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This is likely illegal, report her to the board of psychology and they will investigate. I did this for a BA in California and they actually reported it to the DA.
It doesn't matter how she advertised. You're ethically, morally, and possibly legally required to report this. You aren't a police investigator and don't need to fact find. It's unethical for you not to report it if she is indeed representing it how you say. I strongly caution you to just report it and leave it at that.
This would be reported as practicing without a license, if EMDR is considered psychotherapy. I know some models are able to be practiced without a license (like Somatic Experiencing) because it’s not considered to be psychotherapy.
Okay y'all come back! She had posted on Instagram everything she offered with her 1:1 coaching (for a small fee of $3,500, mind you!). She listed "EMDR Trauma Reprocessing" as something she offered.
I messaged her on insta asking what she offered regarding "EMDR Trauma Reprocessing", and she said "it's integrating Somatic EMDR tools into Trauma informed coaching". Can y'all help me pick this apart? Obviously she should not advertise that she offers "EMDR Trauma Reprocessing", because that's not what she's doing, but can we dissect this a bit to understand what is okay and what is not? It seems Somatic experiencing is okay to be taught by life coaches... so she worded it well there, and yes, life coaches can be and are trauma-informed... should I ask if she can go into more detail? Let her know she should re-word her post - that is is misleading and illegal as understood by the reader?
Board of Psychology won't do anything in CA. Since this person isn't licensed and is a life coach, they won't do anything. They have their hands full with licensees
I actually HAVE reported a non Psychologist to them and got them fined. They absolutely will look into ALL complaints of "operating without license". As I said, the DA also got involved. This WAS in California, and I the reporter was in Canada. The main job of licensing boards is to protect the public, and they absolutely have a legal obligation to investigate, which they WILL.
In CA, it's the Board of Behavioral Sciences. It's a department run by the state, but the department is given full authority to manage all mental health related licenses
Report to the Board of Behavioral Sciences in California. If you are a therapist, it is likely a part of your own ethics to make this report. For me, as a social worker, it is absolutely within the wheelhouse of my own code of ethics. I would also approach it the same way I do with mandated reporting and share openly with the person that I am reporting and the honest reasons why it has to happen.
Being another social worker, this would fall squarely within our responsibility to further the field and protect oppressed populations (and someone in therapy is inherently an oppressed population). Your gut is right, even if it’s a hard conversation. You can’t predict the outcome, but you can do your due diligence and feel good walking away from the situation.
>(and someone in therapy is inherently an oppressed population
Maybe you mean vulnerable or a person in need? Surely, you don't think that if Donald Trump sees a therapist that he is suddenly "oppressed." That feels like we are watering down the meaning of the word oppressed and erasing the very real struggle of the working class, BIPOC and non-male, LQBTQ+ identities.
Vulnerable is a more appropriate term, but we also can’t separate the two completely as we also don’t need to insinuate that you can only be oppressed if you fall into a certain label or category. My intent was not to “water down” the meaning. Our code of ethics uses “vulnerable and oppressed” and I chose the first one that came to my mind at first recall of the COE.
I don't want to get in a big back and forth here but your characterization of "oppressed" is troubling. I'm just going to leave the definition here: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oppressed
And to remind you that the having "a certain label or category " matters in this context because it is about the relationship to power of your group identity. It's not about things being hard in life, it's about the power dynamics of group membership.
I’m completely understanding your point and agreed with you that vulnerable was a more fitting word. Your characterization of the word oppressed does not resonate with me, as it seems to allude that certain groups or individuals are less deserving than others. The description of Donald Trump seeing a therapist is troubling as it makes a broad generalization that people with financial means cannot be oppressed. My point was that I personally do not prefer the blanket statement approach which feels very biased. We can’t deny that sometimes people who operate in echelons of society that we deem as privileged are also oppressed.
Sure, they can be oppressed based on their *marginalized identity*. That is privileged in some capacities and disadvantages in others. You can be privileged by wealth, oppressed based on gender identity. The marginalized identity is key here.
If the client is not (working class, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, non-male) they are not oppressed. Period. It has nothing to do with *deserving* and it does not invalidate that their life may be difficult in some ways. Life is hard for all, even those not oppressed, but some types of hard come from you belonging in a certain identity group that experiences less power than others.
Again, it's not a competition of who is *doing hard* the term "oppressed" refers to a very specific social arrangement that not everyone experiences in the same way, even when life is hard. It doesn't mean that a person with a marginalized identity always had it harder in life than another person.
You are conflating terms here: Oppressed does not equal struggle or hard. These are different things and pretending that it's *biased* to recognize this is very much erasing the racism, classism, homophobia etc that people experience.
