A Message From Richard Clark

We received a delightful email today from Richard Clark, who accused us of being "every bit as big a liar and fraud as anyone you write about."

Thank you, Mr. Clark, for confirming that everybody we have written about is "a liar and a fraud." Richard Clark is a licensed counselor in California. Yes, people actually go to this chump for help with their own problems. Sounds like he needs some counseling for himself.

In case any of our readers don't know who Richard Clark is, he is also Scott Sandland's right hand man. He operates the California Mental Health Counseling Associates in San Pedro, CA. We have outed several people that Mr. Clark is associated with, particularly the fake PhD "liars and frauds" that will be presenting at the HypnoThoughts Live conference that he is throwing together with Scott Sandland. So we give thanks to Richard Clark for further confirming that what we said about the frauds is true.

You see, Richard Clarke happens to be the Chief Operating Officer and instructor for Scott Sandland's Hypnosis Practitioner Training Institute. He is also a moderator on Sandland's HypnoThoughts blog.

We find it interesting that Mr. Clarke would like us to out that Mr. Richard Bandler as a fraud. Since the Hypnosis Practitioner Training Institute offers a "course" on NLP, a widely used approach that Bandler is credited with co-founding. We presume that, since you consider a co-founder of NLP a fraud then perhaps your course, "Introduction to NLP," is also based on a sham principle. Thanks for the tip, Richard. We'll get right on that.

Richard Clark wanted to see if we are "all hot air" and dared us to post this. Well, we did. And our next post will be to oust Richard Bandler as a Doctor of PhD Fraud.

So we ask the question of Mr. Clark, what makes us "a liar and fraud?" By bringing to the spotlight all of the persons who falsely use unearned titles to enhance their credibility? Many of these people who are your personal friends and business associates? We understand your anger, but perhaps you should direct it at those frauds who denigrate your profession.

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From Richard Clark, it's title was "Let's see if you are all hot air.":

Readers respond to Scott Sandland blog

I've never met Scott Sandland but a friend of mine just graduated from his school.  From what I've heard and seen from her, that is one demanding program.  She studied her ass off almost every week for a year.  I'm talkin 20 hours of work minimum every week.  She was stressed about finals for most of the classes.  they had live class two or three times a week on top of the 7-10 hours of recorded video and the books they had to read and assignments (papers, videos, etc).

At one point I asked her what kind of certificaiton she was gonna get for all her hard work.  She told me the school taught her that all the titles in the hypnosis industry are bullshit and so she wasn't doing it for letters after her name.  

I trust her opinion and she says scott and richard clark are working their asses off to help them, even after they've graduated.  They helped all the students get internships with hypnotists, psychologists, counselors, and probably a few other things I don't know about.  I've never heard of a hypnosis school doing this, and now I wish I had done the program with her because she got all that on a partial scholarship for like a thousand bucks.  I paid $800 for a week long class that didn't teach a thing and had back of the room sales.   

So like I said I don't know Scott, but I am a hypnotist who has benefited from hypnothoughts.com and know people who have benefited from his school.  I've never seen him promote or endorse a PhD.  It's pretty unfair of you to blame him because other people are assholes.  

I guess I should have just made this one sentence long though:  Yeah, you are being too hard on Scott Sandland.

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 Scott Sandland is perpetuating the use of fake doctorates in hypnosis. Just look at the most current ad by Roy Hunter for his workshop in Iceland (displayed on the right hand side of HypnoThoughts). Click on it and it will take you to Roy Hunter's page where he proudly boasts his non-accredited fake PhD.

If Sandland actually cracked down on this and stood by his ethical word, these folks wouldn't be able to con others with fake doctorates, and use, his HypnoThoughts blog to do it. He is absolutely guilty by association. He's inviting these loons to present at his conference.

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Hmm, holding someone responsible for the actions of someone else is kind of a grey area. It's sort of like holding godaddy responsible for hosting phony websites (i.e. sites by the people who claim to have fake PhDs).

Though it's true he might be viewed as an accessory to fraud, is he a fraudster himself? Do you want to take your site in the direction of pointing the finger at everyone involved in perpetuating a single, disreputable person's actions? It seems to me the list of accessories would be never ending (and 6 degrees of separation might actually start hitting close to home).

I have no clue who Scott Sandland is, so I really don't care about the outcome either way. But I do wonder if the people called out on your blog are providing good content on Scott's site. If so, I can understand Scott not wanting to start calling these people out on his own site. It's almost a catch-22 situation for him:

If he calls them out, his site may start to lose credibility (making it known he has scammers on his site). 

If he doesn't, you will continue discrediting him, with the same results.

