Interesting interview. I gather you're in the UK. Have you thought about contacting BBC Watchdog or Channel 4 Dispatches about your experience? Given how litigious the organisation is, perhaps the 'cult' focus (and the common disparities in defining the term) is less helpful in raising awareness than shifting the attention to the lack of qualifications/credentials of the peo
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

QuoteIf members do not succeed in selling and recruiting people into landmark, they fail at transforming their own lives, according to landmark. That's really the crux of it and though I've never attended Landmark (I know several people who have) I suspect this kind of Pavlovian reinforcement is inherent throughout the programme. This is what exposes the true face of Landmark: it�
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

A deeply unfortunate situation for anyone to find themselves in - all the more so when being made redundant by a company that has raked in tens if not hundreds of millions in profit for its wealthy owners off the back of "volunteer" workers. Equally concerning though is that even organisations like Landmark have been able to claim money from the UK's furlough scheme - a gove
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

This is an interesting article about pyramid selling schemes advertised as marketing jobs and targeted at students with no experience needed. I'm intrigued to see that these still exist because I myself had interviewed for these types of jobs on a number of occasions when I was a student. They always seem to have an air of credibility in the advert. Infact the last one was selling discoun
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

This is a transcript from a UK House of Lords debate earlier this year on unregulated mental health practices. Perhaps there is hope on the horizon that laws can be made to eradicate LGATs and the like one and for all. The debate makes reference to cults like the Moonies, fringe religious communities and and the success countries like France have had in tackling the problem.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

This seems to show remarkable similarities with LGATs I wonder if there are parallels with the general acceptance (or at least turning a blind eye) of such coaching practices in sport and the near total failure of any regulatory means to tackle LGATs.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I've found an interesting round up of comments about LF dating back to 2003 - both for and against the organisation. It's the "I love landmark" section comments that really stand out. This is one quote from "Alan" dated 12 Feb 2003 (5th comment down). "On the other hand, I do agree with the basic premise of your cause. The Forum employs a brutal dis-
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

One I found particularly disturbing in the video was the description of the lifeboat exercise. I hadn't heard of it before though, was it an Est thing as well? What this reminded me of is a documentary I saw several years ago where once of the things talked about was the Milgram electric shock experiment. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment) I'm pretty sure these typ
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I've read your "First rule of large group awareness trainings" and many thanks for sharing this info and the Youtube video. My perspective is from an outsider, I've never been to an LGAT, though I know a few people who have. So it's a bullet that I just missed by millimetres after someone told me about it and I was intrigued to do some digging into the organisation (wh
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

With social distancing of varying degrees in most countries seeming set to persist for quite some time to come, could a silver lining be the end of the standard LGAT concept? It doesn't look as though confining 100-200 people in tightly packed seating arrangements for 15 hours for 3 consecutive days is going to be something that can be done any time soon. And a LF webinar just wouldn&#
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I've been thinking the past few days about the similarities with cults/LGATs and our present situation with the Coronavirus. Seems an odd parallel to draw but bear with me... Depending on what country you live in - I'm in the UK and the situation is this: Confined to home all day - emergency laws only allow people to leave once a day to buy food (i.e. basic necessities and as i
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Far from correcting their behaviour though LW repeatedly try to cast their organisation in the victim role. I'm sure the irony of that paticular racket will not be lost on anyone. I've even read LF devotees try and claim the French documentary was amateur, shoddy journalism - with film clips presented out of context, etc and that France channel 3 later withdrew it. I guess if y
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

