Aschleigh - Are you really resorting to comparing me to a dog and deriding me on the basis of my screen name? (And doing so in a thread that is at least partially about how women are treated as less than equal and the insidious nature of cultural sexism?) All that does is highlight your lack of ability to respond like an adult when it's pointed out that you're acting in an immature and irresponsible way, as well as your own issues with and hostility towards other women. I don't expect a five year old to be able to discuss ethical behavior in an adult manner and I *do* understand from what others have posted that you have issues with your own mother that are probably playing out here. However, I would hope someone who aspires to be a professional therapist (and who is already using tribe as a means to look for clients, including female ones) would be at least aware of their personal issues, how they play out in relationship to others and what constitutes ethical and unethical behavior (particularly in a professional context) when someone has trusted you with their heart and mind (or body).

Asch on Sept 16th - "I have the greatest connection with a man I have ever had. It happens to be with my therapist and he won't let me have sex with him but otherwise it's perfect."

Asch on Sept 18th - "I don't think psycho-therapists or psychologists are better people than others. I don't know where that came from."

It came from your idealization of your therapist (and relationship with him) and ongoing need to present yourself as something you're not - such as a qualified and professional health and fitness life coach (when you were pleading for help for yourself with the most basic aspects of this not long ago in another tribe) or a psychotherapist in training. Now, it's not particularly unusual for patients to idealize and be attracted to their therapists at a certain point in the therapeutic process (and it's often a necessary part of the process in interpersonal therapy) but it's interesting that you seem to believe that you'd be in a "perfect" relationship if only your therapist would have sex with you (and just how unaware you are about yourself and how the therapeutic process functions despite being in it yourself at the moment, and how equally unaware of appropriate boundaries within an interpersonal therapeutic relationship you are despite your claims to be studying psychology).

Asch - "Or rely on what your mother the MD told you back in the day . There is a medical model of psychology that still exist. Not my interest either. Psychology has moved away from that considerably in the last 100 years."

Asch on Sept 17th - "It's a real possibility we are entering the cognitive behavioral millenium. I am studying cognitivie behavioral therapy at school but I am also noticng that it is all around. It is " the secret" it is The Prophet " by Kahlil Gibran, it is on Oprah ' It may be so embedded in our culture that it's hard to see at this point. Cognitive ( thinking) behavioral therpy is about changing our thinking to change our behavior. And it works, it was what BF Skinner and Pavlov worked on in their own way. I see it on Oprah where she talks about Stepping out of our pasts with new thinking. It's ancient and yet yet again. The reseason why I think that nobody needs to teach freud anymore is because we live in a freudnian world, we talk about our mother issues, Oedipal, family dynamics all the time. We live in a freundian world.
Now we are stepping into a Cognitive behavioral world, it gets taught to us from all angles.
I really can't wait to start my real career at a private pratice and have more people to talk about this stuff with."

Asch - "I think I'm offended that fifi thinks there is A way to be a therapist, when there are as many ways as there are therapists."

Well, you may want to think a bit more deeply and actually listen since you're being offended by your own assumptions and not my actual beliefs. What you have been called out on here is about professional ethics and conducting oneself with integrity when one is claiming to be a professional - the basics of ethical behavior don't change radically between the different kinds of therapy being practiced (and as a professional therapist - if and when you become one - your license will depend upon your ability to conduct yourself and your practice in an ethical and professional manner). You aspire to be in a position of power and trust vis a vis vulnerable people yet you continue to show that you have no understanding of ethical and professional behavior, let alone transference and countertransference, and to be seeking this power for purely selfish reasons. Do you really believe that there is no such thing as professional ethics and that therapist simply make up whatever they want?

Once again you're talking out your ass and clearly showing just how dangerous a little knowledge can be when a depth of knowledge is needed. Just to be clear, since you're obviously projecting your issues with your own mother onto my mother, my mother is an MD AND a psychologist. She was invited to become a psychiatrist because being an MD and psychologist qualified her to be one but she declined for philosophical reasons. She only retired a couple of years ago and is still open and curious (something you've repeatedly shown yourself not to be). She's more on the Jungian, interpersonal therapy side of things but used whatever modality worked best for her patients since that was the central concern of her practice. My father, on the other hand, uses a cognitive behavioral approach. You clearly don't understand cognitive behavioral therapy if you think it's simply the wishful thinking and affirmations of "The Secret" or that cognitive behavioral therapy isn't part of the "medical/scientific model" of psychology that you so highly disdain and believe is somehow disappearing (when, in reality, psychology within reputable universities is becoming increasingly scientific and integrated into cognitive science, is associated with neuroscience and uses the scientific method to conduct research). All it sounds like is you're trying to make your new age beliefs sound like science, with no understanding of what science is and how it functions.

