Geraldton teen opens up about abuse she suffered, witnessed at Christian treatment facility Esther Foundation

STANDFIRST: Tucked away in the Perth Hills, The Esther Foundation was supposed to be a sanctuary to help vulnerable girls and women in crisis get their lives back on track. But former residents are now alleging they were abused through the residential rehabilitation program. The weight of allegations has led to a parliamentary inquiry being called. One such survivor now living in Geraldton has bravely decided to share her story. Geraldton teen Jasmin Brennan is today a tough-as-nails young woman who drives road trains across the Mid West by day and creates music followed by thousands by night. But she has not always been in such a good headspace. For more than a year she suffered intense psychological and emotional abuse while a resident of Christian institution The Esther Foundation. Ms Brennan is part of a growing chorus of former residents, volunteers and staff members speaking out about the “cult-like” conditions at the foundation and the mistreatment they endured. The State Government this month announced a parliamentary inquiry would examine damning allegations of mental, physical and sexual abuse that were said to have occurred at the charity’s Kalamunda rehabilitation facility over two decades. Now run by chief executive Aaron Hines, the foundation welcomed the review and has offered Department of Communities Minister Simone McGurk its full support in the inquiry. The board said “these allegations and claims have shocked and devastated us”. “We are committed to do whatever we can to assist fully with the process of investigation, healing, restoration and justice.” But even though management has changed since she left Ms Brennan has a hard time accepting the public apology, given all she had been through. After her mental health took a nosedive in 2018, Ms Brennan was enrolled in the foundation’s residential support program when she was 15 to help manage her anxiety and depression. The program was recommended by her grandmother and Breast Cancer Care WA founder Ros Worthington, who was previously an ambassador for the foundation. But she had no knowledge of the incidents alleged to have occurred until after her granddaughter entered the facility. Previous allegations include sexual assault, withholding medication, giving diagnoses without formal qualifications and linking Indigenous culture to the devil. Ms Brennan knew the foundation was “really religious from day dot” but resolved herself to making the most of the program in the first fortnight of her stay. But alarm bells quickly rang for Ms Brennan when she started to observe and experience abuse, neglect and manipulation at the hands of senior staff and board members. All residents were prohibited from contacting their loved ones or having any contact with the outside world for 30 days from their admission date, which left Ms Brennan feeling “incredibly homesick”. When she was finally allowed to send letters home or have visits with family, Ms Brennan said she was never given the chance to air her concerns. “(Staff) would alter our letters home and they would sit in on the meetings, so there was no way I could say anything,” she said. “I was trying to come up with different codes that my family would understand, so I could let them know how bad it was.” She said residents were discouraged from talking about their mental health concerns, with Ms Brennan saying one of her friends was “slapped across the face” for admitting she was feeling insecure. “If I was feeling suicidal I couldn’t talk about it. We were getting punished for talking about our feelings,” she said. “It was a complete betrayal of trust on behalf of them. Esther was the one place we were meant to feel safe enough to be vulnerable and talk about our feelings as we worked through our issues, but what we were met with when we tried was nothing but religious convictions and the assertion that we were playing the victim.” Ms Brennan said on regular camps staff would select girls to be their spies. “They were instructed to ask us questions such as how we slept that night or how we’re going, and if we said we didn’t sleep well or wanted to talk about our feelings, that was seen as us being negative and once again, playing the victim, consequently we would then be fined up to $20,” she said. Ms Brennan said some girls were made to search the property for anyone who may have died by suicide. At one time, she too was forced to undertake such a search. “We were going through the bush looking for them and I was thinking ‘I am not emotionally equipped to handle this,’” she said. On one occasion, Ms Brennan was left to babysit a house full of ex-drug addicts, detoxing residents and women there on court order when she was just 15. “There was a complete lack of duty of care,” she said. “If you refused to do so, you would be met with unnerving punishments and public humiliation.” Instead of compassion and care, residents were “brainwashed” into believing they were “evil” if they did not complete impossible demands, says Ms Brennan. Girls were frequently accused of being possessed by demons. “(In church, staff) would pray and perform exorcisms on people who were blind, had cerebral palsy, sprained or broken knees and ankles, as well as people in wheelchairs. They would be made to get rid of their crutches and jump off the stage, up and down, and if they were not healed by the end of the session then they simply were not praying enough and were regarded as possessed or evil,” she said. Ms Brennan said medication was in disarray and unqualified residents would be made to guess which medication was for which resident. She said girls were body-shamed, slammed into walls, and recalls one traumatic experience in which she nearly drowned yet despite objections from at least one staff member, she was not allowed to be taken to the hospital nor her parents informed. While she has no problem with hard work, Ms Brennan says residents were used as “slave labour” and collapsed from exhaustion from being overworked. Residents were forced to undertake chores three times a day and spring cleans would be done every few days, lasting from morning to night. She recalled having to use plastic knives to clean in between the cracks of the wooden floors when the foundation was moving from Como to Kalamunda. She knew something was wrong and her family had for months tried to get her out of the facility. But Ms Brennan said she did not want to abandon the friends she had made and was determined to stay until the end of her program. “For the first time in my life I had friends, and as f....d up as it sounds that was the happiest I had been up until that point,” she said. But about two weeks before she was due to leave, Ms Brennan had a run-in with a staff member that she could not ignore and decided to leave the facility the following day. She has since moved to Geraldton to stay with her grandmother, who has withdrawn her support for the foundation and feels “completely hoodwinked” by it. Even though she has been diagnosed with PTSD from her time at Esther, the 19-year-old is now focused on putting her experiences at the foundation behind her and keeping her life on track. She is now training to be a road train driver and is keen to pursue her passion of writing and producing her own music. Ms Brennan says she is also keen to contribute to the parliamentary inquiry into the foundation to ensure victims of abuse receive justice. She wants to see some of the worst offenders put in jail. “The reason I want to put (staff) in jail is for all the girls who have suffered trauma at the hands of them ... especially for the ones who (died by) suicide. They don’t have a voice and they never got a voice,” she said. But Ms Brennan also credited the friends she made at the facility with saving her life, and said she would welcome it continuing to operate if there was a chance of making the foundation a safe place for women in crisis. “If that can change and they can genuinely help more women, then I think it should be completely redone and restructured. If there is a possibility of saving more lives, then I think that’s amazing,” she said. The Esther Foundation has benefited from many fundraisers held for it and in 2019 received a visit from Prime Minister Scott Morrison who announced a $4 million grant in the lead-up to the election. The Federal Liberal Party said it was aware of the allegations and was working with the organisation to ensure the objectives of the funding agreement were delivered. In announcing the parliamentary inquiry, Ms McGurk said everyone, especially children, had the right to feel safe and be treated with respect, and stressed the Government was taking this matter “seriously”. “Since I was made aware of these disturbing allegations and invited former residents of The Esther Foundation to contact me, a large number have taken up that offer and shared significant matters of concern, and I thank them for their courage,” she said. Lifeline: 13 11 14 Beyond Blue: 1300 224 636