The Knapp Saga: For the Record

Click here to read an introduction.
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March, 2018

I initially posted this series in December, 2012. It has gone through multiple revisions since then. I have added more detail endeavoring to clarify incidents inside the tangled, bizarre web of events. I may add more detail as time moves along.

Now, in March, 2018, I have taken down from public view some content previously linked at the end of this post under the section entitled In Knapp's Own Words. I am keeping some links public as an example of what too often happens to a whistleblower: s/he becomes a target for false accusations while the perpetrator makes himself/herself into a victim. 

One reason for my decision to unpublish some of the content is because (for the most part) I no longer feel that I need to "prove" myself; that is, to vindicate my story and provide evidence as to why the trauma affected me so deeply.

I'm also less inclined to warn others about Knapp. He can no longer provide professional mental health services; his license was revoked in 2014. And, from what I have gathered, he has less online influence.

And I've been able to feel compassion toward Knapp, and even forgive him. But I don't know how complete that forgiveness is; it feels kind of murky. 

I ask my self, If you have truly forgiven, why would you leave this record on public view?

And I answer my self, 

• It's a good example of how someone, when they are vulnerable, can get pulled into a toxic relationship.
• It's an example of what can go awry when we humans are in a vulnerable state and dismiss our intuitive sense that something doesn't feel quite right. That intuition can be wrong. But it shouldn't be outright dismissed. 
• Or maybe you really haven't forgiven, or still feel like you have to prove your side, or something?

And I respond,

• Maybe I should unpublicize it? 
• But a part of me simply isn't ready to do that yet. 
• And the post rarely, if ever, gets read. But whether or not it gets read shouldn't be a deciding factor.
• Or maybe by making it non-public, I feel I am giving in to a type of silencing.

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December, 2012

Why this Record

I have pondered whether or not to ever again make John M. Knapp's defamatory statements public. I have now decided to bring them forward.

Why would I do this?

• Because Knapp's behavior is a pattern.
• Because this pattern goes back to at least the mid-1990s when Knapp had harmed others in a similar fashion and managed to whitewash it. Knapp's mid-1990 Singer Foundation was founded and fell apart in a similar manner to his 2011 Center for Healing Spiritual and Cultic Abuse (CHSCA).
• Because Knapp has never taken responsibility for his harmful words and actions. If he had, I probably would not be posting the details of this account. As of this writing in December, 2012, over one year after his public defamatory statements toward myself and others (including his own then-staff), instead of owning up, Knapp has blame-shifted and endeavored to sweep his misdeeds under the rug - the type of misdeeds he supposedly stands against.
• Because perhaps this record will prevent someone else from getting caught in Knapp's crosshairs. And it may help validate anyone who has endured a similar manipulative experience; whether with Knapp or someone else. The timeline gives an example of the slow process into entanglement and of rationalizing certain behaviors because of so-called trust.
• [Added March, 2018: Because I wanted to supply evidence for why the scenario was so traumatizing to me. I wanted readers to see more detail. I wanted to "prove" my side of the story.]

Due to Knapp's outrageous lies and pattern of behavior, I question anything and everything he states; including his own story and any medical diagnoses he claims to suffer inferring an excuse or reason for his manipulative tactics. For Knapp to do such (if he has) would be an insult to anyone who truly does suffer from any of his claimed diagnoses.

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Following is a Timeline Overview.
Below the timeline is a Table of Contents: In Knapp's Own Words which contains links to copies of some of Knapp's online defamatory posts.

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I never wanted to be a whistleblower...

Timeline Overview

July, 2008 

As I continue my endeavor to recover from decades spent in a fundamentalist, authoritarian religious organization (The Way International), I hire John M. Knapp, LMSW, who specializes in spiritual abuse and cult recovery. (I remain Knapp's client for two years through July, 2010. My appointments are via phone and Skype on an almost weekly basis, accompanied by regular email exchanges.)

Knapp and I had each spent decades in a cult. Prior to becoming one of their main critics, Knapp was a decades-long devotee of the Transcendental Meditation Organization (TMO) and its founder, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Knapp and I had also each experienced cult-like tactics in anti-cult groups, which is the main reason I hire Knapp.

I hire Knapp after reading his story and multiple articles he has authored, after searching his name online, after checking his license in New York state, after a couple private message exchanges, and after a complimentary phone appointment.

The only small red flag I feel with my online research is a standard, repeated, spam-like response comment that Knapp posts anytime someone endorses Transcendental Meditation. (He apparently had his email set up for alerts.) The comment simply states that some people think the TMO is a cult, and it includes a link to Knapp's counseling service.

