Students in need of psychological support at schools set up by the Exclusive Brethren sect cannot access external counselling services without getting approval from up to a dozen members of the school and church community, according to multiple former staff members.
The school says the approval process is to ensure that students “are provided with the right type of school-funded support for their individual needs”.
But former teachers and students of the Brethren’s OneSchool Global network – which operates 31 campuses in Australia, teaching 2,500 students – say the new policy undermines confidentiality for students struggling with mental health problems at the school who need help.
Ben Woodbury, a former student of the Brethren school previously known as MET school in Sydney, said he never felt safe at school. After a suicide attempt, Woodbury left the sect and has since come out as gay. Being gay is forbidden in the Exclusive Brethren, which is now known as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.
“[My school years] were the darkest moments of my life. I felt so isolated and so alone and I knew that one day I would have to decide how and when and where I would end my life because there was no escape.”
He says he did look for help but “the schooling is set up in such a way that mental health was not considered as something you could come forward and talk about”.
Woodbury says he also experienced sexual harassment by other students at school but said he felt there was no way to confidentially report incidents, and no access to external counselling services when he was there. He left the school in 2009.
He said he did not feel it was a safe environment. “Any type of access to the outside world was so heavily monitored and restricted, and if you tried to Google Beyond Blue it came up as a restricted site.”
The organisation uses Sydney-based The Resilience Centre as the external provider for mental health services for students needing psychological support, and runs sessions for students at all campuses nationwide using Zoom.
But multiple former staff members have confirmed that any request by a child for the counselling service required the approval of up to a dozen individuals within the school and Brethren community under a new policy introduced last year.
Previously, students could be referred without this requirement. One former teacher described the new policy as “a worrying backwards step”.
Parents of the affected student, several Brethren members who hold senior positions within the school and multiple other senior figures up to the level of regional director of education must all now be given details of the student wanting support and the reasons for the request. They then decide whether to approve the counselling request, Guardian Australia understands.
A specific need must be identified for the counselling to be approved and any issue related to a household or community matters are unlikely to be successful.
Former teachers who have spoken to Guardian Australia on the condition of anonymity have raised concerns about student welfare in the schools, saying the new system makes it difficult for students to access support.
Sources also say that demand for support is high, with services expanding to four days a week and long waiting lists for appointments.
A spokesperson for OneSchool Global said “there is no higher priority at OneSchool Global than the safety and wellbeing of our students”.
He said students actively promoted positive mental health with “a designated student-wellbeing role as part of our student leadership teams”.
“All our teachers undergo mandatory training to be able to support students, and students also undergo child protection training, focused on self-awareness and supporting their peers,” he said.
When asked about the approval process for therapy, the spokesperson said that “no student has been declined confidential counselling support where they have requested it”.
“What we do have is an approval process designed to ensure our students are provided with the right type of school-funded support for their individual needs,” the spokesperson said.
“We are proud of the quality of education we deliver, thanks in a large part to our dedicated 2,000 teachers and volunteers, providing an environment in which our students and whole school community can thrive.”
Do you know more? Email sarah.martin@theguardian.com
• In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org
