Curious Christian

Reflections on culture, nature, and spirituality from a Christian perspective

Hillsong In Trouble Over Mercy Ministries

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Matt Stone

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Hillsong hit the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald this morning with an exposé of Mercy Ministries.

In an article entitled, “They sought help, but got exorcism and the Bible”, it was said:

A SECRETIVE ministry with direct links to Gloria Jean’s Coffees and the Hillsong Church has been deceiving troubled young women into signing over months of their lives to a program that offers scant medical or psychiatric care, instead using Bible studies and exorcisms to treat mental illness.

Government agencies such as Centrelink have also been drawn into the controversy, as residents are required to transfer their benefits to Mercy Ministries. There are also allegations that the group receives a carers payment to look after the young women.

Read the SMH article on Hillsong for more.

I then took a peek over at the Mercy Ministries website which said:

Mercy Ministries is a national non profit organisation dedicated to providing homes and care for young women suffering the effects of eating disorders, self harm, abuse, depression, unplanned pregnancies and other life controlling issues.

Mercy Ministries is a structured residential based program that provides professional support from psychologists, dieticians, general practitioners, social workers, career counsellors and daily education from program staff to support the young women in our care.

We provide a holistic program that addresses all aspects of a young woman’s well being; physical, spiritual and emotional. Mercy Ministries is a faith based organisation dedicated to the support of young women in crisis.

I am left wondering what to make of this. There has been a lot of scare mongering about Hillsong in the past which, in the fullness of time, turned out to be grounded in only the loosest of facts in a sea of innuendo.

In fact (and this is pure co-incidence) only last night I was having a laugh with my brother-in-law, a Hillsong member, about the Today Tonight’s last exposé on Hillsong’s alleged manipulation of Australian Idol votes. This exposé turned into a farce once it became apparent that no Hillsong members were actually in the competition – hence my mirth.

So, despite some misgivings that I do have about the way Hillsong operate (I am no apologist for them by any stretch of the imagination) I have learnt not to take these journalist outings at face value. For instance, how “secretive” is a ministry that has a flashy web page? And, would a “holistic” ministry pushing New Age style spirituality have coped the same flack as one pushing Pentecostal style spirituality? So I am left wondering what the real truth of this matter is.

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57 responses to “Hillsong In Trouble Over Mercy Ministries”

  1. matt Avatar
    matt

    I’ve noticed the same thing with Hillsong bashing. The journalists seem to be asleep to the fact that Hillsong doesn’t fit into their preconceived and prejudiced imported-from-America model of Pentecostalism. While I suspect I would have problems with Mercy Ministries if I were to check them out more closely, it doesn’t seem as sinister as the newspaper makes out and from what I can tell, the women involved are receiving something that many secular agencies can’t provide: a community where they can belong. The major problem of course is what happens to the women that don’t want to fit into the Hillsong religious framework. I suppose they are cast back into the outer darkness. But who wouldn’t convert to Christianity when offered that choice?

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  2. Vanessa Avatar
    Vanessa

    I am a good friend of one of the girls mentioned in the article.
    She was already a christian before she went to Mercy Ministries – she grew up in a christian family and already went to church.
    From knowing her before her time at Mercy Ministries, and afterwards, I believe the article depicted Mercy Ministries extremely accurately.
    If Mercy Ministries was run the way they claim to run on their website, then nothing would really be wrong. It’s what goes on behind closed doors that is secretive, and extremely abusive. The article could only be so many words and only cover so much.
    Also the fact that Mercy Ministries ignored enquiries from psychologists and family members after my friend was turfed out rings huge alarm bells.
    I congratulate the journalist who has brought the truth about this organisation into the light.

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  3. matt Avatar
    matt

    Hmm, yeah I didn’t read page two where they get into some of the specifics… like the false advertising on their web-page! So there is more to this than the Idol thing. I was basing some of my comment on the Four Corners thing they did on Hillsong / Bobby Houston a couple years back where they didn’t seem to have any real dirt.

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  4. Matt Stone Avatar
    Matt Stone

    Thanks for commenting Vanessa, I appreciate hearing from someone closer to one of the sources. If I may ask, and feel no obligation to reply as I appreciate the sensitivity of this, was there any indication that services would have been withheld by Mercy Ministries if a donation was not forthcoming? Also, do you know if the Christian counselors involved were professionally qualified? As I am studying counseling at a Christian college you might gather where some of my interest comes from. In any event, I welcome an open investigation of the complaints and may God bless your friend in her recovery.

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  5. Vanessa Avatar
    Vanessa

    Hi, my friend has given me permission to answer your questions, so here goes.
    Girls who had any debt (car loan for example) had to have either paid it off before going to MM or arrange for others to pay it for them. The reason for this is that when girls arrive at MM, they take the girls to centrelink to sign up for sickness allowance benefits. MM then forces girls to sign all of their payments over to them.
    $200 is also required as a deposit for medications etc, and needs to be topped up as it is used.
    Girls not eligable for centrelink payments had to provide the $200 plus $30/week themselves (normally through a family member, as girls are not allowed out of the MM house to work.)
    So in answer to your question, yes MM indicated that they would not take a girl if she was unable to meet those financial requirements.
    Regarding the counsellors at MM, all they had done was a Mercy Ministries “in house counselling program.” They weren’t required to have university qualifications in psychology, social work, counselling or anything like that. Of course there have probably been staff change overs since she was there. But I find it appaling that MM are trying to misrepresent the qualifications of their staff.
    My friend went to MM on the presumption that they were telling the truth when they claimed that girls would be under the care of psychologists, counsellors, social workers, dieticians etc. She even made a point of telephoning to make sure the staff were qualified before she applied. She was told that ALL staff are professionally qualified to treat mental illness, that is the only reason she even went there.
    I hope that answers some of your questions. Thank you for asking, and all the best with your studies! We need more QUALIFIED Christian counsellors, social workers and psychologists in this country so that abusive cults like Mercy Ministries don’t have access to our young people.

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  6. JT Avatar
    JT

    Hmmm…I’m a bit puzzled? If she claims to have sought & tried every professional support available before being accepted by MM, then why hasn’t anything worked out for her? Just curious.Jt

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  7. Vanessa Avatar
    Vanessa

    JT which girl are you talking about?
    I can’t speak for all of them, but the girl who I am friends with chose to go to MM above other organisations/other help because of how they (mis)represented their ‘treatment’ program. It does sound good if you believe the hype and believe their website/brochures etc. Unfortunately the actual program they are running is nothing like they are claiming, my friend didn’t even get to see a Psych in the whole time she was there (even though they promote themselves as having a psych on staff and providing psychological treatment for the girls.)

