Larry Sarner and Monica Pignotti Call for Censorship of Public Records
Larry Sarner, Linda Rosa, Jean Mercer, and Monica Pignotti operate a fringe “advocacy group” that does nothing but attack licensed mental health practitioners.
At present, none of them are licensed, and, with the exception of Pignotti, none of them ever have been.
Pignotti is currently unlicensed, and has an uncertain relationship with Florida State University.
Blogs on WordPress that supported their cause were removed due to the presence of excessive defamatory content.
Both Sarner and Pignotti issued public statements denouncing WordPress.
The group has revised its Wikipedia entry. In addition to removing the references to lack of licensing, they have also removed information about litigation involving Sarner and Rosa.
In the late 1990s, Sarner was involved in a business venture to develop and deploy voting machines.
Even though the venture was very well funded (over a million dollars from a single investor), Sarner’s machines did not work and the company failed.
The result was a great deal of litigation, including bankruptcy cases involving both Sarner and Rosa.
Sarner filed an appeal. In it, he advanced a fantastic conspiracy theory. The court refused to hear his argument.
These people are quite content to use the Internet when it suits them, and try to excuse defamation in the name of free speech. However, when the truth about them is revealed, their true nature is revealed through censorship.
http://larrysarnerpseudoscience.wordpress.com/2009/08/29/larry-sarner-ca...
http://gunnysackofgrievances.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/larry-sarner-consp...
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They should be stopped
I don't see how they can continue to get away with putting up this string of false, misleading, and distorted material? Mercer is no longer teaching at that tiny college and her primary activities are as a leader of Advocates for Children in Therapy and the PT Blog, which she uses to advance the libel of ACT. It is interesting to note that mercer does not list her substantial leadership position and activities with ACT on her CV. Why not??
PT Blog
It is interesting to note that I have asked Jean Mercer (formerly Gene Lester) about what, if any, professional experience she has had doing custody evaluations and evaluating or treating autism and she deletes my questions from the blog.
Apparently mercer has no such expertise and is clearly violating the American Psychological Association's code of ethics by "practicing outside the scope of" her "competency." As seems to be her style, she is not an advocate of "free speech," when that speech raises questions regarding the legitimacy of her work.
The above ad contains libelous information about Monica Pignotti
The above posting contains false, libellous assertions against me. For one thing, I do not have an "uncertain" relationship with Florida State University except, perhaps in the mind of the person who wrote this ad. I teach there and recently successfully defended my PhD dissertation there as a PhD candidate. This is all verifiable, with the university. Whether I am licensed or not is irrelevant as I am not required to be licensed in order to do what I currently do, which is teach courses in social work.
Second, the reason I criticized Wordpress is for their inconsistencies. They censored and canceled a blog by a person who was speaking out against abusive therapy she had received as a child, and yet they allow highly defamatory blogs against Larry Sarner, Linda Rosa, Jean Mercer, myself, and others to remain up. Indymedia has already removed other ads (not only here but also on Craigslist and Backpage who also removed them for abuse) that have been run against us. The sheer quantity of these ads, usenet postings and blogs attacking us by anonymous posters could be considered cyberstalking. I have also been harassed at my work. Anonymous people have sent e-mails to faculty and one of the therapists I criticized even sent an e-mail to my Dean, complaining about me. None of these tactics against me have worked, and I remain in very good standing with FSU, so they have to resort to running internet ads and usenet postings.
Third, the advocacy group we are a part of is called Advocates for Children in Therapy:
http://www.childrenintherapy.org
People can read it for themselves and decide if we deserve the accusations that are being flung at us here. What we have done is to expose bad, abusive, unscientific practices. Some are by licensed therapists, but there are also many unlicensed therapists or therapists who have been repeatedly disciplined by their licensing boards that we criticize. Being licensed does not make a person immune from criticism, however. Being licensed means being accountable to the public. As people can see by going to the above URL, attempts have been made to censor the material on this website, although an ISP has stepped now stepped forward and hosted the website that will not be intimidated by cyberbullies. Everything on that website is backed up by evidence (for example, quotes from people in their own words).
