The Commune: Episode 12 – “The Wounded Healer”

Podcast: The Commune
Host(s): Adam Dudding, Eugene Bingham (Stuff Audio)
Date: June 5, 2022
Series Context: 12-part documentary on Centrepoint, a New Zealand free-love commune marked by both utopian aims and criminal abuses.
Episode Theme: Not a whodunnit, but a “whydunnit” – a reckoning with the legacy of Centrepoint, how ideals curdled into harm, and what reckoning looks like for survivors, perpetrators, and bystanders.

1. Episode Overview

“The Wounded Healer” closes the saga of Centrepoint by interrogating not only what happened at the commune, but why—and how its wounds linger for all involved. In personal testimonies and pointed reflection, the episode explores:

• The complicated mix of memories Centrepoint’s legacy evokes
• How intelligent, well-intentioned adults enabled or perpetrated abuse under communal ideals
• The difficulty of reckoning and healing for survivors and the wider community
• The role of apologies, denial, and the tangled, unfinished business left in the commune’s wake

2. Key Discussion Points & Insights

Revisiting Centrepoint’s Physical Legacy (00:53–07:30)

• Touring the site: Former members, including Barbara (an early pioneer), revisit Centrepoint—now a retreat under a new name (Kawai Purapura). Despite superficial changes, “it will always be Centrepoint” for some.
• Barbara’s nostalgia: “I’d come back and cross the bridge and just feel like I was going into this other planet, really…relief out of the mad world and onto the lovely planet.” (Barbara, 04:46)
• Ghosts of the past: New managers recount how ex-residents, sometimes “drunk and upset,” continue returning, needing comfort and closure.

How Abuse Was Missed – The Normality Illusion (07:31–15:25)

• Journalists and educators reflect on how Centrepoint’s crimes remained for years unchallenged by outsiders. Many participants were "educated, smart people" so "you kind of thought, well, obviously people are getting something out of this… it must be okay." (Evelyn, 12:00)
• Why did the warning signs fail? Explanations range from misplaced trust in authority, the aura of normality, to the cult of personality around Bert Potter.
• Freud, gender, and the myth of communal responsibility: Rosemary MacLeod skewers the idea “it takes a village to raise a child” — arguing that in Centrepoint’s context, communal childrearing destroyed accountability.

Authority and Legal Failures (16:30–20:43)

• Investigations thwarted by police leadership: Whistleblowers and former police recount being blocked by a senior officer—later revealed to be a child sex offender himself.
• “He was just a devious, dirty old man,” says Robert (the whistleblower) about Potter. (17:08)
• Could more have been done? All agree police inaction allowed abuse to continue; but penetrating the commune and obtaining convictions was a “rare” feat.

The Psychological & Social Mechanics of Harm (23:03–28:05)

• Potter’s manipulative leadership: Former members (Bill, via a parole letter, and “Keith” via affidavit) describe Potter as a “psychopath” who weaponized therapy, built dependency, and normalized deviance.
• Shared responsibility: While Potter’s influence looms large, some like Adam’s old schoolmate Angie stress that “everyone who was there that gave him that power has a part.” (28:05)
• Not all left; denial endured: Some clung to Centrepoint’s ideals long after Potter’s crimes were exposed.

The Children’s Legacy – Silence, Guilt, and Speaking Out (38:19–50:41)

• The pain of being Centrepoint’s children: Many declined to speak publicly—either not wishing to re-live trauma, or to disturb others who fared better or worse.
• Beth St. Clair, psychotherapist and former child resident, describes the “minefield” of connections: “One person's abuser might have been another person's protector…so that also shuts people up because they know that could hurt someone else.” (45:16)
• Intergenerational fallout: Not only former children but their families and partners still grapple with stigma, secrecy, and, in some cases, trauma-driven behaviors.

