Original article: http://www.livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/07/18/How_to_cure_anorexia_with_exorcisms_101

18/07/2008 | Tim Brunero

Exorcisms to cure mental illness and drug addiction, locking vulnerable people away from friends and family, prayer as a solution to all problems – sounds like psych ward from last century. But actually it’s just the ‘Mercy Way’.

The once mighty ‘Mercy Ministries’, a secretive outfit that purports to treat young women with mental illness, is now in serious trouble.

Bankrolled by controversial Pentecostal group the ‘Hillsong Church’ and Hillsong-aligned Gloria Jean’s coffees the group has been the subject of a number of complaints to authorities. They’ve already closed one of their two facilities.

Women who’ve been through its programs say the main ‘treatment’ they were prescribed were exorcisms and prayer study, supervised by bible studies students. That’s whether they were dealing with anorexia, anxiety disorders or substance abuse.

And all the time being kept virtually as prisoners - cut off from the outside world with no TV or newspapers, with severely restricted access to friends and family and made to even ask permission to go to the toilet.

Nowhere was the promised phalanx of mental health professionals, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and dieticians. Just bible studies students whose answer to all questions was more prayer.

Three former residents told LIVENEWS.com.au they were left in a worse state after going to stay at Mercy Ministries – which still operates in a house in Sydney’s Glenhaven.

Meg Smith (not her real name) says she went to Mercy because of the group’s promise of free treatment for her anxiety disorder and panic attacks.

But she quickly became disheartened after “free” meant signing over her Centrelink payments to the group and “treatment” didn’t include proper access to doctors, psychologists and social workers.

“The ‘counsellor’ I had was not qualified to treat mental illness… nobody there was. She was in the middle of a mercy ‘in-house program’ to teach her how to prayer counsel,” says Smith.

“I spent months there and the only ‘therapy’ I had was prayer readings and an exorcism.”

She paints a disturbing picture - where a group of vulnerable girls isolated in a suburban home and forbidden to leave or form friendships on pain of being expelled – followed a punishing daily routine.

A seven o’clock wake up call and a stint of cleaning was followed by bible reading.

After that came a “praise” session where the girls would stand in a circle, eyes closed, singing along to Christian music and jumping on the spot with arms outstretched.

After locked food cupboards were opened for a piece of fruit or a few tablespoons of yoghurt it was back to class – usually taking notes from audio tapes by Joyce Meyer, an American evangelist.

After lunch, homework, letter-writing and recreation were followed by more cleaning and bible study.

Smith began to get worse.

“I was having lots of panic attacks… they seemed to be getting worse at ministry,” she said.

“I couldn’t work out why, apart from being away from friends and family and my support network.

“I was self harming – I was cutting my arm with anything I could get my hands on – scratching with anything from my nails to paper clips.

“I never really had a problem with self harm beforehand. When you tell them about self harming they said I was trying to get attention and I was taking their valuable time away from girls with real problems.”

Finally Smith was told she would have to have what she describes as an ‘exorcism’.

“The counsellor gave me a list of different demons – demon of anger, demon of unforgiveness, demon of pride, there were lots of them and I was told to go away and circle the demons I had in me or around me,” said Smith.

“I was really scared… they cast demons out of me, one by one, and they became quite excited and animated during the process, and spoke in tongues.

“It was the counsellors and myself and they put their hands on me and started praying one by one for each of the demons that were on the list to be cast out of me.

“After each demon was cast out I had to say ‘I confirm the demon of X has been cast out of me in the name of Jesus and is unwelcome to return.’

“The whole time I was there, all I heard was that I’m demonic.

“Even after the exorcism, when I had the next anxiety attack, I was told that they had already cast the demons out, so therefore I was obviously either faking it, or I had chosen to let the demons come back, in which case I was not serious about getting better.

“They kept telling us that the world can’t help us, professionals with all their ‘worldly qualifications’ can’t help us, only Mercy could because only they have God’s power.