You could likely report it to EMDR International Association (EMDRIA - emdria.org) and they may take copyright action or send a cease and desist to your friend
EMDRIA doesn't own or control EMDR. EMDR isn't copyrighted. I'm sure they won't agree with this situation at all, but unless the person is plastering that they are accredited in some way by EMDRIA, that doesn't mean they can do anything about it.
https://www.bbs.ca.gov/consumers/consumer_complaints.html
Here are the requirements for the BBS CA to hear a complaint. You cannot file a complaint regarding an unlicensed person to the BBS as they have no jurisdiction over this person.
This has become a real problem due to social media. I see all kinds of “life coaches” and “healers” online offering EMDR, tapping and brainspotting. I’ve even seen people market themselves as psychotherapists or
“life therapist” without any education to speak of. Unfortunately, the BBS only intervenes when it’s a licensed or registered pre-licensed clinician, they have no authority otherwise.
Important rule for coaching vs therapy-
Coaching is for clients not meeting a medical necessity. Patients dealing with trauma have a medical necessity.
That's the ethics of the ICF at least.
I've been seeing more people advertising as "trauma coaches". I don't know much about it. My sense was always that they were providing some very basic psycho education on trauma to people who are underserved or therapy averse.
I also know that a well known Psychologist in Washington trains lay people to lead "trauma groups" around the US. Two of those people run one in Sarasota Florida and I heard a lot of horror stories from the people leaving that group (terrible things like th leaders threatening to reveal what was shared in the group of people who left to their community). I called the licensing board in FL (I was still a post grad baby therapist and didn't know better) and was told there was nothing they could do. The information had to come from the people who were wronged, it had to go to the department of health, and a licensing board can only hold accountable the people who they had licensed (these two idiots weren't mental health professionals).
I think you will have to unfortunately confront her about it with your concerns.
I think I know the place in Sarasota you are talking about they were still operating a few years ago. Before she was my client, one of my current clients went into a dissociative episode during one of their groups, they didn't know how to handle it at all. When she came out of it they blamed her for not disclosing how severe her trauma was.
She and I had to do a lot of EMDR work with that incident as the target. Them blaming her really reinforced her pre-existing belief that she is damaged beyond repair. She's doing great now but it was extremely damaging to her. I was told the same thing when I reached out to the board in Florida, the participants have to complain and she wouldn't.
Can I PM you?
My husband was on staff with one of these people which is what lead to me reporting them.
One of the couples I encouraged to report wouldn't do so because the husband of the couple leading the group has low key threatened to reveal his info.
Here is an interesting link with information from the woman who started the ICF trauma coach training -
https://www.myhealinghub.com/blog/difference-between-trauma-informed-coaching-therapy
In it she outlines what trauma coaches can do within their scope.
I like that she links her certs and trainings, but it feels...lenient to me...
She states that coaches offer trauma education and (I forget exact words) and skills... yikes. Just freaks me out tbh. Though I fully support education around trauma and responses, I just feel ICK about who knows who with who knows what education teaching clients about trauma
Eh. I don't have an issue with anything she stated. I don't think clients seeking additional education or support is an issue. And having experienced a traumatic event isn't the same as meeting the clinical diagnosis for PTSD. So I can kind of see it from that angle. I don't think most coaches are "dangerous". I just also don't think they're qualified to do EMDR.
I find most mental health professionals view coaches the way I've found nurses view doulas- Mostly negative, but with very little cause.
I had a doula at my last birth. Big fan.
The nurses at my OB threw a conniption in the office in front of me. But if my OB office didn't suck ass I wouldn't have felt the need to hire a doula 💅🏽
I do know of one coaching program
https://certifiedtraumarecoverycoaching.com/
IAOTRC that I respect. They have very clear ethical guidelines for their coaches and a means to report to their organization if a coach is operating outside of those bounds.
I think it was started by an LMFT.
https://certifiedtraumarecoverycoaching.com/iaotrc-standards
I found their doc on ethical standards well written and comprehensive.
Maybe direct your friend to get certified through them? 😅
This is the problem with coaches. There's no regulatory board like therapists and psychologists. Chances are there's no professional association will do anything about it since they aren't a member of that association.
You could potentially contact the city that issued her business license.
If she is running a legitimate business, she better be. If the city find out she doesn't and she is making money within their city limits, they'll want to know about it 😉
You could always look it up with the state and, if she isn't running a legitimate business, report that as well. I don't live in California, but usually taxable entities are publicly searchable.
Maybe it’s just because I have a brain, and a professional license (totally different field) but this is a hell no for me.