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  8. Deborah Taggart Avatar
    Deborah Taggart

    I laughed at the opening paragraph of that article, so ridiculous – ‘a secretive ministry with direct links to Gloria Jean’s Coffees and the Hillsong Church’. So the direct link is that Mercy is Gloria Jeans’ official charity, just like Woolworths supports Sydney Children’s Hospital.
    When the opening paragraph already distorts the facts, I’m inclined to be skeptical of the entire article. If the author had a valid point, she would have been better off to state it in a balanced way! Unless readers really do swallow this stuff!
    I have a friend who works at Mercy, and a friend who has been through the recovery program. Here’s my scoop…
    *Mercy program participants have a weekly meeting with a qualified counsellor. Extra meetings are arranged if deemed necessary. Even when they are on the waiting list, they have a liaison officer, who gives basic support and encourages them to find a local counsellor while they are waiting to get in to the program. After they graduate, there is still counselling support made available.
    *Mercy program participants have regular medical checkups (I don’t recall how often; it was at least once a month but more often if necessary, and antidepressants were accepted as a part of recovery process)
    *When you visit Mercy, it is obvious more money is spent on the women than they sign over through Centrelink. They have very comfortable accommodation, healthy food, access to libraries, medical and counselling support, gym facilities and all kinds of outings. They get a portion of the Centrelink funding to keep for themselves (maybe $30 a fortnight? My idea is sketchy) and are allowed to go on shopping trips. At times when I was a student I lived less glamorously and had less spending money. Studies show that people who invest their finance into counselling become more committed to making it work for them. When I took my friend to centrelink to sort out her payments after she graduated from Mercy, there was even a box to tick on the form explaining her allowance had been allocated as she was in a ‘recovery program’ – ie. it is not just Mercy that has these kinds of arrangements.
    * I have never heard either of my friends from Mercy mention exorcisms….
    * the article bemoans the shortage of services for people with mental illness while it slanders an organisation that is trying to make a difference – what’s with that?
    * in any service/organisation (and perhaps particularly a recovery program), you will get people who are discontent or just don’t fit the mold, or even simply personality clashes can throw a spanner in the works. I know my friend who worked at Mercy would often come home in tears because they had to ‘expel’ a girl for breaching her agreement. One example is a girl who managed to find a bit of broken glass and cut herself severely….she had already been given 2 warnings, and Mercy had to make a difficult decision that because their facilities weren’t able to provide 24 hour care for someone with a very high risk of extreme self-harm, the program was not right for her at that stage.
    * my friend who graduated from the Mercy program has experienced mixed results and still has a way to go. Obviously the girls interviewed in the article didn’t get the results they were hoping for either – but if you visit Mercy you see a wall with photos of many more graduates, and stories of how their lives ARE back on track. I’ve briefly met a few and they really seem genuine. What recovery program does have 100% success anyway? I think the reporter should have been prepared to be balanced and even a little generous…

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  9. Matt Stone Avatar
    Matt Stone

    I scanned the Mercy Ministries website again this evening after your comments Vanessa and noted they have just released a statement in response to the article earlier today.
    I found it interesting they are now saying, “We also PROVIDE ACCESS to specialised services including general practitioners, dieticians, psychiatrists and psychologists.” This comment seems somewhat more qualified than the earlier text which read, “Mercy Ministries is a structured residential based program that PROVIDES PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT from psychologists, dieticians, general practitioners…” so yes, it would seem the spin is ramping up.
    They say, “Our counselling staff are carefully recruited, hold government accredited tertiary qualifications and continue ongoing professional development” but there seems some vagueness as to whether they are referring to the “program staff” administering the daily education at that point.
    I find this interesting. The Christian counseling course I am undertaking provides qualifications at a Postgraduate Certificate and Postgraduate Diploma level, but we have been advised that independent practice pretty much requires we take our studies to a Masters level. So I would expect that the staff, if not qualified to that level themselves, that that would at least be directly supervised by someone qualified to that level. If that is not the case, or at least was not when your friend went through it, then yes, that does sound problematic from what I have been taught so far. I wonder how direct Hillsong oversight was in terms of auditing, etc.

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  10. Matt Stone Avatar
    Matt Stone

    Deborah, yes the Gloria Jean’s Coffees link was one of the things which caused me to pause initially. It doesn’t help the credibility of the article one iota and I think the journalist would have served the truth much better to take a step back and focus on the more pertinent issues.
    And it sounds like one of the issues is what level are the counselors qualified to and how are they themselves being supervised. It is considered permissible and ethical for less qualified counselors to counsel patients when properly supervised by more qualified counselors, but how Mercy Ministry operated in relation to that still isn’t clear to me from what I have heard so far.
    Background supervision could have been going on without the patient being aware of it, but then again there could indeed have been a problem with the system. I can’t really see a clear answer at this point. What this really calls for is an independent audit I feel, where duty of care towards patients and the complexity of dealing with patients suffering from psychological issues is weighed carefully.

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  11. Vanessa Avatar
    Vanessa

    Hi Deborah,
    You are almost on the right track with the link to Gloria Jeans – yes they do sponsor Mercy Ministries, however a bigger link is that the co-owner of Gloria Jeans is/was the Executive Director of Mercy Ministries. Cross promotion anyone? Come and buy a coffee from GJs and support Mercy Ministries!
    In answer to your other points:
    Counselling is not held weekly. It is held once on *most* but not all weeks. The counsellor my friend saw was *not* qualified in social work, psychology or counselling at a tertiary level. The ‘in house mercy ministries counselling program’ that she was completing was all she had in the way of counselling qualifications.
    Medical check ups were not provided. She saw a Dr of mercy ministries’ choosing only for the purpose of getting scripts filled. She was not allowed to speak with the Dr alone, there was always a staff member or volunteer present.
    Exorcisms were performed… they may have been called ‘Deliverance Ministry’ when your friend was there. Demons were cast out of girls in these deliverance ministries in order to ‘treat’ their illnesses.
    Several graduates have apparently either ended up in Psychiatric wards or continued to struggle with the same issues after ‘graduating’ from Mercy Ministries ‘treatment.’ You will not often hear about them because, after all, Mercy Ministries likes to promote what they deem to be ‘success stories’, so not suprisingly, the girls they hurt, kick out and abuse are not mentioned.
    I hope this answers some of your questions.
    The media is doing a fantastic job of exposing this abusive organisation, and I praise the efforts of the Sydney Morning Herald for speaking up for girls who would not normally be able to do so for themselves.

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  12. naomi johnson Avatar
    naomi johnson

    Hi I am that girl… I am Naomi Johnson, and I thank those who have been open to hearing this truth. I have this to say to the person who said “I laughed at the opening ……….” in regard to the SMH reporting. I can understand the urge to giggle at such thing, esp. when you don’t know the people. I’m not mad at your sentiments, indeed sometimes all one can do is laugh… but you know, this is my life, this is not about bashing Christians, it’s not about bashing hillsong, it’s not about Easter being right around the corner…. this is about my life, the lives of countless others, and the lives of more girls yet to enter in through those gates.
    As for the SMH – myself and the other 2 girls have been in communication with the SMH for a number of months, this wasn’t an “off the cuff” reporting, indeed Ruth Pollard has done a meticulous job in her research, and in her reporting. I know ppl are going to be outraged, there are going to be debate between fundamentalist, church goers, the non religious, b/c let’s face it there are so many issues at play here. And besides everyone loves a good heated debate.
    I just ask this, this one little thing to be remembered. This has not been a decision any of us have taken lightly, we are to out for fame or fortune, we have not sold our stories, and we have not received a single cent. Speaking out is in fact terrifying… sore grapes are certainly not at play here…. sour grapes do not speak out 3 yrs down the track, sour grapes do not lead to psych hospital admissions, and sour grapes do not leave a person so destroyed that they cannot even talk to their family.
    For a number of months I couldn’t talk, my family didn’t understand, of course it was put down just to the enormous crises I was left in from mercy… but they didn’t know then that I couldn’t speak to them b/c I feared that by opening my mouth I was letting that “poison” that was within me out… this is what I believed after mercy repeatedly telling me I was “poisonous”… I couldn’t speak to them (my family) b/c they were my world, they were my family and I would destroy them by opening my mouth… I loved them too much to let that happen.
    So no this isn’t about any of the debates between fundamentalists, Christianity, atheism or any of that…. of course people are going to be interested in the details, the how’s, the when’s, the why’s …… I still cannot fully comprehend all these myself. But in the end this is what remain – desperate, hurting and ill girls and young women who are seeking for help only to be left destroyed.
    My one mission is speaking out is not for me, but to stop another girl, another woman, your sister? your friend? becoming another life almost snuffed out. If my life and my experiences, as harrowing and horrific as it has been to live though… and as terrifying as it is to speak out and identify myself… but if it means I save another person from the same thing, well…. I won’t say it was worth it… but at least it’s been turned around for something good. Maybe someone will be speared and will instead receive the professional and qualified help that is really needed.
    And I say this, after everything, I do not believe mercy intended harm… the staff are ppl who just want to help… they just are not equipped to do so. Yes, some they have helped, but many, many others they have destroyed… does that really balance the odds when you’re dealing with life… b/c that is what it comes down to .
    Sure I have my opinions on the topics of debate, and I know ppl will be interested in the DETAILS, but I also hope that ppl can put aside their affiliations, and just be firstly human before taking sides and jumping on the bandwagon. I do not hate Mercy (i do not agree with them, and it scares me to think of them continuing to operate without any governing medical and professional board to whom they are accountable), I’m just deeply saddened that in their desire to help, they forget that real mental illness, psychological disorders are not things to play around with – even if all they meant was to help, the facts remain and they need to acknowledge this.

