D.A.R.V.O. in Action
DARVO is an acronym that describes a manipulation strategy used by perpetrators of wrongdoing in response to being held accountable for their actions. DARVO stands for Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender.
The perpetrator or offender may deny the behavior, attack the individual confronting them, and reverse the roles of victim and offender. The result of this strategy is that the perpetrator assumes the role of victim and turns the true victim (or the whistleblower) into an alleged offender. This occurs, for instance, when a guilty perpetrator assumes the role of "falsely accused," attacking the whistleblower’s credibility and blaming the whistleblower for perpetrating a false accusation.
(To read more about the DARVO technique, visit the resources here and here.)
In publishing survivor stories, we often encounter DARVO responses from those implicated in the allegations. Since many people aren’t familiar with DARVO, we wanted to provide an educational breakdown of a video showing this in action. It is the opinion of ACNAtoo that Fr. Keith Hartsell perfectly exemplifies a DARVO response in his September 5 livestreamed announcement to Cornerstone Portage Park where he responds publicly to Carol's Story, which ACNAtoo first published on August 30, 2021. We have provided an excerpt of the livestreamed service below, showing Fr. Keith’s full public statement, followed by a part-by-part analysis of his statement to elaborate how it demonstrates the DARVO response.
Fr. Keith Hartsell’s public statement at Cornerstone Anglican - Portage Park on September 5, 2021, sourced from their public Facebook page in September 2021.
Keith begins by labeling Carol’s story as slander that was targeted at him personally. In doing this, he reverses victim and offender by centering himself and his feelings as the injured party, rather than the child who was sexually violated:
Keith’s next step is to implement denial. He asserts that the friends who really know him don’t believe these allegations and indicates the listener should follow their lead.
Attack comes immediately after. Keith sets himself on the moral high ground as he says he won’t share details about the “precious teenagers,” whom he simultaneously maligns by dismissing Carol’s childhood trauma as slander and deception:
Keith then appeals to authority. He tells his congregation that the Provincial Response Team has already interviewed him and implies he was cleared of any suspicion after they heard his side of the story. In doing this, he denies the accusation of misconduct and asserts the PRT’s authority as evidence of his innocence, going so far as to say they were “super impressed” by his handling of Carol’s situation.
These claims are not only examples of the DARVO technique, but they are also demonstrably false. Keith’s conduct remains under investigation and many of the other assertions are equally untrue. For example, he references telling the PRT how he “walked that process through with the authorities, what [he] reported to the authorities,” but the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services has no record of Keith ever making a report about Carol’s situation.
Keith concludes his statement with more reversals of victim and offender. He laments how hard it is to be a pastor. He reiterates his position as the attacked party. He rounds out the DARVO demonstration with multiple attacks on his accuser--Carol has “attacked” him and said “bad things” about him--and he implies that his congregation can dismiss those things because it is immature to call out abuse online:
It’s easy for all of us to unconsciously employ DARVO when confronted with criticism. As Christians, we’re called to respond with humility instead of attacking those who point out areas of failure. Educating ourselves on how DARVO appears in day to day communication not only helps us to engage with the world more thoughtfully, but it gives us additional tools to respond to criticism in a Christ-like manner.
Transcript
If you would like to see Keith’s comments in their full context, we have included a transcript of the entirety of his September 5 statement below, obtained from the publicly available livestream in September:
Keith Hartsell’s statement regarding Carol’s Story, taken from the Cornerstone Portage Park Announcements, September 5, 2021
I just wanted to make a personal - share a personal word. If you aren't aware, this last week, I was personally attacked and slandered online. And some of you may have read it and are concerned.
And it was my first day back at the office, I was so excited to be with the staff team - we have such a great staff team. And then right around lunchtime, it was like a sucker punch to the gut.
And it feels awful to be talked about in a negative way online. But several hours later, it was taken down. So it's not there now. But my phone was ringing off the hook.
The friends who knew me called me and texted me to reassure me that, that they believed in me, and they were confident in me, but others who don't know me as well may be concerned. And so I just wanted to address that situation.
I was accused of incompetence, basically mishandling a pastoral situation 18 years ago, when I was a youth pastor, and I was somewhat relieved when I saw it, because I was like, I know I did not mishandle that situation. So I was just relieved.
But not everybody knows that I did not mishandle that situation. And I can't talk about the details, right, because so many pastoral situations are private and confidential. And, and to this day, even though I was slandered, I won't share what was shared with me in confidence by some, you know, precious teenagers.
But I will say this, the Provincial Response Team scheduled a time to interview me with the provincial lawyer. And after they heard my side of the story, they were not only relieved, they were incredibly impressed with not only how well I was trained to handle the situation, but also how I conducted myself and how I walked that process through with the authorities, what I reported to the authorities, and so they were not just relieved, they were super impressed.
And so I, I want to assure you that if you have any concerns that you can come and talk to me, I will talk, I will answer any questions that I can, without violating the confidence of the author of the story. And I don't know if it'll go back up, I don't know if it'll come back up and then you'll have a chance to read it. And I just want you to feel free to come and talk to me. Don't be suspicious of me and not talk to me.
It is a really hard season to be a pastor or a leader in the United States today. There's a lot of difficulty. And, and because I know you all and I love you all, I know that you don't read stuff online and believe it all, as if there isn't other sides of the story.
And I know that you all would never try to malign or attack anyone online. As that's just not mature. It's not the mature way that - I won't just say Christians - but it's not the mature human way to address issues and concerns. We just don't attack people on social media. So whatever happens, don't get online and attack other people. Don't say bad things about other people. Try to deal with it relationally, especially if you don't know them, and don't have a relationship with them. So I think that's all I'll say.