Mercy Ministries Update From Australia
In March, Australian daily the Sydney Morning-Herald broke a story about the Mercy girls—ex-members of Mercy Ministries, a Christian counseling home headquartered in Nashville. The Mercy girls claimed spiritual and emotional abuse at the hands of inexperienced and unqualified counselors. In every case, they said, Mercy's "treatment" left them worse for wear.
Four months later, the Scene was contacted by a man who'd enrolled his daughter in the Nashville home. After doing some digging, he'd found the Australian headlines and a handful of blogs from American graduates claiming the same abuse.
It is their experiences that comprise the meat of this week's cover story, "Jesus Rx."
Today we learn that the backlash against Mercy in Australia is growing. "Madeline," an anonymous blogger who runs a Mercy support group, called from Down Under to tell us that more than 30 girls, nearly 1/3rd of the total who'd been treated in Australia, have reached out to her for help.
It's a number that promises to grow, both here and abroad, with increased scrutiny of Mercy. But unfortunately, it doesn't mean everyone is getting help. Madeline also called to tell us that one former Mercy girl had taken her life last week.
One more thing we'd be loathe to leave out re: Mercy. The main thrust of "Jesus Rx" comes from Jennifer (now India) Wynne. Wynne graduated from the original Mercy home in Louisiana, worked in Nashville, and lived for a time with Mercy founder Nancy Alcorn in a Brentwood condo. She was eventually fired after admitting to kissing a girl in the home.
For years afterwards, Wynne was counseled to sue Mercy. What they'd done was illegal, she was told. She should be compensated. But Wynne says she never took legal action because she still believed Mercy could help some girls.
It's a paradox that some ex-Mercyites are forced to deal with. While their own experiences were traumatic, they also know some who were indeed "saved," an idea that's backed up by a cursory search on Google or Facebook groups.
It doesn't change what happened to them, or the strength in their conviction that Mercy's practices need to be overhauled. It's just another example of life stubbornly refusing to deal in absolutes.
Comments
Sad news about the death? Mercy will follow the usual head in the sand approach.
Posted 10/02/2008 at 11:34:59 PMIndeed, the news is very disheartening. However, I'm glad that so many girls have come to mercysurvivors.com. It shows that there's always hope for what these girls have been put through.
Posted 10/05/2008 at 12:55:32 PMThat article was crazy, another example of people completely fucking up other's lives in the name of superstition, despite good intentions.
Posted 10/06/2008 at 09:53:43 AMI'm not a big Mercy follower, but the reality is if you check the stats, 80% of the programs out there fail their objective of helping people. You're always going to have problems with anything like this where girls/people are in trouble.
The suicide was a tragedy, but it's just plain stupid to hang that 100% on Mercy. Just remember who got the girl to that low point in her life in the first place. Family, school, friends, etc. How long was she out of Mercy before she committed suicide?
To harp on Mercy while overlooking hundreds of governmental programs that are federally funded and still fail is well, hypocritical. Britney Spears and Lindsey Lohan are great examples failed recovery attempts. Sure they recovered...after many thousands of dollars, psychiatric sessions, and what...2 years working on it?
Get real. Be open minded and do some real research/fact finding.
Posted 10/08/2008 at 01:40:34 PMTony, our mention of the suicide was not meant to be interpreted as cause-and-effect: girl goes to Mercy; girl kills herself; therefore, Mercy is at fault. In truth, the person who told us knows very little about the details of the tragedy. That's why we avoided making any judgments about why it happened.
The mere fact that it happened, however, is worth mention if only to remind us all that the young girls who look to Mercy for help are indeed troubled.
We understand most treatment programs are lucky if half of their graduates don't relapse. The business of rehabilitating anyone, especially kids, is incredibly difficult and offers no guarantees.
But we also understand that most treatment programs don't deny patients their meds or tell them their seizures are a result of demonic oppression. At least we hope not.
We also thought it important to include India's post-Mercy experience to demonstrate the complicated nature of the story: The woman whose life was nearly destroyed by Mercy sought no recompense because she knew the home could still be of help to some girls.
Ignoring failed government programs is not a sign of hypocrisy and invoking rehab-veteran celebrities is a weird detour considering Mercy is set-up to help their polar opposites; girls who can't afford treatment.
Posted 10/08/2008 at 02:47:24 PMMercy doesn't deny the girls their medications. I know that some people at Mercy tend to be more charismatic than others, but they're not that bad. I worked at the Nashville home for a time and experienced both the good and the bad, but the good far outweighs the bad.
Posted 10/09/2008 at 11:21:24 PMIn Australia they took girls off medications without the doctor's consent. They wouldn't even allow some girls panadol when they had migrains. They just kept saying it was demons that needed casting out.
Even when girls hurt themselves (because things had gotten to that stage because there was no real psychiatric care) girls were disciplined instead of given help or treatment.
Posted 10/10/2008 at 05:32:42 PMAmen to Tony!!!
Posted 10/23/2008 at 01:05:53 PMWhen unqualified religious fanatics start running a rehab centre, tragedies like that are bound to happen.
I feel so sorry for the family and I wonder if they realised the staff at MM were unqualified (despite advertising they were qualified.)
Spirituality is important and can play a huge part in healing, however when you are sick you should go to a doctor as well as practice your beliefs.
Having unstable staff working with unstable girls was going to be a recipe for disaster from the start.
