At least seven victims of abuse by priests have lodged complaints with the Psychology Board of Australia against the Melbourne church's psychologist employed to co-ordinate their care, reports The Age.

The first was in 2001 and the most recent last month, in which a victim says the psychologist sat in on a meeting with another psychologist she appointed for him and later edited the transcript to fit her own diagnosis.

Each victim has had complaints of abuse upheld by the Melbourne Response.

Allegations against the psychologist include conflict of interest, breach of trust, breaking confidentiality and disrespectful and coercive conduct.

The seven victims lodged nine complaints. The Age believes that five complaints have been rejected, one referred to a professional standards panel and one resulted in recommendations to the psychologist. Two have yet to be resolved.

Several of the victims say the psychologist, co-ordinator of the Melbourne Catholic Archdiocese Carelink service, refused to deal with them because of their complaints, denying them services and causing further trauma.

The psychologist did not speak to The Age, but Melbourne Archdiocese business manager Francis Moore said she "absolutely rejects the allegations of wrongdoing".

Mr Moore said: "(The archdiocese) has confidence in (the psychologist) and her professionalism. It considers the complaints to be unfounded."

FULL STORY

Sex abuse victims claim conflict in care process (The Age)

PHOTO CREDIT

quinet on Flickr

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0