Complaint about disclosure of personal and confidential information by Melanie S. Reynolds

Also known as Melanie S. Shaver and Melanie S. Reynolds Shaver. Melanie is employed by Mindpath at their Cary NC office. She is also a member of the NASW.

I was a client of Melanie between early 2016 until late 2018 when we parted ways. I saw Melanie for a couple of sessions in October 2021.

On Saturday April 23rd 2022 at around 12:15 PM I was turning left from Holly Springs Road Apex, NC 27539 onto 1010 Road and driving in the right lane to enter the shop’s parking lot. My car window was open. As I drove in the lane, I heard someone shout out ‘MELANIE’. I looked to my left and saw a man driving a white midsize SUV looking at me through his open window. The SUV then drove off when the lights changed and turned right down Holly Springs Road. I was shocked and I only know one Melanie, and that is Melanie Reynolds, my ex-therapist. Melanie and I had no contact since October 2021. I parked my car and sat for a while, shocked by what had happened. It disturbed and upset me immensely. After a while, I completed the planned shopping and drove home nervously, looking all the time for the SUV. When I got home, I looked at the footage from my two front facing cameras but they didn’t show the SUV as it was parallel to me when the man shouted at me. I emailed Melanie asking if she was on 1010 Road at the time, and she replied with “We don’t live near and don’t really travel on Ten Ten Rd so I wouldn’t think it is us. 

Can you provide some more detail about what you are asking for or wanting to know about?”

I replied with more details as to what had happened and Melanie replied with “My husband does not own a white SUV and he was at work on Saturday. I don’t believe this could have been him, and I was at home while our daughter napped at that time, so it wasn’t me. I did not and would not point out or tell my husband about you or any other client. 

I’m not sure what to say about all of this because it doesn’t make much sense to me. I can assure you that it was neither my partner nor I.”

Melanie’s husband drove a white SUV, I have seen Melanie driving it in the past. I firmly believe that the response is a lie. Melanie also wrote “I’m so sorry that this happened and I hope you know that I would not do something like this.” Melanie acknowledges here that it did happen to me, but denies it was her.

I know exactly what I heard and saw. I firmly believe that Melanie and her husband were in the white SUV and Melanie pointed me out to her husband. Her husband must know some personal details about me in order to shout at me. Melanie’s husband now knows at the very least what I look like, what vehicle I drive and where I frequent. It is inconceivable that Melanie points out past and present clients to her husband who then shouts at them. I looked at Melanie’s Facebook page and the picture of her husband posted there was strikingly similar to the driver of the SUV. 

I emailed Melanie saying that I really needed closure and wrote “Once I get closure, I am willing to forgive and forget and move on with my life and recovery, and will not take any action.”

Melanie did not reply or take me up on my offer to forgive and forget if I had closure. I found Melanie’s address from public records online and looked at the address in Google Maps Street View and outside of her house there is a parked white SUV with the tailgate open and someone walking up the front yard to the house. This reinforced my opinion that Melanie was lying to me and was in the white SUV with her husband when he shouted at me. 

I sent the portion of the car video to a sound engineer to clean up the sound recorded by eliminating road noise etc. When I got the cleaned version, I played it at max volume, and I could hear a man’s voice shouting out ‘MELANIE’. So I have the proof of ownership of a white SUV and a sound recording of the shout.

I have attached the image of Melanie’s house showing the white SUV with the back open and someone walking from the vehicle to the house. I have also attached a small movie file with the sound enhanced. If you turn the volume up, you can hear a man shout out her name.

This incident has left me shaken and considerably worsened my diagnosed chronic PTSD and anxiety. I have lost all sense of safety. I have installed a security camera on the outside of my house because of this. I live with bouts of anxiety and hyper-vigilance. Leaving the house and driving anywhere is now difficult for me, I am always on alert for a repeat occurrence of the incident or something else happening. I am very concerned about what Melanie has shared about me with her husband and possibly others. Melanie could also be sharing other clients and ex-clients personal information with others. My PTSD and anxiety has been triggered by the doorbell ringing, cars driving slowly past my house, cars parking outside my house, alerts from the security system that there is a person or vehicle coming up the driveway. As you can imagine, my trust in therapists has been destroyed by the breach of confidentiality that is so vital in a therapy setting. My trust has been violated in the worst possible way. Because of the very much worsened PTSD and anxiety, I have had to seek therapy from someone who I hope to be able to trust. 

In conclusion, what Melanie and her husband did was unacceptable, damaging, reckless, immature and a serious breach of confidentiality.