My Therapist Stole $126,000, Confessed in Writing, and Now Won’t Answer the Door for Her Lawsuit

She drugged me, destroyed my life, and Michigan still lets her treat patients at Crossings Counseling in Troy

My former therapist Emily Ann Davis is hiding from the law. She won’t answer her door when legal papers arrive. She’s dodging the process server trying to deliver her lawsuit containing eight counts including extortion, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty. Oakland County Circuit Court, Case number 2025-217817-NI.

This is the same woman who gave me unprescribed Ativan knowing I had a history of benzo addiction, extracted $126,000 through elaborate lies, and is somehow still treating patients at Crossings Counseling in Troy, Michigan.

Let me tell you exactly what happened. Every manipulation. Every payment. Every lie. And yes, every angry message I sent when I finally realized what she’d done and demanded my money back.

This is what it looks like when you fight back against a predator with a psychology license.

The Setup: 303 Therapy Sessions and Becoming Everything to Me (2018-2023)

From September 2018 to April 2023, I was Emily’s patient at Great Lakes Psychology Group. The billing records show 303 documented therapy sessions over those five years. Every week, sometimes twice a week, I’d sit in her office and pour out my soul.

Emily became the most trusted person in my life. That’s not an exaggeration. Through five years of therapy, she positioned herself as the one person who truly understood me, who would never lie to me, who would never harm me. She’d say it constantly: “I have no reason to lie to you, Cody. I’ve never lied to you. I would never harm you.”

I have ADHD and Complex PTSD. Emily formally evaluated and diagnosed my ADHD in 2022 through comprehensive neuropsychological testing. That evaluation became an 8-page document detailing exactly how my brain worked, including my fidgeting patterns, my difficulty with follow-through, my trauma-related memory issues, my tendency to work in short bursts, and my need for external accountability.

Another doctor had once diagnosed me with OCD, but Emily claimed that was wrong. Looking back, I realize she was intentionally trying to keep me sick, dependent on her interpretation of my mental health. She needed me to believe only she understood what was really wrong with me.

I shared my battle with alcoholism and my journey through recovery. Crucially, I told her about my past addiction to benzos. This matters because of what she’d do later. I trusted her with the details of childhood sexual abuse that lasted 5 to 6 years. I explained my CPTSD symptoms and trauma responses. I dissected my relationship patterns, analyzing why I kept choosing certain types of partners. I unpacked my family dynamics, including my father’s mental health crisis that left our family homeless when I was young. I discussed my career anxieties in the financial services industry, my imposter syndrome, my fear of failure.

Every session, I paid. Every session, I trusted. Every session, I revealed more vulnerabilities.

What I didn’t understand at the time was that Emily wasn’t just taking notes for treatment purposes. She was creating a comprehensive map of my psychological landscape. Every weakness I revealed, every trauma response I described, every coping mechanism I relied on, she documented. Her formal ADHD evaluation wasn’t just a diagnosis; it was essentially a user manual for my brain. She knew exactly how I processed information, how I responded to stress, what triggered my trauma responses, and what made me feel safe.

During these years, Emily also engaged in something more subtle but equally insidious. She planted seeds of paranoia about the women in my life. When I’d mention an ex-girlfriend, she’d casually comment that they seemed “unstable” or “concerning.” She’d claim that some of my exes had sent her letters complaining about me. She’d mention that past partners had contacted her licensing board with grievances. At the time, I thought she was being protective, looking out for my best interests. In reality, she was conditioning me to believe that women from my past were dangerous, unhinged, and out to get me. This programming would later make her elaborate lies about Reily Newton seem plausible.

The Personal Background She Hid

Throughout our therapeutic relationship, Emily presented herself as a struggling therapist building her practice, someone who understood financial stress and career pressure. What I didn’t know was that Emily is the daughter of Mark Davis, CEO of LaVida Massage Franchise Development. Her father runs a multi-million dollar franchise empire with locations across multiple states. According to Davis himself, LaVida Massage centers have the potential of grossing $500,000 to more than $1 million per year. The company has reported annual revenue increases of 148 percent year over year, with membership sales across the network increasing more than 310 percent.

This context matters because it reveals the true nature of what happened. Emily didn’t need my money. She had access to significant family wealth and business connections. When she systematically drained my retirement accounts and savings, it wasn’t because she was desperate for cash. This was about power, control, and the psychological thrill of destroying someone who trusted her completely.

The scale of her family’s business became even clearer in October 2024, when 30 LaVida Massage locations across seven states were rebranded as Hand & Stone franchise spas, indicating major business transactions worth millions. Emily came from money. She had resources. Yet she chose to extract $126,000 from a patient who was recovering from job loss and trauma.

A private investigator’s report from April 2025 revealed something stunning: Emily’s Bank of America checking account showed only $371 in March 2025, despite stealing $126,000 from me in 2024. Where did all that money go? As the PI noted: “Ms. Davis’s lack of assets and financial information is suspicious, given Mr. Taymore has financial records proving he paid Ms. Davis $125,722.86 in 2024.”

The Workplace Destruction (Early 2023)

The months leading up to my termination from Fidelity were a masterclass in workplace toxicity that would leave me professionally devastated and financially vulnerable. My manager, Tom Rafferty, had been consistently undermining me despite my being a top performer for two years running. When I formally disclosed my ADHD diagnosis and asked for reasonable accommodations like clearer written instructions and explanations of multi-step processes, Tom’s response was dismissive and discriminatory. “Yeah well, I probably have it too, I get distracted sometimes,” he said, refusing to engage in any meaningful discussion about accommodations.

Emily was the one who pushed me to go to HR about Tom’s behavior. She encouraged me to file that complaint on January 25, 2023, saying I needed to stand up for myself and my rights. Looking back, I wonder if she knew it would accelerate my termination, create the crisis she needed.

After I filed the HR complaint, the retaliation escalated dramatically. By March 27, 2023, they locked me out of all systems without explanation. Two days later, on March 29, they terminated me.

