“CHRISTIAN charity Mercy Ministries, which ran a home for young women in need on the Sunshine Coast, has admitted to false, misleading and deceptive conduct.”

The full article can be read here http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/story/2009/12/19/charity-admits-cheating-women/

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“Mercy Ministries Australia ran two homes for young women with eating disorders and other problems. The program was supposed to be free. But residents were forced to sign over their government assistance checks. Mercy also promised psychological care but failed to deliver.”

You can read the whole article here http://www.tennessean.com/article/20091218/NEWS06/912180339/1023/NEWS01

By Jo Skinner

Posted Fri Dec 18, 2009

A Christian-based charity on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast has admitted it is guilty of false, misleading and deceptive conduct.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) says Mercy Ministries has apologised for misrepresenting its services and repaid almost $120,000 to affected women.

The charity ran two homes for young women in need at Glenview on the Sunshine Coast and in Sydney, both have since closed.

ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel says Mercy Ministries advertised its services were free but then asked residents to sign over their Centrelink payments in return.

“We found that misrepresentations were occurring,” he said.

“Firstly as to whether or not the services provided by Mercy Ministries was free when clearly it was not,” he said.

“There was an assignment of Centrelink payments to Mercy Ministries for the duration of the stay of those that used their services.

“Also Mercy Ministries misrepresented that it offered professional support from qualified specialists when in fact that was not the case.”

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/18/2775465.htm?section=australia

“Former directors of an evangelical Christian charity have admitted to falsely claiming their residential counselling program offered professional support from GPs and other health professionals.”

You can read the rest of the article here http://www.6minutes.com.au/articles/z1/view.asp?id=508701

16^th December 2009

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has obtained court enforceable undertakings, which includes payment, from seven former directors of Mercy Ministries Incorporated and/or Mercy Ministries Limited in relation to misrepresentations by those entities.

The undertakings include an apology and a voluntary payment of $1050 to those people affected by the conduct. These are made by former directors Mark Zschech, Peter Irvine, Mark Caldwell, Stephen Crouch, Young Pil (Phil) Sohn, Darlene Zschech and Clark Pearson.

Mercy Ministries is a not-for-profit Christian based charitable organisation which offered a residential counselling program to young women affected by issues such as eating disorders, depression, self harm, unplanned pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse and the effects of sexual or physical abuse. The program was offered whilst the young women resided in a Mercy Ministries home.

The ACCC was concerned that in a period between January 2005 and June 2008, Mercy Ministries misrepresented in brochures and on its website that its services were provided for free, when the majority of residents were required to assign their Centrelink payments to Mercy Ministries for the duration of their stay.

The ACCC was also concerned that during this period, Mercy Ministries misrepresented that it offered professional support from psychologists, dieticians, general practitioners, social workers and counsellors, when the level of professional support was not available as represented.  Mercy Ministries did not employ this range of professionals.  It did facilitate access to external professionals upon request from residents.

To address these concerns, as part of the undertaking, the former directors:

• acknowledge that they were persons ultimately responsible for the conduct of Mercy Ministries, and admit its conduct was false, misleading and deceptive, and likely to contravene sections 52, 53(aa) and 53(e) of the Trade Practices Act 1974
• signed a joint letter of apology to past residents in the relevant period
• offer a payment of $1050 to each of the past residents in the relevant period, and
• undertake to attend annual trade practices compliance training for three years.

Mercy Ministries operated its program in two homes, one located on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, and the other in Sydney.  Both of these homes have now closed. Mercy Ministries has ceased trading and has advised the ACCC it is in the process of being wound up. 

“Given the vital role charitable organisations have in our society, and the trust placed in them, it is imperative that their conduct is of the highest standard, especially in their dealings with vulnerable and disadvantaged members of our community,” ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said today.  “The utmost integrity is expected from charities – by the ACCC and the public at large – and it should be delivered.
 
“Misleading conduct of this kind is a matter of serious concern, and I am pleased that those directors ultimately responsible for the conduct have offered both an apology and payment to the young women affected.”

