btr:
Thanks for being blunt regarding your real position concerning New Era.
In your initial posts you attempted to come across as more neutral, but now you have made it plainly evident that you are here on a mission to defend New Era.
I suspected as much since you used the standard LGAT supporter apology of "it's not for everyone," as another New Era apologist had previously done.
IMO--LGATs are most often potentially unsafe and not a good idea for anyone.
Thankfully, there are much safer and more credible alternatives readily available to people interested in self improvement.
trained1 has raised some serious issues regarding New Era, calling it "borderline brainwashing" and that it has "a cult like flavor to it."
FYI--No LGAT that I know of has ever attempted to objectively measure its alleged results, i.e. by demonstrating that past participants directly benefited from its training through subsequent career advancement, a lower divorce rate, higher grades at school, increased income, or a lowered need for professional counseling. If such research were done and submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, it might go a long way in proving the fantastic claims of success that many LGATs make.
Instead, LGATs have offered "anecdotal evidence, assumptions and opinions" to support whatever claims they make about the effectiveness and/or benefits of their training.
As far as New Era is concerned what we now know per the posts on this message board and supporting links is that it is an LGAT based upon Lifespring, which is a company with a history of personal injury lawsuits.
New Era is also apparently a for-profit privately owned company, which sells its training to make money for its owners.
But interestingly, it nevertheless functions somewhat more like a charitable nonprofit, in that New Era benefits from volunteers.
Typically, for-profit companies don't depend upon volunteer labor.
Again, New Era fits the familiar pattern of other LGATs like Landmark Education, Sterling Institute of Relationship and Lifespring in its use of volunteers for free labor.
New Era, like other LGATs, what can be seen as "group therapy" that they call "training." But Jim and Lynne lack the education and professional credentials to conduct traditional therapy as mental health professionals and/or licensed counselors.
The liablilities of such training has been discussed in Philip Cushman's paper "Mass Marathon Training."
See [
www.culteducation.com]
# They lack adequate participant-selection criteria.
# They lack reliable norms, supervision, and adequate training for leaders.
# They lack clearly defined responsibility.
# They sometimes foster pseudoauthenticity and pseudoreality.
# They sometimes foster inappropriate patterns of relationships.
# They sometimes ignore the necessity and utility of ego defenses.
# They sometimes teach the covert value of total exposure instead of valuing personal differences.
# They sometimes foster impulsive personality styles and behavioral strategies.
# They sometimes devalue critical thinking in favor of "experiencing" without self-analysis or reflection.
# They sometimes ignore stated goals, misrepresent their actual techniques, and obfuscate their real agenda.
# They sometimes focus too much on structural self-awareness techniques and misplace the goal of democratic education; as a result participants may learn more about themselves and less about group process.
# They pay inadequate attention to decisions regarding time limitations. This may lead to increased pressure on some participants to unconsciously "fabricate" a cure.
# They fail to adequately consider the "psychonoxious" or deleterious effects of group participation (or] adverse countertransference reactions.