Dr. Manuela Joannou is stepping down from her role as the medical director of a trauma program for veterans and first responders in eastern Ontario amid public anger over her decision to place a registered sex offender as a peer mentor for a group of sexual assault survivors.
Doctor apologises for allowing convicted sex offender to mentor sexual abuse survivors Newshub 4 hrs ago
Warning: This article discusses sexual assault.
A Canadian doctor running a military support group has apologised for violating the trust of sexual assault survivors by allowing a registered sex offender to a six-day women s retreat with them as a peer mentor.
Dr. Manuela Joannou is the leader of Project Trauma - a support group for military personnel and veterans struggling with PTSD.
In July 2018, Dr Joannou organised a six-day female retreat, and invited retired army major Jonathan Hamilton along as a mentor.
What she failed to disclose was that Hamilton had recently been convicted of two separate cases of sexual assault.
Doctor apologizes for allowing registered sex offenders to retreat sexual assault survivors
Now, the doctor in charge of Project Trauma Support says she regrets that she has decided to allow registered sex offenders to mentor a group of sexual assault survivors with post-traumatic stress disorder under her care.
Seven female first responders and veterans of the Canadian Forces Shared their stories publicly with CBC News yesterday. They said that Dr. Manuela Joannou violated their trust because she failed to tell them that her most recent peer tutor was convicted in two separate sexual assault cases, and then participated in a six-day trauma retreat in July 2018.
CBC News obtained an image of a statement posted by Joannou to Facebook on Wednesday apologizing to participants in her program. I am deeply saddened by the compounded hurt and pain that having a registered sex offender as a mentor on our program in 2018 has caused for so many people, Joannou wrote in the Facebook post. If I had a chance to do it all over again, this would not have happened. Did we make some errors in our early efforts? Undoubtedly, but it has shaped our awareness and our methods going forward.
The post comes a day after Joannou, in an exchange with CBC News, defended her actions and did not apologize for using retired Canadian Forces major Jonathan Hamilton as a peer mentor at the retreat.
Posted: May 11, 2021 4:20 PM ET | Last Updated: May 12
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Warning: The following story contains graphic details some readers may find disturbing
Some Canadian Armed Forces veterans and first responders who are sexual assault survivors said they were outraged to learn their peer mentor at a women s trauma retreat was himself a registered sex offender.
Project Trauma Support is a residential treatment program. Its medical director is Dr. Manuela Joannou, a family physician and ER doctor in Perth, Ontario. The program works with military personnel, veterans and first responders who ve experienced post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and operational stress injury through outdoor group exercises. Some participants have credited the program with saving their