Dr Marian Sullivan is a member of the Truth, Justice, and Healing Council of the Catholic Church, which was the Catholic Church's hastily established public relations initiative established just prior to the commencement of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse designed to contain and minimise damage to the church from the coming inquiry.

Dr Sullivan saw my sister while my sister was still a child and while my sister was being severely abused by our mother. Despite apparently being an expert in child and adolescent trauma, Dr Sullivan took no steps to obtain the help of other, non-abusive family members or to do anything (e.g., contacting police) to put a stop to the abuse. If she were to claim to be unaware of the abuse, I would level the criticism at her that she can't be much of a therapist.

My family are not Catholics, unlike Dr Sullivan herself, but my father was a prominent human rights activist who was one of many people who blew the lid on child abuse and its coverups by the Catholic Church in Australia.

My sister's horribly premature death is now being investigated by the Queensland Coroner. I have to express nothing but cynicism that the good Dr Sullivan will be remorseful or even truthful about her failure to do anything to help my sister while there was still a chance of saving her not only from abuse but from death. Her role as an enthusiastic and unashamed mouthpiece for the disgraced Catholic Church warrants this unequivocal rejection of any profession of her ethical ability to see right from wrong she might make.

Australian society urgently needs to see the day when the role of psychiatrists and other members of the therapy professions (psychologists, mental health nurses, psychiatric hospitals, etc.) are examined in the cold light of day by a watchdog that has the power to call some of these people to account. They are not above the law, whatever they might choose to believe, and their often divided loyalties need to be scrutinised rigorously.

In the meantime, if you have been told that your child or adolescent should see Dr Sullivan due to trauma arising from abuse at the hands of a member of the Catholic Church or its associated industries / schools / etc., just don't. Sadly, Australia is still a place where people's loyalties are not always fully disclosed to those who most deserve to know the truth. Ask the hard questions of your service providers.

The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse did not squarely examine the role of the psychiatric profession and its self-serving, self-regulatory body the RANZCP into its role in responses to (including coverups of) child sexual abuse. It is high time that there be an independent commission of inquiry to examine corruption and other undesirable practices within the psychiatric profession in Australia.

Submitted Feb. 18, 2023

Lovely doctor with such a kind caring manner. Her staff are lovely and go out of their way to help.

Submitted Oct. 11, 2018