As residents we recieved our copy of the folder and material bit by bit and we were started on the easier to handle subjects like forgiveness, first. We worked through that and then were given the next subject.
I truly believe that by doing that it caused a lot of residents to feel guilty for feeling like or thinking that something was off or not quite right when they came to the subject of demonic oppression. When a resident did come to that subject they were given a list of stuff to go through for homework and they had to circle or highlight all subjects that applied to them.
I remember struggling with it at the time and being very unsure of what to do as I did not know a lot about my family background due to a number of reasons beyond my control. This prompted me to contact A Girl Called Hope with a list of questions about their programme. I asked A Girl Called Hope the following questions:. The article below first appeared in The Times. It is currently the only major UK media coverage of the Mercy Ministries scandal. The article can be found here but you need a subscription to view the content so I have reproduced it here.
Few would entrust their physical health to anyone who was professionally unqualified, unaccountable and under no professional obligation to try to make you better. Which is why, if you seek help from a podiatrist, chiropodist, or several other health professions, you are protected by statutory regulation. If a physiotherapist gets too familiar, for example, you can complain to a government watchdog, which will decide whether to strike him or her off a national register.
Those falsely claiming to be such professionals can be prosecuted or fined. Clearly this is just Mercy Ministries with a different name. The official website goes on to say:. Having worked with troubled youth for eight years; Nancy gained insight into the reasons why social problems exist, particularly in young women. The first home was opened in Monroe, Louisiana, this then extended to Nashville, St.
Louis and Sacremento, California in the United States. His website reads:. It is important to understand that destructive mind control can be determined when the overall effect of these four components promotes dependency and obedience to some leader or cause. It is not necessary for every single item on the list to be present.
Mind controlled cult members can live in their own apartments, have nine-to-five jobs, be married with children, and still be unable to think for themselves and act independently. The model goes through each of the 4 parts of the acronym above in detail and can be found here. This letter first appeared here on seantheblogonaut. When I read the article on March 17th I identified completely with it and it triggered off my own traumatic memory of my short time at Mercy.
Your courage has prompted me to speak up and express my concerns to someone of authority which will hopefully now spare two girls I know from entering the program. The sad part is, where do these two girls, and the hundreds of others, go? I think what Naomi wrote on the X-Mercy blog sums up perfectly the intentions of us X-Mercy girls and where we are coming from and what we are hoping to achieve by speaking out.
I think Naomi made an important point in saying that she does not believe Mercy intended harm — I also agree with this. The way in which Naomi articulated her story and her intentions is amazing — free of bitterness and resentment, it was composed, reasonable and authentic and it is a credit to the time and thought she has obviously given this and all she has gone through to get to this point — she really says it all and covers all bases.
There is much more to be said but for now just a big thank you and that I hope you are all going ok in the aftermath of the truth coming out. Here are more words by Naomi Johnson about her Mercy Ministries experience. They originally appeared on seantheblogonaut. It really hurts to read and hear the outright, bold faced lies that Peter Irvine is willing to purport as truth.
It was then published by Sean on seantheblogonaut. I can understand the urge to giggle at such thing, esp. I was surprised by my emotional response upon seeing the second batch of my file. I had anticipated that it would be a little more impacting on me than the first lot, but even still i was surprised. Even though i have come to terms with this experience on many levels with the support of God and safe people, i really felt like i did four years ago when i had just finished my 12 month stint in the Sydney home.
That is, mentally stranded between two polar opposite realities and captive to lies. Naturally, I had some fears about what this place would potentially have in common with the last facility I was in, being Mercy Ministries. Obviously, there would be limited contact with the outside world, and staff supervision when allowed off the hospital grounds. Even though I can understand why such rules would exist, I was fearful in anticipation of the nostalgia it could potentially create for me.