Tom Rafferty thought he won. But karma’s real—both him and his brother were forced out of Fidelity, according to friends who still work there. Tom now works at Citizens Bank as an advisor. From managing a team at Fidelity to being a basic advisor at Citizens. Sometimes the universe delivers justice in its own time.

But back then, the termination left me with zero income, mounting bills, and a potentially career-ending mark on my professional record. My 401k became my only financial cushion. I was devastated, vulnerable, and desperately trying to figure out how to survive both financially and emotionally.

Emily had been my therapist through all of this. She knew exactly how devastating this loss was. She knew my financial situation down to the penny. She knew my emotional state was fragile. And she had been waiting for exactly this moment of maximum vulnerability.

The Boundary Annihilation (April 2023)

Within weeks of my termination, Emily made her move. She knew I couldn’t afford therapy sessions anymore, as I’d told her my financial situation was dire. Rather than referring me to low-cost therapy options or community resources like any ethical therapist would do, she proposed something different. She would provide “unconventional support” outside the traditional therapeutic framework. She invited me to her home in Berkley, presenting it as an act of kindness and care.

The boundary violations weren’t gradual; they were immediate and comprehensive. She gave me a key to her house, something that should never happen between a therapist and patient. I began spending time there regularly, sometimes daily. I met her 5-year-old son, which violated every ethical standard in therapeutic practice. Her son grew to know me well. He’d ask me for bedtime hugs when I was there in the evening. He’d want me to read him stories. He called me his buddy. I grew to care about this child like family, which Emily would later weaponize against me.

The intimacy of access I had to her life was extraordinary. I knew the combination to her locked home office where she kept her Pilates Transformer machine. I regularly slept on her blue L-shaped couch in the living room. I used her bathroom, including her large glass stand-up shower in her bedroom. I knew which snacks she kept in the basement for her and her son. I knew her morning routine, her evening habits, where she kept everything in her house.

We became enmeshed in ways that obliterated any therapeutic boundary. I attended her son’s basketball and baseball games, sitting with other parents like I was family. I met and shook hands with Jeff Spears, her ex-husband, multiple times at these events. He knew who I was. Other parents knew me. I accompanied Emily and her son on vacation to an Airbnb in 2023. She bought us tickets to see Shane Gillis perform stand-up comedy in Cleveland for my birthday. She offered to buy me tickets to see the musician NF, though I declined due to my deteriorating mental state.

During what had been therapy sessions, Emily had given me gifts including expensive Moleskine notebooks and a framed painting she said represented the word “inimitable,” a term she used to describe me. She told me I was her most “risky” patient, then in the same breath said I was her “favorite person in the world.” These contradictions, this push and pull of danger and specialness, created a trauma bond that would make it nearly impossible for me to recognize the manipulation until it was too late.

This wasn’t therapy that had evolved into friendship. This was a calculated grooming operation where Emily used her professional authority and my vulnerability to create total enmeshment and dependency while maintaining the power dynamic of therapist over patient.

The Drugs: What She Did With My Addiction History

Here’s something that still fucks with my head. Emily knew everything about my substance abuse history. She knew about my alcoholism. She knew I’d been addicted to benzos in the past. She had five years of detailed notes about my addiction struggles, my recovery, my triggers, my vulnerabilities around substances.

And then she started giving me Ativan.

Almost every night I came over, she’d give me Ativan. Sometimes 4 to 6 pills a day. I don’t know the exact dosage—she never told me. She’d just hand them to me when I was anxious or stressed, which was constantly given the chaos she was creating in my life. One time she gave me like 50 muscle relaxers, just handed me a bottle like it was nothing.

She’d say, “I’m a doctor, Cody. You can trust me. I would never harm you. This is safe. I know your history and I’m monitoring you.”

She wasn’t a medical doctor. She had no prescribing privileges. She had no right to give me controlled substances. But she knew that in my traumatized, isolated state, with her being the most trusted person in my life, I’d take whatever she gave me because I believed she was helping me.

The mindfuck of this is extraordinary. The person who was supposed to help me maintain my sobriety was secretly drugging me with the exact class of drugs I’d been addicted to. The therapist who knew every detail of my addiction history was creating the conditions for relapse while claiming to protect me.

I don’t have pill bottles with her name on them or videos of her handing me drugs—that’s not the kind of evidence you think to collect when you trust someone completely. But I know what she did. She knows what she did. And using my addiction history against me while claiming to be helping me is a level of evil that’s hard to comprehend.

Enter Reily Newton (September 2023)

In September 2023, I started dating Reily Newton, someone I met on a dating app. We matched, chatted, met, and began casually dating. It wasn’t serious. We’d known each other for just a few weeks. But Emily’s reaction to this normal dating situation was immediate and extreme.

Suddenly, Emily knew intimate details about Reily that I had never shared with her. “She has a breeding kink,” Emily told me matter-of-factly one day, revealing sexual information I had never disclosed and frankly didn’t even know myself. She knew that Reily had been a student at Saline High School when “Little Mark” (Mark Messmore, the felon) taught there before being fired for inappropriate relationships with students. She knew details about Reily’s employment history, her past relationships, her legal issues with Mark.

How did my therapist know intimate sexual details about someone I’d just started dating? How did she know where Reily worked? How did she know about connections to Mark Messmore, who I later learned had been convicted in 2020 of four felonies including identity theft and computer crimes against women, including Reily herself?

The private investigator’s report confirmed Mark’s criminal record: convicted in September 2020 of 2 counts of Identity Theft, Possession of a Financial Transaction Device (credit card), and committing a computer commerce crime. He was sentenced to 2 years probation, ordered to pay $53,713 in restitution, and have no contact with Reily Newton, Kendall Buie, and Lisa Zahra. Despite this court-ordered no contact, he and Reily continued living together at 101 W Liberty St. Apt. 300, Ann Arbor, MI.

Emily’s knowledge wasn’t accidental. It suggested either direct contact with Reily and Mark, or access to information through means I still don’t fully understand. But at the time, I was too overwhelmed by the chaos Emily was creating to question the impossibility of her knowledge.

