• Two women complained about a faith-based care residence which lacked certification and imposed strict rules.
• Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner Vanessa Caldwell found breaches of patient rights and legal standards.
• Caldwell criticised a counsellor for saying a woman had ‘soul ties’ to her sexual abuser, and said she should apologise.

An abused teenager who received mental health care at an uncertified faith-based residence was told that sexual intercourse created “soul ties” which bound her to her rapist.

The woman was one of two who complained to the Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC) about the care she received at the Christian residence, which was in a “secret” location and had strict rules.

Televisions and mobile phones were not allowed, books were vetted by staff and even newspapers had articles cut out. One of the women said residents were not allowed outside media, music, or non-Christian literature.

Residents were expected to “dress modestly” and had to open their mail in front of the staff. Their internet use was monitored.

They could only receive emails via a single, central email address and could only respond to them at weekends.

They were allowed three phone calls out on a landline each Saturday, and could receive two calls on a Sunday.

The women who complained about the facility were not identified in an investigation report from the HDC released on Monday. They were called Ms A and Ms B in the report.

They were treated in 2013 and 2014, when they were teenagers. They complained to the HDC in 2020 and 2022.

The HDC referred Ms A’s complaint to the Ministry of Health, which found that the facility had been operating without certification and audit, as required by law.

However, the ministry did not carry out an inspection because it then found that the charitable trust which ran the home no longer offers residential care, but provides services online.

In part of her complaint, Ms A said she received counselling from a Ms J, who was registered with the New Zealand Christian Counsellors Association.

She said Ms J discussed with her the concept of “soul ties”, in which God intends sex only for marriage, and that sex tears and binds two souls together, including non-consensual sexual contact.

Ms A told the HDC that Ms J asked her to write a list of all her sexual partners, so that they could break the soul ties.

The facility said that “co-dependency” was explored in the counselling sessions, but the term “soul ties” was never used.

However, Ms A’s counselling reports show that three months into her programme Ms A “chose to pray some prayers of forgiveness, sexual soul ties and to break ties with the occult”.

Ms J said that nothing in her counselling reports points to her having instructed Ms A to write a list of sexual partners, but her sexual abuse and her abuser were discussed over two sessions in mid 2014.

Ms J said that during one of these sessions she prayed to “sever the ties to the man who raped [Ms A]”.

She said that she prayed with the intention of negating any fear that Ms A may have had that the abuser still had a controlling influence on her life.

“The use of the phrase ‘soul ties’ is not a terminology that I currently use in my practice nor has been for several years, owing to regular development and evaluation of my professional practice and taking into account Christian societal shifts.” Ms J said.

‘So many rules’

Ms B was admitted to the facility shortly after leaving school with an eating disorder she had tried to manage by abusing alcohol – up to eight bottles of wine a week.

“There were so many rules and restrictions,” Ms B told the HDC.

“This, coupled with the intense surveillance, made it another level of controlling. Most of the restrictions had no relation to the problems I was there to recover from.”

Ms B said there was a power dynamic at the home with the staff presenting as “experts”.

Two women claimed to be registered nurses, but the Nursing Council told the HDC that neither of them held a practising certificate at the time.

Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner Vanessa Caldwell found three breaches of patient rights, including that the facility failed to comply with legal standards because it was not certified or audited, and failed to keep health records.

She also found that the facility breached Ms A’s rights when it did not return her possessions to her and enable her to leave the home when she withdrew consent to being treated.

The facility breached Ms B’s rights by not informing her of medical test results and giving her an opportunity to participate in decision-making regarding her care.

Among a raft of other findings, Caldwell criticised the facility for potentially having incorrectly implied that two staff members were registered nurses, and not explaining their roles.

She found the facility coerced both women into allowing staff to be present at medical consultations.

Caldwell criticised the counsellor, Ms J, for using the term “soul ties”, and said she should apologise to Ms A.

She said that if the charity ever planned to resume its residential programme, it should take all necessary steps to obtain the certification required by the law.

She also recommended staff training in the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights.

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay.