A major police service has been employing a psychiatrist who was previously exposed for practising conversion therapy – to clinically supervise its mental health staff, i can reveal.
Dr Paul Miller was hired by Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) as a consultant to train and oversee the work of therapists within the occupational health and wellbeing team, despite being the subject of a complaint to the General Medical Council in 2010 after his so-called “gay cure” practices were revealed in a newspaper investigation.
His methods included telling the patient that homosexuality was pathological and could be changed, encouraging naked self-affirming touching exercises, and suggesting the patient have massages with a male masseur as a way of becoming heterosexual. The General Medical Council, however, cleared him of any wrongdoing after its own appointed expert said that there isn’t good evidence for all sorts of therapy and that other psychiatrists would have suggested the patient “try heterosexual interactions”.
But a whistle-blower within PSNI contacted i after learning about Dr Miller’s past, concerned about the implications for staff and for PSNI’s reputation – while questioning the hiring, contracting, and tendering processes within the force. PSNI did not respond to a detailed request for comment from i, nor answer any of the questions posed about the hiring process.
While conversion therapy is the name most often used to describe attempts to make gay people heterosexual, others use different names such as “reparative therapy” or “sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE)”. Dr Miller, who uses the latter, told i he “stopped any therapy that could be viewed as such in 2010” and does not support SOCE in any form.
But the revelation may reignite the uproar surrounding the British Government’s failure to implement the ban on conversion therapy that it promised five years ago, and which was left out of the King’s Speech this week. Leading psychotherapist Dominic Davies, who runs Pink Therapy – Britain’s most high-profile LGBTQ counselling service – told i the decision by PSNI to hire Dr Miller, “underpins the need for a legal ban on conversion practices”.
The Conservatives had planned to outlaw attempts to “cure” LGBTQ people, except for any adult who “consented” – a loophole which LGBTQ groups criticised because most conversion therapy is conducted with apparent consent, but under duress from family, church, or community.
Dr Miller, a Christian, previously defended his methods by saying he only treated gay people who sought out his services – who consented – and didn’t want to be gay.
Last month, Labour announced at its party conference it would implement a ban with “no loopholes” if elected next year, therefore prohibiting such practises whether the victim appeared to consent or not.
Anneliese Dodds MP, Shadow Women and Equalities Secretary, told i: “There are serious questions to be answered on how this person was appointed to this role given his past behaviour. Conversion therapy is abuse. There is no other word for it.”
PSNI has already provoked concern from the LGBTQ community this year after it became the first and only police force in the UK to withdraw from Pride by preventing its staff from wearing uniforms in the parade. The staff LGBT+ network at PSNI called the move “bitterly disappointing”. A local councillor, the SDLP’s Séamas de Faoite, said it “will undoubtedly have an effect in terms of damaging the LGBT community’s confidence in policing.” PSNI also withdrew from Stonewall’s Diversity Champions scheme earlier this year.
Northern Ireland’s largest LGBTQ charity expressed alarm over a series of decisions by the force. “So called conversion therapies represent a threat to the health and wellbeing of its victims and survivors, while lacking any medical justification,” Scott Cuthbertson, Director of The Rainbow Project, told i. “The PSNI have serious questions to answer in this case, and it needs to be asked if LGBTQ+ officers are safe in this force?”
“At a time of rising rhetoric and violence against LGBTQ+ people we need the PSNI to do better. Their recent decision making seems to be completely at odds with their commitments and responsibilities.”
The decision to contract Dr Miller in a sensitive and senior clinical position to a team that helps police officers suffering from mental health problems also highlights how the force uses charitable donations.
Funding for Dr Miller’s work at PSNI has been made possible, in part, by a £260,000 grant from the Movember Charity, which raises money for men’s health and mental health issues. The work Dr Miller undertook for this Movember-funded project included training and delivering group EMDR sessions – a treatment that uses eye movements to quell psychological trauma – to police officers and staff.
There is no suggestion Movember knew the funds would be partly used to hire or remunerate Dr Miller. In one instance, he was paid several thousand pounds for giving two training sessions to mental health staff, according to the whistle-blower. Movember did not respond to a request for comment from i.
The whistle-blower told i that Dr Miller had been working for PSNI “for years”, despite the controversy surrounding his work stretching back further, having been widely reported in the press since 2008. Dr Miller’s contract, appointment, and position, however, has not been publicly revealed by PSNI, and a Freedom of Information request made by i to the force was denied.
When Dr Miller’s conversion practises were revealed by The Independent newspaper in an undercover investigation, he told the paper: “I try my best to deliver a service to help people, to provide people with an alternative in terms of change. It [my treatment] is only for people who come asking.”
Dr Miller was previously the health adviser to Iris Robinson, the disgraced former DUP MP. In 2008, Mrs Robinson provoked widespread uproar when she revealed on a BBC radio show: “I have a very lovely psychiatrist who works with me in my offices and his Christian background is that he tries to help homosexuals trying to turn away from what they are engaged in. I’m happy to put any homosexual in touch with this gentleman and I have met people who have turned around and become heterosexuals.”
In response to the furore, Dr Miller said about his organisation Abeo (which is now defunct): “We simply treat those who ask for help with unwanted same-sex attraction,” and that “we are on very solid ground indeed when we say that we can help those people with unwanted same-sex attraction who wish to change.”