“So when I was kicked out for being ‘demonic, unable to be helped, not worth a place at Mercy and because I had taken too long to pray to become a Christian… it left me worse than I had ever been before in my life.

“They told me I would never get better now because I had blown my chance. I started cutting my arms and wrists more than ever, with their voices echoing in my mind as I did it.”

Suicidal and self harming after being removed from the program, which she now thought was her only hope, she went to see a “proper psychologist to prepare me to go back to Mercy to help me fit in better.”

“The psychologist had never heard of them but told me to stay away from them… that person helped me more in the 40 minute session – really listening to me and understanding me.”

Smith, who is on the mend after a long process, is not alone.

Other women who spoke to LIVENEWS.com.au described being “literally bible bashed” and supervised during limited visits to GPs and psychiatrists.

One Patricia (not her real name) says when she approached staff with problems she was asked if she had prayed about it.

“In the end I stopped going to staff members because they just didn’t seem to help me and that’s one of the things they commented on… but how can you when they’re not actually helping you?” she said.

“I went to the psychiatrist three times in eight months I was there to get medication – and I was always accompanied in the session by a staff member.

“Once I told the psychiatrist what I was feeling and when we got back to the house I was yelled at because I hadn’t told the staff there… Now I go to the psychiatrist every two weeks – that’s the kind of care you need when you’re acutely unwell.

“Four to six weeks after I got kicked out I tried to kill myself and I almost succeeded and it was because I didn’t think I could live or get better without Mercy because it was just so ingrained into me.”

Since the former clients of Mercy Ministires began telling their stories, high profile “sponsors” listed on their website have disappeared. No longer do Rebel Sport, Bunnings Warehouse or LG electronics have anything to do with with the group.

Gloria Jean’s coffees, which once had collection boxes for the groups in all their stores, and whose former managing director, Peter Irvine, was a director at Mercy, still maintains conspicuous support.

The group have closed their Queensland centre but the Sydney facility remains open for business – still without scrutiny from government authorities.

Ready to continue to dispense their peculiar kind of care to the most vulnerable.

  

The original article can be found here:  http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2008/jun/07/mercy-ministries-close-coast-home/

By Toby Walker

7th June 2008

A Christian care group accused of mistreating troubled young women will close its Sunshine Coast home.

Sydney-based Mercy Ministries issued a statement on its website this week citing “strategic and resourcing issues” as the reason behind the closure of its Glenview home.

It said the closure at the end of next month would not disadvantage any women currently enrolled in its program.

“The majority of the young women receiving care in the home will be able to graduate prior to the closing,” it read.

“The other residents will have the opportunity to complete the program in the Mercy Ministries Sydney home.”

Executives for the group, an international organisation that has operated in Australia since 2000, declined to elaborate on the reasons behind the closure when contacted by the Daily yesterday.

On its website, Mercy Ministries claims to treat women aged 16 to 28 by “providing homes and care for young women suffering the effects of eating disorders, self-harm, abuse, depression, unplanned pregnancies and other life-controlling issues”.

Earlier this year, Mercy Ministries became embroiled in a national controversy when three girls who had gone through the program, including two on the Sunshine Coast, went public with their claims of mistreatment.

They alleged the six-month programs left them suicidal due to the “emotionally cruel and medically unproven techniques”, such as exorcisms and “separation contracts” between friends.

Last month, the Democrats called on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to investigate the group, alleging it had misled young women by making them think they would receive free treatment..

News of the Sunshine Coast home’s closure was welcomed yesterday in a joint statement on website mercysurvivors.com, a blog set up to record stories of alleged abuse and neglect told by young women formerly placed in the Mercy Ministries program.

“The closure of the Sunshine Coast home brings us one step closer to our goal of protecting other young women from mistreatment and abuse at the hands of Mercy Ministries,” it said.

