Ute Baues, Claudia Schönfeld, Torsten Konrad, Chuck Spezzano, Lency Spezzano, Anne-Kathrin Koch, Kurt Sommer, Rebecca Wildi, Susanne Ernest, Anke Schuppan. German-speaking POV trainers together with the Spezzano and Associates Ltd. chief executive officers for the mandatory annual training in Hawaii, 2015. All of these people spent thousands of dollars in order to attend, with a large portion of that going into the Spezzano bank account.
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[Ingeborg's post was originally in two parts due to space limitations. I have combined them here]
Here's some background on the activities of trainers in the German-speaking regions, including (as far as is provided by them) info on their original profession:
The PoV trainers active in the German-speaking regions don't only offer PoV courses and seminars, but also different Nuage methods. Many of them are longterm PoVers.
Part of them are licenced as alternative practitioners.
To give some background on this: We in fact owe this particularity to the Nazis who tried to aryanise the German health system, and the licences were continued in the Federal Republic after the war, while in the Democratic Republic persons already in possession of such a licence were allowed to continue, but no further licences were being issued.
The licence basically offers access to a 'healing' profession for persons who do not study medicine. Prerequisites: applicants must be 25 years of age or above, and are expected to provide a medical certificate, and a certificate of conduct. A local health authority will run a multiple choice test of 60 questions, 45 of which must be answered correctly, plus an oral examination. Both are meant to establish whether an applicant will pose a threat to public health or is able to properly identify e.g. cases of infectious diseases and immediately pass those to a medical doctor. About 50% of applicants fail these tests, but may try as often as they wish as the number of attempts has not been limited. Furthermore, local health authorities do not evaluate according to which alternative methods or concepts applicants intend to treat their clients and whether these methods are effective or rubbish.
The licence may be obtained as a 'general' alternative practitioner, or as an AP limited to psychotherapy, often apostrophied as the 'small licence'. These practitioners may not use the term 'psychotherapist' which is limited to persons having finished a course of studies at a university, and if they do, this is an offence.
Anke Schuppan, trainer level 1, Gardelegen
[Update: Anke made it to a level 2 POV trainer before she washed out as part of the Great Trainer Depletion in 2017]
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Apart from my own seminars, supervision, and coachings which are e.g. combined with Hawaiian body work, I am a contact for many international PoV events and for VisionWorks, I support Steps-to-Leadership heads of courses and work for PoV as a translator.
A website run by another PoV member, http://web.archive.org/web/20160806140002/http://www.powerful-events.de/speaker/anke-schuppan , [substitute link] publishes the following info:
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... from work as a horse trainer, assistant job in the field of horse-based psychotherapy, and a course of studies in psychology until Psychology of Vision and self-employment as a psychologist in the field of relationship and life counseling.
Whether these are claims or based on facts cannot be established.
Anne-Kathrin Koch (married name), Spiesen-Elversberg (Saarland)
Trainer level 2
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I spent my childhood mainly in music lessons, self-awareness, healing and consciousness seminars and in the horse stable. After … finishing a course of studies in musical therapy I met Chuck and Lency in 2004. With my licence as an alternative practician, I am working in my own office since 2006 (in my office as well as per skype and by telephone), do lectures, lead study groups and seminars.
Koch also publishes ads:
http://www.gesunder-mensch.de/9708_anne-kathrin-koch-spiesen-elversberg.html
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Alternative practitioner for psychotherapy, trainer of Psychology of Vision according to Dr Chuck and Lency Spezzano
[Update: April 29, 2020: A link to a blogpost by Koch, who
was purged from POV. Her post should be entitled "I Will Survive!" We know she is
not alone and send her our best wishes in building a new life]
https://www.anne-kathrin.de/inspiration/blog/wie-trauma-in-die-innere-freiheit-fuehren-kann.html?fbclid=IwAR34e8mfX-zFlVfswCLw_Z62JTQoJLZNCGYHNVilrwPOBylJZdvTcXf4lto
Claudia Schönfeld, trainer level 1, Hamburg
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I gathered first experience with self-healing powers in the meditations and initiation trainings of „Art Read“ and with the support of the Blackfood Indians [sic!] during a sundance. […] With the tools learned here [ie. At PoV] I was able to walk through incredible 'lows' with my husband and achieve at a relaxed and loving partnership. It fulfills me to be able to pass on this experience and knowledge in my seminars, the study group „The Meeting“, and in individual coachings.