I have never called for any kind of "censorship of public records". What people are witnessing here is a smear campaign that is being carried out against my colleagues and I for daring to challenge and criticize a certain type of therapy that we consider to be unscientific, unsupported and highly abusive. This is the price we pay for refusing to be intimidated into silence.
Questions for Monica Pignotti
1) If you/ACT are pro-free speech, why has the information about Larry Sarner's and Linda Rosa's lawsuits been removed from Wikipedia? That's very well documented too, you know!
2) Where is PROOF that these "abuse stories" are true? It is claimed that a therapist received $20,000 for using a questionnaire with Ted Bundy in it. Where is this questionnaire? Where are the invoices and proofs of payment?
3) Where are the CVs of the members of ACT? Wikipedia (ahem) has a link to Jean Mercer, but what about Linda "bankrupt" Rosa and Larry "voting machine boy genius" Sarner?
4) Can you possibly be more precise about what is defamatory on WordPress? If you could, they would remove it, just as they removed childtorture and attachmentquackery.
5) You teach at FSU? You are not on this page: http://ssw.fsu.edu/faculty.php. Explanation?
I think monica's stmt is false and libelous
False statement one: She is not teaching at FSU as she claims.
False statement two: Not being licensed is a red-flag. She claims not to need to be licensed, but being licensed is an important professional credential.
If Advocates for Children in Therapy is such a "respectible" group why then:
1. Is it not listed on your or mercer's CV? Why are you hiding it? Misrepresenting your postions and credentials is a violation of both the American Psychological Association and National Association of Social Worker's code of ethics.
2. Was it taken down by several hosting companies in the recent past for posting libel, false, and misleading statements?
Yes I do teach at FSU
The list at FSU on their website is of full time faculty. I did not say I was full time faculty. Learn to read. I wrote that I teach there. There are tons of people teaching at FSU as adjuncts that are not listed on their website. FSU social work has a policy against hiring people who got their PhDs there as full time faculty for five years. Hence, I am not listed as faculty on the website because I am not full time. I teach there part time. Here is the link to the registrar's listing of courses, showing that I do teach there:
http://apps.oti.fsu.edu/RegistrarCourseLookup/SearchResults
My name will show up on the list of courses if you select Fall 09 and Social Work and uncheck the box to show only open sections. This is what it says:
So once again, your propensity to jump to faulty conclusions is showing up. Not all people that teach at an institution are listed on their websites. Usually only full time faculty are listed.
Not being licensed is not a "red flag" unless the person has a clinical practice. I currently have no clinical practice, thus I am not required nor expected to be licensed, nor is it an important credential for me to have. There are many, many, teachers in universities, even tenured Full Professors who are not licensed as it is not a requirement or an expectation. Licensure is no guarantee of anything other than the fact a person passed an exam, did the required number of supervisory hours and has kept current with their CEs. Lack of licensure mean someone lacks knowledge or expertise -- my numerous refereed publications are evidence of my knowledge. Here is what I had to say about mental health licensure on my blog:
http://psychjourney_blogs.typepad.com/monica_pignotti_/2009/08/myths-about-licensure-and-expertise-in-the-mental-health-profession.html
As for Wikipedia, I have nothing to do with it and know nothing about that entry, but it is my understanding that they do not allow defamatory postings, so if you were trying to post the voting machine nonsense about Larry Sarner, I'm not surprised Wikipedia's moderators did not allow that. You and your numerous sock puppets were banned from Wikipedia in the past with good reason, as I understand it, when you were discovered to be posting there under multiple identities. "Free speech" does not give you the right to libel and defamation. The moderators there know you well by now.
It is not my place to provide "proof" for the people who are speaking out about abuse. You would need to ask them and it is their choice how much they wish to share with the public about their experiences.
