Hi Folks,
We are having a large regional conference on Cults, Gangs, and hate Groups. The date is April 12th (Sat), an all day event. Several tracts and ex-member panels will be part of this conference located in Ft Collins, CO. It is a very low cost conference and I'd be happy to send someone more info via email. Maybe I can get more details posted on the site somewhere.
Thanks,
Hal Mansfield
Rocky Mountain Resource Center

Hal,
Just go ahead and post it on here.

I will post a few things at a time so not to overload the message board. Starting with workshops, then Bio sheets, registration and will even include a general flyer.
Hal Mansfield



Workshops scheduled thus far:

Keynote speaker: Dr. William Woody

Cults Sessions:
1. Inside Polygamy: Approaches and Solutions (Laura Chapman)
2. When Losing a Child to a Cult becomes Disenfranchised grief (Rosanne Henry)
3. Psychological manipulation, Cults and Cultic Relationships – a workshop for mental Health Professionals (Rosanne Henry)
4. Let’s Prey (Mark Roggeman)
This workshop deals with Affinity Fraud on how members of churches and sometimes their leaders will use these relationships for monetary gain. Information will be presented showing just how these groups will use what appears to be spiritual and even create a spiritual atmosphere to manipulate emotions for their own profit.
5. Extreme Bible Cults (Mark Roggeman)
This workshop deals with various cults who twist and manipulate scripture for the purpose of control. These groups separate the members from their families causing very destructive results. Information will be presented to show the difference between a healthy church and these totalitarian groups.
6. Resiliency: Recognizing & Building Innate Strengths (Leona Furnari)
7. The Abuse of Power in Relationships (Nancy Miquelon)
Hate Group Sessions:
1. Overview of hate groups (Hal Mansfield)
2. Community Responses (Caroline Tu Farley - moderator, Karen, Charlotte Miller, Tara Raju)
3. Christian Identity (Scott Branson, Ashley Dixon)
4. Dept of Justice, (tentative, haven’t received confirmation yet)
Gang Sessions:
1. Overview (Greeley Police Dept Gang Unit, Sergeant Keith Olson)
2. Denver PD (Ray Ayon)
Ex-Member Panel (Amy Hancock-moderator)
We have several panelists here.
Fill ins in case of a no show:
1. Resources (Hal Mansfield)

Here's the bio sheets!

Speaker Information:


Ray Ayon is a thirty-year veteran with the Denver Police Department. He has conducted two tours with the Gang Bureau over the course of eight years. He has also worked in the intelligence bureau, the patrol division, and the Vice/Drug bureau.

Scott Branson is a Psychological Sciences major at the University of Northern Colorado. He will complete his B.A. this spring and plans to pursue his masters degree in Counseling Psychology. Scott has interned with Rocky Mountain Resource Center and has studied religious and hate groups throughout his college career.

Karen Wong Brown was born in Hong Kong while it was still under the British rule. At the age of one, Karen moved to Japan with her parents. After five years in Japan, she moved to the United States, from the West coast to the East coast and even in the Southwest with her mother. Then she came to Fort Collins for college and she moved away for a little bit but she returned back to the Rockies. With all of her moving, Karen has learned several languages besides her native tongue, Cantonese. She is conversant in English, Mandarin and Spanish. As for diversity work, she has served on panel and also being a guest speaker to local schools. She is currently involved with the City of Fort Collins Human Relations Board and the Eracism Film Series Committee. "I love learning about different issues in regards to race and diversity. With my background, I love to serve as a tool to my community. I also highly believe in promoting inclusivity through human compassion and patience."

Laura Chapman is a child protection worker in Colorado. She was born and raised in the FLDS Church, known for the practice of polygamy. Laura escaped with five children sixteen years ago. Since then she has earned two college degrees. In 1998 she protested at Utah’s Capitol concerning the abuse of women and children in polygamy. In 2002 she brought the brutal truth of the human-rights violations of women and children in polygamy to the attention of the United Nations. She was nominated for the Robert Kennedy award for rescuing two teens from arranged marriages to older men. Currently, Laura provides specialized training to jurisdictions in which polygamist communities exist.
Ashley Dixon earned a B.A. in psychological sciences from the University of Northern Colorado. She is currently pursuing a masters degree in Counseling Psychology from UNC. Ashley has interned with Rocky Mountain Resource Center and has researched hate groups, specifically Christian Identity, for several years.