https://www.xing.com/profile/Claudia_Schoenfeld3
Employment: Trainer at Psychologie of Vision, branch of trade: Coaching, self-employed
[no other/previous employer mentioned]
Psychology of Vision Trainer in individual coaching
Group coaching
PoV seminars in Hamburg and nation-wide
Kurt Sommer, trainer level 1, Neufahrn
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Personally, PoV work has helped me to restore the lost relationship to god and to my family which I was about to leave. […] I thus found my calling as a trainer of relationships and counsellor. This was in 1999. Meanwhile, I was able to support persons in innumerable individual coachings and in many seminars. This work profits from my practice as a qualified social education worker (Diploma).
In 2001, Jeff Allen asked me to begin introducing Steps to Leadership for the first time in Germany. Since then, I start a new course every year with a large, positive feedback. ...
On his own website, Sommer says:
http://www.kurt-sommer.com/
[Update: dead link 8/20/18]
[substitute link]
http://psychologyofvision.blogspot.com/2016/10/kurt-sommer.html
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Successful relationships and partnerships for singles, couples, families, organisations and on the job counseling
Kurt Sommer – qualified social education worker, couple therapist, communications coach
Sommer has been active at the predecessor of PoV DACH
http://www.moneyhouse.ch/p/sommer_kurt-4267498/
[Update Aug. 2, 2021: dead link]
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Career:
December 2003 to November 2006: Member of Psychology of Vision DACH
Rebecca Wildi, trainer level 1, Switzerland
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I have always been a dancing soul and loved to learn and teach in my life. I was a kindergarten nurse originally and […] today I run my own dance school and am passionately teaching dance, spiral dynamics, and Psychology of Vision.
In her Xing profile, Wildi says she is a solo dancer and teacher of oriental dances, and self-employed since 2001:
https://www.xing.com/profile/Rebecca_Wildi
Susanne Ernst, trainer level 3, Switzerland
http://www.pov-int.eu/trainer/susanne-ernst/
Quote
Susanne Ernst (born 1958) lives with her husband and their two sons. She is a trainer level III of Psychology of Vision in the German-speaking countries. With more than 20 years of experience of working with Psychology of Vision […]
Chuck Spezzano about Susanne Ernst:
„Susanne is a wise teacher who makes complexity easy to understand. She is a healer with warmth, humour, feeling of security and spontaneity. A mystic who opens the angel-like levels, yet at the same time remains practical when she helps to bring about blessed changes. She is a „mother of the earth“ with a vast spiritual heritage.“
Interests:
She has a diploma II in Seitai (energy work) and as an Aikido teacher of the 4th Dan, she has her own school and dojo in Solothurn/Switzerland. In the management of PoV-DACH GmbH together with Josef Neuschmid and Mathias Keller, she works actively and coordinatively all over Europe.
On the website she maintains for her dojo, Ernst says she has had her own dojo since 2003 and names Peter Shapiro as her teacher.
As her profession she claims:
Quote
Coach for life counseling according to PoV, Aikido trainer, Seitai teacher
From the CV published there, Ernst claims „more than 25 years of experience of working with Psychology of Vision by Chuck and Lency Spezzano“.
She also provides the information that her original profession was a „nurse specialized in anaesthetics“.
