The family of a Roanoke woman who died by suicide after engaging in a romantic relationship with her therapist is suing Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare for $10 million.
The civil lawsuit, filed in Roanoke County Circuit Court on Sept. 20, alleges the agency failed to sufficiently oversee the professionals charged with 30-year-old Amber Rose Nolan‘s care. It claims that the negligence of two doctors resulted in Nolan’s “premature death.”
Amber Nolan
“For reasons we don’t know, BRBH has not been served this lawsuit,” Chief Executive Officer Mark Chadwick said in an email Friday. “We will provide a response on Monday.”
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On Oct. 1, 2022, Botetourt County sheriff’s deputies found Nolan with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in the backyard of her Buchanan residence, which she had rented with plans to share with her former BRBH counselor, Erica Church, according to the lawsuit.
Nolan was transported to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where she died the next day, according to the lawsuit. The last text message she sent to Church read, “I can’t keep my promise. I can’t live with hurting you so deeply all of the time and I can’t live without you.” And Church texted back, “Stop it right now. I meant it — if you love me or ever loved me, you will keep your promise — how can you do this to me?” according to the lawsuit.
Nolan’s mother, Lynn Nolan, said Church was with her daughter the weekend that led up to the fatal incident.
Lynn Nolan wears a hoodie in memory of her daughter, Amber.
Luke Weir
Nolan had her first outpatient counseling appointment with Church, then a licensed professional counselor, in November 2019. Nolan had been diagnosed with “severe anxiety, major depressive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder,” according to the lawsuit.
During one of Nolan’s first counseling sessions, Church noted on a chart that Nolan had “indicated suicidal ideation and described an ‘apathy towards death,’” according to the lawsuit. “Notably, on the last page of the note, Ms. Nolan is listed as having no suicidal ideation.”
Nolan met with Church about five times a month for counseling through BRBH between November 2019 and April 2022, according to the lawsuit. During that time, Nolan got married, and disclosed to Church “her difficulties within this relationship and spoke about her fear of abandonment.”
Amber Nolan
Courtesy Lynn Nolan
In January 2020, the lawsuit continues, Church met with Nolan and Nolan’s wife “to facilitate a safety plan to address concerns with firearms within the home,” as “Ms. Nolan had expressed frequent suicidal ideations involving guns.”
But, the lawsuit claims, Church “never followed up on implementation of the safety plan,” even though the counselor was Facebook friends with Nolan, who posted photos on the social media platform “touting various guns, and at the shooting range.”
Ultimately, during the course of Nolan’s treatment, Church engaged in an affair with her patient, the lawsuit claims. The “inappropriate relationship” led Nolan to move into Church’s home and led to the initiation of divorce proceedings between Nolan and her wife.
Then, in April 2022, Nolan had her last counseling session with Church through BRBH.
“The notes from this visit show that Ms. Nolan communicated that she would like to work with a new therapist at another facility,” the lawsuit reads. “She further indicated that she had significant apprehension toward the staff at Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare.”
In May 2022, the lawsuit continues, Church left BRBH “due to chronic pain.” The following July, Nolan reached out to a friend requesting prescription pain pills for Church.
“Church used and took advantage of her patient, Ms. Nolan, to seek out illicit prescription drugs for her,” the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit also describes Nolan’s interactions with her psychiatrist at BRBH, Dr. Sarah Hazelwood. During a visit in December 2019, Hazelwood “documented that Ms. Nolan owned guns, had a suicidal intent with a plan to shoot herself, and that she had attempted suicide five years prior.”
But in the doctor’s assessment on the following page of the document, Hazelwood “listed Ms. Nolan as safe with having no suicidal intent,” according to the lawsuit. The psychiatrist advised Nolan to continue therapy with Church.
Nolan saw Hazelwood four other times and prescribed her multiple medications at various dosages until May 2020, when Nolan began to work “with other providers on medication management,” according to the lawsuit.
“For the entire duration of Ms. Nolan’s treatment with Blue Ridge and LPC Church that followed the last psychiatrist appointment with Dr. Hazelwood, Ms. Nolan’s mental health condition continued to deteriorate,” the lawsuit claims.
Nolan’s death occurred about six months after her last BRBH session with Church. Nine months later, in July 2023, the Virginia Board of Counseling revoked Church’s professional counselor license “as a result of these aforementioned violations,” according to the lawsuit.
Nolan’s mother said that in the two years between her daughter’s death and the filing of the lawsuit, she and attorneys have poured over state law and built Nolan’s case file.
State allegations: Roanoke counselor’s improper patient relationship led to suicide
“I did speak to an attorney right after I found out what had gone on and I had gotten a report from the Virginia Department of Health, who did the investigation,” she said. “I wanted her charged criminally. Somebody needs to be held accountable. My daughter’s life mattered.”
No criminal charges against counselor for inappropriate client relationship
Once Church no longer had a license, and once attorneys had all the documentation they needed, they filed last month’s lawsuit.
Nolan’s mother said she’s hoping the lawsuit will discourage the state board of counseling from giving a license back to Church.
“If three fourths of the board, or whatever, say, ‘Oh, yeah, well, she’s rehabilitated,’ or, ‘Now she’s safe,’ she could be working again,” she said. “Absolutely not. Over my dead body.”
The lawsuit lists Lauren Ellerman, the administrator of Nolan’s estate, as the plaintiff. She is represented by Richmond-based medical malpractice lawyers Brewster Rawls and Glen Sturtevant. Sturtevant is also a state senator.
Nolan’s mother, who lives in Wisconsin, said she needed someone in Virginia appointed as the administrator of her daughter’s estate in her absence. She said the lawsuit, which demands a jury trial, has been filed with her permission.
“It shouldn’t happen to anyone. It should never be swept under the rug,” she said. “Anyone can be a target for any counselor or provider that doesn’t have any efficacy or any moral compass, and I don’t think people see that. I know I didn’t. I had never thought… You know, I know things happen, but to the level… I never wanted to be part of this club.”
Amber Nolan
Courtesy Lynn Nolan
If someone is held accountable for Nolan’s death, “it’s not going to change what happened to her,” the mother said. But the family is hoping to develop a foundation in her name that would emotionally and financially support individuals facing mental health challenges.
“If you can take a positive out of what happened, her legacy won’t be just that she shot herself in the backyard,” she said.
Attempts to reach Church for comment in the past about the allegations were unsuccessful.
Emma Coleman
(540) 981-3198
emma.coleman@roanoke.com
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