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  13. Matt Stone Avatar
    Matt Stone

    Naomi, I feel deeply saddened at the suffering you have experienced and can see this is taking a lot of courage.
    Realizing how sensitive ground we are treading on here with this conversation I would like you to know I am prepared to shut down this thread any time should you wish it. I take it though, from your comments, that you’d like more people to hear about your experience, so on that basis I’ll let it run for now, but, yes, email me privately if you want this taken offline.
    Thank you for providing more background information on the journalistic process behind this story.

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  14. naomi Avatar
    naomi

    Matt, i actually enjoy your writting style – you are very intelligent and you’r not swayed by popular media and sensationalisation.
    I have no reason to request this thread be closed… but i wanted to give the subject matter hear a lettle more indepth background.
    naomi

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  15. Matt Stone Avatar
    Matt Stone

    Appreciated Naomi.

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  16. matt smith Avatar
    matt smith

    I’m sorry for my initial reaction to this story. I should know better having seen and heard horror stories about pentecostal ‘ministry’ but just wanted to believe that Hillsong is not that bad so that I could sleep easier at night.

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  17. Emma Sullivan Avatar
    Emma Sullivan

    Hi,
    I’m a good friend of Naomi’s, and while she is quite able to take care of herself, I want to speak up for her.
    For Naomi, this is not about ‘bashing Christians’. Her priority is trying to prevent other girls/women from being hurt – I would go so far as to say traumatised – in the way that she was. She’s a reserved girl; the attention is hardly something she’s enjoying, but she’s putting that aside because she wants to try to prevent others from suffering. I admire that about her.
    Deborah – it’s pretty low to be accusing people of ‘slander’ when you don’t know their situation (I think you meant libel, btw?). I do know Naomi, and I believe her 100%. I’m sure there are people who’ve had good experiences at Mercy Ministries, but that doesn’t negate the experiences of those who’ve been traumatised.
    Regarding why people agree to the rules – it’s because they’re desperate. I’m in recovery from an eating disorder, have had problems with self injury, and so on, so I do speak from experience. The problem is that there are people/organisations who/that are willing to exploit such desperation for money, power and so forth, and I absolutely believe that Mercy Ministries is one such organisation. I imagine that some of the staff there really believe in what they’re doing, but that doesn’t make it ok; on the contrary, in many ways, to me, it makes it scarier.
    JT asked why someone might not be helped by treatment. Well, that’s complicated. Mental illness involves an incredibly complex interaction between biology and environment, and in many ways, disciplines like psychiatry and neurology are in their infancy (and I might add here that the belief that mental illness is caused by demonic possession or not being a good Christian does not promote progress; on the contrary, it promotes stigma and quackery).
    I apologise for the lengthiness, but I think this is all extremely important, and the fact that people are so anxious to dismiss this as sensationalism, or even find it all amusing, really made me want to speak up.

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  18. A Celtic Son Avatar
    A Celtic Son

    Mental health issues are an important social issue for our community, it is not a topic that benefits from simplistic or sensationalised presentations. The issue is much bigger than Mercy Ministry’s inability to provide specific care for specific clients, or their successes with others. The implication from some of the journalistic interpretations is that there are more “reliable” means of care elsewhere… but where!! The very reason that agencies like Mercy Ministry have opened their doors is because of the lack of care elsewhere.
    The implication that psychiatrists and psychologists could provide better help might well be true – though I have had mixed experiences there too – even with the benefit of the doubt, it doesn’t provide any actual help when there are none available! How easy did Naomi and the other girls find it to engage in treatment elsewhere? Not easy at all I suspect, because of the lack of concern for mental health issues in our broader welfare system.
    Our streets are littered with people struggling with mental health issues precisely because of a lack of effective care. The fact that any independent agency is trying to provide help ought to be a good thing BUT clearly there is a need for regulation, transparency and accountability. The fact that any agency is able to operate without regulation is a major fault of an already flawed system.
    There is a need for clear and approved procedures for dealing with clients with specific difficulties, and a clearer qualifying process prior to admission to any programme. Where did the girls who are in the Mercy programmes go for help prior to the availability of their programmes? In the main most of them were probably dependent on occasional visits to a GP, and the unqualified support of family members and friends – with the occasional stay in a psychiatric ward in a general hospital when their symptoms were at their worst. Treatment in a psych ward would generally have been to keep them sedated until symptoms subsided, and then to release them back into the community with no treatment to the root cause of their mental illness.
    Families are left to do their best to cope with dysfunction in their midst and are often the target of outbursts. When those situations break down do we read in the media of the failure of family and friends to provide adequate support for people with mental health issues? The media plays the angle that will most sensationalise the issues and generate most sales. The fact that they can connect this issue by some tenuous link to Hillsong church, is I suspect in the main to generate interest, not in pursuit of truth!
    It’s an easy thing to sit back and be critical of some executive director of Gloria Jeans or Hillsong church, because the system they have financed has flaws. Do we see the media barons and companies dipping into their vast profits to provide support for mental health patients? It seems that they’re happy to sit back point the finger, rile up emotions and coin in the profits.
    There will always be challenges when issues like this are addressed from the perspective of the experience of an individual. That doesn’t invalidate the individual, clearly Naomi and the other two girls mentioned have suffered from treatment inappropriate to meet their needs. However the failure of a programme to support these girls does not invalidate the treatment either, simply points to the mismatch between patient and treatment. A decent review system would have identified the mismatch and perhaps Mercy Ministry was never qualified to help the specific issues these girls presented with.
    Popular media suffers from the perception that it is more often interested in selling products than helping people. It generally attempts to engage people emotionally, rather than intellectually and is adept at pointing out problems, but practically useless at providing solutions. The media reporting on the financial aspect is a complete farce – can anyone provide information on any live-in recovery programme that does NOT require the signing over of welfare payments towards covering costs? Does anyone really think that the welfare payments of individuals in a programme, actually finance all of the staff and facilities provided and that the motive is some large profit to be made from this? To suggest that any agency is involved in this field purely for financial gain is naive at best at worst it is…
    Clearly not all mental illness is related to spirituality, but that does not necessitate that there is no link in some cases. Apart from Christians simply quoting passages from the Bible, studies have shown positive links between spirituality and health. Whether you believe in spiritual forces, or the existence of good and evil or not, there are many aspects of life that cannot be explained by rational, logical thinking and require exploration.
    It’s not my aim to dismiss the issues as sensationalism, simply point out that the reporting of it resorts to that. We’d be much better off applying energy to solutions than simply continuing to point out the problems… whinging changes nothing! Rather than just writing to newspapers about a specific agency, start a letter campaign to government, about the responsibility our society has to look after the health needs of mental health patients – as well as it does for any other illness catered for in our hospitals… but then maybe that won’t sell newspapers!
    Slainte