Aikido teacher Peter Shapiro presently does not seem to be active in PoV, however continues to use PoV as a sales pitch on his website:
https://ch.linkedin.com/pub/peter-shapiro/51/166/836
Quote
brought up as an artist-, played free jazz piano in the 60's and painted as a member of the n.y. school, basing my painting and later a theory of aesthetics on the teaching of hans hoffmann, went to japan and studied aikido with the founder and with hikitsuchi-sensei, zen with yasutani roshi, seitai with noguchi haruchika-sensei and natural farming with fukuoka masanobu -sensei…..hold 6th dan in aikido, shodan in masakatsu bo, a katsugen consultant certificate and shodan in seitai,…...graduate advanced trainer/coach in the psychology of vision..(currently inactive) now teaching and leading musicians in the interpretation of the music of j.s. bach and of monteverdi, created the bach renewal society…currently also playing free jazz piano….created a form of aikido practice going to to o.sensei, which i named ki-no-nagare aikido…
Torsten Konrad, trainer level 1, Cologne
[Revised link, Mar. 21, 2019] https://www.pov-int.eu/trainer/torsten-konrad-2/
According to the info provided in his PoV bio, Konrad has studied dance at Folkwang which is one of the most renowned schools/academies for actors etc. He also is a teacher of presently 14 years at Folkwang and is a teacher of Alexander technique, living in Cologne and teaching in Cologne, Essen, Berlin, Saarbrücken as well as per Skype and telephone.
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“I love Psychology of Vision because it supports us consequently and continuously to strengthen trust in our life and into the light.“
Mathias Keller, trainer level 1 and PoV DACH
Keller is a trainer level I (although inactive from Jan 2015), and one of three CEOs of PoV-DACH.
In this ad dd 2012, Keller claims he has been a leader of Steps to Leadership courses and PoV advanced training evenings in Bern and Basel (Switzerland).
http://www.blindad.de/events/Kehrsatz_im-prinzip-einfach-halbtages-workshop-mit-pov-april-2012_195518.php?adventure=essen-mexikanisch&ad=560 [Dead link]
Keller also contributed a testimonial to the newly arranged site „The truth about Chuck and Lency Spezzano:
http://the-truth-about-chuck-and-lency-spezzano.com/testimonials-germany/
[Update Oct. 12, 2019: "This site is currently undergoing maintenance." -- This has happened just in the last week.]
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Psychology of Vision has allowed me to alter my life for the better. My happiness lies in my own hands. The many simple tools I can use every day have made my life a lot easier. Through understanding my psyche I gained more comprehension of my past and my behavior. I therefore was able to understand relationships better, make new decisions, create more bonding and live a happier life. I’m very grateful that I came across this work and got to know it.
Mathias Keller
Germany
PoV-DACH:
Susanne Ernst: see above
Josef Neuschmid, Zurich, Switzerland
Neuschmid is no trainer, but a CEO of PoV-DACH. He is an Austrian citizen, but with his previous wife has been living in Germany where he had an office as an alternative practician (this is a profession which may not be practiced in Austria according to Austrian law). As far as can be established in a Google search, Neuschmid does not seem to have sold courses done by himself, but placed advertisements for and organised lectures and seminars Spezzano does on his regular trips to Europe, like e.g. this one:
http://ovb.markt.de/hohenbrunn/kultur/psychologie+of+vision+josef+neuschmid/absIndex,2/keywords,235/rView,list/recordId,fbf1ddf4/expose.htm [Dead link]
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Date: Feb 27, 2015, 1 pm to Feb 28, 2015, midnight
Trainer: Chuck Spezzano
„Partnership, family, community: Discover what heals the interior“
Everything in life is about relationships. Most of the problems we meet take their origin there. And nowhere can we learn as much about ourselves and the world.
Chuck Spezzano, internationally renowmed psychologist and author of bestsellers, shows how every connection with a fellow human mirrors our inner state, our problems as well as our hidden potential. Whether partnership, family, profession or society, in deciphering the secret messages of our relationships correctly, we gain unpayably valuable hints for self-fulfilment and personal growth.“
Three-day-seminar from Feb 27 to March 1, 2015:
Fees:
470,– p. person
420,– early-bird fee until 10. Jan. 2015
235.- student fee
290,– for STL participants
Neuschmid meanwhile runs his own counseling company in Switzerland, together with his second wife who also registered the company's website:
http://www.empowering-team.ch/page_right.php?pageID=63&elementID=685&moduleID=9094
[Update July 2, 2018: Closed link]
Barbara Valeh
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Background & Profession:
Barbara (born 1971) is from Switzerland and lives in Zürich with husband Josef. Since 14 years, she is a grammar school teacher in Zurich.
Education & Experience:
From modern psychology and brain research until ancient philosophie and spirituality – Barbara is open for everything which proves itself in practical life. For more than 20 years, she has been busy with issues of personal development […].
