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