AUCKLAND A psychosexual assessment and treatment centre set up by the Catholic Church to deal with abusive clergy has closed pending a restructuring. Encompass Australasia, which operates from a private psychiatry clinic in the Sydney suburb of Ashfield, told its clients it would close on June 30 pending a restructure because a significant downturn in business meant it was no longer able to financially support its services, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The psychosexual programme was established in 1997 jointly by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and the Australian Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes to treat those in the Church who were guilty of offences against children, or of adult boundary violations. Some New Zealanders underwent treatment at Encompass.
John Jamieson, a former New Zealand Police commissioner and now head of the Catholic Church’s National Office for Professional Standards, which hears appeals of sex abuse complaints, agreed with the Australian analysis of a downturn in cases.
Mr Jamieson said Encompass had served a valuable purpose and was quite obviously needed, but the majority of historical abuse complaints have been reviewed and the priests and religious in question have undergone or are undergoing treatment.
Encompass offered a residential course, whereas treatment is now being provided in non-residential settings in New Zealand, so the small number of people who previously went from this country are now finding assistance elsewhere, Mr Jamieson said.
