Mick Hartley

The Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre is back in the news. This was, remember, the place where trans woman Mridul Wadhwa was appointed CEO in 2021. As JL at the Glinner Update reminds us:

In the past we have reported that:

• • He has no GRC so is still legally male.

  • He concealed his sex to secure a job at Forth Valley Rape Crisis Centre.

  • He objected to an amendment allowing rape victims to choose the sex of the medical clinician examining them.

  • Pursuing political ambitions, he took a place on an SNP all-women shortlist.

  • He is ‘disappointed’ by the single-sex provisions allowed for in the Equality Act 2010 and finds them ‘discriminatory’ against ‘transwomen’.

  • He sided with serial litigant and period-obsessed paedophile, Jonathan Yaniv, against a group of migrant women.

  • He deems it appropriate to discuss whether rape victims experience orgasm.

In August 2021, appearing on The Guilty “Feminist” Podcast, Wadhwa made his contempt for women perfectly clear. (For Women Scotland compiled a transcript of the entire broadcast.) Denying that women who’ve suffered male violence need female-only spaces, he made this shocking statement:

“Sexual violence happens to bigoted people as well… If you bring unacceptable beliefs that are discriminatory in nature, we will begin to work with you on your journey of recovery from trauma. But please also expect to be challenged on your prejudices… You have to reframe your trauma… To me, therapy is political”.

Now in a case just started at the Edinburgh Employment Tribunal, R Adams v Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, R Adams is claiming unfair dismissal:

The Claimant, R Adams, was employed by Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (ERCC) as a counsellor. She does not subscribe to gender ideology but believes that biological sex is real, important, immutable and not to be conflated with gender identity. She is claiming constructive dismissal from ERCC because of her gender critical beliefs.

Adams told the tribunal that a ‘service-user’ (ie a woman who has suffered male sexual violence) requested to know the sex of her support worker, explaining that she would not feel comfortable talking to a male. Adams suggested putting the woman’s mind at rest by informing her that the staff member in question was female but merely identified as non-binary. She was shocked to subsequently receive a letter informing her that she was being investigated for ‘gross misconduct’ and faced immediate dismissal without pay.

Adams left ERCC following a nine-month disciplinary process throughout which she was accused of ‘transphobia’.

Here's the latest:

#Mridulgate has just become exponentially worse.

Mridul Wadhwa has, it seems NO CLINICAL QUALIFICATIONS.

He has only the following:
1. MSc in the Management of Training and Development from the University of Edinburgh, @EdinburghUni
2. BA English Literature from the…

— Dr P (@Psychgirl211) January 21, 2024

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Full text:

Mridul Wadhwa has, it seems NO CLINICAL QUALIFICATIONS.

He has only the following:
1. MSc in the Management of Training and Development from the University of Edinburgh,

2. BA English Literature from the University of Pune,

3. Diploma in Hotel Management and Catering Technology from MSIHMCT, Pune, India

He also does not have a GRC (for what it's worth), yet was doing a job that was advertised as being open to women only.

And, instead of just a management role, he carried out regular therapeutic interventions with women who had been raped.

His words: "I do see survivors – four a week usually – who help me stay connected to the cause …it's important to keep it fun".

These questions need answering:

1. Why was a man with no clinical qualifications allowed to carry out direct work with vulnerable women?
2. Did the women seeing Wadhwa know he had no clinical qualifications; if not, has a crime been committed?
3. Did Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre employ him and allow him to carry out counselling whilst knowing he was not qualified to do so?
4. Did @MaggieChapman and those on the interview panel know Wadhwa would be carrying out clinical work when he was appointed?
5. Did they know he didn't have a GRC and was still therefore legally a man?

Mridul Wadhwa's total unsuitability for this role (besides the fact that he is a man), is shown by his saying, it's "important to keep it fun".

This NOT how trauma is treated. The therapeutic goal of trauma therapy is to help someone process the emotions, memories and, the re-experiencing of the event and to prevent this from continuing to adversely affect their daily lives.

Only someone with absolutely no idea about what they were doing would say it was about "keeping things fun". Maybe that's why Wadhwa allegedly asked women if they had orgasmed during their attacks? Maybe that was the "fun" bit for him.

By the very fact that Wadhwa was not clinically qualified in any way, he could have caused FURTHER INJURY to the women seen by him. Because:

1. They were being forced to participate in his lie that he is a woman. Remember these are rape victims.
2. He had no therapeutic training, so WHAT WAS HE DOING IN THE SESSIONS? Was he just asking random questions about their attacks and thereby reactivating their trauma?
3. Without training in how to de-intensify and reframe the reactivated emotions Wadhwa could have left these women 'open' and in a very dangerous emotional state.

We need urgent answers to these questions.

In the meantime, Wadhwa needs to be IMMEDIATELY removed from his job. Otherwise, he will be seeing another four more women this week.

How many women's lives has he damaged already?

This is a national scandal.

It's difficult to escape the conclusion that Wadhwa was appointed because he's trans – totally unqualified and unsuited to the role, but sending the right message about "inclusivity". And to hell with the women.