I have seen the very same rules used to control and isolate vulnerable people. Oh, it was amazing. Praise God. Since around the beginning of the year, myself and some other fellow survivors have been involved in a struggle to have our respective client files released to us. When I was a baby, my parents went on a really long drive in a sweltering heat wave to see this car.
They had asked the lady over the phone if it had any rust. So they get there and the lady comes out to meet them. They start looking at the car. My dad opens one of the doors and it falls off. These poems appeared on Comfortably Numb , a blog of poems written by a former Mercy Ministries resident. The author of these poems spent time in the St.
Louis Mercy Ministries home. The words speak for themselves. No Mercy — This blog was created to help people figure out if Mercy Ministries are a distructive group, cult or distructive relationship. Against Biblical Counselling — A blog focusing on the dangers of all Bible based counselling programmes. I saw this story on gracetolight.
I have posted it all here but I would strongly advise anybody looking for information on Mercy Ministries to go visit this blog. It is maintained by a former Mercy resident. Note: This is an essay I wrote for my composition class. I have cited sources where appropriate — if you see one I missed, comment and let me know. I had just finished my first year of college.
I had wanted so badly to succeed academically, but my recurrent depression had gotten in the way once again. With a GPA of less than 2. I was on my way home, back to an emotionally abusive environment that I knew would only make things worse.
At this time I choose to remain anonymous because it may cause unnecessary distress to my friends or family, but everything I have put down is true according to my experience and I would be willing to testify to it under oath in a court of law.
Do you have a personal story about Mercy Ministries to share? Click here to find out how to contact us. It is vitally important that as many people as possible read these stories. Please use the share button at the bottom of each post to share via Facebook and Twitter. Create a free website or blog at WordPress. Do you know someone who has? If you can offer any information please let me know at thetruthaboutmercy gmail. Before you read this please be reminded of the BITE model.
This model outlines the 4 main features of a cult:I. Behavior Control II. Information Control III. Thought Control IV. I had my 23rd birthday there in the kitchen of the Monroe, Luisiana home. When I first arrived, I found the Mercy staff to be caring and compassionate. The home was clean and well decorated, and the sleeping and bathing facilities were comfortable. According to Hayley, Mercy staff unswervingly held her and others to a one-size-fits-all counseling curriculum. Six years after leaving Mercy, Hayley continues to wrestle with mental illness.
Mercy—which, after 32 years of operating as Mercy Ministries, rebranded as Mercy Multiplied this past October —touts that upward of 3, women have come to one of its centers somehow broken and left feeling whole. Hayley desperately wanted to be one of them. Instead she says she encountered a program that demanded total submission to its methods and to God. It was, and is, a place that treats the devil as something frighteningly real—the kind of approach that may work for many residents but overwhelms others with guilt and fear.
In the years since her time at the Lincoln facility, Hayley has connected with a group of Mercy alumnae, their families, and former staff.
The 14 former residents and five families I interviewed for this story—all members of those lists—say that Mercy emphasizes faith healing, despite marketing language that suggests a strong embrace of scientifically based treatments. They say the program pressures, guilts, and spiritually manipulates residents into following a counseling model that treats every problem, from anorexia to childhood abuse, the exact same way.
Some say that under the guidance of their counselors, several Mercy residents falsely accused their families of horrific abuse.
Parents have watched their daughters vanish from their lives after exiting the program, in some cases without any explanation. Academics in psychiatry, neuroscience, and biomedical ethics acknowledge that purely secular mental health approaches may have little success with devout patients. The fusion of secular and spiritual interventions has been shown to succeed where the former alone has failed, s p a r k i n g a debate among mental health professionals over the most effective ways to combine t h e t w o.
Proponents of such joint approaches are now actively trying to bridge the wide historical gap between the secular mental health community and the church. Hayley Baker and the other Mercy Survivors did not understand that impersonal medical bureaucracy offers certain standards and protections that a religious organization lacks.