Asch - "As a feminist do you think it would be a good idea to enlist the aid of young, energetic, intelligent , outspoken women to look deeply into the issues of inequalities between men and women and perhaps discuss ways to alleviate them in our society?"

Well, I'm not self-identified as a feminist - though I don't reject that label either, have certainly been involved in feminist causes and organizations and continue to be. I have a very deep and enduring respect for all the women who made it possible for me to wear pants in public, vote, demand equal pay for equal work, choose what I do with my own body and so on, and all others who have fought for equal rights. I'm a humanist and I already do support women and men of all ages in their own journeys as much as possible - there's no need to "enlist" people into supporting their own cause and I have no interest in doing so. I work side by side with people of all ages towards common goals - it's about sharing and integrity, not becoming some manipulative and dishonest person who lies to people to "enlist" them. If you feel as if you need to be pandered to and seduced into supporting equal rights for women (including yourself) then I've got to wonder how committed you really are or if, once again, this is just more of your mother issues coming into play.

Personally, I speak up about injustice and unethical behavior - even when it might create hardship for myself - because I believe that all humans deserve to have equal rights and we all have a responsibility for our society and creating our culture. I'm proud to have done my part to continue the work started by courageous men and women before me. Just as I'm proud to have contributed my small part to the fight for equal rights for Queers, and aboriginal and non-white people. Aschleigh, as a humanist, to me women's rights are simply part of the much bigger picture of basic human rights for all. While I have a lot of compassion for how your issues with your mother play out in terms of your own understanding of yourself as a woman and female power - that's not an easy knot to untie, perhaps the toughest for a woman - and for your obvious craving for male approval and attention, the fact that you constantly lie and deny as a way to avoid actually dealing with these issues while claiming to be practicing as a therapist and life coach, and in therapy, means that you've moved over into victimizing and exploiting others who are vulnerable as a means to make money and feel powerful instead of healing your own wounds and acting in an ethical manner appropriate for someone who wants others to trust them and give them power.

And, no, I'm not an internal aspect of yourself (even if you can't see me due to being enchanted by your own reflection or blinded by projections regarding your own anger and dynamic). What happens when we accept and integrate our shadow aspects is that we can simply be honest about them with others - there's no need to deny or lie when we're being honest and acting with integrity. If you reject your shadow, undoubtedly you're also rejecting your true self, which is where your real power as an individual resides. Clearly she's struggling hard to get out from under the denial and lies - and sneaks out around the sides of the image you try to construct of yourself - and at least some part of you wants her to succeed if you've started on the journey you say you have. Give her a break, your mother may not have liked, loved or supported her - and her father may have abandoned her - and she may not be perfect but she's a much more interesting human being than who you think wishful thinking, affirmations and denial will make you into. I sincerely hope that one day you can embrace yourself as an individual, a woman and imperfect human being. I'm quite willing to embrace you and work alongside you towards social justice if and when you do, until then you're simply part of the problem as you so clearly displayed here by resorting to comparing another woman to a dog.

Of course ashleigh deleted it. It has her straight out saying she is a fraud and what she has said were nothing but lies. I really wish I had saved a copy to repost.

JSin

I did not delete the thread. I have been extremely busy and have not been keeping as close of an eye on this tribe as I should. I apologize.

I posted something to Ashleigh that I took quite a bit of time and consideration on. I don't like threads being deleted when people have spent thought and consideration on them.

I do have serious concerns about Ashleigh, I don't tend to think she is consciously lying as much as I genuinely worry about her lack of connection to things she herself has said before or reality as I understand it. I agree it is completely inappropriate for her to offer her services as a diet or nutrition expert(and I do believe that charging $40 an hour constitutes giving the impression you are offering expert services) or anything having to do with therapy, psycho or otherwise.

But I'm not sure that posting here in this tribe is going to help uncover her bizarre offers in other places on tribe as being...well bizarre. I don't know that it's going to help anyone know not to contact her for those services. Maybe we can find a way to do that with less pointing at her here where it does feel to me as if we have crossed over from our responses of WTF? in her thread to shaming her. I won't argue that part of me thinks she should be ashamed of herself for putting herself out there as an expert, but I just don't feel like we are being helpful or kind in how we are dealing with her.

I'm going to think about this some more.