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  19. Matt Stone Avatar
    Matt Stone

    Everyone, Hillsong have released a press statement at their website which reads:
    “Hillsong Church had no prior knowledge of the media coverage this week on Mercy Ministries, and we are disappointed with the ferocity of this attack.”
    “We have made an annual contribution to the ongoing work of Mercy Ministries for several years, however we are not involved in the operational aspects of the organisation.”
    “The Sydney residents of Mercy Ministries also attend our Sunday morning church service.”
    “We have heard many wonderful testimonies about how the work of Mercy has helped the lives of young women facing often debilitating and life-controlling situations. Some would even say that Mercy Ministries has saved their life.”
    Source: http://cms.hillsong.com/church/christmas/default.asp?pid=2029

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  20. Bec Avatar
    Bec

    Matt, thanks for blogging on this. The discussion here is some of the more balanced discussion I’ve seen.
    Naomi – I felt that the reports in the SMH/The Age were incredibly biased, used language etc (ie there’s nothing “secretive” about MM), however I nevertheless largely believed what was written. The stories reported are entirely consistent with what the theology of the broader “Hillsongs culture” (or American pentecostal culture? I’m not sure what to call it). In your post you certainly don’t come across as someone with an axe to grind, you merely come across as someone who wants to share their story so that others might have a chance of avoiding the same experiences. I applaud you for your honesty and bravery. I truly hope that despite all the negative responses you might get from those wishing to defend Hillsong, MM etc, you also get plenty of support.
    That’s not really expressing what I want to say at all – my heart goes out to you, and I’ve been incredibly moved by your story.

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  21. Megan Avatar
    Megan

    Hi, I am Megan, one of the girls from the articles.
    I just wanted to say thank you for posting this Matt.
    It was really scary to come forward, to speak up against such a large organisation, but after what they did to me, how could I not?
    The question about the ‘secretive’ nature of Mercy Ministries – I agree, they have a flashy website and lots of flashy ways they are raising money, but the secretiveness comes in the way they run the houses from day to day. Girls in the program were not allowed to talk about their ‘treatment’ with family or friends, they performed exorcisms but we weren’t allowed to discuss them.. we weren’t allowed to discuss almost anything. I think that is where Ruth Pollard was coming from when reporting that they were secretive.
    We have received so much support and a lot of other girls who have been abused by Mercy Ministries have now come forward… I am amazed at the support we have received.. honestly I didn’t think this many people would care about what happened to us at Mercy Ministries. I am ever so grateful.
    More than anything or anyone, I have to give God the glory and the credit for pulling me through all of this… without Him, I would still be the mess I was after leaving Mercy ‘treatment.’ It was actually a wonderful group of Christians who helped pull me through it all and who have encouraged me to speak out so that more girls don’t get hurt. They showed me real love, and real mercy.. something I had never found anywhere else.
    Thank you,
    Megan

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  22. Emma Sullivan Avatar
    Emma Sullivan

    Slainte —
    There’s been plenty of discussion about inadequate government funding of ‘mainstream’ mental health services.
    I’ve been in residential treatment numerous times, both public and private, and I’ve never been asked or required to sign over Centrelink payments. I’ve also never been required to get other people to pay ongoing expenses, such as car payments, before going into a program, which Mercy Ministries requires. Also, this isn’t about the treatment at MM simply ‘not meeting some people’s needs adequately’; it’s about outright abusive ‘treatment’ methods, such as telling patients/residents that they have poisonous spirits inside them’, which was what Naomi was told. It’s about berating patients for not working through particular issues fast enough, as if one can set a time frame in which one ‘should’ get over events in their past. I’ve read the notes MM released to Naomi, and they explicitly berate her for this. In fact, the notes consist of a serious of complaints about Naomi; there is no compassion or understanding evident in them; or any attempt at such. They consist of ‘Naomi did this wrong’; ‘Naomi did that wrong’ – over and over again. These are not normal or appropriate treatment notes; I had never seen treatment providers repeatedly write ‘medical’ notes so consistently condemnatory. Yes, most of us who’ve been in treatment have minor whinges about staff and activities, but they’re just that – minor. This is not minor. As I wrote before, the practices at MM are outright abusive. Not allowing patients to consult medical practitioners without an MM staff member present is an extreme violation, and incredibly unusual.
    The claim that MM is ‘secretive’ have to do with the fact that they isolate the women/girls there from the world; they do not publicly acknowledge that there are no professionals on site; they do not publicly state that bizarre methods are used, such as walking around individual patients speaking in tongues, laying hands on the patient and so forth. This would likely be terrifying for a patient unfamiliar with pentecostal Christianity – I know I would have been scared out of my mind.
    I’ll try to continue this later.

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  23. Matt Stone Avatar
    Matt Stone

    Bec, I think we need to differentiate between Hillsong culture and the wider Pentecostal culture. Particularly when we start bringing American Pentecostalism into the picture. There is a continuity of course, but there are significant variances in flavour and I think it would be a mistake to presume a look at American Pentecostalism sums up Hillsong or visa versa.
    And while I think of it, for readers coming into this conversation I think its important to remember that Hillsong is a rapidly evolving organization and what may have been true of them before is not necessarily so true of them now. Let’s be careful of just repeating what we’ve heard from elsewhere of what we knew of them from the past. I make a point of visiting their main campus in Castle Hill in the flesh every now and then so that, when I speak of them, I can speak from some level of personal experience.
    And one of the things I have been challenged by is their growing charity focus. Now I think I am on reasonably solid ground to say that they probably wouldn’t have given a damn about involving themselves in mental health issues ten-twenty years ago, so in some respects their support of organizations like Mercy Ministries is a step forward for them. That being said though, from this flair up it sounds like there is still a ways to go before they’ll enjoy widespread legitimacy. More transparency and accountability seems needed for starters. So they’ve got work to do either way.
    Now, I think one of the issues that deserves exploring here is the legitimacy of exorcism as part of a “holistic” approach to healing. Exorcism was a practice of Jesus, so, as a Christian I am open to exploring that. But I have also seen how “Deliverance Ministries” can sometimes decend into what, for a lack of a better phrase, has all the hallmarks of Christianized shamanism where holistic balance is very much lost. I have also seen some of the damaging consequences so Naomi’s story does disturb me.
    When I look back at the New Testament what strikes me is that the demonized knew they were demonized without some guru having to tell them about it. It was obvious to them, they just asked Jesus to help, and help he did. But this contrasts quite starkly with how some Deliverance Ministries are practiced. Some of them seem to be more grounded in the fictional movie “The Exorcist” and the fictional book “This Present Darkness” than they are in the Bible. I wonder how Mercy Ministries squares in that respect.