Amy E. Hancock, B.A., CNA, CMT, now uses her teaching degree to educate others about cults and how anyone can be vulnerable to a cult’s manipulative techniques. She survived a new age running cult in Boulder, but her boyfriend did not. Out of “The Community” for 3½ years, she hopes to help others recover themselves and find wholeness post-cult life.

Rosanne Henry is a Licensed Professional Counselor working in the Denver area. Her private practice specializes in recovery from Cults, Trauma and Abuse. She has a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy. For the last 15 years she has facilitated ICSA Recovery workshops and has recently joined their board of directors. In the early 1990s Rosanne ran the local Cult Awareness Network affiliate until its untimely demise. She has developed several recovery workshops and has presented her training for mental health professionals at seven conferences. She also sits on the board of the Rocky Mountain Resource Center, a local cult monitoring agency. Rosanne is an active member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy and the American Red Cross Mental Health team.

Leona Furnari, MSW, is a licensed clinical social worker in Boulder, Colorado. She is a psychotherapist specializing in recovery from trauma, including recovery from abusive groups and relationships. She also works as a school social worker at the middle school level, and facilitates support groups for adolescents dealing with grief, family change and peer relationships. She has facilitated ICSA ex-member workshops for many years, and has worked in community mental health and child protection.

Hal Mansfield, M.A., has been investigating destructive cults, violent organizations and hate groups since 1978. He founded the Religious Movement Resource Center in 1981 and is still the director. The name change to Rocky Mountain Resource Center occurred in 2006. Hal has been a part of international studies as well as major media presentations. He holds a B.S. in Natural Sciences along with a M.A. in Counseling. While at Colorado State University, he was the coordinator of the Police Relations Team, member of various task forces and review committees. Hal has served as President of Recovery Unlimited, a Drug rehab program. He is also a retired commissioned officer in the Colorado Air National Guard where he spent several years on the Amazon as a unit Director of Operations of the military effort in counter narcotics. Hal was also a federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) counselor.

Charlotte I. Miller, Ph.D., was born in Ecuador in 1944 to US-born parents. She is currently employed by the United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Wildlife Services (WS) Program, National Wildlife Research Center as an information technology specialist and training coordinator. She plans to retire in December 2007. She has been an active volunteer in the USDA Partnership in Education program (at Irish Elementary School) and as an English as a Second Language and bilingual tutor. Charlotte is a member of the Fort Collins Not In Our Town Alliance and serves as its Vice Chair.

Nancy Miquelon , M.A., L.P.C. is a licensed professional counselor specializing in the treatment of trauma. She has been in practice for fifteen years, currently working with the Jicarilla Apache Nation in Dulce, New Mexico. Nancy serves on the board of reFOCUS, a former cult member support network, and is a regular workshop facilitator at International Cultic Studies Association Recovery Workshops. Nancy was a member of the Emissaries of Divine Light for thirteen years.

Sergeant Keith Olson is the supervisor of the Greeley Police Department Gang Unit and has served with Greeley Police since 1981. He has extensive experience in law enforcement, including serving in the US Army Military Police, the Ft. Lupton Police Department, and The Weld County Sheriff Department. A dedicated law enforcement instructor, Sgt. Olson has taught at a number of institutions including law enforcement academies as well as Aims Criminal Justice Program. He has worked on many special assignments such as hostage negotiations. He is also a polygraph expert, a member of the SWAT team, and is a recognized gang expert in federal immigration court. When the Greeley Police Department was forming its gang unit in 1993, they asked Sgt. Olson to be the originating officer. Most notably, Sgt. Olson has won two life saving awards, two meritorious commendations, two police commendation bars, one certificate of merit, and was a member of the City of Greeley Gold Club two years running. Sgt. Olson has also been voted employee of the year for the city of Greeley.

