According to what I can tell, a significant police agency has been hiring an ex-conversion therapy practitioner psychiatrist to scientifically manage its mental health staff.
Despite being the subject of a complaint to the General Medical Council in 2010 after his so-called “gay cure” practices were revealed in sanitized newspaper investigation, Dr. Paul Miller was hired by the Police Service of Northern Ireland ( PSNI ) as an advisor to train and oversee the work of clinicians within the occupational health and wellbeing team.
He suggested that the patient get massages from a female masseur in order to transition into heterosexuality, encouraged dressed self-affirming touching exercises, and explained that homosexuality was compulsive and could be changed. However, the General Medical Council exonerated him of any wrongdoing after its own appointed expert advised the patient to” try heterosexual interactions” because there is n’t enough evidence to support all forms of therapy.
However, after learning about Dr. Miller’s history, a whistle-blower within PSNI contacted me, worried about the implications for workers and for the popularity of the company, while also questioning the selecting, contracting, and tendering procedures within the organization. PSNI did n’t respond to i‘s detailed request for comment or address any of the inquiries made regarding the hiring process.
Others use different names, such as “reparative therapy” or” sexual orientation change efforts ( SOCE), while conversion therapy is the term most frequently used to describe efforts to make gay people heterosexual. The latter is used by Dr. Miller, who stated that he” stopped any treatment that could be viewed as such in 2010″ and does not aid SOCE in any way.
However, the information could rekindle the controversy over the British Government’s failure to carry out the five-year-old ban on conversion therapy, which was omitted from the King Speech this week. The choice by PSNI to employ Dr. Miller, according to leading therapist Dominic Davies, who oversees Pink Therapy, Britain’s most well-known Gay counseling services, “underpins the need for a constitutional ban on transformation practices.”
Since most conversion therapy is carried out with apparent consent but under duress from family, church, or community, LGBTQ groups have criticized the Conservatives ‘ plan to outlaw attempts to” cure” LGBTQ people, with the exception of any adult who” consented.”
Christian Dr. Miller recently defended his practices by claiming that simply gay clients who requested his service and agreed to be gay were treated.
Labour declared last month at its party convention that if elected the following month, it would enact a restrictions with” no flaws,” which would forbid such practices whether the victim appeared to agree or not.
There are important questions regarding how this guy was chosen for this position given his prior behavior, according to Anneliese Dodds MP, Shadow Women and Equalities Secretary. Abuse is change treatments. It cannot be described in any other way.
The Gay community has now expressed concern about PSNI this year after it became the first and only authorities force in the UK to leave Pride by forbidding its employees from donning clothes during the festival. The walk was described as “bitterly disappointing” by the team LGBT+ system at PSNI. It” will definitely have an effect in terms of damaging the Gay society’s trust in policing,” according to Séamas de Faoite, a local council for the SDLP. Earlier this year, PSNI even withdrawn from Stonewall’s Diversity Champions program.
The largest Gay generosity in Northern Ireland expressed concern over a number of decisions made by the police. According to Scott Cuthbertson, chairman of The Rainbow Project,” so-called transition treatment pose a risk to the health and wellbeing of their victims and survivors while lacking any medical justification.” It needs to be asked if LGBTQ+ officials are protected in this power, and the PSNI has serious questions to answer.
” We need the PSNI to perform better at a time of rising speech and violence against LGBTQ+ folks.” Their subsequent choices appear to be wholly at conflict with their obligations and commitments.
The choice to assign Dr. Miller to a staff that assists police officers with mental health issues in sane and senior scientific positions also demonstrates how the force makes use of charitable donations.
A £260, 000 award from the Movember Charity, which raises money for people’s health and mental health issues, has made it possible to partially fund Dr. Miller at PSNI. Dr. Miller trained and delivered party Lasik classes, a therapy that uses vision movements to quell psychological pain, to police officers and staff as part of the work he undertook for this Movember-funded job.
There is no indication that Movember was aware that Dr. Miller may get paid in part with the money. According to the whistle-blower, he was once paid many thousand pounds for providing two training sessions to mental health workers. A request for comment from i was never answered by a member.
The whistle-blower claimed that Dr. Miller had been employed by PSNI” for years” despite the press’s extensive coverage of his work dating up to 2008. But, PSNI has certainly made Dr. Miller’s contract, appointment, or place public, and he requested a Freedom of Information from the force, but it was denied.
Dr. Miller said,” I try my best to provide a service to help people, to give people with an option in terms of alter,” when The Independent newspaper’s undercover investigation into his conversion practices was made public. Only those who come asking are eligible for my care.
Iris Robinson, the humiliated past DUP MP, formerly had Dr. Miller as his health advisor. I have a really beautiful psychiatrist who works with me in my headquarters, and his Christian history is that he tries to help gays trying to turn aside from what they are engaged in, Mrs. Robinson revealed on BBC radio show in 2008, causing widespread controversy. I’m delighted to connect any homosexuals with this man, and I have encountered individuals who have reverted to being heterosexuals.
We merely treat those who ask for help with unwanted same-sex interest, Dr. Miller said about his now-defunct organization Abeo in response to the uproar, adding that” we are on quite good ground however when we say that we can help those people who want to change.”
