Former staff and patients claim that a drug rehab center affiliated with the Church of Scientology and advertised on the NHS website subjected vulnerable individuals to psychological exercises similar to “obedience training,” resulting in trauma and “brokenness.”
Narconon, founded in the 1960s in the United States, is based on the research and writings of L Ron Hubbard, the controversial founder of Scientology. Narconon describes Hubbard as “among the most beloved humanitarians in the last hundred years”.
Narconon, located in rural East Sussex, offers a “drug-free for good” program that includes four steps: drug-free withdrawal, “new life detoxification,” “the objectives,” and “life skills.” The program costs £15,000.
Narconon’s website claims a “Good” grade from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), despite the fact that only the charity’s facilities were audited in 2016. Former patients reported feeling comforted that the clinic was being closely supervised.
According to records obtained under request of information rules, the CQC has only investigated four of the 19 complaints submitted about the facility. The watchdog informed the paper that Narconon is outside of its purview because it is a “alternative” strategy that does not require medicine.
According to the CQC, Narconon has not provided any regulated operations and has been classified dormant since 2019.
However, a newspaper investigation uncovered disturbing criticisms by former staff and patients, one of whom said that Narconon’s treatment left their mind “shattered into a million pieces,” with another – who later suffered a psychotic episode – alleging that “they prey on people at their most vulnerable.”
The first stage involves people going through a drug-free withdrawal, which can be harmful.
In the following phase, students go through a weeks-long “new life detoxification,” in which they run and sweat in saunas to clear the body of so-called “drug residues,” which Hubbard believed linger in the human body long after drug usage and form a “biochemical barrier to spiritual well-being.” Scientists disagree this.
In addition, participants drink a vitamin cocktail. According to The Observer, the Scientology founder’s book Clear Body, Clear Mind suggests taking niacin in quantities up to 333 times the daily recommendation. The NHS warns that consuming excessive quantities of niacin over an extended length of time can damage the liver.
However, it was the following round of psychological drills that created the most concerns among staff and volunteers.
According to Narconon, in exercises aimed at bringing “a person out of the past and into the present time,” participants are reportedly placed in pairs and forced to repeatedly follow or give commands – such as touching or pointing to items, or standing up and sitting down – sometimes remaining stuck on the same phase for days.
“It was as if I had been chained. I can’t leave this room. I can’t answer the questions. I can’t not obey the command. “I can’t make it stop,” one person told the newspaper.
Witnesses reported that participants slipped into trance-like states or grew anxious and frightened, with one stating, “They were clearly very ill.” I witnessed people yelling and screaming. Physical eruptions. Some would laugh, while others would cry.
A former employee stated, “I would even equate it at one point to enhanced interrogation techniques. Each time you answer, they pose the same question until you give a different answer and they say, ‘Why did you answer differently this time?’ and then you have to come up with some revelation like, ‘oh, I just realised: my whole life has been incorrect.'”
Another person stated, “They taught me that usually you go through these exercises until you get to a point where you feel like your body doesn’t belong to you.” “You might see yourself from above.”
One patient stated, “The best way to describe it is that my mind was shattered into a million pieces.” I had lost my sense of self. They had a duty of care to look after me, but it messed me up severely. “I came out significantly worse than when I went in.”
Narconon’s manager, Sheila MacLean, explained to The Observer that the drills aim to teach participants self-determinism, self-control, and discipline, as well as break destructive habits. “These phases are not easy, but our feedback has been hugely positive and the results speak for themselves.”
Ms MacLean stated that it was “deeply regrettable” that some people “did not get along with the methods the programme employs,” adding that “even the best-run services have their critics.”
“We are running a programme for people with self-harm issues, who are seeking to break down deeply entrenched habits, which is not easy to do, and we do not pretend it is,” she went on to say.”The vast majority of people who come through the programme really benefit from it and are very happy with the outcome.”
The final phase of the program, dubbed “life skills,” involves participants studying literature based on Hubbard’s teachings about “overcoming ups and downs in life,” “personal values,” and “changing conditions in life.”
It is also said that participants write down everything awful they have ever done and provide it to Narconon, with one ex-staff member stating, “It’s like they’re poking around in the darkest corners of your soul.”
The Church of Scientology is the primary source of funding for the Narconon Trust, which owns the clinic’s site in East Sussex, according to financial records submitted with the Charity Commission. In 2018, it generated over £7.3 million in revenue, the majority of which came from property maintenance.