DALLAS — Kyle Sessums goes by the online name “Big Bear.”
He’s a prolific poster on TikTok, followed by more than 450,000 people. Many of his videos involve him talking about sex and issues related to sex.
And it is sexual issues that got him in trouble with the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council. Sessums is a licensed marriage and family council and owner of Envisions Counseling in Allen.
Last March, the council suspended Sessums’ license after finding he “sent explicit text messages and pictures and videos to a client.”
“He’s not worthy of his profession,” said the mother of that now-24-year-old former client. “He’s a danger.”
WFAA is not using her name to protect the identity of her daughter.
The former client’s mother contacted WFAA after we aired a story in November about a counselor who had crossed the line to a romantic relationship with a client. The client in that case had recorded her counselor admitting to the inappropriate behavior.
The council suspended the license of that counselor, Max Duran, last year.
The mother of Sessums’ former client told WFAA her daughter began seeing Sessums for therapy in late 2021 because of severe anxiety. She says Sessums followed her daughter on Snapchat and began messaging about his personal life including the impending birth of his child.
“I don’t think that my daughter was aware when he added her to Snapchat that it was inappropriate because it started so benign,” the former client’s mother said.
Eventually, the former client’s mother says the messages turned sexual. She provided WFAA screenshots of the messages and video recordings.
In June 2022, according to a screenshot, he asked, “What all are you wearing now” with two eyeball emojis.
“a shirt and shirt why,” she replied.
“Because I want to see it,” he asked in response.
“do you think you should be asking that of me? she replied.
He then responded, “Do you think you should be asking for me to show you me (crude language) off and (crude language)?”
In another set of messages, he asked if she wanted to see if she wanted to see him masturbating.
“show me,” she replied.
The messages show that he then sent a sexually explicit video.
The former client’s mother told WFAA that her daughter’s boyfriend was with her and told she should tell him to send it so that she would have proof that he had crossed the line.
She provided WFAA with a screenshot of a message she says he sent the next day.
“I want to tell you that i (sic) genuinely broke down emotionally very late last night,” the message said. “Our conversations and friendship has gone too far, beyond what’s okay. … It would be best not to be Snapchat friends any longer. I’m not happy with myself.”
Her daughter had recorded the sexually explicit video and turned it over to the Allen Police Department.
According to police records, the detective spoke to Sessums and “he lawyered up.” The detective also spoke with the victim’s daughter who “described a disturbing course of events that led to Kyle Sessums sending a Snapchat of himself masturbating.”
“She states that once he crossed the line she felt that in order to have evidence she had to play along and consent him to him sending a sexually graphic video,” the detective wrote. “Because she consented, no charges will be filed.”
But for Texas regulators, the issue of consent didn’t matter.
“That's really irrelevant because it's up to the licensee to know that that is unacceptable, regardless of which side initiates it,” said Darrel Spinks, the council’s executive director.
Last March, Sessums agreed to an order suspending his license for four years.
As part of the deal, Sessums did not “admit” to the findings that he sent sexually explicit messages to a client and that he practiced with an expired license.
Sessums did agree to undergo therapy and to take 16 hours of “professional development related to boundaries.”
The suspension could be lifted as soon as this spring, however, if his therapist agrees that he’s “fit to practice marriage and family therapy.”
“The thought of him getting his license back and being able to independently practice scares me. I don't want anyone to have to go through what my daughter went through,” the client’s mother told WFAA.
However, the former client’s mother told WFAA that she believed Sessums might still be seeing clients in violation of the order.
In early January, investigative producer Mark Smith spoke with Sessums and asked if he was still seeing clients.
“I'm not doing any work under the guise of a therapist,” he said. “I'm not a therapist.”
Smith asked Sessums about the order suspending his license. He responded, “Whatever information you guys are trying to gather is probably pretty inaccurate on some things, from what I know.”
Investigative reporter Tanya Eiserer returned nine days later to find out if clients were still seeing Sessums for therapy.
Eiserer approached a young man who was coming out of Sessums’ office.
“Is he your therapist? Eiserer asked.
“He is,” he responded.
“How long have you been seeing him?” she asked.
“About a year now,” he responded.
Asked if he knew that Sessums was suspended, the client responded, “No.”
Eiserer showed him a copy of the council’s order suspending Sessum’s license.
“It’s just a shock to me,” the client said.
Asked if he planned to continue seeing Sessums, he responded, “Probably not.”
WFAA also spoke with a second client who told WFAA that he had just come out of a therapy session with Sessums.
The parents of the second client told WFAA in a statement, that their son, now a young adult, saw Sessums for several years, then went several years with no therapy before starting to see him again in the fall of 2023 to help him “get through a difficult situation.”
“Kyle was accommodating, and weekly therapy sessions were arranged,” the statement said. “Over a dozen paid sessions later, we came to find out that his license to practice therapy was suspended months prior to the time when we reached out. We immediately cancelled all future sessions – at which point we were told by Kyle that he was a life coach and not a licensed therapist.
“Had we known or ever at any point had it been suggested he was a life coach and not a therapist, we would have sought therapy elsewhere,” the statement said. “There were plenty of opportunities in conversations we had with Kyle, that he could have made clear he was no longer a therapist.”
The parents of the young man said their son “really looked up to and felt safe trusting Kyle and he let us all down in a big way.”
“We were surprised to hear of the reasons why his license was suspended and are still dealing with the shock of it all,” the statement said. “It is shameful that we were not provided with the truth up front by someone we trusted. I would implore any person currently seeing a therapist or considering therapy to do a quick license search on the Texas Behavioral Heath Executive Council website for peace of mind.”
After speaking with the two clients, WFAA approached Sessums inside his office. He repeatedly declined to comment about the statements made by the two clients that he was still their therapist.
Spinks, the council’s executive director, told WFAA that he couldn’t comment on what would happen in this case.
“Generally speaking, if someone signs an agreed order on what we call a priority one violation and then they disobey that order or they violate that order, … state agencies are left with very little recourse of what to do with that individual other than to revoke them,” Spinks said.
He also said that an individual licensed by the council can’t get around the council’s order by calling themselves a life coach or something similar.
“We look and see, what are you actually doing?” Spinks said. “If you're still practicing marriage and family therapy, then I don't care what you call it, you're breaking the law.”
“I think that's some pretty damning evidence that that those individuals have and that is something that we would certainly take a very hard look at if that were provided to us,” he said of the statement made by the parents.
In a statement, Sessums’ attorney said, “The Agreed Order from the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council speaks for itself and Mr. Sessums is complying with the terms of the Agreed Order. Due to patient privacy and other confidentiality concerns, Mr. Sessums is unable to provide any further comment at this time.”
The client’s mother says her daughter now sees a female therapist.
“There's a little piece of her that's been destroyed that can't be given back no matter what,” she said.
On Thursday, Sessums posted a statement on his TikTok page, saying:
"Later today, I'll be taking a break from TikTok. I need to take some time for my own mental health and personal life. Please make better decisions than I have & be careful who you allow in your life. Don't stop trying to improve and show love to those who are important to your life. Thank you for so much love & support over the years."