“Unfortunately, many of us turned to Mercy Ministries because we could not afford treatment at other reputable facilities.

“It’s become clear that there is a great need for professional, quality mental health care regardless of each person’s socio-economic status, and that such treatment programs must be held accountable to the government so that others will not suffer mistreatment like the residents of Mercy Ministries.”

 Original article: http://queernews.co.cc/regular/opinion/gloria-jeans-and-the-mercy-ministries/

The Hon. Ian Hunter is a Member of the Legislative Council and chairperson of the Social Development Committee. Below is an extract from a Matter of Interest speech made before the Upper House on Wednesday April 30.

I was shocked and dismayed at recent reports in the Sydney Morning Herald from journalist Ruth Pollard about the activities of a secretive religious organisation called Mercy Ministries, which takes young women with emotional and mental health problems and attempts to cure them through prayer and exorcism rather than through qualified medical or psychiatric treatment.

I am also concerned at reports that they are considering opening similar centres here.

Mercy Ministries takes in women from the ages of 16 to 28 offering support from, in their words “psychologists, general practitioners, dieticians, social workers, [and] career counsellors.”

Another dimension to this is that Gloria Jeans cafes throughout Australia have been promoting this Ministry through their outlets.

Gloria Jeans is the major sponsor of the program, a program which we shouldn’t be surprised has close links to the Hillsong Church. Gloria Jeans reportedly contributes 90% of all money the Ministries receive. On their website, Gloria Jeans describes the Mercy Ministries as:
… a national charity that provides a free residential program for women in crisis, aged between 16 and 28 years. At Mercy Ministries’ homes, young women receive support and counselling to help deal with eating disorders, self harm, abuse, depression and life controlling issues.

The truth though has been revealed by whistle blowers who say that they came out of the Ministries’ program suicidal and more depressed than ever, convinced that their problems were due to demonic possession and Satanic control.

Now I have no problem with church groups supporting the vulnerable in our community, indeed I admire them for doing so. But when the services they provide – with the continued backing of corporations such as Gloria Jeans – claim to be medical and psychiatric, but are actually based on this sort of superstitious nonsense, we really must speak out. This is the worst sort of American theological hooliganism which I had hoped we in Australia were immune to.

Ruth Pollard’s articles detail the experiences of three young women in particular, who spent time in the program because of various psychological disorders. They were subjected to a regime of prayer and Christian counselling. They were subjected to exorcisms which were supposed to expel the evil demons which they claim cause bipolar disorder, depression and eating disorders.

They were effectively isolated from the outside world in what Pollard calls a “humidicrib of Pentecostal religion.”

According to Mercy, 96 women have “graduated” from the program however what it doesn’t say is that many others have been expelled with no support or follow-up care. According to reports published by the ABC many girls have left the Mercy Centre suicidal after being told they were possessed by demons.

21 year old Naomi Johnson’s story is typical.

When she entered she was suffering from anorexia. Because her family did not have private health insurance, after much searching, they found the Mercy Ministries website.

After 9 months in the Sydney Ministry, she was finally expelled, a broken woman. During this time she received no accredited psychiatric help, and was subject to exorcism to expel the demons of her anorexia.

Upon expulsion – she claims for smoking a cigarette - Johnson was so crippled by the experience she could barely function in the adult world. Ms Johnson’s mother gives a harrowing account of how her daughter “went into that place as a young lady and came back to us as a child”.

Another former Mercy Ministries participant Rhiannon Canham-Wright has commented that “every time I had an asthma attack they told me to stop acting… I was punished; I had to do an assignment about why God believes that I was lying.”

Those who sign up for the Mercy Ministries program are:

- Forced to sign separation contracts agreeing not to see those who the Ministries view as “troublemakers”

- Prevented from talking about their past

- Given scant medical or psychiatric assistance

- Not allowed to get medical help for bipolar disorder, anxiety or anorexia.

Former participants have even told of being locked in their rooms and told that they were useless and not worth helping.