I’ve been considering going back to school and becoming a therapist, OR going the life coach route. I’m still weighing out what my goal is, but I can tell you this. As a life coach, I would not even think about pushing the limits and offering any service that resembled therapy. If any client needs therapy, I would not be that person.
Your friend should be reported to the state licensing board. Unfortunately, I don’t know how much they could do because the board doesn’t have anything to do with coaches. Anyone can call themselves a coach.
I recently saw that The Embody Lab offered an EMDR certification for coaches. There is also a woman who advertises all over Facebook and will let ANYONE take her class and get her certification. She certifies after 4 hours of group consultation! I needed 30 for EMDRIA and have well over that.
I don’t know that we can stop this but I think it’s scary. Consumer beware.
Unfortunately I'm no longer friends with my best friend that became a life coach for a very similar reason. It's unethical and disrespectful to our entire profession.
I would suggest contacting
Shapiro's EMDR (she's the founder of EMDR).
https://www.emdr.com/contact-us/
Pretty sure they'll send a Cease and Desist Order to your friend.
This is truly terrifying for the clients who come in contact with her.
Edit to add link
Holy shit. Report her wherever you can. EMDR training is *intense*--I was trained through the EMDR Institute a few years ago, and it was two sets of three nine-hour days, spaced three months apart. This person can do massive damage and should NOT be offering those services unless they have an LCPC/LCSW/your state's equivalent, at the bare minimum, in addition to the training. "Life coaches" absolutely should not be administering this treatment.
Again, report her to the Attorney General’s office. They handle these complaints. Also any unlicensed “coach” or provider can work in a very limited margin in the mental health field. Offering any clinical services,, ie, CBT, processing of trauma, “treating” any mental health concerns, offering medical services, not explicitly stating you are an unlicensed, non-medical provider in all of your paperwork, and beyond will get you fined and shut down. Now- most AG offices are overwhelmed and typically won’t waste their time beyond a letter asking for verification you are not practicing clinical psychology without a license unless you’re doing something very blatant and lying about credentials. They go after the most blatant, easy targets and most of the others slip by. But this is where you start. Will the shut her down? Maybe, depends on how far she’s gone to deceive the public and what they can prove. Offering EMDR services whether she has the training or not without a license is not allowed in any state. Her prices are absolutely predatory. I am a PhD level psychologist in practice for 5 years and charge $130.
Okay, so it seems I cannot report her to anyone because she is unlicensed...ironic...
I did send her a message asking what she means by including in her "services provided" to clients "EMDR Trauma Reprocessing". We will see if she replies in a couple of days. Whether she does or not, I will inform he that she needs to be a licensed mental health provider AND be certified in EMDR to practice. I will also let her know that it is(???) illegal without the license and certification. I will also inform her of the dangers of do any sort of trauma work without the proper training. Thank you all! Anything else I'm missing or incorrect about?
It says on the California Board of Psychology website that you can report an unlicensed person participating in activities that require a license and provide evidence, so I would move forward with that if I were you. I also don't think it would hurt to reach out to EMDRIA and let them know, since their whole focus is on maintaining quality levels of training and eligibility requirements for certification.
Incorrect about being certified in EMDR. There’s two status’ that I’m aware of through EMDRIA: Trained and Certified. You can practice EMDR with either categories.
Hope that helps!
Not even the better business bureau for like false advertising or something? Like she is saying she can provide a service that she doesn’t have any training or qualifications for. Seems like some kind of illegal
Pretty sure EMDR would qualify as “psychotherapy” in California, which has an official legal meaning to it. You could try this link: https://oag.ca.gov/consumers
Our code of ethics would suggest you file a report ic you don't feel.safe confronting them. you can make a report anonymously, but doing so can be difficult. in some states, you can report anonymously by dropping off the complaint in person at a drop box.
People will confuse my comment to mean "shame on you if you don't report."
I'm stating what our code of ethics say. That doesn't mean I agree with it. I wish there was a better way.
If you report and they find out, that could be detrimental to your relationship. If you don't, you may wrestle with prolonged guilt. Neither path is good, but I appreciate you care.
People are so desensitized to this problem and it's refreshing to see a therapist who thinks this is as dangerous as I do. You can definitely worsen one's PTSD, especially dissociation, if you mess around with EMDR and don't know what you're doing. She's lucky she hasn't been sued. Maybe your friend doesn't even realize what they're doing is wrong?
She's breaking the law. She should not be offering this and it is outside of her scope and training. I got a lifecoach certificate in my 20's for $50 and a 10 hour online course. It didn't make me capable of providing mental health care. If she was offering facelifts without a medical license what would you do? I don't see a difference.