Tara Raju has more than 10 years of experience in education and the non-profit sector, including 10 years as an ADL A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute Trainer. She has worked with students at Reed College and the University of Pennsylvania and most recently was the Director of the Facing History Project in Denver. For 6 years she worked with Communities In Schools (CIS) in Chicago and also as a national trainer working with nonprofits in various areas of nonprofit management issues. Currently at the ADL, Ms. Raju is responsible for A CLASSROOM OF DIFFERENCE® Teacher Training, Community and Campus work, Holocaust Education, as well as ADL’s partnership with the Colorado Attorney General’s Peace Officer Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.) providing Anti-bias training for law enforcement officers. Ms. Raju has a Masters in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts in African and Afro-American Studies and Political Science from Washington University, St. Louis.

Mark Roggeman has been researching cult groups for over thirty years by studying them and also infiltrating several groups. Mark has assisted families with information and help with exit counseling of their loved ones. Mark also has been a member of the Denver Police Department for 36 years and has educated law enforcement on how to deal with destructive cults. He also served as a member of the board of directors of the Cult Awareness Network during the early eighties.

William Douglas Woody, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Psychological Sciences at the University of Northern Colorado, where he has taught Psychology of Religion as a senior seminar and Social Psychology and Psychology of Prejudice at undergraduate and graduate levels. He has studied social influence and conversion phenomena for over a decade and has presented and published peer-reviewed work in these areas. Additionally, he has received numerous national, university, and college level teaching awards, including being named Best Professor by the students at two of the three universities where he has taught.

Here's the registration:

Rocky Mountain Resource Center
PO Box 2414
Loveland, CO 80538
970-490-2032

The Mountain States Conference Registration Form

Number Attending? ___________

Which Track(s)? Please mark how many
attending in each category below.

“Cults:”_______ ”Gangs:”_______ “Hate Groups:”________
Participants may go to any breakout sessions
they wish to; numbers are for planning purposes only.

Name(s): _______________________________________

Street Address: __________________________________

City: ____________________ State/ZIP: ______________

Phone Number(s): ________________________________

Student(s): ____________________ Other(s): __________

Please include check or money order for the correct
amount, as we are a nonprofit organization!
Student cost is $25 before March 20th and $35 afterwards. All
others (professionals, instructors, etc.) are $50 before 3/20/08;
$75 afterwards. THANK YOU and call us if you have any questions!

If anyone wants the original flyer, email me and I'll send a PDF file to you. The location of the event is 400 E Boardwalk, Ft Collins, CO. Lunch is provided at this conference. We are working on CEU credits since so many universities are involved in this event.
Hal

Hal, I am a little worried about the long term and bigger picture agenda of your group. Where does your group stand on our 1st amendment rights and on the constitution in general?

Also, hypothetically, if Jesus were alive today would he and his followers be considered a cult, a gang, or a hate group? Long ago, Christianity was once considered a cult and is now the faith of millions.

I know many involved in this conference and on this message board have a sincere concern about cults, gangs, etc but please don't be naive. Your good will may one day be manipulated in favor of taking away our very precious civil liberties. Just something to ponder...

If you are Christian (and even if you are not)please take the time to check out Alex Jones on www.infowars.com or www.prisonplanet.com He is some really valuable insights into what is happening to this country and our civil liberties.

I sense that you yourself have an agenda here. Abuse is abuse and I don't buy the arguement that actions like that are covered by the constitution. People have the right to hate, but not to hurt and that's what we are dealing with. We deal with actual abuse and violence cases, not theory. There's a big difference.

Alex Jones can be a bit over the top I have found...it is very interesting looking into all the conspiracy stuff...and some of it I do believe holds some truth...but you must be careful to not get too caught up in all the hype/fear that comes from those sites...

I wrap myself up in tinfoil every once in a while..but find it becomes a bit much to continually roll around in it..I mean...there is a life I need to live...

have the strength to change the things you can ...and have the wisdom to accept the things you can't...

I prefer the gold foil myself!

Yes Hal...but I find it a bit flakey!!

Oh, Hal ! You're experience and wisdom shine brightly.

I'm so glad we've met. I know I am not alone with that sentiment.