Section 52 of the Act prohibits corporations from engaging in conduct that is misleading and deceptive or is likely to mislead or deceive.  Section 53(aa) prohibits corporations from falsely representing that services are of a particular standard, quality, value or grade.  Section 53(e) prohibits corporations from making false or misleading representations with respect to the price of goods or services.  Individuals responsible for the conduct or management of a corporation are also prohibited from knowingly causing or permitting the corporations to engage in such conduct.

http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/906552/fromItemId/142

ACCC News Release (expanded.)

Full ACCC Ruling

The Times

Lucy Bannerman

Anyone can call themselves a counsellor, but is regulation really the answer?

…. The experience of Shona Fleming, 24, from Doncaster, who underwent therapy offered by an organisation with extreme religious views, underscores some of the difficulties. Three years ago, she was struggling with bulimia, self-harm and suicidal thoughts. Then she heard through her church about a free counselling service that promised to help. Mercy Ministries UK — motto: “Lives transformed, hope restored” — describes itself as a “distinctly Christian organisation dedicated to helping girls and young women — ages 18 to 28 — who specifically seek our care for a variety of addictions and hurts”.

Fleming checked into its residential counselling programme at a house in the village of Oxenhope, Yorkshire. Minimum stay is six months and contact with friends and family is limited. She found the experience so distressing, she calls it “Mercy Miseries”.

The group, founded by Nancy Alcorn, an American Christian evangelist who blames psychiatric illnesses and homosexuality on “demonic activity”, has homes in the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. It claims it has helped more than 2,500 girls worldwide to overcome depression, eating disorders, addiction and other “life-controlling issues”. It is believed that about 20 young women are now in care in the UK home, which opened in 2006.

Fleming claims that her nine-month treatment — involving intense study of “demonic oppression” — left her deeply disturbed. And she also says the in-house solution to bulimia was 45 minutes of “couch time” after every meal, during which girls were forbidden to go to the lavatory unaccompanied. Group counselling revolved around study of a bizarre “hellfire and brimstone”-style self-help manual, Restoring the Foundations, seen by The Times. Exercises include “Sins of their Fathers”, which links patients’ conditions to any “iniquities” in their family history, such as abortion or homosexuality. The final chapter, “Demonic Oppression”, instructs how to “cast out demons” through “deliverance” and include charts linking demons to everything from cancer, anorexia, Aids and rock‘n’roll.

During her one-to-one counselling, Fleming claims that her counsellor blamed a “little girl demon” for her depression and eating disorder. “If sessions got too intense, she would break out in prayer or start speaking in tongues.” She was encouraged to stay in the programme by her family, who are committed members of Abundant Life, an US-style “charismatic” church in Bradford, with strong links to Mercy Ministries. Feeling confused and increasingly introverted, Fleming recalls being called into the main office by three senior members of staff.

“They said I wasn’t moving on with my issues and had to confront the ‘little girl demon’ inside me. They told me to walk around the room, and started walking around me, praying, speaking in tongues. It was getting louder and louder. They were saying, ‘Talk to the little girl, tell her she’s got to go. Tell her she’s got to leave’. I was freaked out.”

She believes that what took place was an exorcism. “I look back on it now and it seems crazy. I should have worked it out, but I felt vulnerable.” Now a confident woman, Fleming feels that she has overcome her problems — despite counselling, not because of it. “I really did come out worse than when I went in,” she says.

Arianna Walker, executive director of Mercy Ministries UK, says that dozens of girls who have been through the UK programme thanked Mercy for improving their life. One such example is Joy, 21, a former self-harmer from Bedfordshire, who joined in 2007. “I probably wouldn’t be alive today without Mercy,” she says. “I never thought I could exist without feeling desperately low, but I decided to go to Mercy Ministries for one more attempt at life. I found an abundant life that is not like anything I’ve ever known.”

Joy has joined the Abundant Life Church, where she pays to attend its “leadership academy”. She says that, unlike Fleming, she found study of “demonic oppression” therapeutic.

Walker says: “Unfortunately, as with any organisation dedicated to helping those in need, there are occasionally those who express frustration with some aspect of the care they have received. MMUK takes such complaints very seriously.” She denies exorcisms are performed, and says that study of “Restoring the Foundations” was discontinued in June 2008: “Our emphasis is on the power of God’s grace and unconditional love to help hurting young women overcome addictions and past hurts.”

