewing the evidence in this case, we concluded that there was no realistic prospect of conviction – a decision later confirmed by two independent reviews.”

Following the court ruling, Lousada said in a statement: “I have told both the police and the court what happened that day and you will understand that I am very disappointed that my evidence was rejected.

“I no longer engage in this type of work and have not done so since the incident in question. I wanted to help Ms Janneh and never intended to harm her. I have always regretted the outcome and the impact on her and wish her well for the future.”

Rape Crisis provides support for victims of rape and sexual abuse. You can call them on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland and 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland or visit their website at www.rapecrisis.org.ukIf you are in the US, you can call Rainn at 800-656-HOPE (4673).