What they saw was an organization that claimed to be an engine of God and that would heal them. With its purported emphasis on clinical best practices, Mercy plays both sides of a tension within modern psychiatric practice that stretches back to its roots. Meanwhile, some faithful were angered by the growing popularity of psychotherapy and believed that proponents of psychopharmacological treatment were playing God. This response crystallized in the s with the Biblical Counseling Movement, founded by Jay Adams, a Presbyterian pastor who believed mental illness was a sign of spiritual and moral corruption.
Alcorn became born again as a young woman, after injuries ended her dream of playing college basketball. The first Mercy home opened in Monroe, Louisiana, that same year. Its funding stems from churches nationwide and wealthy Christian power players such as personal finance guru Dave Ramsey, Tennessee Gov. Mercy runs four homes in the United States three solely for adults and one that also houses pregnant teens and has affiliates in Canada, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand.
It has also purchased land in North Carolina and Florida for more homes. Alcorn declined to be interviewed for this article. The year-old Alcorn resembles a smoothly preserved woman of about 45, her cornsilk hair and tanned skin as flawless as her favored leather jackets and vests, her friendly twang and photogenic smile masking the fierce intensity of her faith. It offers no heart change.
The seven-part counseling model Alcorn created was originally called Restoring the Foundations. She requested anonymity so as not to jeopardize her current employment as a secular psychologist. Instead, the counselor said, executives in Nashville instructed her to walk each woman through the same seven-step counseling model and assign a prescribed regimen of readings, response papers, and audio sermons, which residents were meant to complete as homework before their weekly one-on-one counseling sessions.
Both are rooted in the Charismatic Christian movement, which believes in spiritual warfare, the gifts and healing powers of the Holy Spirit, prophesy, the laying of hands to anoint or empower an ailing individual, and salvation from demonic forces through deliverance. Or you could be experiencing depression because generations ago in your family, someone gave an opening for the demonic.
Multiple former Mercy residents told me that staff members shouted at demons to flee their bodies. Bethany M. And secular psychiatrists want to medicate things like that, but Jesus did not say to medicate a demon. He said to cast them out. Why would Mercy publicly distance itself from a form of treatment it appears to believe in?
Candy Brown, a professor of religious studies at Indiana University, speculates that the organization downplays its Charismatic influences because such things might make mainstream Christians—men such as Gov.
Haslam and Coach Fisher—uncomfortable. When I visited in November , residents in their late teens and 20s were sprawled around the premises on couches and armchairs. They read from assigned books and listened to sermons on portable CD players. Multiple times a week, they also worked out at a local gym, took classes on money management and nutrition, or studied for their GEDs.
They cooked communal meals, cleaned their bathrooms, and did laundry. They bunked two to a room and were allowed to call home once a week, on Sunday. During my tour, the staff repeatedly stressed that residents knew they had signed up for a biblically based counseling program. Hayley was particularly bothered by step five in the seven-step treatment. Here, a Mercy counselor asks a resident to recall a traumatic memory or to let Jesus reveal a moment of past trauma and then imagine that Christ is there, absolving her of any guilt related to the event.
This is the only way. Other women described feeling similar pressure to follow the counseling model or risk being called insubordinate. When Lily Mershon entered the Lincoln home in at age 23, she was anorexic, barely weighed 80 pounds, and had no health insurance. But Lily had convinced her doctor to sign off on the medical records, telling him that the program was her only option. Add to Favorites. Volunteering Oportunities. Volunteer Opportunities. Get Badge. Our residential program is voluntary, biblically-based, and free-of-charge for women ages ; our outpatient services are free-of-charge for women ages 13 and older; and our Outreach Services offer multiple resources online and onsite designed to equip men and women of all ages to live free and stay free in Jesus Christ.
Our Outreach Services also train and resource men and women to effectively support and minister to those who are hurting and struggling through workshops, videos, podcasts, and other practical resources. Results : Mercy has helped thousands of residents since it was founded in This study is being used in over 21 countries to equip people and over 20, people around the world have participated in this study.