This horrific level of control and manipulation even extends to forcing those in their care to ask permission before they do things as simple as taking a garbage bag out to the bin or even clean their teeth.

“It was a lot to do with control and manipulation, and it just shows that they did have that power over us” says Ms Johnson.

But if all this wasn’t enough, not only are the organisers attempting to manipulate and indoctrinate innocent young women with their dangerous dogma, recent reports by the ABC have shown they are now attempting to make a quick buck out of it.

The Mercy Ministries have according to the report recently been referred to the ACCC after fresh claims that many young women enter the centres thinking they would receive free help when in fact Mercy allegedly claim carers benefits from Centrelink.

These events are not in the past. These horrific centres are still operating in Sydney and on the Sunshine Coast and there are plans to open similar centres in Adelaide. Mercy Ministries remains committed to continuing its operations despite intense controversy and, given these concerns, several corporations have acted quickly to cut their ties with Mercy Ministries but not Gloria Jeans coffee shops.

I’ll certainly be thinking twice about where I buy my next cup of coffee.

The press release can be found here: http://www.democrats.org.au/news/?press_id=6550 MERCY MINISTRIES MISINFORMATION REFERRED TO ACCC The Democrats succeeded in having the Mercy Ministries referred to the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission for allegedly misleading troubled young women into thinking they would receive free, specialist mental health services but instead, bombarding them with extremist and damaging religious ‘instruction’. “It is high time this religious group was investigated and called to account for what their victims describe as emotional and spiritual abuse,” Senator Allison said. Mercy Ministries invite young women ’suffering from the effects of eating disorders, self harm, abuse, depression, unplanned pregnancies and other life-controlling issues’ into the program claiming to offer “…… professional support from psychologists, dieticians, general practitioners, social workers, counsellors and program staff who all contribute to provide daily education for the young women in our care”. “It was not free and it certainly was not therapeutic. By all accounts Mercy Ministries staff had no accreditation or counselling qualifications and, according to the victims, the mental health issues that brought them to the program were ignored while they underwent exorcism and bible study. A number of the young women who participated in Mercy Ministries’ live in program reported suicidal depression following the ‘counselling’ and ‘guidance’. The Minister for Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs Chris Bowen advised Senator Allison yesterday that the matter had been referred to the ACCC following her Senate motion in March. “Mercy Ministries may claim that, their service is ‘free’, and therefore not governed by the Trades Practices Act, however, these young women had to sign over all their benefits to Mercy Ministries. There should be no doubt they were charged to be part of the program and therefore have a right to be protected from misleading practices. “If the courts find this not to be the case then the law should be changed to protect such vulnerable people. “It is also reasonable to expect Centrelink to make proper checks on the credentials of non-government organisations to whom they make direct payments on behalf of their clients,” Senator Allison concluded.

Original article: http://www.smh.com.au/news/editorial/the-wreck-of-the-sydney/2008/03/17/1205602284363.html?page=2

WHAT IS the appropriate role for Satan in the delivery of mental health services? A silly question, you may think, in the 21st century. But the stories of young women struggling with conditions such as anorexia and drug addiction who have been drawn to Mercy Ministries show it is not silly at all. As the Herald has revealed, Mercy’s treatment - if that is the correct term - for a range of common but nonetheless dangerous psychiatric disorders appears to be an intense, cloistered, and cult-like course of religious indoctrination, administered by people many of whom are being trained for the ministry, not in medicine or psychiatry. That explains why exorcism - part of the church’s spiritual armoury against Satan - is used as a treatment for what specialists would see as symptoms of mental illness.

People should be free to believe in whatever they like, of course, and some Mercy patients may indeed have found its spiritual offerings helpful in dealing with mental illness. But a wide gulf separates religion and psychiatry. In its publicity, Mercy Ministries appears to offer mental health services. What kind of mental health institution expels unruly patients - as Mercy Ministries has - who are then left to struggle unaided with symptoms that have been aggravated by the experience? An organisation holding itself out as providing mental health services should be subject to rigorous medical standards, and employ qualified staff for accredited programs of treatment.