The Manufactured Crisis Begins (Fall 2023)

Once Emily identified Reily as a target, she began constructing an elaborate narrative of persecution and danger. According to Emily, Reily wasn’t just some woman I was casually dating; she was a dangerous stalker who had somehow become obsessed with Emily and was orchestrating a campaign of harassment against both of us.

The evidence Emily presented was overwhelming in its detail. She showed me what she claimed were Facebook posts made by Reily about me. She produced a signature page from what she said was a non-disclosure agreement with Reily’s signature on it. She had documentation that allegedly showed Reily had somehow purchased Emily’s divorce records. She claimed to have proof that Reily was posting photographs of her son online.

The allegations became increasingly bizarre and horrifying. According to Emily, Reily was actively stalking her son, following him to school and his sports activities. She claimed Reily was having sex with Emily’s ex-husband Jeff and that they had made a pornographic video together specifically to torment Emily. Most disturbingly, she alleged that Reily was taking pictures from my social media, including photos of my young niece, and posting them on pedophile websites.

Emily also painted Mark Messmore as Reily’s accomplice in this supposed campaign of terror. She claimed they were running a sophisticated blackmail operation that they’d used on “a lot of people.” According to Emily, she was the primary victim, but I was also a target because of my connection to her.

Then came the phone calls. Approximately 70 calls from blocked numbers over just a few days. The phone would ring at all hours. When I answered, there would be silence or hang-ups. Emily presented this as irrefutable proof that Reily and Mark were dangerously obsessed with us and escalating their harassment.

Under this intense psychological pressure, with daily new “evidence” of danger and threat, I cut off contact with Reily. I blocked her on everything and never spoke to her again. Looking back, I realize I might have cut off my only potential ally, someone who could have helped me see through Emily’s lies.

The Big Lie: The McLean Foundation

The financial extortion began with what Emily called the “McLean Foundation incident.” According to Emily, the McLean Foundation was a prestigious organization that gave out awards and grants to exceptional mental health professionals. She had supposedly been nominated for a major award that would have brought her significant recognition and a six-figure grant.

But Reily, in her campaign to destroy Emily, had somehow contacted the McLean Foundation and sabotaged Emily’s nomination. “Reily sent something to the McLean Foundation and cost me six figures,” Emily told me, her voice shaking with what seemed like genuine distress.

Because of this sabotage, Emily claimed she had been forced to hire a reputation management firm to protect her professional standing. The firm was called “Kai’s PR Kingdom” and was run by someone named Kai, with associates named Cav and Hayden. According to Emily, she was paying this firm $60,000 per month for their services.

Sixty thousand dollars per month. Let that sink in. That’s $720,000 per year for reputation management to protect against one woman I’d briefly dated.

Emily claimed this firm was doing sophisticated work including digital security, online reputation monitoring, removing negative content, protecting against future attacks, and managing legal threats. She said they had a “digital expert” who could somehow intercept and stop false complaints from reaching professional boards or FINRA.

When I asked for details about this firm, documentation of their services, or any way to verify their existence, Emily would become evasive. She claimed she had signed an NDA and couldn’t share details. She said it was too dangerous for me to have direct contact with them. She insisted I just had to trust her.

The McLean Foundation doesn’t exist in the way Emily described. The private investigator found that “Kai’s PR Kingdom” was nothing more than a defunct LinkedIn page that hadn’t been updated in over a year. The entire elaborate story was fabricated to justify the financial extraction that was about to begin.

Emily also claimed she had a “research license” that Reily had caused her to lose. The PI report confirmed this was another lie: “Upon investigating this type of license, it was discovered that no such license exists in Michigan.”

The Oscar Performance

One of Emily’s most powerful manipulation tactics was her ability to create dramatic emotional scenes that would bypass my logical thinking and trigger my protective instincts. The most memorable of these performances occurred when she called me to her house for an “emergency.”

When I arrived, Emily was in full breakdown mode. She was sobbing hysterically, her body shaking with what appeared to be genuine terror and despair. Her face was red and blotchy from crying.

“CODY PLEASE, I DON’T WANT TO LOSE MY CAREER AND MY KID!” she wailed.

She pulled me down to sit next to her on the couch with tears streaming down her face. “You brought these crazy people into my life. You dated crazy women. But I know you didn’t mean for this to happen. We can fix this together. I’ll protect you, but you have to help me protect my son. Please, I can’t lose my son.”

When I tried to question anything, she’d scream at me: “I have no reason to lie to you! I’ve never lied to you! I would never harm you! Why won’t you trust me?”

The manipulation in this performance was multilayered. First, she blamed me for the crisis, making me feel responsible for her pain. Then she immediately offered forgiveness, creating a sense of relief and gratitude. She invoked her child’s safety, knowing I cared about her son. She positioned herself as both victim and protector, making me feel I needed her even as I was supposedly the cause of her problems.

The performance was so convincing that I found myself apologizing profusely, promising to do whatever was necessary to fix the situation I had supposedly created. I felt guilty, responsible, desperate to make amends for bringing danger to her and her innocent child.

This wasn’t a moment of genuine emotional distress. This was calculated psychological manipulation executed by someone with deep understanding of trauma responses and emotional manipulation. She knew exactly which buttons to push, which fears to activate, which protective instincts to trigger. She knew my ADHD made me susceptible to emotional overwhelm. She knew my CPTSD made me hypersensitive to others’ distress. She exploited every diagnosis she’d given me.

The Death That Broke Me (October 2023)

In October 2023, my best friend and mentor died. This was the person who had brought me into the financial services industry, who had believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. He was my professional anchor, my reality check, the person I could call when I needed perspective.

His death shattered me in ways I’m still processing. I lost not just a friend but my professional identity’s foundation. Emily knew exactly what this loss meant to me because I’d talked about him in therapy for years. She knew he was one of the few people whose opinion truly mattered to me, one of the few people I trusted completely.

Emily weaponized this grief immediately. She reminded me constantly that with him gone, I had no one left who truly understood me. No one except her. She positioned herself as my only remaining support system, my only ally in a world that had become increasingly hostile and dangerous.

“He would want you to be protected,” she’d say. “He would understand why we need to take these steps.”