Fall, 2008

Knapp invites me to join him on social media (which I do) to help raise awareness about cult dynamics. He refers to me as a "fellow activist." Until then, I'd never thought of myself as an "activist."

Throughout my time of therapy with Knapp, I stand up for him multiple times on social media after some of his combative and defensive posts aimed mainly toward people who are still loyal to the TMO, and on some public forums where he solicits for his counseling services. But mostly Knapp engages civilly when he shares his experience, and he answers questions when people ask him about cult recovery.

Knapp and I discuss his online solicitation in light of how the internet is changing the way in which mental health services are provided. 

Early 2010 

Knapp invites me to a private section for cult activists on his online Knapp Family Counseling Discussion Forum. I and another member (not a client) volunteer as co-administrators of the discussion forum.

May, 2010

Knapp's and my relationship expands from client-fellow activist to client-fellow activist-colleague.

Knapp tells me he thinks of me as more like a colleague than a client and asks if I'd like to serve as Editor in Chief for his up-and-coming, online, non-profit to help former cult members. I have no experience as an Editor in Chief. I wonder, Is he offering this to me because no one else wants to work with him? I push that thought aside and do not mention it to Knapp.

I do share with him my doubts regarding my ability to fill the position. In response, he commends my writing and says that he thinks I'd be good at the job. After a few weeks of consideration I accept the position on a trial basis but state that I don't like the title Editor in Chief. I don't like it because I am not qualified for such a title. We agree on the title Creative Director.

He also asks if I'd like to help oversee his phone-and-online support group of which I was a founding member. I decline that offer.

June, 2010, through July, 2010

I continue with paid sessions with Knapp through the end of June, 2010. I have some sessions in July, but I do not pay for the July sessions. Knapp declines payment since he and I are now "friends," and "friends" help each other.

Beginning in the fall of 2009, we began to consider my sessions as life-coaching sessions, rather than psychological therapy. Even though I continued to manage depression, anxiety, self-doubt, self-loathing, and trying to find my purpose in life after decades in a cult, by October, 2009, we considered me "graduated" from "therapy," though I'd often still refer to Knapp as my "therapist."

The dual relationships of client (though we'd say I was no longer a therapy client), fellow activist, colleague, and friend cause me some distress. I discuss this with Knapp. We agree that I am working through my distress in a healthy manner. Working through my discomfort with Knapp would be a safe place to do so. Or, so I thought.

June, 2010

Knapp's and my relationship expands from client-fellow activist-colleague to client-fellow activist-colleague-friend. Though Knapp regularly refers to this clients as "friends," he, to my knowledge, has never reached out for emotional help from his clients.

In June, 2010, Knapp reaches out for emotional help via email to me and the other online co-administrator of Knapp's forum. Knapp has always been open about his history of mental illness; it's a main reason he himself became a therapist. But this is the first time he reaches out to me for help. I respond via email privately offering an ear to listen if he needs one. He takes me up on the offer.

In our private email exchanges Knapp reveals he is going through a mental health crisis. In one email he shares personal information about one of his mental health diagnoses that, as his nonclient-client, stuns me - information which I feel I should never reveal to anyone. That diagnosis is Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID, aka Multiple Personality Disorder), "complete with alters," "maybe dozens." I knew he had dealt with dissociation, but DID is different from dissociation.

I had read at least one person online accuse Knapp of sometimes posing as someone other than himself and using that alter-identity to engage online conversations/arguments regarding the TMO. I now wonder if that allegation might be true. But I do not bring up or ask Knapp about any possible online alter identities.

I'm also confused because Knapp supports/endorses people who maintain the position that DID does not exist. A couple of those people are members of the private online cult activist forum, personally invited by Knapp. (Most all members were personally invited by Knapp; all were personally approved by him.) But I do not bring up or question his support of people with that position.

(I do not reveal Knapp's diagnosis to anyone until after his harmful treatment toward me in August, 2010, and then only in private conversations with a few individuals. I later state it publicly online, but only after Knapp brings it up in his public false accusations against me.)

July, 2010

Knapp was already pushing the envelope regarding online social norms for a mental health therapist by having me (and other clients) involved with him online, by some of his combative posts directed mainly at TMO loyalists, and by the manner in which he solicits his services online. I had rationalized his approaches and, for the most part, normalized them. I only address him one time, and that was when he resorted to name calling. In response he told me that sometimes his emotions get the best of him, but he tries to not let that happen.

In mid-July, 2010, Knapp takes his online behavior beyond his already pushed-envelope. He opens an alternate Twitter account - DonkeyDooDooLSD, "Kicking Ass & Taking Names, Exploring the Boundary Between Consensual Reality & Private Delusion. A Really Cheap Madhouse." When he tweets to me from that account, I am taken aback. (At the time my account handles were 1person and artomatcarol. I deleted those accounts around 2012. Someone else later used the handle 1person, and that account was suspended, but that was not me.)