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  24. Matt Stone Avatar
    Matt Stone

    Megan, hadn’t seen your last post before I posted my last comment. It is pleasing to hear that your faith was not destroyed through this experience and that you did find support. I find it quite extraordinary you were counseled to isolate yourself from your loved ones. Loving relationships are one of the most powerful healers. I praise God for your friends.

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  25. Megan Avatar
    Megan

    Thanks Matt.
    Yes, my friends are wonderful, Godly people.
    I would never have made it without them.
    I have to admit that my faith WAS destroyed after Mercy Ministries… for several years I couldn’t even look at a Bible, listen to Christian music or anything. I was led to believe that Mercy was doing God’s work, and therefore God says I am not worth it, I only deserve to be abused like Mercy treated me, I could never be helped and God hated me.
    These friends didn”t know me when I was at Mercy.. they found me overdosed and bleeding… and helped me… and they were Christians. We became like family after that. They brought me back to God by showing me His love and grace and mercy, they never gave up on me even though I was a true mess. They showed me so many things about God and showed me the way He sees me… which is different to how Mercy said I was… I could go on..
    One of the reasons I spoke out is to let other girls know that God does NOT think of them the way that Mercy does. There are real Christians out there, true ones, who genuinely want to help. It makes me so sad to think of how many girls would have gone to Mercy Ministries, open to God and learning more about Him, only to be thrown out a mess and with the words of the staff ringing in their ears, about how they are not worth it, not worth helping.
    I pray the message that God loves these girls, gets to them.
    Blessings
    Megan

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  26. Celtic Son Avatar
    Celtic Son

    Emma,
    clearly this is an emotive issue and my intention was to try to move it beyond the presenting symptoms, to some of the root issues. I’m not having a go at any of the girls involved, it has taken great courage to speak out, and they are entitled to their day in court. Nor am I supporting any of the agencies, I have no immediate experience of the individual situations or connection to the agencies concerned. I have an ongoing supportive role in the lives of a number of people and families coping with mental health issues and would like to see some of the big picture issues exposed.
    It seems that there are issues with the treatment delivered by Mercy Ministry, I have no reason to distrust statements made by the girls involved. I do have a distrust of the media, however, and the practice of presenting sensational one-sided “reporting” on any number of issues.I see lots of criticism and no action, lots of condemnation but no investment – it’s very easy to criticise, much harder to become involved. Reporters can be your best friend while they’re researching their story, but they’re not the ones who are around next week, next month, next year when you need ongoing support. So I’m cynical about the possibility of balance in reporting… and cynical about the motivation of linking this with Hillsong and Gloria Jeans.
    Can Mercy Ministry, or any other recovery agency with a failure rate – which would be every single agency – learn from this experience and become a regulated and useful part of the process of helping young women deal with mental health issues? Or is the aim of the media simply to close down a flawed part of a flawed system, with no actual replacement facility to take its place? Who benefits from that… well it sells some papers, television and advertising space in the short term…
    I agree that there has been lots of “discussion” about mental health issues, but that is precisely the point I was trying to convey – there has been lots of talk and virtually no action. People I have been supporting for years have not been helped and have made no progress – one girl is significantly worse, having been raped in a psych ward while under their care, despite requests from her family to isolate her. Another young man has been in remand for over a year, in a maximum security setting – increasing his paranoia and fear – pending a trial resulting from actions while on prescribed medication.
    Both of their families’ lives have been torn apart and a significant factor in them coming to grief, is the lack of support for people with mental health issues. They had presented to psych wards and other agencies numerous times but no help was forthcoming, until finally they experienced incredibly damaging consequences… which may have been preventable with prior intervention.
    I sat through a psychiatrist’s session with another young man I support. The psychiatrist receives hundreds of dollars from medicare for his treatment of the young man and the session was disturbing. The young man talked about his last two weeks, I had spent time with him and knew that some of what he described simply did not happen, it was all in his mind as a consequence of his illness. The psychiatrist sat at his desk with his back to the patient writing notes, he said very little and asked no questions to verify whether any of the information was fact or delusion. After half an hour he brought the session to an end and wrote a prescription for the patient. When the patient read the script he informed the psychiatrist that he had prescribed that medication for him in the past, but it did not help. Then the psychiatrist asked the patient what he had prescribed for him in the past that had helped him. The patient told him what he wanted and the script was written out for him. On the way out, the receptionist confirmed his standing appointment for two weeks time… How does the option of psychiatric help stack up?
    Each of the people I’ve supported over the years has spent time in the psych ward in local hospitals – all of them have received sedation for their symptoms, none of them has received treatment for the causes that has actually resulted in consequential change. There is a far greater and more significant issue than the failures at Mercy Ministry – which is not an attempt to excuse or gloss over their failures, simply to put them in the perspective of a much bigger problem. There is a culture of abuse in the whole area of mental health welfare. If there had been more action by existing agencies and govt in the past, then perhaps there would not be a gap being filled by independent agencies now.
    This is not an attempt to excuse abusive treatment and mismanagement, there need to be regulations, procedures and protocols in place – and a degree of the energy being expended in this debate needs to be directed at sources that can make a positive difference into the future. There are many people working in this field who are compassionate and caring people, but who are not equipped with the resources they need to make a difference. You make the accusation that Mercy Ministries “are willing to exploit such desperation for money, power…” that’s an emotive statement that does nothing to further debate, simply inflames emotions. It’s particularly noticeable alongside Naomi’s gracious comment “I do not believe mercy intended harm… the staff are ppl who just want to help… they just are not equipped to do so.” Yes things need to change, but a witch hunt to close down one agency does nothing to improve the systemic failures across the board.
    As far as the financial situation is concerned I do know a couple of people who are in long term residential care, and their centrelink payments are made to the agency that cares for them. It’s great that you have not had to experience that, but that doesn’t mean that your treatment was free, it was paid for by someone – medicare, a medical fund, another govt agency. I’m simply making the point that the media accusations are spurious and unhelpful – no health care is free, it is simply a matter of defining how it is paid for.
    My suggestion was simply that, rather than just engage in emotional accusations, it would be much more constructive to use the energy to raise awareness across the board, of the desperate need for medical support for victims of mental illness and their families.
    Slainte (an abbreviation of a celtic phrase meaning “good health to you.”)
    From a Celtic Son

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  27. Luke Avatar
    Luke

    Wow, I’ve been following these comments for a while and just wanted to say how amazing & brave Naomi and Megan and others have been for speaking out, and also how amazing it is to here more about your stories here! That’s especially helpful as it helps dispel some people’s suspicion about the media reports.
    It would be nice in a perfect world if we could just simply ask the right person to stop the abusive, disastrous practices that are going on and they would leap into action, but we certainly aren’t in a perfect world & sometimes public scrutiny is necessary to bring about change, so good on you girls for doing the right (and very brave!) thing and speaking out. I’m a Christian, and thank God we have a free and independent media that, for all its failings, can investigate things like this & bring them to light.
    I’m sure you have already prevented other people in a vulnerable position from going through what you went through, and many, many more in the future too, so thank you 🙂

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  28. Mark Avatar
    Mark

    Hmmm… I can’t speak about the programme itslef… being across the other side of the planet… but, for Hillsongs to say that they have no real connection other than supporting MM and the fact that some of the staff attend a Hillsong Church is somewhat disingenuous when if you look at the Hillsongs official web-site ( http://www2.hillsong.com/default.asp ) MM is listed as one of their “Helping People” ministries… and they say…
    “The Mercy Ministries program is provided free of charge. A willing heart and a sincere desire to change are the only requirements for entering the program.”

