Liz Mullinar

Liz Mullinar
Born Elizabeth Laura Hopkinson
(1945-03-12) 12 March 1945
London, England, UK
Nationality British & Australian
Occupation Director of Heal For Life Foundation
Known for Film casting consultant; co-founder of Mayumarri Healing Centre; proponent of belief in recovered memories; advocacy for belief in the widespread practice of satanic ritual abuse

Elizabeth Laura "Liz" Mullinar (née, Hopkinson) AM is a London-born former film casting consultant. She is one of the founders of Advocates for Survivors of Child Abuse and the Mayumarri Healing Centre, and is CEO of the Heal For Life Foundation. Mullinar is known for promoting beliefs in recovered memories and the practice of satanic ritual abuse within the community.

Honours

She was awarded the A.M. (Member of the Order of Australia) in the 1997 Queen's New Years Honours List for her services to the performing arts and entertainment as a theatrical and film casting consultant and to the community.[1]

She was awarded the Australian Centenary Medal in the 2001 Queen's New Years Honours List for her services as co-founder and advocate for ASCA. In 2011, she was a State Finalist in the Australian of the Year Awards.[2]

Career

Film casting director

Liz Mullinar was born Elizabeth Laura Hopkinson. She was a casting director in the Australian film industry for more than 25 years. She worked as a consultant in the early careers of actors including Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush. Her company was responsible for casting such films as Picnic at Hanging Rock, Shine and Babe.[1]

Advocate for survivors of child abuse

After an aura reading, Mullinar was told by a psychic that she had been sexually abused as a child.[1] She then proceeded to undergo sessions with both a body therapist[1] and a hypnotherapist, with whom she claims to have recovered memories of the alleged abuse.[3] Subsequently, she went on to form the Australian Association for Recovered Memories in 1995. The organization later changed its name to We Remember, then Advocates for Survivors of Child Abuse.[4] In 1997, she co-founded The Mayumarri Healing Centre with husband Rodney Phillips.[5] The centre promotes itself as providing affordable effective healing for survivors of all forms of childhood trauma. According to Mayumarri's financial records, the centre received more than $1 million between 2003 and 2005, of which nearly half was in the form of government grants.[6] The centre has been the subject of a number of complaints to the New South Wales Health Care Complaints Commission.[6]

Recovered memories and satanic ritual abuse

Mullinar is on record as advocating belief in two social phenomena that are considered controversial, namely the veracity of recovered memories and the widespread practice of satanic ritual abuse in the community. Regarding recovered memories, she states that "Anyone who recovers memories, who has flashbacks, their child is telling the truth. The child at the age it happened to them is telling the truth of what happened to them. A therapist cannot create the truth…"[4][7] However, professional peak bodies such as the Royal College of Psychiatrists have advised their members to avoid use of any "memory recovery techniques", citing a lack of evidence to support the accuracy of memories recovered by such methods.[8]

Based on her own experiences, Mullinar strongly advocates the use of hypnosis for the recovery of memories of child sexual abuse.[4] This is contrary to the Code of Ethics of the Australian Hypnotherapists' Association.[9] According to her organization's published research, 8% of Mayumarri clients claim to be victims of SRA.[10][11] Satanic ritual abuse is now widely considered to be an example of a moral panic.[12]

In spite of advertising a 90% success rate, former guests and volunteer staff, as well as a former board member the Heal For Life, have called for an independent investigation into damaging practices. They include allegations of inadequate staff training, insufficient health professionals on staff, a high incidence of self-harm and false recovered memories of ritual abuse. Mullinar is reported to have suggested that a number of staff and guests are victims of satanic abuse. They claim, however, that they have no experience or memory of such abuse or that memories recovered during Heal for Life therapy have proven false. It is also reported that Mullinar has attributed criticism of the organisation to detractors' involvement in a satanic cult.[13][14]

Bibliography

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Mullinar, Liz & Hopkinson, Simon (1997). The Liz Mullinar Story. Sydney: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-7336-0482-X.
  2. ↑ Australian Of The Year Awards 2011
  3. ↑ Heal For Life FoundationHistory.
  4. 1 2 3 Mullinar, Liz; Hunt, Candida, eds. (1997). Breaking the Silence: survivors of child abuse speak out. Sydney: Hodder & Stoughton. pp. 229–230. ISBN 0-7336-0483-8.
  5. ↑ Heal For Life FoundationAbout Us - Board Members.
  6. 1 2 The Australian Saturday 23 September 2006 The Untouchables by Richard Guilliatt
  7. ↑ ABC Radio transcript The question surrounding therapy and evidence of law.
  8. ↑ Brandon, S.; Boakes, J.; Glaser, D.; Green, R.; MacKeith, J.; Whewell, P. (1997). "Reported recovered memories of child sexual abuse: Recommendations for good practice and implications for training, continuing professional development and research". Psychiatric Bulletin. 21 (10): 663–665. doi:10.1192/pb.21.10.663.
  9. ↑ Australian Hypnotherapists' Association Code of Ethics.
  10. ↑ Heal For Life FoundationInformation for Health Professionals.
  11. ↑ Heal For Life FoundationResearch.
  12. ↑
    • Ben-Yehuda N, Goode E (1994). Moral panics: the social construction of deviance. Oxford: Blackwell. pp. 57–65. ISBN 0-631-18905-X.
    • Jenkins, P (1998). Moral Panic: Changing Concepts of the Child Molester in Modern America. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. pp. 207–231. ISBN 0-300-10963-6.
    • Victor JS (1993). Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend. Open Court Publishing Company. pp. 55–6. ISBN 0-8126-9192-X.
    • de Young, Mary (2004). The Day Care Ritual Abuse Moral Panic. Jefferson, North Carolina, United States: McFarland and Company. pp. 42. ISBN 0-7864-1830-3.
  13. ↑ "Retreat for child abuse survivors faces investigation calls". Australia: ABC 7:30. ABC News. 25 November 2013.
  14. ↑ "Satanic ritual child sex abuse claims". Australia: Newcastle Herald. 26 November 2013.
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