She even claimed that Reily and Mark might try to desecrate his memory somehow, use his death against me, or contact his family with lies about me. The thought of my mentor’s memory being tarnished was unbearable. It made me even more dependent on Emily’s supposed protection.

The Perfect Storm of Fear (February 2024)

By February 2024, I was drowning in terror about my FINRA arbitration case against Fidelity. My entire financial future hung in the balance. If I lost, my career in finance would be over. Emily knew exactly how deep this fear ran—we’d discussed it in therapy for months. She knew I was barely sleeping, consumed with anxiety about the outcome.

This is when Emily struck with surgical precision. She didn’t just exploit my fear—she amplified it, weaponized it, turned it into a tool of control.

Anonymous texts arrived containing my FINRA identification number, implying someone was about to destroy my case. Physical letters came to my house with false allegations about drug use and professional misconduct—exactly the kind of accusations that could tank my arbitration. The timing was no coincidence. Emily knew when my hearings were scheduled. She knew what evidence could destroy me.

“They’re going to ruin your case,” she’d tell me, her voice grave with concern. “Reily and Mark know about your FINRA arbitration. They know exactly what to say to destroy you.”

She created a perfect storm of paranoia and chaos. Every day brought new “threats” to my case. Every mysterious call or text became evidence that my professional future was under attack. She kept me in a constant state of fight-or-flight, knowing that someone with ADHD and CPTSD would be especially vulnerable to this manufactured crisis.

And then she drugged me. The Ativan she gave me didn’t just calm my anxiety—it made me compliant, foggy, unable to think critically. Between the drugs, the fear about my case, and the constant chaos she was creating, I wasn’t myself anymore. I was psychologically broken down to my most basic survival instincts. And in that broken state, she presented the contract as my only salvation.

“Sign this, or I’ll make sure FINRA gets everything,” she threatened. “Every shameful thing you’ve told me in therapy. Your drinking, your drug use, your family problems. Do you want to lose your case? Do you want to lose everything?”

The private investigator discovered damning evidence about that threatening letter: it was sent from “R Sender, 81 Warren St., NYC, NY 10007”—the address of TAQ Taqueria Restaurant and Bar, owned by Cynthia and Michael J. Messmore, parents of Mark Messmore. The letter had “1**********AUTOALL FOR AADC 480” printed on it, indicating computer-generated bulk mail. As the PI noted, Mark Messmore’s known history in information technology meant he had the skills to create this.

Emily had orchestrated everything. The threats to my FINRA case. The fear that consumed me. The drugs that kept me compliant. The psychological breakdown that made me willing to sign anything, pay anything, do anything to protect my future.

That’s okay. I’m back now. And I remember everything.

The Contract from Hell (February 2024)

Under this manufactured terror about my FINRA case, drugged and psychologically shattered, Emily presented her “solution”—a detailed contract that would supposedly protect both of us from the escalating threats. She had clearly spent significant time crafting this document, which ran multiple pages and contained provisions that would give her complete control over my life.

The financial provisions were staggering. I was to pay her $5,000 immediately upon signing. Then $41,000 was to be paid between March and May in multiple transfers, each under $9,000. Starting in June, I would pay $50,000 at a rate of $1,000 per month. I was required to put $100 monthly into a trust account for her son. Most disturbingly, I had to give her 5% of any future income I earned in the financial industry, forever, with no cap or end date. If she determined I had violated any provision of the contract, I had 72 hours to transfer $54,349.67 from my 401k to her.

The PI report confirmed what I suspected: “the contract states that payments of no more than $9,000 will be accepted. This leads us to believe that Ms. Davis was attempting to illegally avoid the mandatory IRS reporting form required by banking institutions for transactions of more than $10,000, called structuring.”

The life control provisions were even more invasive than the financial ones. I was prohibited from having any contact with Reily Newton permanently. Seven other women from my past were also off-limits, including past girlfriends and even casual acquaintances. I couldn’t enter into any romantic relationships until June 2026 without Emily’s explicit written approval. I had to delete all social media accounts and dating profiles. I had to consent to Emily monitoring all my electronic devices with or without notice. When visiting her home, I had to leave my phone and laptop in my car.

The psychological control provisions were designed to make me completely dependent on Emily’s version of reality. I couldn’t defend myself if she accused me of anything. I couldn’t question her memory or interpretation of events. I had to validate her feelings even when I disagreed with them. I couldn’t speak about her or our arrangement to anyone without written permission until May 2025.

I signed it. In my drugged, terrorized, broken state, believing my FINRA case and entire future hung in the balance, I signed it.

The Money Drain (February-June 2024)

Once the contract was signed, the financial bloodletting began immediately. The payments were relentless and documented. On June 27, I transferred $15,000 via Zelle. On June 26, $7,500 via Zelle. On June 25, $5,000 via Zelle. On the same day as the $15,000 transfer, I also wrote her a check for $5,222.86. Throughout April and May, there were multiple transfers ranging from $5,000 to $9,000, all carefully kept under the $10,000 reporting threshold.

In total, over 30 separate transactions moved approximately $126,000 from my accounts to Emily’s. To meet these demands, I had to take extraordinary financial measures. I liquidated investment accounts, taking massive tax penalties for early withdrawal. I drained my 401k, accepting the 10% early withdrawal penalty plus regular income tax, essentially losing 40% of the value to penalties and taxes. Every savings account I had was emptied.

My new job, which I’d managed to secure despite the trauma, paid $6,349 per month. Yet I was sending Emily more than double my monthly income. The math didn’t work. I was destroying my financial future to pay for protection from threats that didn’t exist.

Emily claimed this money was going to “Kai’s PR Kingdom” and their team. She would occasionally share supposed updates from Kai, Cav, or Hayden about their work protecting us. But when I asked for receipts, invoices, or any documentation of these services, Emily would claim it was too dangerous to have a paper trail, or that the firm required complete confidentiality.

The reality was that no reputation management firm existed. No one named Kai was protecting us. Cav and Hayden were figments of Emily’s imagination. Every dollar I sent went directly to Emily for her personal use. And somehow, despite receiving $126,000 from me, her bank account showed only $371 by March 2025.