kdag Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > In fact, how can Landmark possibly justify suing > anybody for anything, when they > preach over and over again that there are no > victims??? > > Isn't the bringer of a lawsuit claiming to have > been a victim of someone or something? I've been reading up on SLAPP lawsuits (Strate
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Just look at some of the post titles on the blog: "What's up with the HISTORY of Landmark?" "What's up with the MEDIA AND Landmark?" "WHAT KINDS OF people do the Landmark Forum, AND WHY DO THEY DO IT?" Really the kind of titles one would expect from a group of PhD level psychologists? PSML! Probably someone in the "assisting" p
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Interesting blog post - clealy written by Landmark PR people claiming to be trained in psychology. Another deseprate attempt to undermine the many criticisms of their organisation Top of the list is Dr Carol Calenda - for whom a quick google search name in quotes brings up only results about Landmark.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Also the paper from the same. With several mentions of Landmark
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Very interesting article about LGATs from the Psychological Society of South Africa written by John Hunter PhD
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Bakkagirl wrote: "It would be very interesting to learn if 'est' was trialed in other sex trade organizations in the 70's, or later." It's also probably worth bearing in mind that, as we know, Est didn't happen in a vacuum. We could probably distill it all down to just being about thought control, manipulation and subjugation. This probably applies wheth
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

A disturbing and thought provoking article about some of the things Est has led to rationalisation of. In the case of this strip club that sent staff to Est, more or less turning people into pimps. Perhaps what happened at NXIVM shouldn't be so much of a surprise.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

You can find some useful info on this site, which as I say has nosedived in credibility over the years. Though it does point to an organisation that found a clever way, along LGAT lines, to siphon off money from many government organisations and NGOs with overpriced leadership training. And to lighten the mood here's a good read about the Lizard Loon - who declared himself to be the
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Interesting you mention coaching conferences. There is an organisation that started in the UK called Common Purpose which is about leadership development. There was an attempt to expose the organisation about 10 years ago however those behind this turned out to be promoting their own far-right, anti-EU political agenda and built their attacks on the organisation into that. They also jumped
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I know it is often said that people with higher IQs are actually more susceptible to cults, while those with mental health problems or learning difficulties are almost impossible to recruit. It would be interesting to know how the ACE would differ if for example ability factors like IQ, EQ (emotional intelligence), autism spectrum, etc variables were adjusted and measured.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

The Asch Conformity Experiment is an exercise in which a group are shown a line called a target line in one box and in an adjacent box three lines of different lengths. The group are asked to say which of the three lines (A, B or C) is the same length as the target line. The purpose is to measure how many participants will conform to the majority view, even if it is the wrong answer. Often
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

"Additionally, I think that to focus on Erhard in all of this is akin to focusing on Jim Jones, or Koresh, or Raniere, as the prime movers in various cult debacles. In all cases, there are many, many enablers, and enablers are different than KoolAid-drinking dupes." The thing we need to remember is that people are in this to make a lot money, Both the figureheads and their entou
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Actually I think there are a lot of parallels with LGATs and domestic abuse. The way participants are often treated in these seminars, alternating between psychological abuse and love bombing, it's a bit like someone telling their wife they love her and can't live without her right after giving her a black eye or calling her a "worthless whore" or something (in LGATs you ca
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Probably the most disturbing account of Landmark I've heard yet. Not so much what she says (I'm sure most of us have read worse descriptions) but the emotion that comes across in the video.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Yes #7 is a very peculiar thing to say about what is described in #2 Why would a "philosophical" "discussion" seminar have to say that it's not a substitute for therapy and that it's not run by mental health professionals? This is a blatant bait and switch exercise and a lot of people probably walk blindly into Landmark thinking it's a place where there ar
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Bakkagirl I agree and I actually think the French documentary about Landmark focused too much on the cult angle and not on the actual practices themselves. Cults are not illegal per se at least in most democratic countries (unless they start physically abusing people or promoting mass suicide), and it isn't establishing these LGATs as cult-like that is going to put a stop to them. Wha
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Taking Landmark and the French Documentary as an example, I've seen pro-Landmark trolling posts (a few years old on this board and elsewhere) claiming the journalism was unprofessional, biased and that TV3 were fined and forced to withdraw the documentary (without linking to any documents that show this). Forgetting of course that a Landmark representative was interviewed and Alain Roth was
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Earlier this week I got around to watching the Netflix "I am Not Your Guru" about Tony Robbins. What I found alarming was how "infectious" and somewhat absorbing I found the atmosphere they were creating to be - and that was just after 30 mins of watching on a 15" screen. I think this is a demonstration of just how easily and how much virtually anyone could be suck
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"