The Mercy Girls

Jennifer Miller at Slate files a substantive report on the experiences of women who enrolled in an influential Christian counseling center, Mercy Ministries, for help. Unfortunately, that’s not what they found:

It was, and is, a place that treats the devil as something frighteningly real—the kind of approach that may work for many residents but overwhelms others with guilt and fear. In a larger sense, Mercy illustrates what happens when a hard-line, religiously oriented organization inserts itself into a gaping hole in the United States’ mental heath system. Because organizations like Mercy are barely subject to government oversight, it’s likely not an anomaly.

You can read the full article here.