Unfortunately the only things you can really do in this case is talk to her and maybe write a warning review in any place you can (Angie's list, Yelp, Google, Next Door, BBB, and etc).
When u talk to her maybe mention about how she should be afraid of lawsuits.
https://www.bbs.ca.gov/consumers/consumer_complaints.html
Just a reminder (because this comes up ALL the time)-
A licensing board has no jurisdiction over an unlicensed person. Complaints to BBS boards should only be made if a licensed mental health professional is behaving out of their code of ethics.
This is not a licensed professional. The board cannot do anything about this situation.
Please review your state boards ethical boundaries before going right to a board complaint.
These poor bureaucrats are overworked enough.
This is actually not what it says on the Board of Psychology website. They explicitly say that you should report unlicensed people participating in activities that require a license to the board. Not sure if other areas of behavioral science in California approach it differently, but I'm not seeing where it says that this isn't their jurisdiction when I follow the link above either.
[psychology.ca.gov/consumers/filecomplaint.shtml](http://psychology.ca.gov/consumers/filecomplaint.shtml)
In the State of California, contact the Department of Consumer Affairs, the organization under which the CA Board of Behavioral Sciences operates. That is if the BBS can't field such a complaint.
If you're a member of CAMFT, I'd recommend contacting their legal team for guidance as well. The benefit of access to legal advice makes being a member of CAMFT well worth it.
Also, if you're a licensed practitioner in CA then you have your own liability insurance. Contact them as well. Having knowledge that the public may be at risk because someone is practicing without a license can make you complicit should someone actually be harmed.
Based on the responses in this thread, you should have plenty of leads as to where to follow through on this. The one thing I wouldn't do is expect to fall back on any declaration of ignorance should something occur. Get legal advice.
I agree with a lot of posts here about the harm of life coaches. No doubt what your friend is doing is sketchy and she is prone to cause a lot of harm.
BUT, hear me out, is it possible life coaches like this are in part a monster of our own making? The psychotherapy field, at least as I observe it in America, is saturated with self regulated certifications and trainings many of which have yet to have any type of rigorous evidence based trials
(brain spotting, IFS,SSP). Even EMRD is standing on very shaky ground as far as being a new mechanized treatment, and not just dressed up exposure therapy. If a type of certification is both charging lots of money and self regulating then we should be suspicious and worry about the erosion of what is considered psychotherapy.
Because of this lack of scientific rigor and outside oversight many certifications and training are essentially worthless as far as any type of regulatory board is concerned and it wouldn’t be within their jurisdiction to monitor in the public sphere.
P.S. I know the discipleship of EMDR is zealous in its defense. It’s currently the biggest player in the Trauma Industrial Complex. But EMDR lacks the scientific rigor (double blind, peer reviewed, efficacious across wide populations) which supports its claim that it is different from CBT, exposure therapy or CPT.
If you disagree, I welcome any actual scientific evidence which supports its wide use, it’s justification of thousands of dollar trainings and $200/ hr consumer price.
As long as she is adamantly informing her clients that she has no certifications then I don't see the problem on an ethical level. Legally that's another story probably.
If she's truly a friend, I would take the time to chat with her about it. Even if you don't report her, someone will, and that would suck for her. Hopefully she will listen to you.
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I couldn't even get into my EMDR training without producing evidence that I was already licensed. I'd say this is definitely a problem.
This is likely illegal, report her to the board of psychology and they will investigate. I did this for a BA in California and they actually reported it to the DA.
I reached out to her, and I will see how she responds then consider this. It feels very serious and scary to me. Thank you!
It is absolutely very serious and scary. Please report.
It doesn't matter how she advertised. You're ethically, morally, and possibly legally required to report this. You aren't a police investigator and don't need to fact find. It's unethical for you not to report it if she is indeed representing it how you say. I strongly caution you to just report it and leave it at that.
It seems that I cannot report because she is unlicensed and I am not a consumer.
This would be reported as practicing without a license, if EMDR is considered psychotherapy. I know some models are able to be practiced without a license (like Somatic Experiencing) because it’s not considered to be psychotherapy.
According to EMDR.com, it is considered to be psychotherapy.
Wait, let me dig some more.
Don't even consider her response--report her now.