It has been translated into five languages. Target demographics : Young women struggling with life-controlling issues, men and women of all ages who are looking for a new level of freedom in Christ. Programs : We serve young women ages from all over the country struggling with life-controlling issues such as eating disorders, self-harm, abuse and neglect, drug and alcohol abuse, depression, and unplanned pregnancy. We have three U. Our residential program is based on Christian principles and teachings and incorporates proven methods and counseling to serve a diverse population of young women from across the United States.
Our outpatient program, located in Monroe, LA serves women 13 and older. Share Your Story. Rating: 5. I spent 8 months at Mercy, and God changed my life there!! I was bound by addictions, an abusive past, suicide attempts, and bulimia. I had tried getting help from so many other places, but I continually relapsed.
During my time at Mercy, I learned the tools to live in freedom. While life is not perfect or easy, I am living successfully free from my past!
I'm now working with at-risk youth and giving them hope that was offered to me at Mercy! I would be dead if it hadnt been for Mercy Multiplied. God used this place to save my life! Share this review: Flag review. I came to the program 9 years ago as a last chance after struggling for almost 10 years with an eating disorder, self-harm and depression among other things. The Mercy staff exhibited God's love and grace in a way I'd never experienced before.
God began to work in my heart in an awesome way. A heart that had turned to stone began to beat and feel again. I'm so grateful for the part Mercy has played in my journey. If it weren't for Mercy, I probably wouldn't be here today. Mercy has changed my life. I was able to gain the skills I needed to life a productive and successful life. I was dealing with depressed and anixety to the point of hospitalization. Suicide seemed to be all I could think about. When my mother found mercy and I finally agreed to go I found a new life.
I graduated mercy almost 7 years ago and I will be graduating in May with a masters in social work. Thank the Lord. I was a resident of Mercy for almost eight months, having just recently graduated.
My first couple hours as a resident I realized the staff was not only welcoming but wanting to show that no matter my past, I was loved and valued.
Through a process of unbecoming who I thought I was, I began to see who God created me to be. Every one of the staff was patient with me, taught me skills needed for life, cried with me and laughed with me. One of the important lessons I learned from my counselor was that there is nothing I can do to earn love, I simply am loved already.
Mercy is a safe place where I shared my deepest pain and was allowed to be heard, be seen, reflect, cry, heal and grow.
I am beyond words that God brought me to a place where I could have my mind renewed and where I learned my value. This program and everyone who works for it is anointed, gifted and an absolute blessing. Erin Gray L. Finding this organization has enabled me to pursue my lifelong dream of helping people get free from life controlling issue like eating disorders. I had given up trying until I discovered Mercy Multiplied. As a result, many more of us are being equipped to help others successfully.
They are not just changing the lives of those in their homes, they are changing the lives of many more outside their homes so we can live free and help others do the same. They are really good stewards of what they have been given. They multiply it. Though they are cost efficient, they do everything with excellence. If you are looking for an effective organization that gets results, I highly recommend this one. I was so broken when i walked into Mercy.
I had tried virtually every other way of coping. I cant even say that my life had spiraled out of control because it had never been in control to begin with. I was broken , hopeless and on a very self destructive path. I was deperate for help. I tried other programs both secular and faith based, but nothing worked. As a last ditch effort i applied to Mercy, not believing it would be different. But it was! Mercy showed me love and grace as i struggled in the beginning. No matter how much i messed up they never gave up on me.
For the first time in my life i completed something when i got my GED at 29 years old. I could not have done it with out Mercy! I believe the difference at Mercy is the emphasis of building a strong relationship with the Lord ,instead of focusing on problems. I will have a year clean and sober in two weeks. I have not been clean of drugs, alcohol or tobacco for a year since i was a pre-teen. God used Mercy as a vessel of healing and freedom! Thank you Mercy Multiplied for helping me to find my true value and worth as a daughter of God!