Unless he, himself, is claiming fake credentials, I lean towards letting some of the pressure off of him. If he really does support your missing, then exposing those individuals that are somehow associated with him will all work itself out in the long run.

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Thank you for your efforts in exposing all these fake doctors of hypnotherapy.

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I wonder what it's like for Scott to know that there is a website having people basically vote on his quality of character.  I don't know how I would react if people who never met me got to decide if I was ethical or not.  What a weird concept.

thanks again for doing all the work

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I'm writing in response to your request.  I think that person who said Scott is a good guy is right on the money.  Like I said before to you in a previous email, he is the reason I stopped using my unaccredited PhD.  He was calm and respectful in his conversation with me about them.  Some of us will learn better from him than from you.  You make it a fight, he makes it an education.  I'm not here to tell you if one is better than the other.

You can't fault him for knowing people who do something you disagree with.  That's like hating one politician because another one lied.  His website has no standards and is free for anyone to use.  Every single hypnosis conference in America has presenters with fake PhDs.  That's a problem with hypnosis, not Scott.  

Whoever wrote that email to you has a lot of good points.  

You are telling people you don't like the way they run their businesses.  Scott told you he didn't like the way you run your business.  The only difference is he was brave enough to use his real name and had enough respect to tell you directly.  Scott's biggest problem is he keeps expecting other people to act with the same level of respect and integrity that he does/has.  Your treatment of him is a perfect example of that.  

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The person who's email you just published is absolutely right.  You've misrepresented Scott to an amazing degree.  Very few hypnotists have worked harder to build more bridges with the licensed health care practitioners.  The guy is barely 30 years old and he's taking pay cuts to help people older than his parents build their businesses.  Who else in this field brings in other hypnotists to meet doctors and dentists in clinics?  Who else has presented at Medical schools?  Who else is turning down money to do what he thinks is right?  If he was in it for the money, do you really think his school would cost $2,000 for a full year that he gives away 50% of before expenses?

Scott could have sold out and made big bucks a couple times.   He's trying to work with the decision makers and industry leaders instead of fighting with them.  You have chosen controversy and fighting.  Your tactics are based on hiding your true identity and scaring people to change.  Scott is the opposite of you.  He's being an example of a person willing to put his name on things and build people up.  He encourages people to be better.  I'm sure he isn't perfect and if you dig you can find mistakes in anyones past, but guilt by association is the best you've really been able to do with him.  

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Are We Being Too Hard On Scott Sandland?

We received an email today in defense of Scott Sandland, the proprietor behind the HypnoThoughts website. I'd like to share it with our readers and see what you think. We would love your replies. If we decide to publish it, your privacy is assured.

This particular reader, whose privacy we will keep, suggests that Sandland is a good guy, who does not condone the use of fake credentials.  We disagree. Sandland continues to associate with several persons, on both his blog site as well as his HypnoThoughts Live! conference, who falsely claim to have doctorates, including Roy Hunter, Nancy Barwick, Roger Moore, Anne Spencer, Bob Otto, Melissa Tiers, Marla Brucker, William Mitchell, and Shelley Stockwell. If these individuals are truly as good as their word, they would not need to pretend (aka scam other to believe) that they have earned a doctorate.

Here's the email. What do you think?

Hi,

  I'd like to start by saying thank you for creating this site.  I've been in the field for about ten years and can't stand the fake degrees that people promote.  A couple years ago I considered doing something similar to your site, but never followed through.  I don't think I would have put in the research you have.   I hope more people will reconsider their claims because of this movement.

So here is my constructive criticism.  Your posts about Scott Sandland seem personally motivated and seem like a distraction from the good work you are doing.  I re-read his email to you that seems to have upset you, and found it interesting.  He may disagree with your priorities and tactics, but he certainly agrees with and supported your goal.  he even said he was excited about the idea of your site and was dissapointed when he read it.  Disapointed means he wants it to work!  I know hypnothoughts allows people to put their phoney credentials after their name, but that site has slammed conrad adams and alexander regal and a few other people you've mentioned on your blog.

I met Scott two years ago at a conference and was impressed.  He's sincere in his commitment to helping the profession of hypnosis and is willing to take a pay cut to help hypnotists learn.  He's not a fraud like the other people on your site.  He's never received, given, sold, or claimed to have a PHD.  The man seems honest and congruent to me (and I can spot a bull shitter).