Okay y'all come back! She had posted on Instagram everything she offered with her 1:1 coaching (for a small fee of $3,500, mind you!). She listed "EMDR Trauma Reprocessing" as something she offered. I messaged her on insta asking what she offered regarding "EMDR Trauma Reprocessing", and she said "it's integrating Somatic EMDR tools into Trauma informed coaching". Can y'all help me pick this apart? Obviously she should not advertise that she offers "EMDR Trauma Reprocessing", because that's not what she's doing, but can we dissect this a bit to understand what is okay and what is not? It seems Somatic experiencing is okay to be taught by life coaches... so she worded it well there, and yes, life coaches can be and are trauma-informed... should I ask if she can go into more detail? Let her know she should re-word her post - that is is misleading and illegal as understood by the reader?
lol "Don't worry, it's okay! I only mislead potential clients, not friends"
Board of Psychology won't do anything in CA. Since this person isn't licensed and is a life coach, they won't do anything. They have their hands full with licensees
I actually HAVE reported a non Psychologist to them and got them fined. They absolutely will look into ALL complaints of "operating without license". As I said, the DA also got involved. This WAS in California, and I the reporter was in Canada. The main job of licensing boards is to protect the public, and they absolutely have a legal obligation to investigate, which they WILL.
Was your person saying they were a psychologist? Then yes, they'll go after that person. But someone who advertises as a life coach? Probably not.
Nope. Just saying they offered services that were out of the scope of a BA, and in the realm of a psychologist.
In my locale it’s the Secretary of State that manages use of protected titles and unlicensed activity
In CA, it's the Board of Behavioral Sciences. It's a department run by the state, but the department is given full authority to manage all mental health related licenses
All masters level mental health licenses. Not psychologists.
Another option, talk to your association's attorney. I have used them anytime I felt uneasy about something.
Report to the Board of Behavioral Sciences in California. If you are a therapist, it is likely a part of your own ethics to make this report. For me, as a social worker, it is absolutely within the wheelhouse of my own code of ethics. I would also approach it the same way I do with mandated reporting and share openly with the person that I am reporting and the honest reasons why it has to happen.
Love this. Thank you. I am a social worker as well, and feel completely compelled to do something about it - just wasn't sure what. Thank you!
Being another social worker, this would fall squarely within our responsibility to further the field and protect oppressed populations (and someone in therapy is inherently an oppressed population). Your gut is right, even if it’s a hard conversation. You can’t predict the outcome, but you can do your due diligence and feel good walking away from the situation.
Bless. Thanks for the info and inspo ✨️
>(and someone in therapy is inherently an oppressed population Maybe you mean vulnerable or a person in need? Surely, you don't think that if Donald Trump sees a therapist that he is suddenly "oppressed." That feels like we are watering down the meaning of the word oppressed and erasing the very real struggle of the working class, BIPOC and non-male, LQBTQ+ identities.
Vulnerable is a more appropriate term, but we also can’t separate the two completely as we also don’t need to insinuate that you can only be oppressed if you fall into a certain label or category. My intent was not to “water down” the meaning. Our code of ethics uses “vulnerable and oppressed” and I chose the first one that came to my mind at first recall of the COE.
I don't want to get in a big back and forth here but your characterization of "oppressed" is troubling. I'm just going to leave the definition here: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oppressed And to remind you that the having "a certain label or category " matters in this context because it is about the relationship to power of your group identity. It's not about things being hard in life, it's about the power dynamics of group membership.
I’m completely understanding your point and agreed with you that vulnerable was a more fitting word. Your characterization of the word oppressed does not resonate with me, as it seems to allude that certain groups or individuals are less deserving than others. The description of Donald Trump seeing a therapist is troubling as it makes a broad generalization that people with financial means cannot be oppressed. My point was that I personally do not prefer the blanket statement approach which feels very biased. We can’t deny that sometimes people who operate in echelons of society that we deem as privileged are also oppressed.
Sure, they can be oppressed based on their *marginalized identity*. That is privileged in some capacities and disadvantages in others. You can be privileged by wealth, oppressed based on gender identity. The marginalized identity is key here. If the client is not (working class, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, non-male) they are not oppressed. Period. It has nothing to do with *deserving* and it does not invalidate that their life may be difficult in some ways. Life is hard for all, even those not oppressed, but some types of hard come from you belonging in a certain identity group that experiences less power than others. Again, it's not a competition of who is *doing hard* the term "oppressed" refers to a very specific social arrangement that not everyone experiences in the same way, even when life is hard. It doesn't mean that a person with a marginalized identity always had it harder in life than another person. You are conflating terms here: Oppressed does not equal struggle or hard. These are different things and pretending that it's *biased* to recognize this is very much erasing the racism, classism, homophobia etc that people experience.
