NSW: Self-help course blamed for woman's naked death plunge

AAP General News (Australia)
12-08-2009
NSW: Self-help course blamed for woman's naked death plunge

By Katelyn Catanzariti

SYDNEY, Dec 8 AAP - A self-help course is to blame for the psychosis which led a "shy,
modest, gentle" woman to jump naked to her death from a Sydney office building, a coroner
says.

Rebekah Lawrence was singing in a child-like voice and shouting "I love you" to her
husband as she plunged from the building in December 2005.

The "highly regarded" worker and "sweetheart" wife had been acting increasingly psychotic
in the hours leading up to her death, her inquest heard.

She plunged to her death two days after attending the Turning Point course - described
as a "journey to the core of the human spirit".

"She took her clothes off, she was petulant in a child-like way and she asked for help
in getting dressed," NSW Deputy State Coroner Malcolm MacPherson said while delivering
his findings at Glebe Coroners Court on Tuesday.

"She became physically aggressive much like a child having a tantrum. She screamed
and misbehaved.

"Finally, Rebekah was naked, repeatedly ranting `I love you David, I love you David'
and was heard singing as she climbed onto the windowsill and jumped out."

An autopsy found no drugs or alcohol in her system.

Mr MacPherson blamed the regressional therapies used by untrained, unqualified practitioners
running the People Knowhow course for Ms Lawrence's psychosis which led to her death.

He called for an overhaul of the regulatory systems for psychotherapy practitioners
after "overwhelming" evidence of the course's responsibility for Ms Lawrence's death.

"The evidence is overwhelming that the act of stepping out of a window to her death
was the tragic culmination of a developing psychosis that had its origins in a self-development
course known as the Turning Point," Mr MacPherson said.

He said he was persuaded by the extensive evidence of psychiatrist Dr Michael Diamond,
who heavily criticised the "Inner Child" segment of the course, which involved childhood
regression of people "at their most vulnerable".

"It's the use of (these) dangerous techniques in the hands of people who don't necessarily
have the skills to work with them. That is my criticism," he said.

Dr Diamond said there was no evidence to suggest Ms Lawrence had any pre-existing psychiatric
illness before undergoing the course.

The coroner made recommendations to the NSW health minister that legal restrictions
be introduced for practising under the title psychotherapist or counsellor.

He also called for compulsory legal requirements to have tertiary qualifications recognised
before practitioners could receive any payment for their services.

Outside court, Ms Lawrence's sister, Kate Lawrence-Haynes, and husband David Booth
said they were satisfied with the findings.

"Rebekah's death isn't in vain - it's helped a lot of people who may have come to the
same grim end in the future," Mr Booth told reporters, remembering his "sweetheart" wife.

"I'm not angry, because they didn't mean to do it, but it's just unqualified people
doing damaging things to people's minds.

"(People looking for psychotherapy should) go to someone with appropriate qualifications."

Ms Lawrence-Haynes warned people thinking of attending similar courses to "tread carefully".

"She was a normal woman in her 30s, grappling with marriage issues, wanting kids -
there's probably hundreds of thousands of women out there grappling with exactly those
issues," she said.

"She wasn't strange or crazy.

"(The finding) doesn't bring my sister back. My sister would be sharing Christmas with
us ... (but) I think (the course organisers) have got their comeuppance."

AAP kc/evt/cdh

KEYWORD: LAWRENCE WRAP (WITH PIX)

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.