State Accuses Therapist of Using Channeling, Exorcism : Health: Social worker allegedly said she drew a ‘huge angry rat’ out of a patient’s back and that it turned into a snake when she hit it.

A Torrance clinical social worker has been accused by a state official of utilizing psychic healing in a therapy session during which she allegedly claimed to have “channeled” a “huge angry rat” out of “a black hole” on a patient’s back.

The social worker, Nancy McClelland, also treated the patient with exorcism, according to a recent complaint pending before the California Board of Behavioral Science Examiners.

The complaint, which seeks to suspend or revoke her license, says that McClelland has engaged in gross negligent or incompetent conduct.

McClelland could not be reached for comment. Her attorney, Pamela Thatcher, declined to comment Thursday.

The complaint is the second this year against a South Bay counselor alleging that channeling was used to treat patients. In the other case, Torrance therapist Paul F. Dorin has been accused of using treatments such as channeling, psychic healing and exorcism.

His attorney, Brandt Caudill, denies that Dorin used such techniques, saying that the state accusation took some facts out of context and distorted others, and that some alleged events “just didn’t happen.”

McClelland is a colleague of Dorin, according to the accusation against her.

The accusation, brought by Kathleen Callanan, executive officer of the state board, reports that McClelland conducted several therapy sessions with the unidentified patient in which McClelland would place her hands on the patient’s back and channel energy from herself into the patient.

It describes a March 1, 1990, therapy session in which McClelland allegedly conducted the psychic healing or what the accusation calls a “shamanic journey” with an unidentified patient. Shamanism is a religion based on the belief of good and evil spirits, which can be influenced by priests and medicine men known as shamans.

McClelland, according to the complaint, “placed her hands on (the) patient’s back and described how (the) respondent’s spirit was entering a black hole in patient’s back.

“(McClelland) then described that she was encountering, within the back of (the) patient, a huge angry rat that began to chase respondent’s spirit. . . .

“(McClelland) claimed that she became frightened and tried to ward off the rat with a staff she was holding. Respondent claimed that she shoved the staff into the rat’s mouth, and the rat became a snake and slithered away.”

Dorin was present during the session, according to the accusation, which says that McClelland intentionally or recklessly caused physical or emotional harm to her client.

Channeling is not a type of therapy typically used by licensed professionals, according to Mary Riemersma, executive director of the San Diego-based California Assn. of Marriage and Family Therapists.

The accusation against McClelland will prompt a hearing before an administrative law judge, said Deputy Atty. Gen. Calvin W. Torrance, who is representing the state. That judge will issue a decision to the state board, which will determine whether McClelland’s license should be withdrawn, he said.