So I did a little homework.  His name is not on Alpha University's site.  I don't know when or why or how it was removed, but it isn't there.  I couldn't find the quotes you grabbed from his website either, I didn't do a deep search though.  And let's be honest, that's pretty nit-picking compared to these other people.  I noticed he doesn't use credentials on the site for the hypnothoughts conference and the instructors at his school have legitimate PHDs (except for Roy Hunter, who I think teaches with a psychologist or something like that).  Actually, the school was so impressive that after looking into it I'm now thinking about taking the neurology class.

what he's doing may not be the way you would do it, but he's solving a lot more problems than he causes.  he's not a fraud.   I wonder if you resented his email and have been going after him -more than anyone else on this site- as retaliation for his email or something like that.  Of all the people to focus on, you've picked a person who is actually on your side.

I don't think I'm out of line in saying all this.  My goal is the same as yours.  I want you to keep naming and shaming the people who lie and deceive others about their credentials.  when you slip in the comments about scott it comes across as personal and out of place.  Please don't be distracted away from the liars.  There's plenty more for you to expose.

thanks for taking the time to read this,

Roy Hunter Still Going At It With His Fake PhD

Despite being aware of our blog, Roy Hunter is still going at it by scamming others with his fake Ph.D -and with the help of Scott Sandland's HypnoThoughts blog at that. Just recently, Roy Hunter advertised a training in our beautiful home of Reykjavik where he qualifies himself as "Roy Hunter, Ph.D." Where did he advertise this? On HypnoThoughts, of course. Yes, there you have the so-called [un]"ethical" Scott Sandland and the so-called [un]"ethical" Hypnosis Practitioner Training Institute, once again supporting this no-degree scammer.

"Train with the master himself," he writes. Yes, he is the master -of degree scams.

We have previously highlighted Roy Hunters indiscretions here at http://fakedoctorate.blogspot.com/2012/11/roy-hunter-phd-fraud-scam-artist.html.

We find it a unique opportunity to highlight Roy Hunter's scam while he is here in Iceland. We are considering picketing and alerting the media to this shammery.

Fight back! Post our blog everywhere!

We received word that some of the sleaze bag degree frauds identified here are trying hard to bury our blog by lowering our Google rankings. Please help us fight back by posting our blog URL: http://fakedoctorate.blogspot.com/  everywhere you can.

It's simple. Use Google and find similar sites (fake academic credentials aren't just limited to the hypnosis profession). In the comments section, post our URL. Be sure to include something relevant so it doesn't come across as spammy.

We realize that many of you are concerned about your identities. Simply go to Gmail and create an entirely unique email account for yourself. It's that simple.

Happy posting!

9000 Blog Views and an email from Random Hypnotist

To date, we've had almost 9,000 page views. That means 9,000 more people know who is scamming the world with fake doctorates than before we started the blog.

We received an email today from Random Hypnotist in Washington:



To answer this naysayer's questions, we are going after anybody that uses fake doctorates or endorses the practice of it. Scott Sandland allows his HypnoThoughts.com to run rampant with individuals who boast fake doctorate. AND -he is profiting from HypnoThoughts Live, a conference featuring so-called expert presenters who tout fake doctorates. These "experts" are conning this public into believing they have such credentials. He also deleted a thread on his HypnoThoughts that was serving to expose these individuals. Scott Sandland has also posted a number of testimonials from so-called (fake) doctorates as well as poorly conducted research articles these so-called (fake doctorates). He is also on the "board" of a known doctorate degree mill. He promotes the practice using fake doctorates. Plain and simple. He is equally as guilty. Once he banishes the use of fake doctorates in his professional dealing and trainings, we will retract our comments about him. Until then, the world must know that these individuals, who they are paying to teach them something, are fraudulently purporting to hold academic qualifications which they do not have.

You said yourself that Scott Sandland could have earned a PhD for free from "Alpha University." Your testament to the well-known fact that the degree mill practically gives away such "degrees" does not help the case, especially since Sandland is supposedly a "board member."

Let's see how serious Sandland is about building ethics and integrity in this hypnosis field. I challenge you, Scott Sandland of HypnoThoughts.com, to immediately stop the perpetuation of any false academic credential on your site or training sessions.

Let's talk about Richard Nongard. His boasting a PhD "on less than 5 of his many, many products" does not make it better for him. It's actually more than 5, but do we really need to count? If he is such an expert, then why must he lie about holding a PhD? We are aware that he is, indeed, a state licensed mental health practitioner. That is not our concern. Our concern is that he boasts having an illegitimate PhD. There are other state licensed mental health practitioners who we have exposed. See http://fakedoctorate.blogspot.com/2012/11/dr-keli-henault-phd-fraud-from-austin-tx.html.

"He doesn't need to help hypnotists to earn a living." Well, that's not exactly true. His marketing of numerous products geared towards hypnotists on subliminalscience.com and to psychotherapists and other professionals on fastceus.com would make a reasonable observer think differently.

