Valerie McCarthy, LCSW
Valerie McCarthy's credentials after her name, LCSW, stand for Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and she is licensed with the State of Colorado as such, CSW.00992230.
The listing for this business offers three things for which consumers should have a healthy dose of skepticism; archetypes, astrology, and accutonics.
Archetype theory usually refers to literary works, but in this case refers to an unscientific concept, claimed to have some use in counseling, that we all have archetypes or aspects of our personalities, that need to be worked on, with the help of a paid coach, of course. As the practice is theoretical, any results or references would only be theoretical as well. There are no facts to back up this theory, however, if that is not enough to induce skepticism there is this: archetypal theory is not an accredited course taught through accredited schools, rather it is coached in a brief seminar. There are a number of companies that sell archetypal theory seminars, interestingly, there appears to be no accepted number of archetypes: some companies say there are four, some eight, others twelve. Some even advertise that archetypal therapy is an ideal follow-up to an astrological reading.
Astrology theory is another unscientific concept. Astrology uses the locations of the planets, moon, sun, and stars, to discern some influence on human beings, along with a big dose of cold reading.
Cold reading is a series of techniques used by mentalists, psychics, fortune-tellers, mediums and illusionists to determine or express details about another person, often in order to convince them that the reader knows much more about a subject than they actually do.[1] Without prior knowledge of a person, a practiced cold reader can still quickly obtain a great deal of information about the subject by analyzing the person's body language, age, clothing or fashion, hairstyle, gender, sexual orientation, religion, race or ethnicity, level of education, manner of speech, place of origin, etc. Cold readers commonly employ high probability guesses about the subject, quickly picking up on signals from their subjects as to whether their guesses are in the right direction or not, and then emphasizing and reinforcing any chance connections the subjects acknowledge while quickly moving on from missed guesses.
Acutonics® is a registered trademark, usually presented with a capitalized A, and is correctly spelled with one c instead of the two c's in the directory listing. The theory is solely based on applying Acutonic® tuning forks to certain points on the body.
These three theories, archetypes, astrology, and Acutonics®, are not only at odds with the offering of counseling, they are also at odds with Colorado law that governs Licensed Clinical Social Workers, Colorado Revised Statutes, Title 12, Professions and Occupations, Article 43, Mental Health.
12-43-222. Prohibited activities-related provisions
(1) A person licensed, registered, or certified under this article violates this article if the person:
(t) Has engaged in any of the following activities and practices:
(III) Ordering or performing any service or treatment that is contrary to the generally accepted
standards of the person's practice and without clinical justification.
Colorado laws regarding Licensed Clinical Social Workers are intended to ensure reasonable skill and safety to consumers. In this instance, consumers are not ensured of reasonable safety and skill, as they are misled by letters after a name that would indicate a qualified practitioner. Consumers trust the practitioner will use proven, safe, effective, and accepted standards of health care, but instead, their mental health concerns are treated with theories, fortunetelling, and tuning forks, by a practitioner that is either ignorant of the law or flagrantly operating outside of the law.
Practitioners that operate in violation of the law are not a good choice for coaching, counseling, or mental health care.
However, consumers that might consider this type of coaching or counseling can ensure their own safety.
Colorado Revised Statutes provide for mandatory disclosure of information to patients from every licensee, registrant, or certificate holder, including:
Name, business address, business phone number
Explanation of levels of regulation
Listing of education, degrees, credentials, certification, training
Contact information of the regulating board
Information about methods and techniques used
This is the most important one
Notice that the client may seek an outside opinion
This is another area where the law is not always followed by practitioners, but consumers can ask for the disclosure information, which they can discuss with another therapist, family doctor, or other trusted source to make an informed decision about their mental health care.
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Executive Functioning Coach
Executive functioning is a fairly new catch phrase referring to coaching individuals with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) or ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder).
No name is given in this listing. For that, potential clients must go to the website, which is where Michelle Raz lists her credentials, which are listed as; Masters Degree in Education, trained with JST coaching, ICF Fast Tracks Coach training, and member of CHADD. The directory listing contains misleading information, mentioning the use of psychology, however, no psychology license with the State of Colorado for this person could be found.
The listed credentials for Michelle Raz would be of more help to potential clients if they were more complete. For instance, naming where the Masters degree was achieved would be beneficial, as that would help consumers corroborate the information. Individual searches for the three and four letter agencies reveals JST stands for Jodi Sleeper-Triplett, a self-proclaimed premier ADHD coach training company, ICF stands for International Coach Federation, which coaches life and professional coaches, and CHADD, Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder, a self-proclaimed nationally recognized authority on ADHD.
JST and ICF both claim accreditation, however there is no single source to check accreditation, nor is there a government agency that provides accreditation for these types of companies. There are a number of companies that claim to provide accreditation, which makes it difficult for potential clients to check credentials, for coaches as well as three and four letter agencies. And because each accreditation company has their own sets of requirements it becomes a chore for potential clients to decide who presents the best qualifications to meet their needs.
It is important for consumers to verify "coaching" credentials
In the "coaching" industry, it is common for individuals to list bogus credentials, or enhanced credentials.
"Coaches" get pretty close to, and sometimes overlap into, the counseling and psychotherapy professions, which leaves consumers at a clear disadvantage by the dependence on "coaches" who do not have the expertise or qualifications to be practicing anything.
Because anyone can be a "coach." There are no prerequisites. There are no education requirements, no testing or licensing requirements, no skills or training requirements, no experience requirements, which means there are no standards of care, established guidelines, or ethics.