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  29. Matt Stone Avatar
    Matt Stone

    Mark, I have taken the liberty of editing your last comment so that the link works. The brackets cause a problem. For others, Mercy Ministries is listed under the “Helping People” drop down menu. Hillsong write:
    “Through The Hillsong Foundation, we partner with Mercy Ministries, which exists to see young women aged 16 to 28 years reach their full potential through participation in a residential based program. Their goal is to see each young woman emerge confident and full of hope for her future.”
    Partner is a nice vague word. Tells you nothing really.

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  30. bec Avatar
    bec

    Matt – yep, all good points.
    Megan and Emma – I think it’s the “secretive” nature of MM that disturbs me the most. One of the ideas that I constantly find myself coming back to in life is this idea of “living in the light” – I don’t think there is much, if anything, that remains “hidden” and “in the dark” for healthy reasons.
    Megan, I’m so moved by your story – God seems to have moved in incredible ways in your life, but I also think you must be the most phenomenal woman to have allowed that to happen, given everything you have been through.

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  31. Sean the Blogonaut Avatar
    Sean the Blogonaut

    To the girls affected by Mercy Ministries, my heart goes out to you. I wish you all the best in life.
    Matt,
    You have a good blog and discussion going on here. I applaud your sincerity and even handedness.
    On the topic of exorcism and demons I wish more people would have the sense to see biblcal accounts of such, as explanations put forward by those who were not scientifically advanced enough to know them for what they were – mental disorders.
    Christianity is great for community and charity, but when you catch the flu you go to the doctor – right?

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  32. Bec Avatar
    Bec

    Sean…I don’t see the biblical accounts in that manner. I don’t feel that I am faced with a choice of “the demons explanation” OR “the mental disorder explanation” – to me that just sets up false dichotomies, binary opposites that don’t explain the complexity of life.

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  33. Sean the Blogonaut Avatar
    Sean the Blogonaut

    Bec,
    I wasn’t setting up a false dichotomy. I see no evidednce of Demon possession but see “unfortunately” plenty of examples of mental disorders and conclude that this is what is “reported” in the bible. And by mental disorders I am usuing the term very loosely.
    What would be you explanation/understanding of these biblical accounts?
    I commented on demons and exorcisms because obviously the people providing the Mercy service believe in them and are following an method based on the Bible.
    I also wish more people would develop a better understanding of the Bible its construction etc. (note : this is not directed at anyone here)

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  34. Emma Sullivan Avatar
    Emma Sullivan

    Slainte – Yeah, you’re right, some of the stuff I said was inflammatory, and unhelpful. I also agree that there is a generally abusive culture in mental health care. I think it’s particularly problematic in the public system; there’s such a huge shortage of beds and treatment providers, it’s extremely badly funded, and so on. I also know a woman who was raped in a psych ward, and she was told by the staff that she couldn’t report it as the perpetrator was a patient.
    The idea of an objective or independent media is nice, but it’s a myth. The mass media are far too corporate friendly, and are, for the most part, far too conservative for my leftist sensibilities.
    Also, yes, one of the things I admire about Naomi is that she’s been so gracious and completely non-malicious about all of this. Unfortunately, I am far more inclined to anger quickly.
    Thing is, I don’t believe that religious institutions and organisations are scrutinised sufficiently, and I think they enjoy an excessively privileged position in that they’re exempted from paying taxes, allowed to preach homophobia and sexism, and so forth.

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  35. A Celtic Son Avatar
    A Celtic Son

    Hullo-o-o Emma,
    I appreciate your honest response… I was not always as reflective as I’ve become with the passing of some years, and there’s still much improvement and development required. Your self assessment is refreshing… I also appreciate your “leftist sensibilities.” In all honesty I read Jesus as a “lefty,” which I realise is in stark contrast to many of the agencies that represent Him today! The sad reality is that because of other agendas, the media is all too eager to emphasise the situation of a church like Hillsong making mistakes; but there is very little acknowledgment of the ongoing hard work of agencies like Anglicare, Wesley, Salvation Army, Uniting Care etc… all of whom have real concerns for social and welfare justice, that come out of their commitment to follow the example of Jesus Christ’s concern for the underprivileged. Take the “Christian” component out of the support network of welfare, health, recovery and social justice it’ll be a very lean system indeed.
    Within “Christian” agencies involved in recovery ministries there is a very real and often ignored tension, between the radical nature of the Jesus we read of in the gospel accounts, who hung out with publicans, prostitutes and ordinary working people and who challenged the religious elite, and the religious structure of the organisations that aim to represent Jesus today. If we were genuinely motivated by the impulses that we see in the person of Jesus, in theory it would all be great. Unfortunately there is the human factor to take into account – becoming a follower of Jesus does not result in people becoming perfect… if anything genuine people may become more aware of personal flaws.
    I respect your right to express the opinion that you,
    “don’t believe that religious institutions and organisations are scrutinised sufficiently, and I think they enjoy an excessively privileged position in that they’re exempted from paying taxes, allowed to preach homophobia and sexism, and so forth.”
    I wonder though how informed, or thought through, that opinion is. If religious organizations have no right to express their convictions then why should anyone else? The obvious alternative is extreme censorship, which in reality is no alternative at all. As far as exemption from paying taxes goes, that is far from simple – there are certainly a number of exemptions and there is a possibility that some of those can be abused by some institutions. However the majority of income that comes to churches is donated by people who have already paid tax on their income – why should their choice to donate to a church be taxed twice? Further to that most other charities qualify for tax deductibility on donations; I don’t hear many complaints in the media about that, so I question the authenticity of complaints about “the church’s status.”
    Church services I’ve attended over the years have not been prone to preach “homophobia and sexism,” I wonder again if that is an ill-informed image created by a media that has an agenda to undermine the Christian principles that, like it or not, create the foundation of the legal and social system of our nation. Check out this article for an interesting insight from a journalist who is not a Christian – http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21511688-5000117,00.html
    Like you, I admire Naomi and the other girls who have been brave enough to share their stories, in the hope that it will prevent others suffering from the failures, in a system that has failed them. I do hope with them that the exposure of these failures will be a contributing factor in improving services in the future. I also hope that intelligent people seeking to resolve these kinds of issues, will actually research the issues and arm themselves with the facts, rather than simply accept the emotive manipulation of a media that is thinking more of circulation and their finances than of seeking objective truth…
    Selah
    A Celtic Son

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  36. BeBlessed Avatar
    BeBlessed

    I was at the 10:45am service at Hillsong (Hills Campus) this morning. Unfortunately Brian Houston decided in his sermon on Christ’s resurrection to briefly discuss the recent Mercy Ministries issues raised in the newspaper. After previously reading the blog comments here earlier from some of the women who have suffered whilst being at Mercy Ministries, I was saddened by the fact that Brain chose to use the pulpit to defend Mercy. He claimed from the pulpit that Mercy does not perform “exorcisms”.
    During my time at Hillsong Church I have had the chance to come across some of the women who have been helped by Mercy along with some of its staff members. So I am aware of the good that it does do. However, it just saddens me at the level of spiritual immaturity that Brian Houston displays on rare occasions. He personally believes that newspaper articles such as the recent one about Mercy is a spiritual attack upon the church. I’m reasonably certain that he has probably only listened to one side of the story by discussing the matter with Mercy’s Director. I doubt that he has personally contacted any of the affected women who have been hurt by Mercy to listen to what they have to say on this matter. Sadly Brian has this “us” versus “them” mentality.
    There is always two sides to a story. Unfortunately there are too many gullible Christians out there who do not want to put in the effort to find out the truth for themselves.