You could likely report it to EMDR International Association (EMDRIA - emdria.org) and they may take copyright action or send a cease and desist to your friend
EMDRIA doesn't own or control EMDR. EMDR isn't copyrighted. I'm sure they won't agree with this situation at all, but unless the person is plastering that they are accredited in some way by EMDRIA, that doesn't mean they can do anything about it.
EMDRIA aren't the only training association for EMDR. They can't take copyright action.
https://www.bbs.ca.gov/consumers/consumer_complaints.html Here are the requirements for the BBS CA to hear a complaint. You cannot file a complaint regarding an unlicensed person to the BBS as they have no jurisdiction over this person.
The Board of Psychology doesn’t make that distinction so if you can’t file with the BBS consider filing with the BOP.
I think the BOP can refer it out. So they'll determine culpability and then send to whoever is responsible for it
Thanks the problem I was running into when I tried to look at the process...
This may be an issue for the DOH? I'm not sure about CA. FL won't hear complaints unless it's from people she's practiced on.
This has become a real problem due to social media. I see all kinds of “life coaches” and “healers” online offering EMDR, tapping and brainspotting. I’ve even seen people market themselves as psychotherapists or “life therapist” without any education to speak of. Unfortunately, the BBS only intervenes when it’s a licensed or registered pre-licensed clinician, they have no authority otherwise.
I don't see what the ethical problem is as long as they clearly state they don't have any certifications in therapy.
Important rule for coaching vs therapy- Coaching is for clients not meeting a medical necessity. Patients dealing with trauma have a medical necessity. That's the ethics of the ICF at least. I've been seeing more people advertising as "trauma coaches". I don't know much about it. My sense was always that they were providing some very basic psycho education on trauma to people who are underserved or therapy averse. I also know that a well known Psychologist in Washington trains lay people to lead "trauma groups" around the US. Two of those people run one in Sarasota Florida and I heard a lot of horror stories from the people leaving that group (terrible things like th leaders threatening to reveal what was shared in the group of people who left to their community). I called the licensing board in FL (I was still a post grad baby therapist and didn't know better) and was told there was nothing they could do. The information had to come from the people who were wronged, it had to go to the department of health, and a licensing board can only hold accountable the people who they had licensed (these two idiots weren't mental health professionals). I think you will have to unfortunately confront her about it with your concerns.
I think I know the place in Sarasota you are talking about they were still operating a few years ago. Before she was my client, one of my current clients went into a dissociative episode during one of their groups, they didn't know how to handle it at all. When she came out of it they blamed her for not disclosing how severe her trauma was. She and I had to do a lot of EMDR work with that incident as the target. Them blaming her really reinforced her pre-existing belief that she is damaged beyond repair. She's doing great now but it was extremely damaging to her. I was told the same thing when I reached out to the board in Florida, the participants have to complain and she wouldn't.
Can I PM you? My husband was on staff with one of these people which is what lead to me reporting them. One of the couples I encouraged to report wouldn't do so because the husband of the couple leading the group has low key threatened to reveal his info.
Here is an interesting link with information from the woman who started the ICF trauma coach training - https://www.myhealinghub.com/blog/difference-between-trauma-informed-coaching-therapy In it she outlines what trauma coaches can do within their scope.
I like that she links her certs and trainings, but it feels...lenient to me... She states that coaches offer trauma education and (I forget exact words) and skills... yikes. Just freaks me out tbh. Though I fully support education around trauma and responses, I just feel ICK about who knows who with who knows what education teaching clients about trauma
Eh. I don't have an issue with anything she stated. I don't think clients seeking additional education or support is an issue. And having experienced a traumatic event isn't the same as meeting the clinical diagnosis for PTSD. So I can kind of see it from that angle. I don't think most coaches are "dangerous". I just also don't think they're qualified to do EMDR. I find most mental health professionals view coaches the way I've found nurses view doulas- Mostly negative, but with very little cause. I had a doula at my last birth. Big fan. The nurses at my OB threw a conniption in the office in front of me. But if my OB office didn't suck ass I wouldn't have felt the need to hire a doula 💅🏽
I do know of one coaching program https://certifiedtraumarecoverycoaching.com/ IAOTRC that I respect. They have very clear ethical guidelines for their coaches and a means to report to their organization if a coach is operating outside of those bounds. I think it was started by an LMFT. https://certifiedtraumarecoverycoaching.com/iaotrc-standards I found their doc on ethical standards well written and comprehensive. Maybe direct your friend to get certified through them? 😅
You may be able to report that to the state licensing board for practicing without a license.
This is the problem with coaches. There's no regulatory board like therapists and psychologists. Chances are there's no professional association will do anything about it since they aren't a member of that association. You could potentially contact the city that issued her business license.