Living in Hell (Spring 2024)

Life under the contract was psychological torture. Every aspect of my existence was controlled and monitored. I couldn’t use social media, cutting me off from professional networking and personal connections. I couldn’t date, leaving me isolated and alone. I had to document and report all human interactions to Emily. If I was gone for more than two hours, I had to explain where I’d been and who I’d seen. I was forced to write journal entries about my “wrongdoings” and submit them for Emily’s review.

The isolation was complete. Cut off from romantic connections, friendships, and even casual social media interactions, Emily became my primary human contact. She controlled what I could say, who I could see, where I could go. Her version of reality became the only reality because there was no one else to provide perspective.

Emily would constantly remind me that she was the most trusted person in my life, the only one who had never lied to me, the only one who would never harm me. When I questioned anything, she’d scream: “Why don’t you trust me? After everything I’ve done for you? I’ve never lied to you!”

The mindfuck was complete. The person destroying me was simultaneously positioning herself as my only protector. She was exploiting my ADHD’s executive dysfunction, my CPTSD’s hypervigilance, every vulnerability she’d documented over five years.

During this time, I was smoking heavy amounts of weed just to cope. It was the only thing that helped me sleep at night. I almost relapsed on alcohol multiple times. The fact that I didn’t is a miracle considering the psychological torture I was enduring. I’d sit in my apartment, isolated from everyone, high as fuck just trying to numb the constant anxiety and terror of living under Emily’s control.

The physical toll was severe. I lost 40 pounds in a matter of months. I developed paralyzing anxiety attacks that would leave me unable to function. Sleep became nearly impossible; I would jolt awake in terror, convinced I had violated some provision of the contract. My hands would shake constantly. I was dying from the inside out, and I knew it.

The psychological damage was even worse. I began to question my own perceptions and memories. If Emily said something happened, it must have happened, because the contract said I couldn’t question her memory. If she said I felt a certain way, I must feel that way, because the contract required me to validate her interpretation of my emotions. I lost the ability to trust my own thoughts, my own feelings, my own reality.

This is what coercive control looks like. This is what psychological slavery feels like. Every moment of every day was consumed by fear of violating the contract, fear of Emily’s anger, fear of the consequences she could impose with a single email to FINRA or my employer.

The June Amendment (June 2024)

On June 23, 2024, as I was reaching my psychological and financial breaking point, Emily presented an amendment to our contract. She framed it as a loosening of restrictions, a sign that things were improving. In reality, it was designed to ensure lifelong control and financial extraction.

Under the amendment, I could return to social media, but Emily would monitor all my accounts and could demand removal of any content she deemed problematic. I would continue paying her share of the fictional technology expert’s fees indefinitely. I was required to establish a financial account specifically for her son’s benefit, separate from the monthly trust payments. The 5% of future financial industry income would continue forever, with no cap or termination date.

Most disturbingly, the amendment specified that if I died, Emily would become a beneficiary of my estate until her son turned 18. She was ensuring that even my death wouldn’t end the financial extraction.

I was also required to notify her before starting any new job, provide details about my compensation, and give her access to verify my income. This would allow her to ensure she was getting her 5% cut of everything I earned for the rest of my life.

The amendment pretended to give me more freedom while actually tightening the chains. It transformed what had been presented as a temporary protective measure into a permanent arrangement that would follow me for the rest of my life and even beyond.

Breaking Free (August 2024)

On August 9, 2024, something shifted. My FINRA arbitration hearing, which had been hanging over my head like a sword, resolved in my favor. The main threat Emily had been using to control me, the destruction of my financial career through false reports to FINRA, suddenly evaporated.

Two days later, on August 11, Emily sent an extraordinary email. It was seven pages long and contained what can only be described as a partial confession mixed with continued manipulation. She wrote, “To clarify- nothing is held, saved, stored, etc. related to any government agency. I wasn’t lying about that.” This single sentence admitted that everything else she had told me was, in fact, a lie.

She continued, “I fully acknowledge that one time, 6 months ago, I made one threatening comment.” This was a massive minimization of months of threats, but it was still an admission. She also wrote, “I agree with you that it’s impossible to have a friendship where something like the agreement exists that one person facilitates.”

Most revealing was this line: “I literally put my license in your hands from the start.” She knew from our years of therapy that I had trust issues, that I had been parentified as a child, that I felt responsible for protecting others. By “putting her license in my hands,” she was making me feel responsible for protecting her career, even as she destroyed my life.

Days later, another email arrived where she admitted the situation had been “insanity.” She claimed she had “deleted all materials” and “ended contracts with third parties.” The reputation management firm, the security experts, the entire elaborate protection scheme I had paid $126,000 for? She was admitting none of it had ever existed.

Fighting Back: My Angry Demands (August-September 2024)

With the FINRA threat neutralized and Emily’s partial confessions in hand, I finally found my voice. Yes, I was angry. Yes, I sent multiple messages demanding my money back. Yes, I called repeatedly. I want to be completely transparent about what standing up to your abuser actually looks like, because it’s not pretty or polite.

I texted her: “I need you to return the 126,000 dollars you extorted from me. I am giving you this opportunity against the advice of my attorneys, they want me to go to the police and report all actions and take you to court and prosecute you.”

I emailed similar demands repeatedly. I called her phone multiple times. Each communication was essentially the same message: “Give me back my money. You stole from me. Return what you took.”

I was furious. I had just begun to comprehend the full scope of what had been done to me. Years of therapy weaponized against me. Months of my life stolen. My financial future destroyed. My mental health shattered. The most trusted person in my life had orchestrated it all. And all of it based on elaborate lies.

Was I harassing her by legal definition? Possibly. But I was fighting for my life, my money, my sanity. I was doing what victims rarely do: refusing to stay silent, demanding justice, making noise about what had been done to me.

Emily’s response was predictable. She called the Berkley police claiming I was harassing her. The woman who had extorted $126,000, given me unprescribed controlled substances knowing my addiction history, violated every therapeutic boundary, and destroyed my life was now playing the victim because I had the audacity to demand my money back.