Thanks for everything.

okay, I bit, protect-our-constitution, and looked at the alexjones site 'infowars.com'. This guy has "nutcase" written all over his site...

for example, Alex bellows about this:
"His [Alex Jones] most recent [video] is Martial Law, a three hour blockbuster which exposes the brutal treatment of protesters at the 2004 RNC conference, the real story behind 9/11, the occult connections of secret societies, the push to make Arnold Schwarzenegger the first foreign born president and much more."

and:
"In the Summer of 2000, Alex successfully infiltrated Bohemian Grove, meeting place for the global elite in an ancient redwood forest of northern California. This was documented by World of Wonder in their Secret Rulers of the World series, shown in the UK on Channel 4 and aired nationwide in the US multiple times on the Trio Network."

The flaw in A Jones view is that he expects me to believe that he has some magical insight that sees world affairs either from the bottom [Guy Noir, underground spy] or from the top [God's Eye View--A Jones is God's eye].

Hal and others in the cult awareness field as I know them work from eye-level based on real evidence, not bizarre overviews and cut-and-paste conspiracy schemes about 9/11.

As far as the Jesus cult 2000 years ago, that's a red-herring and moot regarding what I would do as an exit counselor with St. Peter, for example. Cult awareness folks work with current evidence. We can study directly what Rev Moon or JZ K do, for example. What Buddha or Zoroaster did in real time is anybody's guess and a historian's task to piece together. But that is irrelevent to today's cult behaviors that we can study first hand.

Alex J's cartoony "expose" of Bohemian Grove is a laffer....it ranks with the notion that Walt Disney was trying to create a New World Order based on occult magic because he illustrated fairy tales.

fyi, you can start here to educate yourself about Alex Jones---

http://alexjonesexposed.blogspot.com/

I saw the same stuff and thought the same thing. I thought people could read it for themselves, but you are right Joe!

ditto thanks Joe - I really don't like to go to strange places unless I have to. I am curious though about the need to wrap yourself in tin foil - what's that all about guys? I know women get 'foils' for their hair...

also a quick funny - when I first read it, I saw 'cult and paste.'

The tin foil reference is that some people thought that putting tin foil in their hats would keep the government mind contrl waves out. Or aliens, take your pick!

I agree with much of what is said on the conspiracy economy front. This is a great read on the subject, a journalist who travelled with a variety of extremist groups, the title is Them: Adventures with extremist groups. I believe the author was john ronson.

In any case, if all was true then wouldn't these grass root coilitions of conspiracy advocates be worrdied that they are all identified by the amount of time they spend on these sites? And since they are all identified and catoragized by the amount of time they spend, then when it all goes down, they will be the first ones to go since they are the not so silent minority?

When I listen to that kind of stuff and begin to feel a pull of any kind as far as legitimacy, I always ask myself to make a mental note of what is left out an then examine what is left out on both my own guesses and then through the "conspiracy" black colored glasses.

I see the gathering of the Ron Paul clan following the same marketing strategy of the Bleep film and sweeping all of the alex jones types along with them. The internet appears to be the best placement of propaganda for the bucks.

Hal, I was wondering if you will be having a segment on the internet and its use by hate groups and cults at the conference???

Hi, we aren't doing internet as a stand alone workshop, but I integrated it into my own. I did do a segement on PBS and the school systems here on recruiting by supremacists on the net. I still have the tape somewhere!

Hal said, "I did do a segement on PBS and the school systems here on recruiting by supremacists on the net."

I would like to see every school in this country include cult awareness in their curriculum. Colleges, too. It is amazing (and disgusting) to me that our public school children are taught about aspects of sexual pathology as early as 2nd grade (students around here were taught/sent home with info packets on AIDS), but we don't want to protect-educate our youth with the tools to recognize the pyschology of mind control, in the various ways it can come into our lives. Cults are one way, and an important one to be aWAREy of. ( Bear with the play on words ;-)

Seems to me if the right group of people got together, this could be brought to fruition.

watcha- I totally agree, there needs to be serious education in schools on cults and the persuasion and appeal of cults. Education that doesn't paint those that fall for such things as stupid, because then it's easy to dismiss - who wants to think of themselves as stupid - but rather education that highlights that it could happen to anybody.

there also needs to be vast education in roles of the likes of the Social Securtiy Administration, who hand out denials to post cult people without full knowledge of what transpires.
Same goes for disability benefits in regards to credit card companies, etc.
Also local area physicianS, psychiatrists and therapists, who closest thing they know to this is veteran's PTSD.
It's an uphill battle the entire way.