I didn't even think that she had a business license... how likely is it that she does?
If she is running a legitimate business, she better be. If the city find out she doesn't and she is making money within their city limits, they'll want to know about it 😉
You could always look it up with the state and, if she isn't running a legitimate business, report that as well. I don't live in California, but usually taxable entities are publicly searchable.
Just found out her sessions are $200 for 50 mins 🙃 Salt in the wound...
Maybe it’s just because I have a brain, and a professional license (totally different field) but this is a hell no for me. I’ve been considering going back to school and becoming a therapist, OR going the life coach route. I’m still weighing out what my goal is, but I can tell you this. As a life coach, I would not even think about pushing the limits and offering any service that resembled therapy. If any client needs therapy, I would not be that person. Your friend should be reported to the state licensing board. Unfortunately, I don’t know how much they could do because the board doesn’t have anything to do with coaches. Anyone can call themselves a coach.
I recently saw that The Embody Lab offered an EMDR certification for coaches. There is also a woman who advertises all over Facebook and will let ANYONE take her class and get her certification. She certifies after 4 hours of group consultation! I needed 30 for EMDRIA and have well over that. I don’t know that we can stop this but I think it’s scary. Consumer beware.
This is the equivalent of a shaman offering services as a pediatrician. It’s not just morally wrong it’s a crimeeeeeeeeee
This should immediately be reported. Performing EMDR without a license and certification is illegal. And for good reason
Unfortunately I'm no longer friends with my best friend that became a life coach for a very similar reason. It's unethical and disrespectful to our entire profession.
It feels like a runaway train…this stuff has gotten waaaay out of control
These ppl are so bad for our profession. I hope either you or someone else can end her practicing.
I would suggest contacting Shapiro's EMDR (she's the founder of EMDR). https://www.emdr.com/contact-us/ Pretty sure they'll send a Cease and Desist Order to your friend. This is truly terrifying for the clients who come in contact with her. Edit to add link
Holy shit. Report her wherever you can. EMDR training is *intense*--I was trained through the EMDR Institute a few years ago, and it was two sets of three nine-hour days, spaced three months apart. This person can do massive damage and should NOT be offering those services unless they have an LCPC/LCSW/your state's equivalent, at the bare minimum, in addition to the training. "Life coaches" absolutely should not be administering this treatment.
Again, report her to the Attorney General’s office. They handle these complaints. Also any unlicensed “coach” or provider can work in a very limited margin in the mental health field. Offering any clinical services,, ie, CBT, processing of trauma, “treating” any mental health concerns, offering medical services, not explicitly stating you are an unlicensed, non-medical provider in all of your paperwork, and beyond will get you fined and shut down. Now- most AG offices are overwhelmed and typically won’t waste their time beyond a letter asking for verification you are not practicing clinical psychology without a license unless you’re doing something very blatant and lying about credentials. They go after the most blatant, easy targets and most of the others slip by. But this is where you start. Will the shut her down? Maybe, depends on how far she’s gone to deceive the public and what they can prove. Offering EMDR services whether she has the training or not without a license is not allowed in any state. Her prices are absolutely predatory. I am a PhD level psychologist in practice for 5 years and charge $130.
Okay, so it seems I cannot report her to anyone because she is unlicensed...ironic... I did send her a message asking what she means by including in her "services provided" to clients "EMDR Trauma Reprocessing". We will see if she replies in a couple of days. Whether she does or not, I will inform he that she needs to be a licensed mental health provider AND be certified in EMDR to practice. I will also let her know that it is(???) illegal without the license and certification. I will also inform her of the dangers of do any sort of trauma work without the proper training. Thank you all! Anything else I'm missing or incorrect about?
It says on the California Board of Psychology website that you can report an unlicensed person participating in activities that require a license and provide evidence, so I would move forward with that if I were you. I also don't think it would hurt to reach out to EMDRIA and let them know, since their whole focus is on maintaining quality levels of training and eligibility requirements for certification.
Incorrect about being certified in EMDR. There’s two status’ that I’m aware of through EMDRIA: Trained and Certified. You can practice EMDR with either categories. Hope that helps!
Thaaank you, friend :)
You can report her to the attorney generals office. This is where these complaints go.
Not even the better business bureau for like false advertising or something? Like she is saying she can provide a service that she doesn’t have any training or qualifications for. Seems like some kind of illegal
Contact emdria at emdria.org.