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  37. silkworm Avatar
    silkworm

    Megan and Naomi,
    The SMH article says that the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission and the Queensland Office of Fair Trading have both indicated that they will investigate Mercy Ministries if they receive a complaint from you. Have either of you actually filed a formal complaint?

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  38. Emma Avatar
    Emma

    Slainte,
    Actually, yes, my assertion regarding sexism and homophobia in conservative churches is based on extensive research (not to mention the fact that conservative religious groups have been very vocal in their opposition to gay marriage, adoption, civil unions, economic rights and so on, plus reproductive freedom. Advocating institutionalised descrimination against people because of their sexuality is homophobic, and supporting forcing women to carry unwanted pregnancies to term is misogynistic), and it’s really condescending to keep accusing me of blindly accepting everything I read in the mass media. As I mentioned before, I am well versed in just how ridiculously biased the mass media are – we need only look at the promotion of the war in Iraq, Latin America, Afghanistan, and the demonisation of any country or government that’s unprepared to put the interests of the United States first as evidence of said bias.
    Yes, I do hope that there will be informed public discussion and debate about the Mercy Ministries issue (and other issues). I’d also like to see the introduction of single payer health care, higher levels of government investment in social services, and so forth, as I think this would help to ameliorate the shabby treatment many people with mental and physical illnesses receive. We need a kinder, more humanistic system, basically.
    I don’t really feel comfortable continuing this debate here, as I’m concerned that my views on religion are offending people all over the place. Feel free to email me at fimbriae@bigpond.com
    -Emma

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  39. A Celtic Son Avatar
    A Celtic Son

    Emma,
    it was never my intention to be condescending, many of my comments were general observations rather than specific to your posts or intended as personal – my apologies if my comments come across that way.
    The point of my last post wasn’t to agree or disagree with the views promoted by religious organisations, despite the fact that I have very rarely actually heard anything homophobic or sexist expressed in churches in Australia, though I accept that challenges to homosexual behaviour and differences between genders are views espoused by the church. I may not agree with the thoughst you’ve expressed, but I’m not offended by your views on religion, you’re entitled to your view.
    I was simply seeking to engage in debate over the ideas expressed during this thread – not just your ideas. Your final response may be based on research, but doesn’t engage the concern of where censorship stops if the church’s right to present a view on issues is removed. If the church’s opinion is silenced, who protects your right to express your opinions on a blog like this? They are the kinds of concerns that I sought to express in questioning “how informed, or thought through, that opinion is…”
    I also respect your choice not to continue with a debate that has a polarising effect, and hope with you that this results in improvements to the “treatment many people with mental and physical illnesses receive.”
    Regards,
    A Celtic Son

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  40. ex mercy girl Avatar
    ex mercy girl

    I just wanted to add that well before the SMH article, people from both Hillsong and Mercy Ministries were repeatedly contacted about the concerns raised in the SMH articles. Neither of them responded appropriately. The main responses (of which were very few) were in line with what Peter Irvine is trying to do – blame the girls and call them liars.
    Speaking with the SMH was not the first option for us – contact with them was born out of desperation because we did not receive appropriate responses when contact was made with Hillsong people and Mercy Ministries, over several years by girls who had been in the program, their family, their friends and their psychologists. If they had simply said “Oops, sorry about that, that shouldn’t have happened at all. I will make sure no other girl in our program has that happen to them, and we will ammend our advertising so that it is truthful when describing the qualifications, or lack thereof of our staff” then there would not have been a SMH article. It would have been easier for everyone. Instead, responsibility was denied and no changes were promised at all. Our contact and concerns did not appear to matter to them.
    Girls who have been through Mercy Ministries wanted to warn other girls about what really happens there. It is not even that we ‘wanted’ to. We felt we OWED it to the girls because for every girl after us who was abused, we felt partly responsible for not speaking out.

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  41. Matt Stone Avatar
    Matt Stone

    Hi everyone. I just wanted to say that what has been impressed upon me here during the course of this conversation is how, despite this being a very emotive issue, I have seen very little in the way of vindictiveness in the girls who have come forward. This does you credit and, in my mind at least, builds your credibility.
    As has been noted, I am striving to be even handed here and provide a safe space for working through some tough issues. Being a trainee counselor myself I am particularly conscious of how complex the counseling process can be and that there are always two sides to stories like this.
    But I suppose that is part of the issue here, that there is a power assymetry, that the girls do not feel they have had a voice. Whether or not Mercy Ministries have acted appropriately is one thing. Whether there are adequate protections in place for clients if or when things go wrong is another. I do believe such mechanisms should be in place and that implies some form of regulation. It sounds to me that, despite there being some differences of opinion here, there is a general consensus that broader mechanisms seem lacking. I wonder where that takes us from here?

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  42. naomi Avatar
    naomi