Some important stations of learning were the training to become a Cert. Integral Coach ECA and Diploma Mental Coach ECA as well as the education in psychology with Dr Chuck Spezzano. Further sources of inspiriation are American success coaches like Anthony Robbins and teachers like Eckhart Tolle.
Barbara has been coaching adults for more than five years – who likes to advance in large steps is okay here. She is teaching courses in the fields of personal development and emotional intelligence since 2010.
Josef Neuschmid
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Background & Profession:
Josef (born 1960) is from Austria and lives in Zurich with his wife Barbara. He is an alternative practician for more than 20 years, an expert for diets, vital substances, and orthomolecular medicine.
Education & Experience:
From his practical experience as a dietetcally schooled chef unto as a lecturer for orthomolecular medicine at a school for alternative praciticians, Josef gathered long-term experience in many fields of adult education. Apart from this, for more than 20 years he has been into modern psychology, happiness research and success principles, as taught by Dr Chuck Spezzano, Harald Wessbecher, Frank Kinslow, and Anthony Robbins.
Since 1998, Josef is organising seminars for Chuck Spezzano where he also gathered rich experience as a group leader. […]
Neuschmid also maintains his own website as a „vital expert“.
Another person who does not offer any courses or seminars, but seems to have an important position within PoV and/or PoV-DACH is Django Hediger who is a longterm member of PoV, too.
With his wife Bianca Hediger (née Früh), Hediger runs an event company named „Powerful Events“. The company organises and advertises seminars with Spezzano.
In 2014, the Hedigers bought an event location in the vicinity of Cologne; its website mentions them as CEOs:
http://web.archive.org/web/20160827091840/http://www.kupfersiefermuehle.de/impressum.htm?print=1
[Substitute link, Mar. 5, 2017]
Hediger is a registrant/admin of several PoV websites either on his own or with his wife Bianca:
http://web.archive.org/web/20160406080234/http://www.psychologyofvision-shop.de/impressum/
[Substitute link, Mar. 5, 2017]
According to the imprint, both Hediger and Früh are CEOs, and the PoV shop is run by a company named „Hediger & Früh GbR“ (GbR = partnership under ther Civil Code).
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Hediger & Früh GbR
Im Rott xxx
xxx Ratingen
E-Mail shop@psychologyofvisionxxx.xx
[...]
vertretungsberechtigter Gesellschafter
Django Hediger
Bianca Früh
Hediger resp. the Hediger & Hediger GbR is also registrant and admin of the site „The truth about Chuck and Lency Spezzano“:
http://www.whoismind.com/whois/the-truth-about-chuck-and-lency-spezzano.com.html
[Update Aug. 2, 2021: dead link]
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Registrant Name: Django Hediger
Registrant Organization: Hediger & Hediger GbR
Registrant Street: Grosshecker Weg xx
Registrant Postal Code: 51503
Registrant Citry: Roesrath
Registrant Country: DE
Another site registered by Hediger is „About Psychology of Vision.com“:
http://www.domaintuno.com/d/about-psychology-of-vision.com [Dead link]
Quote
About-psychology-of-vision.com is 12 months old . The website was registered by Django Hediger and has its servers in Germany . The site has a Pagerank of 0, which suggests that it is not so well connected on the internet.
[Update: Django has since launched yet another POV marketing website and in it he makes the false claim that Chuck Spezzano has a PhD. in Clinical Psychology]:
http://psychologyofvision.blogspot.com/2017/08/doktortitel-in-klinischer-psychologie.html
4 comments:
If all the money, time, and energy these folks have expended on Psychology of Vision had been spent investing in a professional education instead of supplementing the Spezzano's affluent lifestyle, their lives would not have been squandered in such a ridiculous personality cult.
Such a collection of sad and damaged people. It is truly unfortunate they fell into the POV scam.
Since this post was written two years ago only Konrad and Ernst remain among those trainers today. For some reason the original Hediger links here have all vanished.
"Powerful Events" went kaput very recently. Psychology of Vision has been experiencing a "paradigm shift." That's what I observe, "it feels true to me."
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