After police involvement, I stopped contacting her. But the damage to my psyche from her manipulation continued, and my anger remained justified and real.

The November Retaliation

Months passed in silence. I focused on rebuilding my life, working with legitimate therapists to process the trauma, and preparing legal action with my attorneys. But Emily wasn’t done with me.

On November 13, 2024, while I was at a work event representing my company, strange emails began arriving from “goad-buddies0u@icloud.com.” The sender claimed I was harassing them and mentioned “her son,” Emily’s child’s name. They referenced calling from blocked numbers in the middle of the night. They used language and references that only someone intimately familiar with our situation would know.

The PI report identified a suspicious pattern: multiple iCloud accounts all ending in ‘0’ plus a letter (Julep_preppy0j, Craving_dodgy0k, Goad_buddies0u), “as if made by the same person and/or used as a tracking system.”

In my anger at being provoked, I responded with harsh texts that I’m not proud of but won’t hide from. I wrote: “House of cards coming down. Your son will be safe.” I wrote: “I hope I burn in hell for getting everything I want. You’ll have to kill me.” I wrote: “I’m coming for the jugular of everyone that tried to kill me. I’m checking off a list.” I wrote: “Your legacy and life will be such a sad tragedy to read. I’ll see to it. Not because I’m evil. Because the truth is everything to me.” I wrote: “You can’t hurt me. I’m a god.” I wrote: “Escalate escalate escalate until I get exactly what I want.”

These were angry, aggressive messages. They came from a place of fury at being continuously manipulated and provoked even after I’d stopped contacting Emily. Someone was trying to bait me into responses they could use against me, and unfortunately, it worked.

I also attempted to connect with Jeff Spears, Emily’s ex-husband, on LinkedIn, thinking he might be an ally or have information about Emily’s behavior patterns. The email sent to him read: “Emily. This is Cody Taymore. Please contact me. It’s regarding your son.”

Almost immediately after these exchanges, someone claiming to be “P. Ryan Cavanaugh, Client Support Specialist” sent a formal complaint to my employer. The timing was too perfect, the details too specific. This supposed legal representative claimed I was harassing a client during work hours, threatening to contact an abusive ex-husband, using company resources for harassment, and making calls from private numbers after being blocked.

The complaint included selective screenshots of my angry messages but conveniently excluded any context about the $126,000 theft, the months of extortion, or the provocation that led to my responses. It also contained a telling detail: the sender claimed their email address was “not housed on sending firm’s server” and that “privileges or confidential information associated with client communications as noted in retained agreements should not be assumed.”

No legitimate attorney sends complaints from an email address not associated with their firm. No real legal representative would need to include such a bizarre disclaimer. The email came from a Posteo account—a German email service known for not requiring personal information. This was Emily or someone working with her, retaliating against me while trying to maintain plausible deniability.

The Lawsuit She’s Hiding From

My attorneys at Howard & Howard didn’t hesitate once they reviewed the evidence. They filed a comprehensive lawsuit with eight counts against Emily Ann Davis.

Count I alleges Breach of Fiduciary Duties. Emily owed me a fiduciary duty as my licensed therapist, including duties of loyalty, confidentiality, and professional integrity. She breached every aspect of this duty by engaging in a personal relationship, exploiting confidential information, and coercing me into financial and behavioral control.

Count II alleges Fraud. Emily made numerous false representations about external threats, the legitimacy of the reputation management firm, the necessity of payments, and the existence of danger to her and her child. She knew these representations were false or made them with reckless disregard for the truth.

Count III alleges Extortion. Emily knowingly and intentionally threatened me with reputational and professional harm unless I complied with her demands. She used threats, manipulation, and fabricated crises to extract money and control. These actions constitute extortion under Michigan law, including MCL 750.213.

Count IV alleges Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress. Emily’s conduct, including psychological manipulation, threats, coercion, and exploitation of my vulnerabilities, was extreme and outrageous, exceeding all bounds of decency. She acted intentionally to cause severe emotional distress.

Count V alleges Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress. Beyond the intentional harm, Emily was negligent in her duties as a mental health professional. Her actions caused severe emotional distress with physical manifestations.

Count VI alleges Unjust Enrichment. Emily received over $126,000 under false pretenses, through fabricated threats and fictitious services. She retained these funds without providing legitimate value. Equity demands she return the money obtained through manipulation and coercion.

Count VII alleges Civil Conspiracy. Emily conspired with unknown individuals, potentially including those she called Kai, Cav, and Hayden, to defraud and extort me. The coordinated use of anonymous threats, burner emails, and fabricated entities demonstrates a concerted plan.

Count VIII alleges Abuse of Process. Emily used fabricated legal threats, contracts, and references to arbitration and enforcement mechanisms not for legitimate legal purposes but to coerce silence and extract money.

The evidence supporting these counts is overwhelming. Bank records showing structured payments. The contracts controlling my life. Emily’s own emails admitting to manipulation and threats. Documentation of her giving me controlled substances. Proof that the reputation management firm never existed. The PI report confirming the threatening letter came from Mark Messmore’s family restaurant.

Judge Cheryl A. Matthews of the Oakland County Circuit Court will oversee this case. The complaint seeks compensatory damages exceeding $126,000, punitive damages, attorney’s fees, and injunctive relief prohibiting further contact or harassment.

Why She Won’t Answer Her Door

In Michigan law, when someone files a lawsuit, they must formally serve the defendant with the legal papers. This usually means a process server physically hands the documents to the defendant. Emily has 21 days from the date of service to file a response with the court.

But Emily won’t answer her door when the process server arrives. She’s actively avoiding service, hiding from the legal consequences of her actions.

This avoidance speaks volumes. Innocent people don’t hide from lawsuits. If Emily believed she had done nothing wrong, if she had legitimate defenses to these allegations, she would accept service and fight the charges. Instead, she’s playing a game of hide and seek with the legal system.

