All the details in our Health Safety stories come from publicly available Final Orders, Consent Orders, Orders of Suspension and other documents from the Virginia Department of Health Professionals. For more information, see the Editor’s note below the story.
STAUNTON – An anonymous former client of the Mid-Atlantic Recovery Center (MARC) received a phone call in December 2021. She looked at her phone. The call was coming from her former substance abuse counselor.
Gretchen Roxanna McDaniel received licenses to practice as a certified substance abuse counselor and qualified mental health professional for adults in 2018, registered in Staunton.
During her time at MARC, McDaniel treated the client’s substance abuse disorder. McDaniel was the interim program director at MARC, leaving in November 2021 to work as a substance abuse counselor at Savida Health.
When the former client answered the phone, McDaniel sounded impaired. McDaniel talked about hurting herself, and said the former client should be there for her because she was there for the client. She pressured her using information the client gave during counseling sessions.
McDaniel said she stole Xanax from her own mother’s prescription because her mother would not give it to her. McDaniel asked her former client for pain medications or Xanax. They gave McDaniel 20mg of methadone, hoping it would end the situation.
It didn’t.
McDaniel sent the client Facebook and text messages asking for drugs. She asked the client to go to lunch with her. She asked the former client to come to her house. The client arrived, finding her own pictures from Facebook printed off and hanging in the house. McDaniel called the former client her “adopted daughter,” and pressured her for methadone.
This was not the only relationship McDaniel leaned into to acquire drugs. She contacted another former MARC client for Percocet, hydrocodone, Xanax, methadone, or “anything.” This client declined, telling McDaniel she is doing well in recovery and doesn’t want to risk messing it up. The former client no longer associated with people who are using or selling drugs. This client reported the incident to the Department of Health Professions.
In January 2022, McDaniel texted another certified substance abuse counselor at Savida. She asked for Xanax, saying her prescription ran out and she couldn’t get more until the following week. A couple of weeks later, it happened again. The counselor did not give her Xanax.
McDaniel also turned to other coworkers, asking a MARC receptionist and nurse for pain medications and Xanax. She contacted one doctor repeatedly for Xanax. They refused again and again, telling her to speak with her physician or psychiatrist. She contacted the Savida office manager twice, once for Xanax and again for Tussionex.
A Department of Health Professionals investigator approached McDaniel. She would not speak to him. The investigator asked her to get a drug screen by 4 p.m. that day. Instead, McDaniel responded through email, refusing to cooperate with the investigation. She agreed to surrender her licenses, and said she had “no response to recent allegations” against her.
Both her CSAC and QMHP-A were revoked by the Virginia Board of Counseling on May 9, 2023. She can apply for reinstatement three years after the revocation and would be required to demonstrated she is competent to return.
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To file a formal complaint against a health professional, click here . For links to the public information informing this story, see below.
Want to know if your doctors, other medical professionals or local pharmacies have been investigated? Check out the license lookup.
EDITOR’S NOTE: When citizens are a danger to the public safety, law enforcement arrests them and charges them with crimes; they have the opportunity to face a jury of their peers; if convicted, they serve time and/or probation that can often ensnare them in the system for years.
When a medical professional is an alleged danger to the public safety, the Virginia Department of Health Professionals handles all facets of the inquiry, including the investigation and penalties. And sometimes, even when a medical professional is found liable of doing harm to patients, they may face a reprimand, pay a fine and continue to practice, without missing a day of work and with little chance for the public to see what they’ve done.
The Health Safety stories in this series tell the facts of cases where medical professionals endanger our public health safety. They also bring you into the world of the medical board’s consent orders and public final orders, so you can see exactly how the VDHP’s self-policing system works.
Lyra Bordelon (she/her) is the public transparency and justice reporter at The News Leader. Do you have a story tip or feedback? It’s welcome through email to lbordelon@gannett.com . Subscribe to us at newsleader.com .
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Substance abuse counselor pressures former clients, coworkers for drugs
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