The following year, The Independent covertly tape-recorded sessions with Dr Miller in which he said homosexuality “does represent a pathology” adding: “Often the dynamics behind it aren’t healthy. God’s intention for us is to have an opposite-sex relationship.”
He recommended standing naked in front of a mirror, touching oneself and affirming one’s masculinity, as well as having massages with a male masseur, as ways to become heterosexual. “The men you were having sex with or falling in love with are just as wounded as you,” Dr Miller said in a therapy session. He claimed in another session that a “third of people change completely,” from gay to straight, after this type of therapy, “one third of people experience significant change, and one third don’t experience change. Those people may have been more deeply wounded.”
Every major health body in Britain condemns conversion practises as ineffective and harmful. Following the complaint against Dr Miller to the General Medical Council, which oversees the professional conduct of psychiatrists and doctors, the GMC hired a psychiatrist to examine the evidence supplied about Dr Miller’s conduct in the sessions that were reported in The Independent. “I do not consider that Dr Miller’s actions were inconsistent with Good Psychiatric Practice,” concluded the fellow psychiatrist, whose name was redacted.
His report argued that there’s not good evidence for this type of therapy but nor is there for other types of therapy either, and that many psychiatrists might have encouraged the patient “to try heterosexual interactions”. He dismissed the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ statement opposing conversion therapy as “written by the Lesbian and Gay Special Interest Group and therefore is unlikely to represent the views of all psychiatrists.”
At the time, GMC documents, seen by i, said: “One of Dr Miller’s colleagues reported that he continues to be associated with groups dedicated to supporting ‘men who seek to transition away from unwanted homosexuality’.”
When the GMC decided not to pursue the complaint, due to the expert’s report, Dr Max Pemberton, a prominent psychiatrist and author, said: “The GMC’s decision is scandalous… It is a disgrace that a qualified doctor is engaging in such practice, and an even greater disgrace that the GMC do not appear to feel that this warrants their attention.”
Further complaints against Dr Miller followed in 2013, including allegations of financial impropriety and a failure to maintain professional boundaries, made by a former patient. The allegations stretched from 2004 to 2010, during which the former patient said Dr Miller took financial advantage – and attempted to take financial advantage – of him on several occasions and provided sub-standard care.
The GMC temporarily imposed restrictions on Dr Miller, which were subsequently lifted by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service when a fitness-to-practice hearing cleared him of the charges “in the absence of any evidence being adduced to support the allegations”.
The General Medical Council has previously told i that it could not provide the total number of complaints of conversion therapy made against doctors and psychiatrists. Last month, however, the GMC revealed to i that no complaints of this nature since 2017 had led to either a professional conduct (fitness to practice) hearing, or to sanctions, or to anyone being struck off. A GMC spokesperson said: “We continue to support calls to end the practice of so-called ‘conversion therapy’ in the UK.”
Alongside his contracted work for PSNI, Dr Miller also runs a private psychotherapy practice in Northern Ireland called Mirabilis. The clinic’s website alludes to its work with police, promoting its “expertise” working with “veterans and first responders”.
When approached by i, Dr Miller said: “I listened to previous concerns raised by the LGBTQIA2+ community about Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE), and stopped any therapy that could be viewed as such in 2010. In the 13 years since, I have profoundly changed my practice around diversity and LGBTQIA2+. At this stage in my professional life I want to be clear that I do not support SOCE in any form.”
But a report in the Belfast Telegraph revealed in 2013 that Mirabilis listed as an employee one of the leading figures in the conversion therapy movement, Dr Jeffrey Satinover. His 1996 text, Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth, described homosexuality as “an illness in the spiritual sense of ‘soul sickness’”. The Mirabilis website no longer lists Dr Satinover and instead states, “We do not support sexual orientation change therapy in any way.”
And in 2012, Dr Miller was still listed on the “council of reference” of Core Issues Trust, a Northern Irish organisation that claims to “support those leaving LGBT identities, behaviours, attractions and life choices” though it denies performing conversion therapy. It sells merchandise emblazoned with slogans such as “I left LGBT” and “Changed by the power of Christ”. That year, the trust hosted a conference in Belfast entitled “The Lepers Among Us – Homosexuality and the Life of the Church”, and included Dr Miller in the promotional material. Its keynote speaker, Dr Jim Reynolds, was quoted in the conference pamphlet referring to “same sex sins” as “a disease of epic proportions.”
Dr Miller told i: “Gender, sexuality, and relationships are inextricably linked and I wholeheartedly accept and affirm all members of the LGBTQIA2+ community, recognising the value and uniqueness of each individual. It’s important to me that everyone feels seen, respected, and embraced for who they truly are. My current practice encompasses relationships with organisations and individuals, including veterans and first responders. It would not be appropriate to comment publicly on any relationship my practice has with any particular organisation, or any process by which a working relationship was established.”
Dominic Davies, the founder of Pink Therapy, described his concerns about the decision by PSNI to hire Dr Miller to supervise its mental health staff. “Clinical supervision of one’s work as a therapist needs to exist in an environment of psychological safety and trust as therapists bring their vulnerabilities to their supervisor,” he said. To have someone who has previously been involved with conversion practises “is inconsistent with this goal,” he added, as “there may well be LGBTQ therapists or clients being brought to supervision… it underpins the need for a legal ban on conversion practices.”