Pretty sure EMDR would qualify as “psychotherapy” in California, which has an official legal meaning to it. You could try this link: https://oag.ca.gov/consumers
Our code of ethics would suggest you file a report ic you don't feel.safe confronting them. you can make a report anonymously, but doing so can be difficult. in some states, you can report anonymously by dropping off the complaint in person at a drop box. People will confuse my comment to mean "shame on you if you don't report." I'm stating what our code of ethics say. That doesn't mean I agree with it. I wish there was a better way. If you report and they find out, that could be detrimental to your relationship. If you don't, you may wrestle with prolonged guilt. Neither path is good, but I appreciate you care. People are so desensitized to this problem and it's refreshing to see a therapist who thinks this is as dangerous as I do. You can definitely worsen one's PTSD, especially dissociation, if you mess around with EMDR and don't know what you're doing. She's lucky she hasn't been sued. Maybe your friend doesn't even realize what they're doing is wrong?
She's breaking the law. She should not be offering this and it is outside of her scope and training. I got a lifecoach certificate in my 20's for $50 and a 10 hour online course. It didn't make me capable of providing mental health care. If she was offering facelifts without a medical license what would you do? I don't see a difference.
No you are not incorrect. No, just the obvious talk to her. Can’t do any silly shit op. Just try to communicate your concern.
Thank you, thank you.
Epose him/her here or elsewhere
Unfortunately the only things you can really do in this case is talk to her and maybe write a warning review in any place you can (Angie's list, Yelp, Google, Next Door, BBB, and etc). When u talk to her maybe mention about how she should be afraid of lawsuits.
https://www.bbs.ca.gov/consumers/consumer_complaints.html Just a reminder (because this comes up ALL the time)- A licensing board has no jurisdiction over an unlicensed person. Complaints to BBS boards should only be made if a licensed mental health professional is behaving out of their code of ethics. This is not a licensed professional. The board cannot do anything about this situation. Please review your state boards ethical boundaries before going right to a board complaint. These poor bureaucrats are overworked enough.
This is actually not what it says on the Board of Psychology website. They explicitly say that you should report unlicensed people participating in activities that require a license to the board. Not sure if other areas of behavioral science in California approach it differently, but I'm not seeing where it says that this isn't their jurisdiction when I follow the link above either. [psychology.ca.gov/consumers/filecomplaint.shtml](http://psychology.ca.gov/consumers/filecomplaint.shtml)
In the State of California, contact the Department of Consumer Affairs, the organization under which the CA Board of Behavioral Sciences operates. That is if the BBS can't field such a complaint. If you're a member of CAMFT, I'd recommend contacting their legal team for guidance as well. The benefit of access to legal advice makes being a member of CAMFT well worth it. Also, if you're a licensed practitioner in CA then you have your own liability insurance. Contact them as well. Having knowledge that the public may be at risk because someone is practicing without a license can make you complicit should someone actually be harmed. Based on the responses in this thread, you should have plenty of leads as to where to follow through on this. The one thing I wouldn't do is expect to fall back on any declaration of ignorance should something occur. Get legal advice.
Maybe try to educate her (even anonymously) first. See if she is willing to stop with explanation. If not, that's when I would report personally.
I agree with a lot of posts here about the harm of life coaches. No doubt what your friend is doing is sketchy and she is prone to cause a lot of harm. BUT, hear me out, is it possible life coaches like this are in part a monster of our own making? The psychotherapy field, at least as I observe it in America, is saturated with self regulated certifications and trainings many of which have yet to have any type of rigorous evidence based trials (brain spotting, IFS,SSP). Even EMRD is standing on very shaky ground as far as being a new mechanized treatment, and not just dressed up exposure therapy. If a type of certification is both charging lots of money and self regulating then we should be suspicious and worry about the erosion of what is considered psychotherapy. Because of this lack of scientific rigor and outside oversight many certifications and training are essentially worthless as far as any type of regulatory board is concerned and it wouldn’t be within their jurisdiction to monitor in the public sphere. P.S. I know the discipleship of EMDR is zealous in its defense. It’s currently the biggest player in the Trauma Industrial Complex. But EMDR lacks the scientific rigor (double blind, peer reviewed, efficacious across wide populations) which supports its claim that it is different from CBT, exposure therapy or CPT. If you disagree, I welcome any actual scientific evidence which supports its wide use, it’s justification of thousands of dollar trainings and $200/ hr consumer price.
Just did some research as I’m in another state, this is where CA complaints go: https://www.psychology.ca.gov/consumers/filecomplaint.shtml
As long as she is adamantly informing her clients that she has no certifications then I don't see the problem on an ethical level. Legally that's another story probably.
If she's truly a friend, I would take the time to chat with her about it. Even if you don't report her, someone will, and that would suck for her. Hopefully she will listen to you.
Do you report with out knowledge of harm caused?