She adds that, although the charity supported proposals for government regulation, the Tennessee-based organisation will be changing the title of its staff from “counsellors” to “facilitators”, once new legislation comes into place — “so that our approach to supporting young women is more accurately described according to UK terminology, instead of American.”

Mercy Ministries is one of an estimated 100,000 organisations believed to be offering counselling or psychotherapy in the UK. The NHS is investing more than ever in “talking therapies”, with £173 million earmarked to increase the number of cognitive behavioural therapists throughout England by 2010/11…..

The article can be found here http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/mental_health/article6945170.ece

http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/pm/200910/20091028-pm-6-mercy-ministries.mp3

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

MARK COLVIN: A controversial counselling centre linked to the evangelical Hillsong church says bad publicity has eroded its funding to the point where it’s now shutting down completely.

PM understands that the consumer watchdog the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) has been investigating Mercy Ministries. The reason: media reports that young women seeking psychological and medical support were instead essentially enrolled in a bible program. Some young women say they couldn’t leave the treatment centre and that staff would “exorcise” them. But Mercy Ministries denies those claims.

Meredith Griffiths reports.

MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: According to its website, Mercy Ministries is a Christian organisation that helps young women suffering from eating disorders, self-harm, abuse, addictions or pregnancy. But around March last year, stories began emerging about what was going on inside the program’s residential treatment centre in the Sydney suburb of Baulkham Hills.

TANYA LEVIN: The women had been promised they would see a team of doctors and psychologists and dieticians to work on the issues that they had come into Mercy Ministries with and when the women arrived at Mercy Ministries, they found out over the course of time that there was actually no professional intervention, the only intervention they got was from a Pentecostal Christian perspective.

MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: Tanya Levin is a social worker who the women contacted because they knew she was also a former member of the large Pentecostal church, Hillsong which supports Mercy Ministry. Mr Levin says she’s since been in touch with 15 to 20 of Mercy’s clients.

TANYA LEVIN: They learnt that they had been brought in for reasons of sin. They needed to repent, the needed to become born again. Oftentimes, this involved exorcisms.

MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: She says the women weren’t allowed to leave the centre.

TANYA LEVIN: It seems that with the extreme levels of deprivation, isolation, the women had to submit their Centrelink payments so that they had very little of their own money.

MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: The women’s complaints have not gone unheard. PM understands that the Australian Competition and Consumer Competition has been investigating Mercy Ministries for more than a year. Now Mercy Ministries has announced it will cease operations in Australia because it’s no longer financially viable.

The executive director, Margaret Stunt, says the bad publicity has had an effect on donations. Around the middle of this year, it lost the support of one of its biggest funders, the coffee chain Gloria Jean’s which used to advertise the service in its branches.

That’s where 26-year-old Sarah Goodson heard about Mercy Ministries. She was disappointed to hear it’s shutting down.

SARAH GOODSON: It literally saved my life.

MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: Last year she spent eight months at Mercy’s residence in Baulkham Hills being treated for anorexia. Sarah Goodson says she went to the doctor a lot in that time, and saw a dietician every two weeks. She says the clients had a choice about whether or not they signed over their Centrelink benefits and they were free to leave every weekend.

During the week, could you physically leave the property if you wanted to?

SARAH GOODSON: No because mainly the program runs during the week and that’s when you’re getting counselling and working on the issues that you have.

MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: Sarah Goodson says she was never exorcised and she never witnessed one.

Was there a lot of biblical influence though?

SARAH GOODSON: Yeah. Because it’s a Christian-based program and because when you first enter that program you know that it’s a Christian-based program.

MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: The Hillsong church released a statement last night saying it’s cutting ties with Mercy Ministries to protect the reputation of the church.

EXTRACT FROM STATEMENT (voiceover): Hillsong is not under investigation but a number of key people from Hillsong church over the years have been involved in Mercy Ministries. It is wrong that anything Mercy Ministries may or may not have done could overshadow so much of what we as a church stand for: loving God and helping people.

MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: The church’s leaders have encouraged people to assist any investigation into Mercy Ministries and says Hillsong will now be developing tighter guidelines about what other organisations its staff can work with.

MARK COLVIN: Meredith Griffiths.

The article can be found here http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2009/s2726767.htm