Posted 10/26/2008 at 01:02:32 AMI am outraged by these articles. If it weren't for Mercy Ministries - I would have blown my brains out 10 years ago. I really would like to know what kind of person Caleb Hannan is - and wonder how much attention he got from these articles. I sure hope he is satisfied. Outrageous. These girls (like myself) ALREADY have suicidal tendancies - THAT IS WHY they are reaching out for help. The fact that anyone would state that Mercy was the cause of this death is ludacris and they know absolutely nothing about depression - or problems in general. They are simply living in complete deception - and calloused from the world - and the money that makes the world go 'round.
Posted 11/02/2008 at 02:06:15 AMBefore you throw another tantrum Liz, you should know that not all girls who go to Mercy Ministries are suicidal. They go there for a range of different issues, from pregnancy to eating disorders, often times leaving very good treatment because Mercy say they can offer better. What Mercy fail to mention is that their staff are not qualified to be treating the conditions they advertise they can treat. That is one of the reasons why people have stopped supporting them. This program witholds psychiatric or medical treatment, and then performs exorcisms and the like on individuals with personal problems, medical conditions or mental illness. For you to sugges that this kind of 'treatment' would not affect them in a negative way is absolutely ridiculous.
Posted 11/03/2008 at 08:13:47 AMI am in fact a Mercy Ministries Graduate of 2004. I am very saddened to see the news that has been made public about Nancy Alcorn and Mercy Ministries that are in Fact not true. I am not saddened by the person publishing the news but by the girl/girls giving the news. Each and every girl that walks through the doors of Mercy Ministries knows the Truth Of what indeed the ministry does provide. This in fact is a Home that many and hundreds of thousand of Girls have never had the oportunity to step into of Warmth Love, Acceptance, Honesty, Integrity, Grace, Security.. All of these things they provide to you unlike many shelters and hospitals a warm bed, warm showers where you don't have to worry about disease because the place is unbelieveably clean, 3 complete meals..etc. And in the midst of living with 40 girls you are given the space and graciousness to feel like you are living in a palace all to yourself.
Posted 11/15/2008 at 11:48:34 PMI would like to say to the Girl who started all of this.. this is nonsence. You should be ashamed of what you started. Just because you became angry for whatever reason doesn't give you the right to spread Lies. And you know in your heart what is true. And in Fact what ever happened to you I don't know. But Nancy Alcorn the President and Founder of Mercy Ministries is a Woman of God. She is a Human Being just like the rest of us and is not perfect. Mercy Ministries is alive and Well with the Spirit of God Rolling in the House of All the Homes across the Nations. And I know that Nancy and All the staff and Mercy Ministries are stomping on the Face of Satan for allowing anything negative to interfere what is to be intended for the ministry for that which is Good for the people.
And you know as a Matter of Fact in Your Mind, In your soul, and the deepest heart of Hearts the reason you didn't legally take this matter into action is because you Know what you said about Nancy Alcorn and Mercy Ministries is not True. And from any thing you have recieved anything that is good from the ministry you owe Nancy Alcorn and apology and to the graduates of the program because what you have done is a little offensive. which if you graduated the program you know you recieved a lot of Good. And you know that it is your choice to to CHOOSE to recieve and Walk in the Spirit of the Tools That Mercy Provided For you. And to the person who who made the blogg "What Happens to the Baby's" at Mercy Ministries? Ok you crossed the line on this one. You are mad Now I am mad.
I am like I said a former Mercy Graduate. I came to Mercy Ministries in 2004 I came into the program pregnant in 2003. I place my beautiful daughter for Adoption to a very Loving most Amazing family. I knew adoption was the best thing for me because I wasn't ready to be a parent, I had a lot of peronal problems. I was scared because I wanted to make sure she was with a family I could trust with everything. I took part in the basic decision making class. There was never any force of the decision. I'm not going to go into all the details because it's not necesary. My point is Mercy was there for me when noone else was. They helped me, Taught me, Grounded me, Saved me, and my daughter is with a wonderful Christian family. I know where they are, I recieve pictures frequently, and they adopted 3 other children from the ministry also with all different backgrounds. I love Mercy and am greatful everyday for what they did for me. I pray every day God Blesses the Ministry for what they gave to me because I know it is because of them I can even breathe today.
And to the people who who are saying these negative and untrue things.. It doesn't really matter what you say.God knows the truth. Mercy is protected and you know it because you know truthfully what they provide. And if you don't believe what they provide is true which if Forgiveness, Mercy, teachings of very important Foundations of God, the reacieving of Faith, Friendships, Love, and many many more things, If you can not accept these things and if you cannot accept God's Mercy especially when you have seen it then you don't believe in Mercy and you do not believe in God.
Emma obviously wasn't in the Aussie homes. The girls couldn't even take showers at times due to there being a lack of water.
There was absolutely NO WAY for a girl to know what she was walking into, when even the advertising brochures about Mercy Ministries claimed their staff were qualified and claimed the girls would be treated by psychologists. How would she have expected the staff to have absolutely no qualifications in mental health? There was absolutely no way for her to know what she was getting into with Mercy Ministries when they wrongly advertised themselves as a facility providing actual treatment.
Not to mention the forced exorcisms and charging the patients to be there (even though when they fundraised they always said the program was free for girls and that they weren't charged to be there.) So much for it being a Christian charity or even a trustworthy charity.
Emma you need to get the facts before you start defending things you don't understand. Staff members have also come forward now, in case you haven't heard.
Posted 11/18/2008 at 09:22:32 AM