VictimFocus itself is toxic. They've lost of about half their staff in the last 6 months, I'm losing track of how many it is now.
Jessica is a textbook narcissist, and VictimFocus is a toxic place to work where staff are rewarded for their support of Jessica and punished for standing up to her - even when she's publicly bullying a survivor whose story she used in her book without permission.
She used several stories without permission in her books, and when women have complained she's lied about them and bullied them. Sally Ann has refused to back down and through their public exchanges, it's become very clear that Jessica's advocacy for a trauma-informed approach is hot air. Her actions, played out for all to see on social media, have demonstrated that she doesn't care one bit about vulnerable survivors, and that she lies outrageously.
She first claimed that Sally-Ann's story wasn't in the book, and that the support agency supporting Sally Ann had read the book and put her up to it because they hate her for some reason.
She revealed to anyone who'd listen - strangers online - the name of this agency. No serious professional or anyone with ethics would breach a survivor's confidentiality in that way.
She said Sally Ann was mistaken, that the story in the book was another woman's and that she had written consent for everyone in the book. She also told lots of people that the woman who's story it actually was, was upset about what Sally Ann was saying.
She painted a picture of Sally Ann as a crazy stalker who was obsessed with Jess and told people she'd had no choice but to call the police and that they would be arresting her, and also Rachel Williams, another survivor who stood up for Sally Ann publicly.
But this wasn't true. How do we know this? Well, partly because of Sally Ann's compelling testimony, but also because Jess's story suddenly changed.
It turns out Sally Ann had given permission - via a Facebook message, while distressed - but ONLY for her story to be used in a blog, never for the subsequent report or the book. There was no consent form.
And so Jess started saying that Sally Ann's admission that she'd given permission for the blog was sufficient permission for the book. Which means, all of a sudden, she DOES accept that Sally Ann is in the book - but no recognition that she's changed her story.
What about the woman who's story was supposedly in the book? Who was upset by the whole thing?
It was too late though, Jessica had hoist herself by her own petard. Her outrageous lies and bullying of Sally Ann were out in the public domain for all who cared to look, to see.