Some of the women the Herald spoke to were encouraged to divert their Centrelink payments to Mercy Ministries. Others say they were encouraged to move to disability benefits so the organisation could then claim carer’s benefit for them, as well as most of their pension. Given the questions surrounding the performance and methods of Mercy Ministries, the Federal Government is right to investigate any suggestion that Centrelink may have somehow assisted the organisation.

The broader issue raised by the Mercy Ministries story is: should vulnerable individuals be forced - by a lack of government services - into the arms of religious practitioners whose methods bear little relationship to modern psychiatry? Clearly not. Funding for mainstream mental health services should be enough to ensure they can meet demand.

Original article: http://www.insideretailing.com.au/articles-page.aspx?articleType=ArticleView&articleId=2491

Ian Martini has stepped down as group CEO at Gloria Jean’s Coffees , reports the Australian Financial Review.

The company said in a statement “after much discussion with the board and for personal reasons, Ian will no longer be continuing as group chief executive”.

The business will be run by a senior management committee in conjunction with the company board represented by John Dwight.

Gloria Jeans has this week been embroiled in controversy over its sponsorship of MercyMinistries – a ministry supported by the Hillsong foundation.

A recent Sydney Morning Herald investigation into Mercy Ministries alleges several young women suffering mental illnesses had been mistreated by the ministry.

Gloria Jean’s Coffees told the SMH it had no plans to change its sponsorship arrangements with Mercy Ministries, despite the allegations.

However several other companies that had been listed as corporate sponsors, such as Bunnings, Rebel Sport and LG have moved to distanced themselves from the ministry, the SMH reports.

The orginal article can be seen here: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/hell-or-a-godsend-women-tell-their-stories/2008/03/17/1205602293125.html

MORE young women who say they were damaged by their time in Mercy Ministries have come forward to tell their stories, as further details emerge of the fundamentalist group’s questionable practices.

“I have been in the program, too: once in Sydney … and the other time at the Sunshine Coast home, where they kicked me out when they caught me trying to hang myself, [saying] I was a risk to their program,” Melissa, 24, said yesterday.

“Their methods are harsh. You get separated from the entire non-Christian world: no TV, no newspapers and just three, 15-minute phone calls home a week.”

Melissa, who did not want her last name revealed, said she, too, began to harm herself in Mercy Ministries. Since she was kicked out in 2005, she has sought professional care for depression, bulimia and drug addiction.

“I went to another place, one that treated me like an adult and helped prepare me to cope in the real world,” she said.

“I saw a lot of girls come and go from Mercy Ministries during my time there - many were in very extreme situations.”

Another woman - a 24-year-old from Castle Hill who did not want to be identified - entered the Sunshine Coast house in December 2004, after she developed bipolar disorder and tried to kill herself. “Until this morning I thought I was the only one to have been through this - now I know there are others,” she said last night.

She described “eight very long months of sheer hell” in which she was prevented from using prescription medication to help her sleep, triggering debilitating migraines. The staff refused to let her have even the most basic painkillers to cope with the symptoms. “These are only some of the times I was denied medical and psychological help. There are many more,” she said.

The Herald invited the former managing director of Mercy Ministries, Peter Irvine, now its sponsorship manager, to give contact details of young women who had successfully graduated from its program. No response had been received last night.

But one graduate wrote to the Herald about her positive experience in the ministry’s Sydney house: “I graduated four years ago from the Sydney home after having previously being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression and borderline personality disorder. Before I entered the program, my life was in danger - being in Mercy completely changed that around.”

Since graduating, she had completed a degree, was part way through her honours year and has been accepted into a doctorate program, she wrote, because of the lessons she learned in Mercy Ministries.