Michigan courts have procedures for when defendants evade service. After documented failed attempts at personal service, courts can authorize alternative methods. These include service by certified mail, posting the documents on her door, publishing notice in a newspaper, or other court-approved methods. Every failed attempt is documented and becomes part of the court record.

Judges particularly dislike defendants who avoid service. It shows consciousness of guilt and disrespect for the legal system. When Emily eventually has to appear before Judge Matthews, her attempts to avoid service will not be viewed favorably. She’s starting her defense by showing contempt for the court’s authority.

The process server will eventually succeed. The lawsuit will be served. The clock will start ticking on Emily’s 21 days to respond. And when that happens, she’ll have to answer for her crimes in a forum where her manipulation tactics won’t work, where evidence matters more than emotional performances, where structured payments under $10,000 are recognized as criminal structuring, where giving controlled substances to a patient with addiction history is recognized as malpractice at minimum.

The Current Status

As of today, the situation stands as follows:

Emily Ann Davis still holds her Limited Licensed Psychologist license, number 6361005093. She’s still employed at Crossings Counseling in Troy, Michigan. She’s still seeing vulnerable patients who have no idea what she’s capable of.

She still has my $126,000. Despite her written admissions of manipulation and threats, despite admitting the reputation firm never existed, she has kept every penny. And somehow, her bank account shows only $371.

She continues hiding from the process server, avoiding the lawsuit that seeks to hold her accountable for her crimes.

The system that should protect patients has failed. In March 2025, I filed a formal complaint with Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA). In May, I met with two LARA investigators for over an hour, providing them with hundreds of pages of documentation. As of now, months later, the complaint remains “under review” with no action taken.

The Warren Police Department called to inform me they won’t pursue criminal charges, claiming the evidence doesn’t meet the standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt.” This despite 500 pages of documentation, bank statements showing structured payments, Emily’s written confessions, and clear evidence of her providing controlled substances to someone with documented addiction history.

The federal authorities may prove different. FBI tips have been submitted regarding money laundering and structuring. The FBI Detroit White Collar Crime Division has been contacted. A Suspicious Activity Report has been filed with FinCEN. The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan has been notified.

But while the wheels of justice turn slowly, Emily continues practicing. Every day she sees patients is another day vulnerable people sit across from a predator who has weaponized therapy to destroy lives.

What This Means

Emily Davis believed she could use five years of therapy notes to extort me, steal $126,000 through elaborate lies, destroy my mental health with impunity, hide behind her psychology license, play victim when I demanded justice, retaliate through anonymous complaints to my employer, and avoid legal consequences by simply not answering her door.

She calculated that my trauma history made me the perfect victim. That my ADHD would make me easy to confuse and control. That my addiction recovery gave her shameful material to threaten me with. That my childhood sexual abuse had broken me in ways she could exploit. That my CPTSD made me hypersensitive to others’ distress. That my trust issues meant I’d protect her even while she destroyed me. That my isolation would mean no one would believe me.

She positioned herself as the most trusted person in my life, constantly reminding me she’d never lie to me, never harm me, while systematically lying to me and harming me every single day. She even tried to control my diagnoses, telling me another doctor’s OCD diagnosis was wrong, keeping me dependent on her interpretation of my mental health.

She drugged me into compliance. She used my terror about my FINRA case as leverage. She created chaos, fear, and paranoia to keep me off balance. She psychologically broke me down until I wasn’t myself anymore.

She was wrong about all of it.

Every day she hides from that process server proves her consciousness of guilt. Every anonymous retaliation creates more evidence of her pattern of harassment. Every patient she sees while avoiding service is another person at risk from a predator who uses therapy as a weapon.

The paper trail she created in her arrogance, believing she’d never be held accountable, has become the roadmap to her destruction. The contracts she forced me to sign are evidence of extortion. The structured payments she demanded are federal crimes. The emails she sent admitting to manipulation are confessions that will be read in court. The PI report proves the threatening letters came from Mark Messmore’s family restaurant and that her bank account mysteriously has only $371 despite receiving $126,000.

I’m back now. The drugs are out of my system. The fear no longer controls me. The psychological breakdown she orchestrated? I recovered. And I remember everything.

To Her Current Patients in Troy

If you’re currently seeing Emily Davis at Crossings Counseling in Troy, Michigan, I need you to understand what you’re risking.

I spent five years trusting Emily with my deepest vulnerabilities. She became the most trusted person in my life. She knew my addiction history, my trauma, my ADHD, my CPTSD, every weakness and fear. I believed she was helping me heal.

Instead, she was documenting every vulnerability, mapping every weakness, preparing to use it all against me when I was at my most vulnerable. She gave me Ativan knowing I had a history of benzo addiction. She extracted $126,000 through elaborate lies about threats that didn’t exist. She controlled every aspect of my life through contracts and manipulation.

The woman sitting across from you taking notes isn’t just documenting your treatment. She’s potentially creating a blueprint for future exploitation. Every trauma you share, every weakness you reveal, every secret you confess becomes potential ammunition.

If something feels wrong in your therapeutic relationship with Emily, trust that instinct. If boundaries seem blurred, if she knows things she shouldn’t know, if she makes you feel specially chosen but also somehow indebted, these are warning signs.

Document everything. Save every email, every text, every communication. Note any boundary violations, any requests that seem inappropriate, any information she has that you didn’t provide. These records might save you from what I experienced.

Get out before you’re in too deep. Find another therapist. Report any concerns to LARA. Protect yourself before she has enough ammunition to control you.

The Truth About Fighting Back

I want to be honest about what standing up to your abuser really looks like, because social media recovery stories often sanitize this part.

Fighting back means sending angry messages at 2 AM demanding your stolen money back. It means calling repeatedly when they ignore your emails. It means using harsh language when years of manipulation finally become clear. It means being called a harasser by the person who destroyed your life.

It means hiring lawyers and spending money you don’t have to seek justice. It means filing complaints with agencies that move at glacial pace. It means having your story questioned, your evidence scrutinized, your motives doubted.

It means public exposure of your most vulnerable moments. I’m writing about my childhood sexual abuse, my addiction, my ADHD, my CPTSD, my therapy sessions, my financial destruction, all because silence protects predators more than it protects me.