Roy Hunter. If he's really that good, why must he boast a fake doctorate? Particularly from the very same degree mill, Alpha University, that wanted to give Scott Sandland a free doctorate?

We didn't ignore Jonathan Royle. And Wendy Friesen didn't claim to have earned a PhD, nor does our research find that she helps to perpetuate the practice of such.

Of course, each of these people who are called out has the opportunity to respond on this site. The comments sections are left open for this very reason. To date, there has not been a single response from any of the accused. We believe this is testimony to the accuracy of our information.

In Progress! A microscopic examination of the Board of Directors of Alpha University

A microscopic examination of the Board of Directors of the degree mill known as "Alpha University."

We have previously written about the degree mill known as "Alpha University," which "issues" (in other words...sells) fake, non-accredited doctorates in hypnosis (see http://fakedoctorate.blogspot.com/2012/12/alpha-university-degree-mill.html). We will soon provide an analysis of the scam artists who are allegedly affiliated with this organization, with particular interest on those who falsely purport to have earned a degree. There are a lot of people involved in this scam! Stay tuned!

Conrad Adams

Conrad Adams of Baton Rouge, LA is the next to find his way into our walk of shame. We found him by accident when we were tipped off about some other individuals who we previously wrote about. Conrad, who poses on the left as the Dos Equis man, claims to have a Doctorate in Natural Medicine and a PhD in Behavior Science with a major in hypnotherapy. Of course, he doesn't state FROM WHERE he earned these so-called degrees.

This fraud claims to be the vice-president of the International Medical & Dental Hypnotherapy Association (although their website make no mention of a vice-president, or even a president and, if somehow he is the vice-president, he is violating their own so-called Code of Ethics by fraudulently misrepresenting himself. But who's checking?). He is also the founder and Dean of an unaccredited "university" called Alpha University, which delivers fake PhD credentials to other con artists from his one room suite located in an office building in Baton Rouge, LA (See http://fakedoctorate.blogspot.com/2012/11/roy-hunter-phd-fraud-scam-artist.html for more information about "Alpha University"). Adams' wife happens to be the "Dean of Admissions."

I am willing to bet that he earned his "degree" from Alpha University.

Jenifer Debosier

Records show that Jenifer Debosier is really Jenifer-Debosier Adams. Looks like she's related to Conrad Adams and Steven Adams.  

 We also find that Jenifer claims to have a (bogus) Doctor of Natural Medicine:

Scott Sandland

We have written extensively about Sandland, owner of the blog site HypnoThoughts. He has not falsely claimed to have earned a doctorate. However, his support of those who do is appalling. We understand that Sandland is financially motivated to create hypnosis training programs. His association with such individuals to present at these trainings, and his membership on this so-called board, only clarifies his intention to perpetuate the use of fake doctorates.

 

Roger Moore

Roger Moore of Roger Moore's Counseling and Hypnotherapy of Bainbridge Island, WA, claims to have earned a "Doctorate in Clinical Hypnotherapy." Readers of this blog KNOW that there is no such thing, yet he holds legitimate undergraduate and master's degrees. Why would somebody with a solid set of degrees, and from what we're told, is apparently a nice guy, want to tarnish his name and profession with false credentials such as a fake PhD? We have been unable to find a single reference as to where his "PhD" was earned but since we know that there are no accredited PhD programs in Clinical Hypnotherapy, we affirm that Mr. Moore's is fraudently asserting that he holds a PhD. We hope that this person will reconsider his use of the terms "Doctor" or PhD."

Roger Moore is a member of the International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association, the International Association of Counselors and Therapists and the International Hypnosis Federation.

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UPDATE

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The above screen shot shows Healthy Life Centers, owned by Mark Barrus of Fountain View, CA, featuring Roger Moore as "Dr. Roger Moore." The question is, who is deceiving who? Is Mark Barrus deceiving the public into believing that this hypnotist, whom he will receive commission from every client that he refers to Roger Moore, really holds a doctorate? Or is Roger Moore deceiving Mark Barrus? Or does it even matter. The public is being deceived no matter which way you look at it.

Steven E. Adams, J.D.

He really is a lawyer. We assume that Steven Adams is related to Conrad Adams and Jenifer Debosier-Adams. I wonder how he feels, having earned a bonafide juris doctorate, about "Alpha University" giving away phony doctorates.

