Rebecca White: Former client ‘stabs therapist to death’ and leaves current patient severely injured
CONTENT WARNING: Violence and suicide
A therapist has died after her former client came to her office and “stabbed her” and another of her clients to death before killing himself.
Rebecca White, 44, had just completed a session in her Orlando, Florida office when the incident unfolded.
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According to Orange County Sheriff’s Office, when Mr Smith was told he couldn’t enter the practice, he attacked Ms White and the client she had just finished seeing with a knife.
Police said the unnamed current client, who is in his 30s, managed to call emergency services.
Both Ms White and the client were stabbed. Ms White was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, but tragically she was unable to be saved.
The client was taken in for surgery, and is expected to survive his injuries according to WESH.
Police said they found Mr Smith’s body on the morning of January 20 near the 9000 block of Windy Ridge Road.
They said he died by suicide.
Ms White was a well-known mental health counsellor in the local area, having begun her career as a therapist in 2008.
In 2022, she founded her own practice, Down to Earth Therapy Solutions, according to the New York Post.
Prior to this, Ms White had worked as a family therapist and behavioural health consultant at Florida’s department of children and families.
No further details about the incident have been made public by authorities.
Tributes for Ms White are flowing on social media, with many saying her absence will be felt by the community and her clients.
“I’m a therapist and was in a Florida therapists Facebook group with her. This news has horrified and saddened me. Thinking of her family and clients today,” one Facebook user wrote.
“This is heartbreaking as a fellow therapist, we have the best intentions of why we go into the field and want to help others, thinking the best of people. So sorry for loss to her family, colleagues and clients,” another commented.
If you or someone you know needs help, you can contact Lifeline: 13 11 14.
