You have made very important observations about false advertising and misuse of power over vulnerable people, thank you for speaking up and speaking out. I trust you have found qualified and compassionate help. I’m sorry you had to go through this experience, good on you for being willing to see others don’t have to suffer.

I am a Christian so I was sucked in by Mercy Ministries’ promise of Christian staff who were qualified in treating mental illness. I knew the links with Hillsong, who are very well known, and thought ‘great!’ But when I got there, I didn’t have one qualified person to treat me at all for the whole time I was there.

I did have a couple of trips to the GP, when I needed more medication because it had run out, but that is all! I didn’t see a psychologist or anything.

Even the counsellors were not qualified to treat mental illness, my counsellor was doing a mercy ministries counselling course (in house) so that is hardly a real qualification to treat mental illness. She didn’t help me, the counselling was less than an hour a week and it was prayer readings.

I don’t want Mercy shut down necessarily, but I do want girls who still decide to go there, to go there informed truthfully qualifications that staff have (or don’t have.)

I don’t hate Mercy for what they did to me. I actually like the ‘idea’ of Mercy - what they say they are on their website and in their advertising. But I am very much against what they actually do in reality. If they were running the program the way they claim to be running it, then there wouldn’t have been a problem. I didn’t want exorcisms and the ‘care’ of unqualified staff. I wanted what they promised me - psychiatric care by staff who were qualified to treat mental illness, and who were Christian.

Not “millions”.

Either that, or I’m very clearly in the wrong line of work!

The black and white bunker thinking is bizarre, let’s hope former clients and their families are able to step forward and assist government investigators. If the ministry can’t and won’t co-operate, shut them down.

It appears from the reactions from ministry advocates to media is anger and almost paranonia that anyone would question them.

This harms church and para-church groups who have qualified people in place and who are transparent and co-operative with regulatory agencies.

The willingness to be out of sight of professional associations and government regulatory groups, the lack of records and co-operating in Australia and the skimming government money went on for seven years.

The Mercy Ministry pr sounds like it came straight out of Nashville.
It’s nonsensical babble, even for those of us familiar with psycho babble and evangelical babble.
I can see why this Ministry would rebuff requests for records.

I went looking for financials (found one statement on a US attorney general site) the ministry withdrew from financial transparency groups years ago.
Of course. Made it easier to expand the business internationally.

There is room and need in society for educated certified accountable Christian counsellors, this does not appear at all to be the case at the Hillsong offshoot, I don’t see it in the UK or NZ or Canada either.

I’m not laughing - watched their promotional videos and read their material, this one size fits all is sloppy, unethical, harmful.

First line of defense, attack victims.
Vulnerable families unfamiliar with basic medical needs, disorders and treatment would get sucked in by this marketing. I can understand why many of their daughters would left needing ongoing medical and psychiatric intervention.

Second line of defense, attack media.
This is almost funny, like Coke, the headquarters in Nashville know they can export their brand without consequence.
Sadly they succeeded in Australia for seven years, they opened in NZ in August and will hoodwink desperate Canadians and hands off bureaucrats.

I will never understand why pentecostals, fundamentalists and neo-pentecostals believe health services do not honour religious faith.

While mental health services are swamped in Canada,
provincial governments cannot afford to just rubber stamp the dangers of Mercy Ministries.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/gods-cure-for-gays-lost-in-sin/2008/03/18/1205602385236.html

It’s an awful story, BD - as are so many from the Word/Faith Prosperity “other” Gospel.