    Wow Emma has told me she has continued ongoing conversations here and elsewhere, Emma is correct in me being an intensely quiet person and the attention and media exposure is not something I find at all enjoyable… but sometimes the means justifies the ends.
    It really hurts to read and hear the outright, bold faced lies that Peter Irvine is willing to purport as truth. It’s shocking to see how venomously they have struck out, while we may have “exposed” them and caused a “significant disruption”, the truth is we have not come out with claws or hate and slander. I’ve acknowledged over and over that I do not believe Mercy has intended harm, they do believe that what they are doing is right (which is just scary) but the motive behind the majority of staff is simply one of a desire to help.
    Despite Peters continuing claim that staff are qualified and hold tertiary level degrees, this is not at all true, not even in part. At best it is a major twisting of words and distorting of facts. At most some of the staff hold bible college degrees, many bible colleges are “accredited” which means one can do a bachelor degree in theology — don’t let the “ology” on the end foul you into thinking its close enough to psychology. Theology is the study of God and the bible, and this is basically the only qualifications held by the staff who have the daily charge and care of the girls in the program.
    Peter has also claimed that b/c we are girls with psychological issues (by our own admission) we are somewhat mentally defective and are simply lying. As I’ve already stated, coming out of the woodworks three years down the track with “lies” would be nothing more than a cry for publicity, yet not one of us are enjoying the media circus, I myself even isolate from the online world… somehow I think “liars” would be relishing the attention!!! And I think you can judge pretty effectively that none of us are mentally defective, indeed the other girls I’ve now made contact with – others who have also stepped forward, are all highly intelligent people.
    It makes me cringe that Ps Brian Houston stood up in church and drew attention to the media outcry… it makes me cringe as all I can think of is the girls in the program right now. They were there sitting in the mercy allocated seating and all attention was being directed toward them. It makes me feel as horrid for them as I remember what it felt like whenever he decided to point attention toward us when I was in the program. A novelty item on display, not even granted the dignity of being thought of as a human or individual. Many of the girls in the program along with myself suffered social phobias, just being in the crowded building was often traumatic enough than to have all 17,000 eyes turned toward you.
    Peter also cited statistics that he knew were also lies. 90% success rates… only 6 girls ever failed…. I can tell you now far more than 6 are kicked out every year, a great number more than 6 have come forward. Many however are too scared and still in too vulnerable a place to want to identify their selves. I personally know of 5 girls ending up back in hospital after mercy… I personally know of mercy graduates who have ended up back in hospital, and when they did mercy dropped them in an instant b/c they were “choosing” to allow the depression, “choosing” to allow the eating disorder take control, “choosing” to suffer with other symptoms of their original illnesses. Only now these issues have been further complicated and confounded by mercy’s words echoing loudly to each of these young women…
    They are failures; they should know better, they are CHOOSING to struggle. The guilt and condemnation just complicates matters further, and that guilt and condemnation is coming directly from mercy. Mercy doesn’t believe mental illness is real… it’s a choice or its demonic influences, and allowing demonic influences’ to plague one’s life is a choice anyway!!!
    The thing is even now, they believe just this. And it just makes me sad… not mad, SAD!!! Its ignorance, and just because they are not motivate from some evil agenda, it does not discount the drastic effect this has had and continues to have on the girls who reached out to them for help.
    The Christian church would not say to someone that has cancer that they should forgo surgery, treatment, medical intervention and replace it with only prayer and God… indeed back in the day some did purport such things but pretty quickly thinking changed to “thanking God for the dr’s and medical treatments” and to pray for God to guide the surgeons hands. They certainly do not say to someone who has been in remission of cancer then relapsed that they are sick b/c they’ve made “wrong choices”. Yet replace the cancer or other physical illness with something they cannot see, replace physical illness with psychological and all the rules change.
    Mental illness is just wrong choices… mental illness can only be fixed with prayer and God b/c it’s due to spiritual oppression and … wrong choices!!! The notion of psychologist and psychiatrists, professionals is actually met with scorn.
    “The world and their (insert cynical and distasteful intonation here) ‘professionals’ cannot help you only God can”
    “The world for all their ‘qualifications’ don’t know how to help you, only we can because we have been appointed by God”
    Why doesn’t “praying for God to guide the professional to appropriate treatment and intervention” fly in the face of mental illness?? Why do they feel they do not need to be accountable to any governing mental health body?
    And why are they ignoring the evidence in front of their faces when they see some of their most “petted graduates” break when back in the real world? They just ride them off, with their favorite catch phrase of “you’re making wrong choices”.
    There has never been any accountability… Note even when Peter did say a few had not had favorable results he worded it as “failed”… they failed the program. No acknowledgement of “we tried but we just didn’t know how to help you” … its “they failed, they made choices” …. Where is the compassion and unconditional love in these sentiments??
    “Mercy a place where unconditional love conquers all”
    Three years on and I still yearn for that to be true… I still long for them to love me like they said they would. Instead one lived in constant fear of condemnation and judgment. Constantly asking ourselves… “Why don’t you love me??? Why wasn’t I worth it?? What made me so bad and evil you didn’t want to extend that unconditional love to me… you promised it, it must exist… it was my fault, I was just never good enough or worth it to begin with”
    There is a book, “Echoes of Mercy” which tells of success stories from girls in the American mercy… “Echoes of Mercy” means something very different to me these days… my echoes of mercy are the deep deep soul wounds that refuse to heal. Mercy would tell me I’m bitter, but it’s not bitterness I feel, not at all… what I feel is a heartbreaking cry “why wasn’t I worth it???”
    Because even though I KNOW that they are ill equipped, the hurt is so deeply imprinted, their words and catch phrases so deeply engrained that even now just makes me ache and sob.
    I don’t think that’s the definition of bitterness or lies….
    Do you????
    ***note i realise that no one here is challenging our stories and indeed have been amazingly receptive and i appreciate that, i think i almost expected that nothing would happen, no one would care, why should they? why would they? that the original SMH articles would be a flash in the pan and not even make a mention… that it did and that ppl have been widely supportive and respectful of our stories is overwhelming… the above is me just writing out some of my thoughts and more as a response to Peter Irvines attempts at discrediting our experiances***

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  43. Bec Avatar
    Bec

    Naomi,
    I just wanted to let you know that I’m still reading – I keep checking Matt’s blog to see whether anyone else has posted, because I think that you and the other girls are telling stories that really, really need to be told and heard.
    I hope and pray that this isn’t just a flash in the pan. I hope that something good can come of the pain and grief that you all seem to be burdened with. It breaks my heart to read your stories, so I can’t imagine what it’s like to live through them.

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  44. Megan Avatar
    Megan

    Bec thank you for your kind and encouraging words.

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  45. Celtic Son Avatar
    Celtic Son

    Hullo-o-o,
    like Bec I also “hope that something good can come of the pain and grief” that has been a motivating factor in the girls in this taking their story to SMH. The defensive response of Hillsong and Mercy is disappointing – it’s probably small consolation to Naomi and the other girls, but that kind of response does raise doubt in the minds of others about what they are possibly covering up.
    It would be helpful, for everyone involved, if there was an independent inquiry into the state of mental health and welfare. In particular it would be helpful relating to agencies, like Mercy Ministries and others, who are being allowed/invited/encouraged to fill a gap that the existing health system ignores. If agencies have nothing to hide, then that kind of inquiry would surely be welcomed, even if just to help restore the confidence of the community in the support being provided…
    It also interested me to note that next week’s “Enough Rope” with Andrew Denton has been titled something like “Angels and Demons” and is concerned with people suffering mental illness. Although I haven’t seen it and I’m not a big fan of Denton’s “anti-Christian” bias, I do think he is the kind of person who might take an interest in the kind of experiences that Naomi and others have had – particularly if he is (as the title suggests) relating aspects of mental health to mystical and religious experiences. Maybe there’s an avenue there…?
    Slainte
    A Celtic Son

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  46. Matt Stone Avatar
    Matt Stone

    I read a parliamentary transcript a number of days ago now where the liberals voted down the call for an enquiry if I recall correctly. Anyone got the link?
    PS. So this thread doesn’t get buried too quick I have put in the “popular post” links up the top of this blog for easy reference.

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  47. Megan Avatar
    Megan

    Sean wrote about the Senate thing here http://nautblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/what-senate-had-to-say-on-mercy.html
    Thanks Matt for putting this in popular posts.
    Thanks also to Slainte for the info on Enough Rope. I have never seen their show in full before, I wonder what their slant on the whole issue will be.

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  48. jodie Avatar
    jodie

    Hi,
    Thankyou for sharing this .. I must say it is challenging my views on MM, not sure how I feel at the moment! I went through some really hard (an understatement) times about 6yrs ago, and seriously thought about entering MM.
    I am wondering tho, not sure if it makes a difference, but how many years ago was it each of the girls in the story was in MM? Has SMH reported on recent facts/activities, or on things that happened years ago? Not that it negates the awful experiences each of the girls in the story had by any means, but I am hoping that things have changed for the better over the years? I would hope that evolving and changing with each ‘failure’ (using such a term loosely) is a mark of an organisation that wants truly to do the right thing – isn’t it common sense to say ‘hey, that really isn’t working, lets try something else’?
    Anyhow, forgive my ramblings …
    I really hope that the girls are okay, don’t give up your faith in God – it’s all about Him in the end, isn’t it?
    Blessings 🙂

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  49. Vanessa Avatar
    Vanessa

    Since the articles came out, I have been told that several more girls (I think 20+?) have come forward. These girls have been at Mercy Ministries as recently as a few months ago and unfortunately by the sound of things, nothing has really changed.

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  50. Vanessa Avatar
    Vanessa

    I forgot to mention that some of the supporters of the girls have made a myspace and a support website for them. I hope you don’t mind me posting them Matt (if you do, please delete them.)
    http://www.myspace.com/mercyministriesaustralia
    and http://www.mercysurvivors.com

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