The Independent secretly taped sessions with Dr. Miller the following year, during which he claimed that homosexuality “does represent a pathology” and added that “often the dynamics behind it are n’t good.” God wants us to be in an opposite sexual connection, right?
He suggested becoming homosexual by getting dressed in front of a mirror, touching oneself to affirm one’s masculinity, and getting female masseuse massages. In a counseling session, Dr. Miller said,” The people you were having intercourse with or falling in love with are just as wounded as you.” In a different session, he asserted that after receiving this type of therapy, “one third of people experience significant change, and one third do n’t experience change,” i .e., from gay to straight. It’s possible that those individuals were more severely injured.
Every significant health organization in Britain denounces conversion practices as dangerous and ineffective. The GMC hired a physician to review the information provided about Dr. Miller’s behavior during the periods that were reported in The Independent after the General Medical Council received the complaint against him. This body oversees the specialist do of doctors and physicians. The fellow physician, whose name was redacted, concluded,” I do not regard that Dr Miller’s steps were inconsistent with Great Psychiatric Practice.”
According to his report, there is n’t much evidence to support this type of therapy, but there’s also no supporting evidence for other therapies, and many psychiatrists may have advised the patient to” try heterosexual interactions.” He disputed the Royal College of Psychiatrists ‘ claim that conversion therapy was “written by the Lesbian and Gay Special Interest Group and therefore is doubtful to reflect the opinions of all doctors.”
One of Dr. Miller’s associates reported that he continues to be associated with organizations dedicated to supporting “men who seek to move away from unnecessary homosexuality,” according to GMC records seen by i at the time.
Dr. Max Pemberton, a well-known physician and author, stated:” The GMC’s selection is sensational. It is an embarrassment that the qualified doctor is engaging in such exercise, and an even greater embarrassment that they do not appear to feel that this warrants their interest.”
Following in 2013, Dr. Miller received additional complaints, including ones from a previous sufferer who claimed he was financially improper and had failed to uphold expert boundaries. The claims dated from 2004 to 2010, during which the original person claimed that Dr. Miller repeatedly tried to take advantage of him financially and provided sub-standard care.
Dr. Miller was subject to temporary restrictions from the GMC, which were later lifted by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service after a fitness-to-practice reading exonerated him of the expenses “in the absence of any evidence being introduced to support the allegations.”
The General Medical Council has recently informed me that it is unable to provide the total number of complaints made against physicians and doctors regarding transition treatment. However, the GMC informed me last month that no complaints of this nature had resulted in sanctions, a professional conduct ( fitness to practice ) hearing, or anyone being struck off since 2017. We continue to support calling to end the practice of so-called” change therapy” in the UK, according to a GMC director.
Dr. Miller also runs a personal counseling practice in Northern Ireland called Mirabilis in addition to his contracted job for PSNI. The patient’s webpage makes reference to its work with the police and promotes its “expertise” by working with “veterans and second responders.”
Dr. Miller responded when I approached him,” I listened to earlier concerns about Sexual Orientation Change Efforts ( SOCE ) raised by the LGBTQIA2+ community and stopped any therapy that could be considered such in 2010. Since then, in the past 13 times, my approach to richness and LGBTQIA2+ has undergone significant change. I want it to be clear that I do n’t support SOCE in any way at this point in my professional career.
However, a review in the Belfast Telegraph in 2013 revealed that Dr. Jeffrey Satinover, one of the movement’s top figures, was listed as an individual by Mirabilis. Homosexuality and the Politicians of Truth, his 1996 book, referred to it as” an illness in the spiritual sense of” soul sickness.” Dr. Satinover is no longer listed on the Mirabilis website; instead, it states,” We do not help sexual orientation change counseling in any way.”
Additionally, Dr. Miller was still listed on the” council of reference” of Core Issues Trust in 2012, a Northern Irish organization that claims to” support those leaving LGBT identities, behaviors, attractions, and life choices,” despite the fact that it does not practice conversion therapy. It sells goods bearing catchphrases like” I left LGBT” and” Changed by the power of Christ.” The Lepers Among Us: Sexuality and the Life of the Church was the title of a meeting the confidence held in Belfast that year, and Dr. Miller was featured in the marketing materials. Dr. Jim Reynolds, the organization’s keynote speaker, was cited in the meeting pamphlet as calling” similar sex sins”” a disease of spectacular proportions.”
I fully accept and recognize all members of the LGBTQIA2+ area, recognizing the worth and authenticity of each person, Dr. Miller said.” Gender, sexuality, and relationships are intrinsically linked. All feeling seen, respected, and embraced for who they truly are is important to me. Relationships with organizations and people, such as veterans and first firefighters, are a part of my present process. It would not be appropriate to make any public remarks about any connections my process may have with any specific organization or any method used to forge a working relationship.
The creator of Pink Therapy, Dominic Davies, expressed his displeasure with PSNI’s choice to appoint Dr. Miller to oversee its mental health workers. According to him,” medical care of one’s job as a counselor needs to exist in an environment of internal security and trust, as patients bring their vulnerabilities to their supervisor.” It “is inconsistent with this goal,” he continued, adding that it “underpins the need for a constitutional ban on transformation practices” to have someone who has recently engaged in such practices.” There may very well be LGBTQ therapists or clients being brought to supervision.”