Best Advice and Expert Information
There is some expense involved with ADD/ADHD coaching. It is worth it to spend some time getting the right person for the job. This website has two pages of information, questions to ask coaches, explains ADD and ADHD coaching programs, and what to expect from an ADD/ADHD coaching experience:
http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/4002.html
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Karren D. Gilroy
Natural Health Coach
The State of Colorado does not require licensing for individuals that refer to themselves as health coaches. However, the Colorado Natural Health Consumer Protection Act-Unlicensed alternative health care practitioners-deceptive trade practices sets forth parameters as to what health coaches and other various unlicensed individuals can practice. For instance, unlicensed practitioners cannot provide to clients a conventional medical diagnosis. That leaves the door open for unconventional diagnoses, like toxins, adrenal fatigue, organ weakness, and other bogus diagnoses.
For consumers, any diagnosis from an unlicensed individual should be questioned. After all, unlicensed individuals are unlicensed for a reason, they have no education or training that qualifies them to obtain a license. Think about that, a person with no knowledge of anatomy, physiology, body functions and symptoms, or patient care, can call their self a health coach and advise clients about their health and charge them a fee for it.
What do health coaches do?
As much as they can get away with. If they were in it to provide real health care, they would do what countless men and women do, go to accredited schools, work hard, earn a diploma, receive training and develop skills. But unlicensed individuals are not in it for the clients, they are in it to make a buck with very little to no cost to themselves.
In the alternative health world, consumers need to protect themselves.
Consumers can get a fairly good assessment of an unlicensed practitioner from the practitioner's own advertising. Any listing that claims "natural health coach" provides reliable information that this particular practitioner is not qualified to provide health care of any kind. Karen D. Gilroy's listing also states "reinventing health care", a claim that has been used and reused in the alternative health world and has never lived up to its claim. Apparently, essential oils are used in this practice. That is another red flag for consumers. Essential oils are not proven to be safe or effective, studies on essential oils are extremely limited, however, there are some studies on the plants from which the oils are extracted. While some plants have not been studied and their effects are not known, some plants that have been studied and are known to cause changes in the body that can affect blood clotting and heart rhythms. Consumers cannot count on unlicensed, uneducated, unskilled individuals to know that.
The listing also includes a couple of other tried and untrue concepts, proper food combining and detox, both of which have been resoundingly debunked by two simple and obvious facts. The first one is that humans have not only survived, but flourished for millions of years by eating whatever was easily available, in any combination, and accumulations of toxins have never been discovered in the human body, after millions of cadaver studies and autopsies. Then there is the claim to "identify physical and emotional issues with a Bio Marker Reading measuring Galvanic Skin Response", which refers to a bogus electro-diagnostic device that measures skin moisture. These devices are illegal in the United States and the FDA does confiscate them. Measuring skin moisture can only reveal the presence of moisture on the skin, it can in no way reveal information about any other physical issues, and certainly using this device on clients that are looking for help with emotional issues is not just disingenuous and irresponsible, it is a scam and a fraud.
The Colorado Natural Health Consumer Protection Act provides some help for consumers. A provision of the act details the disclosures unlicensed individuals are required to provide to clients, including:
The practitioner's name, business address and phone number
Acknowledgement that the practitioner is not licensed, certified, or registered with the state
Nature of services provided
Listing of any education, degree, training, credentials
Recommendation to discuss treatment with primary care doctor
This act also allows consumers to seek relief for damages resulting from negligence of an unlicensed individual providing health care.
Consumers need to be aware of laws that protect them from deceptive trade practices and unscrupulous individuals.
Colorado Natural Health Consumer Protection Act
http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2013a/csl.nsf/billcontainers/17085CB132014F9987257B090069D788/$FILE/215_enr.pdf
Unlicensed and Unauthorized Practice of Medicine
Unlicensed and Unauthorized Practice of Medicine
Practitioners such as this one appear to be unaware of the laws governing their activities, or flagrantly operate in violation of the laws, or slink around the border between compliance and non-compliance of the laws, but are doing consumers a big favor by sending up giant red flags that they do not have the education, skills, training, or credentials that would qualify them to be licensed to provide health care.
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Organic Twist
Valerie D'Ambrosio, CPC, ELI-MP
Life and Business Coach
The letters, CPC, stand for a number of entities. It is assumed in this case the letters stand for Certified Professional Coach. The letters, ELI-MP, stand for Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner.
The State of Colorado does not require licensing for this type of business. The information in the listing appears to describe spiritual type coaching.
There are many different coaching organizations that adhere to many different philosophies and methods.
For consumers, the best way to find out if this sort of coaching would be suitable is to ask questions about education, credentials, experience, scope or philosophy of practice.
For consumers and practitioners, coaching is not counseling. Coaches are not qualified to practice psychology and consumers should expect a professional coach to not go beyond the scope of coaching.
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Zoe Ann Finnoff
Insights Unlimited
Not much to go on here. The State of Colorado does not require licensing for insights.
It is important to remember that there are no requirements in order to call oneself a coach. There are no education requirements, not even a high school diploma or GED, no experience required, no seminars, no testing, nothing. Anyone can call themselves a "coach" and claim to be able to "coach" for anything, in this case, the bigger picture, possibilities, awakening, facilitate change and dreams coming true.
For consumers, the best way to find out if this sort of coaching would be suitable is to ask questions about education, credentials, experience, scope or philosophy of practice.
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