As for the Wordpress blogs, they speak for themselves. Actually, I doubt they could even be considered defamatory because anyone I respect who has seen them has commnented that the author of these blogs is obviously a highly disturbed individual who is cyberstalking me. Your attempts to write to my Dean and faculty members has backfired on you because I have gotten nothing but supportive responses and sympathy for having a cyberstalker.
As for the ACT website, your attempts to take down the website failed in the long run because it remains up, thanks to an ISP that has the courage to stand up to saber rattling cyberbullies such as yourself. You weren't counting on that, were you?
NLP is better than social work any day!
Well Monica
I'm just glad you don't go after NLP, the pinnacle of human intellectual achievement. Some people think it is quackery but what do they know?
You just keep on teaching social work.
Good girl.
Are the WordPress Blogs Defamatory or Not?
One way or the other, can't be both.
DOX or GTFO as some wise person said.
Fade away and radiate?
Larry Sarner: The "Voting Machine" Escapade is TRUE
I don't see why people say this did not happen.
It was in the news.
There were court cases, quite a few of them actually.
Nothing under seal or anything like that.
Those court cases and the Newmaker case seem to have been the defining moments in Larry Sarner's life.
Why report one and not the other?
Monica Pignotti: Unfit to Teach
She has no license. All of her "practical" experience seems to have been as a practitioner of "Thought Field Therapy" and "Voice Technology" and she has repudiated those.
Students of social work need to learn from someone who has been there and done that. She has not.
She is described as a "cult survivor" but that is a very specialized thing. Her lack of broad experience is really troubling.
If I were one of her students, I would demand a refund.
Monica Pignotti violates code of ethics
Monica Pignotti is clearly practicing outside her scope of competnecy, which is a violation of the National Association's code of Ethics. Like Jean Mercer, and several of the other leaders of that fringe group, Advocates for Children in Therapy, she hides her affiliations and is providing clinical advice without having appropriate credentials or training.
That is a ridiculous
That is a ridiculous statement given that I am not currently in any kind of practice at all. As for my teaching, FSU and my students obviously disagree with you as my teaching evaluations have been favorable and students comment on how valuable it has been for them that I share my wealth of practice experience. You are unfit to be commenting on me becaue you know nothing about me other than internet gossip.
Saying that "all of my practical experience" is with TFT and VT is blatantly false. I have all kinds of other practice experience that has nothing whatever to do with TFT or VT. Your statements are ignorant and libelous.
I have never hidden or made a secret of any of my affiliations and stating that I do just reveals your ignorance. If anything, it is my openness and honesty that has gotten me into trouble when others take advantage.
Monica Pignotti: Epic Fail!
Hey Monica,
Where'd your website go? You know, Advocates for Child Torture, I'm sorry, Advocates for Children in Therapy?
The one you said would never go down?
Did Larry Sarner try some of his voting machine expertise out on the server? Did some conspiratorial cabal crash the site?
Maybe Charly D. Miller tried a prone restraint. Speaking of Charly, where's her website?
Maybe Project DoD IS the Dark Tower of Quackery after all!
As far as your teaching-I'd rather take a course from Pippin Whitacker than you. Personal preference, and nothing at all to do with Scientology, TFT, VT, or even Eldon Braun!
The individual you mention
The individual you mention responded to me when she received your hate mail about me and I got only support from her, so you might have a crush on her, but I doubt she returns your feelings.
The ACT website is not my website, so I have no control over technical difficulties that may be happening or possible further censorship attempts -- I would have no way of knowing which it is because I have no control over this site. As predicted, when I refute one lie this anonymous coward moves onto another.
Licensure not required for teaching
Oh, and one more thing. If you had a genuine concern about unlicensed people teaching clinical courses in schools of social work in universities, you would have to go after more than half the faculty, rather than singling me out because in most schools, licensure is not a requirement. Usually what is required is two years post MSW practice experience and I have far more from that and TFT was only a small part of that. I have experience doing family therapy/counseling and have worked with children who have learning, behavioral or developmental disabilities and the bulk of my work with this population had nothing to do with TFT or VT. So I would say I more than meet that requirement. Of course, it is obvious that your concern is not sincere. You are finding whatever you can to go after me because the bottom line is that I have published scholarly criticism of your favorite therapies.