Reckoning & the Call for Accountability (46:16–66:29)

• The Centrepoint Restoration Project: An open letter circulates, asking adults to publicly apologize—and childhood survivors call for acknowledgment.
• Apologies & denial: Some adults continue to minimize, others like an unnamed convicted woman admit enabling abuse:

  “I enabled it by not speaking out… It was such different times. I don't think I even thought about the…age of consent…But I didn't know a lot of what… went on.” (Unnamed former member, 65:36–66:29)

• Ongoing repercussions: Former members lose jobs, are shunned, or feel unable to ever “say good things about the place because then I'm in denial of all the bad things.” (Unnamed former member, 73:28)

The Psychic Cost – Memory, Trauma, and Healing (52:08–76:30)

• Personal trauma is tangled with communal ideals: Testimonies by Angie and Renee recount sexual and drug abuse as children—remembered with pain and confusion.
• Repetition compulsion: Barry reflects,

  “When there's pain, when there's trauma, until it's resolved, we keep getting drawn back…that pain keeps us trapped.” (Barry, 57:16)

The End of Potter and Unfinished Reckonings (59:56–76:50)

• Potter dies unrepentant; his son (also a convicted abuser) apologizes at the funeral on behalf of both—in part.

• Survivors’ reactions to Potter’s death:

  “I felt like I was stepping out of this long, dark, black cloak that stretched back through matter and time.” (Angie, 61:27)
  “When Angie texted me and told me [Potter] was dead, I had a party. I had a party that night.” (Renee, 61:42)

• Closure remains elusive. Some resist apologies, some embrace them; others are unable to make sense of the legacy at all.

Final Metaphor & the Work of Healing (77:35–79:18)

• Barry recounts an acid trip, searching for identity after leaving Centrepoint:

  “I’m a person who creates order out of chaos, over and over again. And actually, that has stopped.” (Barry, 78:24)

3. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On guilt and complicity:

  “I am all for guilt. I think guilt is what stops us doing bad things…because we have to live in communities…and we shouldn’t hurt each other…but Burt Potter didn’t, did he? He could mimic caring…but he was only caring for himself.” (Rosemary MacLeod, 15:50)

• On the slow journey to awareness:

  “I feel so terrible that those children were going through all that terrible stuff and that we were all standing by and letting it happen.” (Adam Dudding, 13:28)

• On intergenerational fallout:

  “It just feels like this huge Damocles sword hanging over their head every day of their lives that they will never, ever be free of…” (Beth St. Clair, 44:32)

• On admitting wrongs:

  “I enabled it by not speaking out… And I plead guilty. I’ve done time. What else do they want from it? …I cannot say good things about the place because then I’m in denial of the bad things. I’m really caught between a rock and a hard place.” (Unnamed former member, 65:36–73:28)

• On trauma’s persistence:

  “When there's pain, when there's trauma, until it's resolved, we keep getting drawn back.” (Barry, 57:16)

4. Important Segment Timestamps

• 00:53–07:30: Walking tour of Centrepoint/Kawai Purapura, recalling daily life and emotional connections.
• 07:31–12:34: How abuse was hidden in plain sight, reflections on group naiveté.
• 16:30–19:55: Police whistleblower exposes investigation roadblocks—police caught up in their own crimes.
• 23:03–28:05: Potter’s manipulative leadership, “shared responsibility” and denial.
• 38:19–46:16: The complex, often opposing legacies for Centrepoint’s children; barriers to speaking out.
• 46:16–66:29: Call for restorative apology and the fraught process of adult accountability.
• 52:08–57:53: Angie and her sisters recount childhood trauma, the confusions and evolution of their memories.
• 59:56–61:42: Bert Potter’s death, his son’s eulogy, and conflicting feelings of those left behind.
• 71:33–73:28: Reflections from a convicted ex-member who struggles to reconcile legacy.
• 76:30–79:18: Barry recounts LSD trip to find meaning and healing in the aftermath.

5. Tone & Style

The tone is unflinching but empathetic, sober yet human: the hosts create space for pain, self-reflection, and even dark humour. The original voices—sometimes raw, sometimes reflective—carry the history, uncertainty, and enduring injury of Centrepoint’s legacy.

6. Summary Conclusion

This final episode offers no easy closure, but rather a clear-eyed look at how the wounds of Centrepoint are lived, denied, argued, and grieved. The community’s utopian dream is remembered as both liberation and “a waste of fucking good energy” (Robert, 22:46), forever tainted by what was allowed to happen—yet still shaping how hundreds of people, and their children, think about trust, authority, guilt, and healing.

The real story is not in the lurid details, but in the ongoing struggle to understand how so many could do so much harm—unseen, unacknowledged, and unresolved for so long. This “wounded healer” work—scrutiny, truth-telling, apology, and collective reckoning—is the unfinished business Centrepoint leaves behind.

For further information: Visit Stuff’s The Commune or the Centrepoint Restoration Project.

End of episode.