Years at Exclusive Brethren school were ‘the darkest moments of my life,’ says former student

SAccording to several former staff members, students who need psychological support at schools founded by the Exclusive Brethren sect cannot access external counseling services without the permission of a dozen members of the school and the church community.

The school says the approval process is intended to ensure students “receive the right kind of school-funded support for their individual needs”.

But former teachers and students from the Brethren’s OneSchool Global network, which operates 31 campuses in Australia and teaches 2,500 students, say the new policy undermines confidentiality for students who struggle with mental health issues at school and need help.

Ben Woodbury, a former pupil at the Brethren school, formerly known as MET school in Sydney, said he never felt safe at school. After attempting suicide, Woodbury left the sect and has since come out as gay. Being gay is illegal in the Exclusive Brethren, now known as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.

“(My school years) were the darkest times of my life. I felt so isolated and alone and I knew that one day I would have to decide how, when and where I would end my life because there was no escape.”

He says he has sought help, but “the school is set up in such a way that mental health is not seen as something you can just talk about.”

Woodbury said he also experienced sexual harassment from other students at the school, but said he felt there was no way to report incidents confidentially, and no access to outside counseling services while he was there. He left the school in 2009.

He said he didn’t consider it a safe environment. “Any kind of access to the outside world was so heavily controlled and restricted, and if you tried to Google Beyond Blue, it would come up as a restricted site.”

The organisation uses The Resilience Centre in Sydney as an external mental health provider for students who require psychological support, and also hosts sessions for students across all campuses in the country via Zoom.

However, several former employees have confirmed that each child’s request for the guidance service requires approval from up to a dozen people within the school and the 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 step backwards.”

Parents of the affected student, several Brethren members who hold senior positions within the school and several other senior figures up to the level of regional director of education must now all be given details of the student seeking support and the reasons for the request. They will then decide whether to approve the request for counselling, Guardian Australia understands.

A specific need must be established in order for counseling to be approved. Problems that are related to the home or community are unlikely to succeed.

Former teachers who spoke to Guardian Australia on condition of anonymity have expressed concerns about the welfare of students in schools, saying the new system is making it difficult for students to access support.

Sources also report that demand for support is high, with services expanded 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 promote positive mental health with “a designated role for student wellbeing as part of our student leadership teams”.

“All our teachers undergo mandatory training to support students. Students also receive training on child protection, focusing on self-awareness and supporting their peers,” he said.

When asked about the therapy approval process, the spokesperson said “no student has been denied confidential counseling support when they requested it.”

“What we do have is an approval process that is designed to ensure that our students receive the right kind of school-funded support for their individual needs,” the spokesperson said.

“We are proud of the quality of education we deliver, largely thanks to our dedicated 2,000 teachers and volunteers, who create an environment in which our students and the entire school community can flourish.”