It means dealing with retaliation. Anonymous complaints to your employer. Threats to your professional reputation. Attempts to provoke you into reactions that can be used against you.

It also means discovering your own strength. Learning that you can survive what was supposed to destroy you. Finding that documentation and truth are more powerful than manipulation and lies. Watching your abuser hide from consequences they never thought would come.

It means protecting others. Every person who reads this and recognizes warning signs in their own therapeutic relationship might escape before it’s too late. Every complaint filed adds pressure on a broken system to change.

Fighting back is messy, exhausting, expensive, and painful. But it’s also necessary, powerful, and ultimately healing. Because every day Emily hides from that process server, she proves I was right to fight. Every document in my lawsuit validates that what happened to me was real, was wrong, and deserves justice.

The Statistics and My Reality

Research on therapy abuse recovery is limited, but what exists paints a sobering picture. Studies suggest that patients who experience exploitation by mental health professionals often face prolonged recovery periods, with many experiencing PTSD symptoms for years after the abuse ends. The betrayal of trust by someone in a position of therapeutic authority creates a unique form of trauma that traditional therapy models struggle to address.

For those with pre-existing conditions like ADHD and CPTSD, the impact is compounded. The very vulnerabilities that brought us to therapy become weapons used against us. For those with substance abuse issues like mine, the statistics are even grimmer. The intersection of therapy abuse and addiction history creates compound vulnerabilities. Many victims relapse during or after the abuse. I came close. So fucking close. The weed kept me from drinking, but I was smoking constantly just to cope with the psychological torture. Every night, getting high was the only way I could sleep without jolting awake in terror.

Financial abuse by therapists, while less studied, shows similarly devastating impacts. Victims often take years to recover financially, if they ever fully recover at all. The combination of financial exploitation and psychological manipulation creates a perfect storm that destroys both economic stability and mental health simultaneously.

The recovery timeline for complex trauma like this, involving extended psychological abuse, financial exploitation, boundary violations, and the weaponization of therapeutic trust, is measured not in months but in years. Some studies suggest it takes an average of 7 years for victims of professional exploitation to fully process and heal from the betrayal.

But here’s what those statistics don’t measure: They don’t measure resilience. They don’t measure rage transformed into action. They don’t measure the power of documentation, determination, and refusing to stay silent.

Those statistics don’t know who the fuck they’re dealing with. I’m not a statistic. I’m not an average recovery timeline. I’m the wrong motherfucker to have tried this with.

Emily Davis thought she picked the perfect victim. Someone with trauma, addiction history, ADHD, CPTSD, isolation. Someone who would crumble under pressure and disappear into shame and silence.

Instead, she created someone with nothing left to lose and everything to prove. Someone who kept every receipt, every email, every piece of evidence. Someone who hired a private investigator to expose the truth. Someone who will do everything legally possible to ensure she faces consequences. Someone who will make sure everyone knows exactly what Emily Ann Davis, Limited Licensed Psychologist #6361005093, currently practicing at Crossings Counseling in Troy, Michigan, is capable of.

I will not be a statistic of therapy abuse that fades into silence. I will be the case study in what happens when you fuck with the wrong person. I will be the reason policies change, the reason other victims speak up, the reason predator therapists think twice before weaponizing someone’s vulnerabilities.

This isn’t about revenge. This is about justice. This is about protection. This is about making sure that what happened to me never happens to another person sitting across from Emily Davis, trusting her with their deepest wounds.

The statistics say I should still be broken. The statistics say I shouldn’t be able to fight back this hard, this publicly, this relentlessly. The statistics don’t account for someone who’s already survived the unsurvivable multiple times and came out harder each time.

Emily Davis is about to become a different kind of statistic—one of the predator therapists who thought they were untouchable until they touched the wrong person. One of the manipulators who thought their licenses protected them until those licenses became evidence of their crimes. One of the abusers who thought hiding from a process server would make a lawsuit disappear, only to learn that justice might move slowly, but it moves inevitably.

I’m done being a victim. I’m done being a statistic. I’m done being silent.

Emily Ann Davis, you picked the wrong motherfucker. And now everyone knows exactly what you did.

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If you’ve been abused by a mental health professional:

Document everything. Save every text, email, payment record, and communication. Write down boundary violations as they happen. Keep records of gifts, unusual requests, or information they have that you didn’t provide.

File complaints with your state licensing board immediately. Don’t wait for perfect evidence or the perfect moment. The complaint starts a paper trail and may connect you with other victims.

Contact attorneys who specialize in professional malpractice. Many offer free consultations. The evidence standards for civil cases are lower than criminal ones.

Report financial crimes to appropriate authorities including the FBI for structured payments, FinCEN for suspicious financial activity, the IRS for unreported income, and state authorities for fraud.

Find a trauma-informed therapist who specializes in therapy abuse recovery. Yes, it’s terrifying to trust another therapist, but specialized help exists for exactly this type of trauma.

Share your story if you feel safe doing so. Shame protects predators. Silence enables them. Your voice might be the warning someone else needs to hear.

Know that what happened to you was not your fault. Predators target vulnerability because that’s what predators do. Your trust wasn’t stupidity; it was humanity. Their betrayal wasn’t your failure; it was theirs.

The system that should protect patients has failed.

Emily Davis is still practicing at Crossings Counseling in Troy, Michigan. Her license number is 6361005093. Every day she treats patients is another day someone vulnerable sits across from someone who has proven capable of extraordinary harm.

The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs needs to act. The Oakland County Prosecutor needs to examine the criminal evidence. The federal authorities need to investigate the financial crimes.

But systems don’t change without pressure. They protect professionals until public outrage forces action.

Make noise. Share this story. Demand accountability from agencies that are supposed to protect patients. Contact LARA about complaint #63-25-001079. Ask why someone with written confessions of manipulation and extortion still has a license to practice.

Don’t let them ignore this. Don’t let them protect her. Don’t let them enable her to harm another patient.

The silence ends now.

—Cody Taymore

Kill The Silence

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