Lindsey L. For over 10 years I battled with severe depression, self-harm, and suicide. I had a relationship with Jesus and found bits of temporary freedom but honestly thought I would live my whole life just wishing to be dead.
I came to Mercy completely hopeless and angry and lifeless. Through the staff and the resources given at Mercy I learned to take authority over my thoughts, practice self-compassion, and let God break down my walls. I left Mercy with renewed hope, with joy, and a genuine love for the life God has given me! I'm still on a journey of wholeness, like all of us, but I am thriving more than ever before.
Mercy transformed my life. I am a Community Board member but I'm also a parent of a Mercy graduate. Mercy brought healing and life back to my daughter. I truly believe that if she had not gone to Mercy she would probably not be alive now. Ever since she graduated, my husband and I have been involved as much as we can to give back to Mercy and to reach the lives of other young women.
We love being on the Community Board and we totally believe in the mission and results of Mercy through the power of Jesus. Mercy Multiplied is the only place I have seen lives truly transform. Since the girls get to come free of charge they get the time they need to really find the root of all what we call in society- their problems.
I first found out about Mercy when I was in college and I couldn't believe when I first visited the Nashville home how beautiful it was. Mercy believes in excellence in all assets of the services they offer. What is cool now, seven years later, I actually got to be part of the outreach events Mercy is now doing. Now they are offering their same principles they use with the girls at the home to us in the community in workshop form.
I absolutely love Mpower, their two day workshop. It truly gave me permission to work with those who wanted help, who ready to change and I have seen God show up in big ways! Mercy Multiplied plays such an effective role in our communities and nation.
It provides a safe haven to young ladies for healing, nurturing and freedom. I proudly support Mercy Multiplied, it's vision and mission. I would highly recommend anyone looking for worthy cause to support to consider Mercy Multiplied. This place is changing lives and hearts and our world is becoming a better place because of it. This is an amazing organization. They invest in every person that comes through those doors.
I see the girls change from the first day to the graduation. They are so full of hope and joy! Their testimonies are so inspiring and touching. You can see that only God set them free and changed them. The have a new smile and new life. Mercy Multiplied was a great experience for me. This program helped me glow again. Through this program I learned how valuable, worthy, and am loved by God. He loves me just as I am. I also learned that my destiny does not have to be dictated by my history.
I can start a new as I have been made new in Christ. Mercy Multiplied helped me see how much I am loved. Mercy Multiplied gave me space to learn and begin to master tools that would allow me to live an emotionally healthy lifestyle.
Before Mercy, I was struggling with a form of depression and making poor choices in my personal life and felt like I was in a cycle I couldn't break. Thankfully during my 6 months there I experienced radical growth as I was loved and supported by the amazing staff.
I'm so incredibly grateful for my time there, even with all the ups and downs that come with living in a group home, it was totally worth it. Mercy Multiplied had such an amazing impact on my life. I was struggling with so many lifelong issues that could have killed me but because of Mercy I was able to be restored and set on the path of freedom.
Rating: 4. Operation Second Chance is awesome. I currently retired and had a job lined up that ended up just being an internship that is non-paying. With no income coming in yet from me and only my wives income we hit a wall real fast.
OSC has helped relieve some stress with helping us out with are rent. They have gone above and beyond the call of duty to help us out as well as everyone else they help.
Please help get them noticed so they can keep providing support. I was a mess when I heard about this program from a friend. This program is a great program for all the girls who are struggling. I got saved while in the program, now I'm doing good. But I know God has helped me through it all. I definitely recomend it! I came to Mercy for an internship at the corporate office in Nashville, and I loved it!
I spent most of my time with the corporate staff, but I also got the opportunity to hang out with the residents in the home. To me, this was the most rewarding time! I have never experienced a group of people so committed to following the Word of God. This is Kingdom work! I was desperate for help, and turned to Mercy Multiplied because I couldn't afford any additional treatment and it was free of charge. Little did I know that this place would be what would help to change my life for the better.