That's what this is really all about, folks. Readers can observe that whenever I refute one lie about me, my cyberstalker moves right on to something else. First I was accused of lying about teaching at FSU. I proved that wrong, so now more ridiculous assertions are being made. If this individual is genuinely concerned about licensure and lack of sufficient experience to teach social work practice, there are many faculty with far less experience than I have who are teaching, but obviously the concern is disingenuous.
Now what will happen I predict, is this stalker/spammer will simply repeat the lies and unfounded allegations against me or questions that I already answered or he will move onto another topic to attack me over. This is based on literally hundreds of postings this person has done about me over the last several months, spamming ads on Craiglist, Backpage, 180+ usenet groups on last count and now Indymedia.
Readers can also observe that this person does not have the guts to put his name to what he writes because if he did, I would have strong grounds for a libel suit, given the malicious, false statements written about me being spread all over cyberspace. I usually do not respond to these, but since these come up on Google searches on my name, once in awhile I do postings to set the record straight.
Monica Pignotti: Setting the Record Straight
Monica,
Is this a fair summary of your experience?
2001-2006: In practice with Mark Steinberg, 2001-2004 tft/vt
2001: private psychotherapy practice in NY
1989-2004: consulting on destructive cults
1997-2001: hospital program coordinator
1995-1996: 1 year doing ms research, only 25% clinical
1994 -1995: 1 year as a school counselor
If so: 3 years of Thought Field Therapy/Voice Technology. 1 year of private practice. .25 of a year in clinical work in MS. 1 year as a school counselor.
The "cult" work is recognized, but all of this hardly qualifies as a "wealth of practice experience"!
Also, you've claimed quite a close affiliation with ACT. How can you NOT know what's going on with their site? If it is just a technical difficulty, why can't Larry "voting machine wizard" Sarner fix it?
If it is more censorship, can't Tiffany "lawyer for defamers and hackers" Rad get a court order banishing the evil cabal?
No it is not a fair or accurate commentary of my experience
No, it is not a fair commentary. Far from it. You cherry pick and twist to suit your agenda. 90% of what I did with Mark Steinberg had NOTHING to do with TFT or VT, even during 2001-2004. In fact, I continued to work with him for 2 and a half years AFTER I completely stopped doing TFT/VT. Look at the dates. I left TFT/VT in March 2004 and stayed with Steinberg & Associates until mid-2006. You are also misinterpreting what I meant by 2001-2004 TFT VT. That does NOT mean that I did TFT/VT full time during that time. Far from it. Even during those years, TFT/VT was only about 10% of my work with Steinberg.
And no, it was not "1 year of private practice". I was in private practice from 1997 t0 2001 and I did many things other than TFT during that 4 year time period including family therapy. How is it that you left out the 1997-2001 and just put 2001? I just re-checked and my CV clearly states 1997-2001. Learn to read.
And that one year was most certainly not as a "school counselor". The words "school counselor" are nowhere in the description or title. I was in a social work field placement and I practiced mainly play therapy and group work with the children. So again, you twist and distort to attempt to reframe and minimize my experience. I realize that you might not like play therapy and consider your brand of unsupported "attachment", "holding" and other therapies to be superior, but there is no evidence to that effect and play therapy is, in fact, a recognized form of therapy, and much less controversial than the fringe therapies you promote.
Again, all this adds up to far more than the required 2 years of post masters experience most universities require of faculty who teach clinical courses. In fact, there are some recent graduates teaching SW practice in various universities who have much less experience than I have.
