I want to say, while visiting my daughter 2 years ago, I went to the Institude and, to their Friday night program. I found them a little aggressive, but not anywhere like a "cult". They were having another day of it, and I left early, as I wanted to go shopping. Someone asked me to reconsider, and I said no, and left.....no real problem. I must say I was taken with Judith, thought she was bright and charming, but did not care for Bob, and voiced it to my daughter. I never lost myself, and just figured, this isn't for me. Some of the posts on here have made me concerned. I wonder why these people didn't just leave?

Shimmer,

The man that committed suicide was the husband of a life coach, not a member himself. He also had a baby that died of sids. I feel it very important to get facts straight. My daughter works for them, and I understand everyone's concerns. My daughter is getting deeply involved, but I think she knows things are not right. I will never give her up, and, she know's I am always there for her. Their way of thinking is odd, and not "real world". My daughter still has her own life, we see her, and they haven't taken any $$ from her, she just works for them. I do not feel Judith is hamfull, just believes in her soft additions program. There study is intense, and, their theripist's (coach's) do all have college degrees, as does my daughter. These are very bright people. I think Bob is the dangerous one..... I worry about the lasting effect on my daughter's mind......just want to bring her home.

The man that committed suicide was married to a life coach, aI met her, she is a wonderful warm lady, and they had a baby that died of sids.....it was his 1st Birthday. The man was depressed, and I do not know if it is fair to blame Wrightlearning. My daughter went to the funeral, and said some of his family blames Wright, but, my daughter told me the whole story, and didn't feel that way. This is just the information I found out, I hope I'm not in denial, trying to find my way through this mess.

Sorry I wrote this twice....

Citygirl

I was just speaking about what my family member, who knew this person had said to me. They would have had no reason to lie to me. The crux of what I was saying is that this form of therapy is not legitimate therapy. Show me one school that teaches this kind of therapy. I'm talking major universities and colleges. On another subject. Can anyone show me that these people are doctors or have liscenses? I have checked with the State of Illinois and there is no evidence. Curious. What are they liscensed to do?

citygirl-
so how long has your daughter been involved &/or employed with wright?

it seems pretty reasonable that you would be very concerned about her involvement.

regarding her employment do they: pay her a reasonable salary? demand that she participate & pay for their seminars? put in exceedingly long hours doing these retreats, labs, weekends, etc??

perhaps you should consider requesting a meeting with judy & bob to learn about their operation & express your concerns. that would not seem like an unreasonable request from a concerned mother & if they are as advertised, they should welcome the chance to meet you & share. what do you think about this?

I see several problems with a parent's requesting a meeting with her child's employers, starting with the fact the we are not in third grade anymore. An adult child who is engaging in the developmentally appropriate activity of separating from her parents would probably not appreciate her mommy's asking to speak with her employees. No worker wants to give an employer the impression that she needs parents to stick up for her.

Second and much more serious, these cult leaders are undoubtedly highly trained in all sorts manipulative language techniques. Unless citygirl is well-versed in these techniques herself, talking to these people would be risky. LGAT leaders do not use language for the same reasons regular people do; so talking to them is usually a waste of time. Since we already know that they are not at all as advertised, it's unwise to act as if they are.

It's also not clear to me where this conversation would go. They're not going to admit that they're sleazy charlatans who are out to fleece the public and exploit their workers. If they saw that citygirl was onto them and decided to fire the daughter, that would be good in the longterm, but very damaging to family relations in the short term. What child would thank her parent for getting her fired?

Christa- good points i considered them before i posted & frankly who knows if there is anything citygirl can do. but some further thought:

1. the "meeting" could & probably should be something as innocent as meeting for a drink after work, etc. of course she wouldn't want to be accusatory or aggressive. the point would be to gather information or an impression to ease her fears or bring concrete specific concerns to her daughter. if she didn't like the way the meeting with them went, she could consider confronting them directly-remember they welcome such confrontation. (But in the end, you are correct she is not in 3rd grade and using that logic maybe mommy should not get involved & allow the "development.")

2. regarding the skilled manipulation-i suggest that the mother of a grown woman (who obviously is on alert here) has seen her share of "sleazy charlatans" and would not be at risk herself.

3. i agree, it's hard to tell where such a conversation would go-it may be a waste of time or worse a sales pitch for a "retreat"
it probably would be damaging to family relations no matter what the result or conclusion-in fact anything other than support and full participation by family and/or friends seems to be damaging

so, perhaps there is nothing that can be done-it seems like many on this board have come to that conclusion.

I have received assurances that the Wright Institute is not a cult. Rather, they offer ways to engage in "growth."

I'm going to paraphrase the letter I received. I'm not going to unravel all of its flagrant logical flaws, however illustrative those flaws might be. I'll just comment on a couple of facts.

To paraphrase, I was told that Judith is famous and very charismatic, and works with many large businesses. She will be speaking on the radio show of one of the world's most famous doctors, Dr. Oz. The staff is very smart, and the coaches all have degrees.

My interlocutor also wonders why so many people have negative things to say about the Wrights, when they haven't really looked into them. /End paraphrase.

There are many reports on this forum from people who have either worked for the Wrights or taken their classes, to say nothing of all of the first hand reports that are just a click away on Google.

The Wrights gave up their right to practice therapy in Illinois after victims complained to state authorities. (One of the people who complained has put a short account online, here's the link Forum on Wright.)

It saddens me that people can look at all of the information available on Wright and not see what is right in front of their eyes.

Receiving this letter opened my eyes. I gained a better understanding of how powerful charisma is, and of the importance of compiling information about groups that thrive, in large part, by obscuring information.

I am also moved to once again express my gratitude to Rick Ross for providing this forum, and to all of the posters for their valuable information and insights.

Christa,

I went on the link you provided, and all the posts were from 2007....I was told they stopped doing those programs, so, we need to catch up and talk about the now. Why wouldn't they be closed down or charged with criminal charges if enough people could prove this, or a class action law suit. This is more of a growth and motivational school which would not be for most. Why didnt these student's go to a normal school. I have tried to be convienced they are a "cult", and do find some things unorthidox, but, mind control, I don't see it. Maybe some is sour grapes because they couldn't pass the intense demanding programs......and are angry at losing their money. I feel for the stories, and hope they did recoop and find themselves. No one forced them to join. I think of Jim Jones or the Moonies when I think of cults....perhaps I'm naive.