It was scary going to a place I knew little about and was also away from my hometown, but I wouldn't change my experience for anything.
Can't thank this place and everyone's support enough! I won't lie to you. This program is tough. But if you're truly ready to get freedom from your issues everything from sex trafficking and eating disorders, to self-harm and other life-controlling issues , then Mercy Multiplied is for you. This program is a free-of-charge, Christ-based and one of the best out there.
Prior to going to Mercy, my life was destroyed. Most of the destruction was self-imposed. I felt hopeless and beyond hope. I didn't care if I lived or died. Going through the program was hard. Facino your issues is hard. But the freedom is so worth it. I graduated in , and my life is so better than it used to be. I have peace, hope, and a future. At this time, I am in Nursing school. This has been a dream since I was a little girl. I had stopped dreaming while I was struggling because I figured I'd never see my dreams come to pass.
If you're looking for a program where you will be challenged, encouraged, loved and freed from your issues, this program is for you. Hazel W. I still can not believe Mercy is free of charge! I am a graduate and when I walked through the doors of Mercy, I know its cliche, but I really didn't have any hope. I didn't believe God was good, and I was incapable of functioning in this life because of my struggles with PTSD, self-harm, and drug and alcohol abuse.
At Mercy I didn't just find a religion, I found a relationship with God who is good. I also received tools that I use to this day to get me through the adversity and trials that continue to happen even on this side of Mercy. Mere words cannot express how giving and life changing Mercy is for those lucky enough to be a resident there.
Mercy Ministries now Mercy Multiplied is an absolutely amazing place! I spent six months at the California home in , due to a long battle with an eating disorder. It was here that I was shown the path to true freedom, and I learned that it was a choice that I could make!
God worked in my life in so many ways through Mercy, and showed me that HIS truth is what sets free the captive! The staff is absolutely amazing and the program is adjusted to your specific needs. I strongly recommend Mercy!!! It definetly equips you with the tools to overcome the struggles you are facing and walk out true freedom in your life, with the strength of Christ!
I know it is scary to take the step and apply, but I promise it is so worth it!!! My life was completely transformed because of my time at Mercy Multiplied. Prior to Mercy I spent years in and out of psychiatric hospitals, rehabs, and treatment centers. Nothing brought me any lasting change. Mercy was the only place that helped me get to the root of my issues instead of just addressing my behaviors. Mercy provided me with a safe and loving home environment where I could really heal.
Since being at Mercy I've lived the last 6. God used Mercy Multplied to literally save my life. From the age of five I lived in fear because of sexual and verbal abuse, and by the age of eleven I became actively suicidal. I was depressed and anxious, and to cope with family dysfunction and extremely low self esteem and worth, I turned to anorexia and self harm. After deciding to become a Christian, I was surprised that my issues didn't just go away.
I lived my adult years trying to be perfect and good enough in everyone's eyes. I hated who I thought I was, which pushed me further into suicide and depression, and I felt I needed to hide the depth of my darkness from other Christians, because if they saw how dead I was inside they would tell me I wasn't good enough.
In the months before applying for Mercy, I did anything to numb the pain I was in- the eating disorder, pills, alcohol, and promiscuity. I had no hope and I was just waiting for the time when the suicide plan would actually work. When I applied for Mercy, I knew getting there was truly life or death for me. Being at Mercy was one of the hardest things I have ever done, and there were several times that I wanted to give up, but in my time there the staff loved me in ways I needed, as well as in ways I didn't understand we're loving at first.
But the biggest thing in my time there is that God showed up in my life there. God can show up anywhere, but my life felt so overwhelmingly dark and hopeless, and not only did I need to come to the end of myself to see I needed God, that I couldn't be enough apart from Him, but He also had to bring me to a safe and loving environment where I could work through and let go of past hurts, and to believe that He really has life and an amazing future for me.
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