And no, I don't know everything about the ACT website. You imagine a conspiracy that simply does not exist. Typically advisory board members do not know everything about websites, nor do they need to. Ask any advisor board member in any organization about technical problems with a website and the most likely response you'll get is "huh?" It is not the duty of most advisory board members to deal with websites.
Still, the fact is that today the website is back up and running, so I assume it was just some sort of technical difficulty that has now been repaired:
http://www.childrenintherapy.org/
So it looks liks much ado about nothing on your part. Read it and weep. It's fixed. But that's minor compared to what will soon be coming down the pike. Stay tuned for a stunning announcement.
ACT website now up: it was minor technical problem
For the record, I just asked the person responsible for the ACT website what happened. It turns out it was a very minor technical problem that was easily fixed and the website is not back up. Nothing whatsoever to do with any kind of DMCA or other attempts to intimidate. Project DoD has the courage to stand up to the cyberbullies who make baseless legal threats, unlike the cowards at Wordpress and certain other ISPs.
WordPress is not an ISP
WordPress is not an ISP.
Project DoD really isn't one either.
I guess Gambrill doesn't cover these technical matters.
There are, by the way, some "issues" with the ACT website…
Wordpress isn't an ISP in the
Wordpress isn't an ISP in the traditional sense, but they are within the kinda crazy confines of the DMCA, in that they host all the whatever.wordpress.com blogs.
Not trying to defend Ms. Pignaughty or anything; I'm just sayin', is all.
Profiles of Abuse
Monica Pignotti should be defended. Speaking out against these sociopathic monsters is an act of sacrifice and virtue.
The USA lets convicted criminals practice therapy but they can't vote.
Persons with well documented histories of abuse receive professional licenses on a daily basis.
ISPs such as WordPress give in to bullying and abuse.
Some Justice At Last
I do have a bit of good news where there has been at last some justice. In response to some rather serious charges filed against him, one of the attachment therapists has permanently surrendered his Colorado state LCSW license. There will be more details to come on this as the documents become available, but here is the documentation on the state licensing board website. As the records show, these are not the first charges filed against him. See:
https://www.doradls.state.co.us/alison.php?action=COMPDETAIL&ind=true&so...
Here is why this is so richly deserved, in my opinion:
http://www.childrenintherapy.org/proponents/feinberg.html
This may be just the beginning of more to come, which might explain why certain people seem to be launching a personal smear campaign against anyone who speaks out against this abuse. Obviously, if I wasn't effective at what I was doing they wouldn't give me a second thought, much less spam literally hundreds of false "ads" and blog entries about me and my colleagues all over the internet.
Feinberg?
But he isn't one of the people always gone after? Or am I confused? Why don't the others get their licenses handed in?
Explanations?
I wish I had an explanation
Yes, Feinberg has been in trouble before, but this time, as I understand it, his license is permanently surrendered whereas before, he got it back and until October 5, 2009 was practicing as an LCSW. I wish I had a better explanation as to why certain other state boards have chosen to ignore complaints and why so many are allowed to continue what in my opinion are dangerous practices. This is why there is so much controversy over whether licensing boards really do much of anything to actually protect the public, but at least Colorado in this instance is showing that there are times when licensing boards will take a stance and do the right thing.
what's the radish factor
but the radish hasn't said a word about feinberg in ages.
is there credit where credit is due or is radish with a poor focus?
I rest my case
First I refute the false accusations about my not teaching at FSU, then I refute the distortions about my CV. I have refuted every serious charge against me, so all my detractors (who have never even met me in person) are left with is to call me a "fat cow" and ugly, based on headshots they have seen of me online. Okay, you got me there. Being photogenic is definitely not my strong suit. Someone who I just met this weekend for the first time in person remarked how surprised she was that I looked so much "lovelier" in my person than I do in my pictures online so yes, I plead guity to being unphotogenic and taking ugly pictures. That is the best my detractors can come up with, so you got me on that one. LOL. I rest my case.
From the moderators
Comments on this post are closed due to icky, unproductive misogyny and personal attacks which violate our policies.