 Deborah Broussard

Rong Seng-Cheng

David Li-Wei Ho

Gilbert Wong

John S. Jester

Anthony G. Ziagos

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Patti Scott, Patricia Scott, Palm Harbor, FL - FAKE Doctorate

We thank Scott Sandland and his HypnoThoughts Live for this referral as well. Patti Scott, aka Patricia Scott, of Unlimited Possibilities Hypnosis, Inc. in Palm Harbor, FL claims to have earned a PhD in Behavioral Science (Major-Hypnosis) "with" Alpha University. Read here about the diploma mill known as Alpha University: http://fakedoctorate.blogspot.com/2012/12/alpha-university-degree-mill.html

Patti joins the ranks of Terence Watts, Roy Hunter, and Patti Conklin...all who have fraudulently claimed to have earned doctorates from there. Welcome to the FAKE DEGREE CLUB, Patricia Scott.

Degree Mill = No Degree = No Doctorate

Oh how elusive Patti is. We found another source that says she earned a B.S. in Clinical Hypnotherapy and is a PhD Candidate with American Pacific University.

And here we have yet another degree mill. See http://fakedoctorate.blogspot.com/2012/11/known-diploma-mills-resource-guide.html

Once again:

Degree Mill = No Degree = No Doctorate

Marla Brucker - San Diego, CA - FAKE Doctorate!

Meet Marla Brucker of the San Diego Hypnosis Center. We would like to thank Scott Sandland's HypnoThoughts Live for tipping us off on this lady who claims to have a Doctorate in Clinical Hypnotherapy. She is extremely elusive about where she supposedly earned this degree. We wonder why! That's because there is no such degree.

Marla is a proud member of Robert Otto's International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association and the International Hypnosis Federation.

How Many FAKE Doctorates Will Be Presenting At Scott Sandland's HypnoThoughts Live?

Over the next few days, we will be pointing out those with FAKE doctorates who are scheduled to present at Scott Sandland's HypnoThought's Live. Could THIS be the reason why he shut down any discussion about fake doctorates on his website? Could this be part of that self-serving agenda we wrote about earlier?

To quote Romper Room's Miss Sally and her Magic Mirror...And I see the following people who are SO FANTASTIC AT WHAT THEY DO, THEY HAVE TO LIE ABOUT HAVING A DOCTORATE....there's Roy Hunter, Nancy Barwick, Roger Moore and Anne Spencer (remember Scott Sandland's testimonials?), Robert Otto, Melissa Tiers, Marla Brucker, William Mitchell, Shelley Stockwell, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Interestingly, there are at least three individuals with real, bonafide doctorates presenting here. How must Kweethia Neill, Don Pelles, and Brian David Phillips, who actually did the legitimate doctoral work, feel about their cohorts who LIE about their academic credentials?

Response to Scott Sandland of HypnoThoughts

Scott Sandland, founder of the massive Ning-based HypnoThoughts blog community, sent us an email today declaring his disdain for our approach in exposing the degree scammers. He wrote:

Dear Scott Sandland,

None of us here at PhD Scammers care that your removed the "fake PhD" thread from your blog. We were exposing these fakes long before the thread and will continue to do so long after it's gone.

You write, "I'm a big fan of accountability and raising standards." That's a BS statement if I ever heard one, considering your own site is rampant with individuals using false credentials and you have done absolutely nothing to counter it. Thus, you are about as guilty as them because you allow it to go on. But your site is self-serving, isn't it? In providing an outlet for new and prospective people interested in hypnosis so that you can sell your product, training, and enhance your own credibility and exposure. Brilliant concept. So why alienate the frauds that contribute to your community? They only bring your more exposure. Unwitting individuals think that Dr. So and So is an expert and, thus, you have a community of experts (with phony doctorates). Too bad for the few that really have honest to goodness doctoral degrees.

Not to mention, that you have made many professional connections with those purporting to have (fake) doctorates, and you are using their name and title to enhance your own credibility, including the testimonial on your biography from Roger Moore, PhD who alleges holding a PhD in Clinical Hypnosis:

And Anne Spencer's testimonial and articles (which would NEVER be published in a scholarly publication), who is elusive about where she earned her PhD and in what field, but consistently refers to herself as Anne Spencer, PhD:

 and

 

Shame on you, Scott Sandland. You are supposed to be a shining star but you truly are just as guilty as them. Thank you, by the way, for the referrals. We'll be looking at Roger Moore and Anne Spencer on our blog shortly.

Recently, you suggested a discussion about it. A meager discussion won't fix the problem. They have been given an opportunity to redeem themselves and not a single one has taken advantage of this. They would rather go on and take their chances with their phony credentials.

These individuals need to be exposed, if anything, for the wise potential client or student that decides to conduct some background research on their prospective fraud.

We will continue to reference HypnoThoughts, if need be, as long as there are individuals claiming to have (phony) doctorates and posting as experts. We believe that will be for a very long time.