Hi LWO,

You said, "Education that doesn't paint those that fall for such things as stupid, because then it's easy to dismiss - who wants to think of themselves as stupid - but rather education that highlights that it could happen to anybody."

Yes, exactly.
Especially with no prior understanding of just how subtle the process of cult indoctrination is, so that it's recognized for what it is, in advance, the danger of being in denial that "it can't ever happent to me", is just that - denial. Perhaps arrogance. Perhaps both.

Education about the psychological tactics at play are so important.

I got caught up in the RSE experience because (as I've said before) I KNOW that there is more than just the physical world experience. I've been clairvoyant since I was a young girl and I still am. It came naturally to me for some reason I do not understand. So, despite that I have a happy life and was not actively searching for happiness or purpose in my life. I did have a curiousity and still do, about the unseen side of life because I KNOW it is real. Nothing wrong with a health curiousity. Plenty wrong with deceiving people by slowly boiling frogs as they do in RSE.

Whatcha....... "The denial that it can happen to you"

So V.E.R.Y. WELL SAID.... to ALL in this audience.

ALL will eventually fall prey to some kind of manipulated mind control.......sometime in their life.

Thats how everything is being set up at this point in time.

Whether you see this and admit to this future potential and its potential reality is your business and learning experience.

But as "Whatcha" states..... it happens in the comfort
of warm water that then is brought to a boil.....or lowered to below freezing.

It's not just mind control but conditioning that we are all at the effect of - whether it's the religious or social or educational beliefs thrust upon us as children to the nightly news and everything else and everyone around us that is geared to have us believe an agenda.
Everything seems to be geared to push a belief system on us. Even this site does that. In fact, I can't think of anything that doesn't really.
In a sense, I think it's an aberrated sense of unity. "If I can get you think my way then we can both be in harmony and peace".
I think the operative word is discernment - not just for information coming at us, but the awareness that we can be at the effect of all that information.
It's a good thing, I think, to examine our beliefs and trace the roots of them. The things we are holding on to - are they our beliefs, or the beliefs of others that we are allowing to affect our thinking, our actions.
It takes a lot of conscious work to dig deep into what we have allowed to shape us and to have the courage to let go of what no longer serves us. This site is a good tool to help do just that.

Wolf, yes, depending on the time of year the frogs could be boiled or frozen, hahaha.

Bodhi, that's a good point about discernment being an integral part of awareness regarding what we accept are true/real/part of our belief structure. Having the education and understanding of the dynamics of mind control certainly would help people to exercise discernment.

HAL...I assume you're reading this...if you are, how would you say that discernment, mind control and critical thinking tie together ? Sounds like a good workshop presentation to me !

All three of those areas are tied together. I find, as you did, that there are crossovers in all the areas. In my "guest" column, I outline what is critical thinking. I also like the website I listed. It covers in a lot more detail things about thinking, etc.

I personaly like my wife's idea of critical thinking, labeled as her "crap detector". She uses it a lot on me!

Hal..

Also..
A good Crepe detection... is very essential…

chuckle..

INGREDIENTS
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted

DIRECTIONS
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and the eggs. Gradually add in the milk and water, stirring to combine. Add the salt and butter; beat until smooth.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each crepe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.
Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side. Serve hot.

Link..
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Basic-Crepes/Detail.aspx

I could never do decent crepes, but my popovers are great!

Hal & David, you two are so far off topic ! (laughing!)

Readers: Here is the link for those who haven't already seen it, that Hal wrote about critical thinking...

http://enlightenmefree.com/speakers.html

Hal said, "I could never do decent crepes, but my popovers are great!"

Hmmm....as I recall, you don't do salad dressing very well, either.