Child sex abuse hysteria and the Ellis case
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	The wisdom of Gordon Waugh - Index
	Sunday News August 4 1996 Junk science disgraceful Letter by G Waugh, Auckland Perhaps Dr Miller of the Mental Health Training Service at Greenlane Hospital has read too many Stephen King novels. His comments (Sunday News, July 28) about the taxpayer-funded Sex Abuse Counselling course he runs are humbug. In defence of the course, he said: "It's an introductory course that basically makes people aware of the different theories and methodologies. There was academic freedom to explore any valid subject. Moreover, "we will indicate when something is highly controversial and when something seems suspect." Put in clear perspective, there is no place on an introductory course for highly controversial or suspect material. A 12-day course spread over 12 weeks barely has time to cover the rudiments, let alone exercise "academic freedom". None of the core topics of the course (radical feminist theory, repressed memories, satanic ritual abuse, the "indicators" of sexual abuse) are valid, so why teach them at all? Simply put, there is no excuse for teaching junk science when factual, credible information exists. When will the Minister of Health and the Auckland CHE put a stop to this wasteful, disgraceful and unprofessional nonsense? Sunday News July 28 1996 Tax funds course on unproven `crime' by Paulette Crowley A taxpayer-funded course for counsellors is under attack for including satanic ritual abuse - a crime never proven in a New Zealand court. During the course, would-be counsellers for the country's biggest CHE are told at Auckland's Mental Health Training Service satanic abusers are "invariably respected members of the community". It says they're normally part of "institutions such as businesses, churches and clubs, and mostly members of the victims' own families". But GP Dr Felicity-Goodyear Smith, who runs Casualties of Sexual Allegations, said the students weren't taught two recent major international studies concluded there was no evidence of ritual satanic abuse. Dr Steve Miller, manager of the Health Training Service, said the Certificate in Sexual Abuse Counselling course, was approved by the Qualifications Authority. "It's an introductory course that basically makes people aware of the different theories and methodologies." There was academic freedom to explore any valid subject, he said. "If people ask, you have a responsibility to provide at least an indication information does exist and there's a school of thought this does happen. "We will indicate when something is highly controversial and when something may seem suspect. "In the case of SRA (satanic ritual abuse) I'm certain there are international studies which say it does occur." The service gets about $300,000 in taxpayer funds a year. It runs training for Auckland CHE and private students. Senior Sergeant Mark Churches, who heads the Auckland Child Abuse team, said there hadn't been a successful prosecution against alleged SRA offenders in New Zealand. "There's one case I know of in America that was proved, but when you compare that with the number reported, it's still very small." Goodyear-Smith said one recent study, by the US National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, found no proven cases of ritual satanic abuse after analysing 12,000 accusations reported by psychologists and psychotherapists. But she said course notes showed students were told 13 per cent of American sexual abuse victims suffered ritual abuse by satanic cults.