https://thecrimereport.org/2023/10/12/s ... -behavior/A total of six men have come forward to say a therapist recommended and paid for by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints touched them inappropriately during counseling sessions related to struggles with their sexuality, Jessica Miller reports for ProPublica and the Salt Lake Tribune. The three men who most recently came forward said their counseling sessions with clinical mental health counselor Scott Owen were paid for with money donated by church members to help those in need.
A Tribune/ProPublica report in August showed that Utah’s Division of Professional Licensing and LDS church officials had known about allegations of inappropriate touching involving one of the men and were slow to act. The church has not publicly reevaluated its own role in referring these men to a therapist they now say abused them. State licensers stopped Owen from practicing in 2018 after investigating at least three complaints of inappropriate touching in a two-year period. He is one of several Utah therapists who have received church funds for sessions who in recent weeks have been accused of abusive behavior.
The Church is slow to act on everything except financial risk.
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2023/10/12/ ... therapist/The church said it has no process in place to vet the therapists its church leaders recommend.
If that's true it's a shocking admission.
So the therapist was a serving Bishop when he allegedly abused these men.His bishop suggested he try therapy, Millet recalled, and said he wouldn’t need to worry about the cost — the church would pay the bill. He said the lay leader referred him to a local practice, Canyon Counseling. One of its co-owners, his bishop told him, was a specialist in helping gay LDS men be in romantic relationships with women. Owen was also a bishop during that time, according to the three men The Tribune/ProPublica spoke with for this story.
This is the Church saying it doesn't know how Bishops spend Church funds. I think the Church knows, or can find out exactly how much Bishops have spent and what they've spent it on.In response to the more recent allegations, the church has said that it allows its church leaders to pay for therapy for its members, but added it could not say how much money, if any, bishops have paid to Owen specifically.
This is the Church blaming the victims. Again.Sam Penrod, a spokesperson for the church, said it does not screen therapists that its leaders are paying. He said that Family Services, a nonprofit arm of the church, maintains a list of licensed professionals that bishops can refer to when recommending therapy. It does not individually vet those mental health workers, he added. That, he said, falls to individual church members.
“It is up to Church members who are referred to a therapist by a bishop or other referral to make their own decisions when it comes to using a licensed therapist,” Penrod wrote in an email.
It's the same old story.State licensers stopped Owen from practicing in 2018 after investigating at least three complaints of inappropriate touching in a two-year period. Penrod has said that the LDS legal department also learned of alleged inappropriate conduct that same year. The August article from the Tribune/ProPublica revealed that one former patient had reported the alleged abuse to both his bishop and state licensers in 2016.
Got to protect that image (and the cash).Since that article was published, other entities have responded: Police in Provo are investigating. Brigham Young University has reevaluated its relationship with Owen’s business. And Canyon Counseling cut ties with him before announcing in September that it was closing altogether.
But the church has not publicly reevaluated its own role in referring these men to a therapist they now say abused them.
Got to leave room for throwing the Bishops under the bus if necessary.According to the church handbook, bishops can pay for clothes, food or medical services for members who are in need. The money for this comes from member donations after monthly Fast Sundays, a prayer-filled day when members are encouraged to donate what money they would have spent on food and drink to help the poor and needy.
Church guidance tells bishops that this money, called “fast offerings,” should be used to pay for only essential items, like food, clothes or housing. It may also “be used to pay for personal services such as counseling, medical care, or vocational training.”
The handbook gives little guidance as to how a bishop should recommend a therapist or other medical professional or how to ensure a church member is receiving quality care. It says that when a church member is seeking counseling about “intimacy,” a bishop should refer them to “professionals who specialize in such counseling and whose beliefs and practices are consistent with Church doctrine.”
So he's not an isolated case.Owen is one of several Utah therapists who have received church funds for sessions who in recent weeks have been accused of abusive behavior.
They clearly didn't report the abuse to police - who say they only found out in August of 2023.Neither the church nor Utah licensers would comment on whether they reported Owen to police. But Provo police officials said the first time they learned that a former therapist in their city had been accused of sexual abuse was after the news organizations published their investigation in August.
“We opened an investigation after we saw your initial report,” Provo’s Capt. Brian Taylor told a Tribune reporter, “and we have offered interviews to anyone who has something to say about their experience at Canyon Counseling, with Dr. Scott Owen. And we continue to do that.”
https://www.propublica.org/article/utah ... bused-themChurch spokesperson Sam Penrod said the faith made an annotation on Owen’s personal church record in spring of 2019 — three years after Andrew’s initial report to his bishop. An annotation is a confidential marking intended to alert a bishop to someone whose conduct has threatened the well-being of other people or the church. It can affect what roles members are asked to fill within their congregation.
Penrod said in an email: “The Church takes all matters of sexual misconduct very seriously. This case was no exception.”
Both the church and the licensing division declined to comment on whether they reported the therapist to the police. Provo police officials said they had no record of ever receiving any report of sexual abuse against Owen.
