State regulators hit Diaper Spa owner with new fine | Courts | unionleader.com

The property at 23 Pope Road in Atkinson, the site of a spa catering to adults who role-play as children wearing diapers. An application for “The Diaper Spa” will be reviewed at a public hearing on Wednesday.

The owner of the now-defunct Diaper Spa in Atkinson, which offered client services like “The Christmas Special” — featuring cookies, eggnog and a reading of “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” — has been fined an additional $2,500 by state regulators for practicing mental health therapies without a license.

Colleen Ann Murphy of Atkinson testified before the New Hampshire Board of Mental Health Practices in April at the New Hampshire Office of Professional Licensure and Certification in Concord. This month the board issued a ruling which included a $2,500 fine, an order for Murphy to refrain from operating the Diaper Spa, and language that state officials may continue to enforce a cease-and-desist order against her.

The $2,500 fine is in addition to a $10,000 fine issued earlier this year by the state Board of Medicine.

The Board of Mental Health Practices determined Murphy misrepresented her services on the Diaper Spa website and two other websites she created. The board ruled Murphy described herself as being qualified to perform certain therapies, such as dialectical behavioral therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy, despite holding no license or certification as a mental health practitioner, physician or psychologist, the board’s decision states.

“The board’s findings of fact establish that the respondent (Murphy) authored and advertised her services on three websites to the public within the state of New Hampshire,” the ruling states. “The board’s findings of fact establish that the services advertised and offered by the respondent, on three websites, are associated with mental health practice. Regardless of the respondent's stated intent, the three websites contained ‘misrepresentations’ which demonstrate that she was holding herself out as qualified to provide those services.”

Murphy also testified before the New Hampshire Board of Psychologists in May where her attorney, Lawrence Katz, argued his client wasn’t operating an unlawful practice because she never offered any psychological evaluations or services at the site.

That board has yet to issue a ruling.

According to its website, the Diaper Spa — located at 23 Pope Road — was a “physician-run diaper salon” aimed at “all diaper-wearing individuals who seek acceptance, respite, and care.”

“Adult baby/diaper lovers” (ABDL) are described as people “who act a voluntary regression to a previous age and/or wear a diaper for psychological reasons,” in a 2020 article published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Researchers say, for many, being an “adult baby” is a way to cope with stressful or traumatic past experiences.

Photos on the spa’s website show a room decorated like a nursery, with toys, diapers and a crib that appeared large enough to hold an adult.

Services advertised on the Diaper Spa’s website included a 30-minute call at no charge with the “resident Diaper Doctor, Doc Murphy” to talk about the various services and “a spa-like nursery experience for the little one inside of you, providing a warm, safe, and nurturing environment while you indulge in relaxation,” which cost $350 per hour.

Other services were listed as available for prices ranging from $100 an hour for texting with Murphy to $1,500 for a 24-hour spa stay.

Members of the Atkinson Zoning Board of Adjustment voted in February to deny Murphy’s application for a home business permit.

The Board of Medicine issued a cease-and-desist order against Murphy on April 22, ordering her to stop promoting herself as practicing medicine in New Hampshire, being qualified to do so or representing herself as a New Hampshire physician.

Murphy is licensed to practice in Maine and New York. Her website says she is a “doctor of medicine” and a “board certified diplomate and certified sexologist” by the American Board of Sexology.

Murphy testified the Diaper Spa was in operation at her Atkinson home between Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 23, and Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 2023 — during which time she saw three clients.

Asked to describe some of the services offered at the Diaper Spa, Murphy said two of her three clients received what she called “The Christmas Special.”

“I read them ’Twas the Night Before Christmas, and gave them a Christmas stocking that was stuffed with some little treats, made them cookies and gave them eggnog,” Murphy said.

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