Knapp registered the DonkeyDooDooLSD account because monkeyvoodoo made a comment directed to Knapp's personal/professional Twitter account perhaps commenting that Knapp suffers from a "small penis complex."  Monkeyvoodoo was a TM loyalist. He and Knapp sometimes went at each other from Knapp's personal/professional Twitter account. (Monkeyvoodoo's account has since been deleted.)

From this alternate account Knapp states in one tweet that monkeyvoodoo's tweets are "mostly filled w/rage, invective, attempts to destroy critics [of] #Transcendental #Meditation" I had read their ongoing disagreements on Knapp's regular Twitter account but had not witnessed Knapp's description. I also had communicated with monkeyvoodoo multiple times. But unlike s/he and Knapp, we had civil discourse though we disagreed on certain points. But I do not speak up to tell Knapp that I haven't seen a pattern of evidence for Knapp's description of monkeyvoodoo.

I am very uncomfortable with Knapp's new Twitter account and his apparent motive for the account - to goad monkeyvoodoo. I question to myself whether or not I should follow his new account. Again, I am faced with rationalizing and normalizing Knapp's behavior.

(If I recall correctly, I chose to ignore the account, brush it under the rug, pretending I hadn't seen it. In hindsight, that Twitter account is evidence of Knapp's unraveling that had begun at least in June, 2010. Two weeks after opening the DonkeyDooDooLSD account, Knapp exacts his verbal and emotional abuse toward me.)

August, 2010

As I am working with Knapp and the other forum co-administrator on a project for the Knapp Family Counseling cult-recovery forum, I find myself in a triangulation with Knapp at the helm. He then turns on me after his disagreement with the other co-administrator. Knapp is upset with me because, from his viewpoint, I should have defended him in their disagreement; ie: I wasn't loyal. Their disagreement was over some wording for the forum.

In a personal email Knapp then blames me for things I have not said or done, refuses any sort of discussion on the matter, harmfully cuts off contact with me thus eliminating me from his support group of which I'd been a founding member, and states to me that I am responsible for "destroying our friendship."

A day later he maliciously lies to me via a message on my answering machine in his kind, understanding, unassuming, professional therapist cadence. His message states that his assistant told him I had called stating I'd like to talk with Knapp; and that he is now feeling emotionally well enough to talk and for me to call back if I wanted to talk.

But I never contacted his assistant, except to pay my final bill online. Knapp had been explicitly clear to me the day prior that he wanted no contact with me. He had emailed that he was blocking me from his email and phone. I respected that boundary and had not attempted any contact with him.

I have anxiety regarding calling Knapp back; I fear verbal attack or that information will be twisted or that I'll simply agree with whatever he states that I have done wrong, though I still don't really understand what I have done wrong. I also feel he might expect me to apologize, and I'm still not sure what I've done wrong so I won't know what to apologize for. All that is mixed with a feeling that maybe we can have a better closure to our relationship, and perhaps even work things out.

I return his call letting him know I had not contacted his assistant, but that I would like to talk. My voice cracks because I am on the verge of tears.

Knapp never calls me back.

His gaslighting causes me to doubt reality. Knapp has been my mental health therapist for two years. He knows my vulnerabilities and uses them against me.

At the time of Knapp's voicemail, I don't consider that his lie is a lie. He sounds like the old John Knapp, the John I thought I knew. I even wonder if his message is true - that I had contacted his assistant, which I hadn't. I rationalize that he must be mistaken. It is not until almost a year later, after Knapp tries to smear my character via his fairy tales and after I check a certain circumstance (if another person with my same first name had called and left a message with Knapp's assistant), that I realize that Knapp's answering machine message from a year earlier was an intentional, deceptive, and malicious lie.

I hire a local psychologist (whom I had seen in the past) to help get perspective on what has happened with Knapp.

August, 2010

Within a week of Knapp's gaslighting, the other co-administrator emails me that he has just learned some things about Knapp and puts me in contact via email with a leader, Chris (not their real name), within a highly respected cult education and recovery organization. Chris and I connect via email and then phone. Chris shares about Knapp's pattern of manipulative tactics dating back to the mid-1990s which involved his failed Singer Foundation and another incident when Knapp attempted a type of coup of the respected cult education and recovery organization.

I am stunned at the things shared with me. I ask why no one spoke up about these incidents as a warning for others. Chris tells me that people allowed a wide margin for Knapp because of the supposed trauma he had suffered due to the TMO. Also, some thought Knapp had changed after going back to school and earning his social work license.

Though I don't take all the information at face value, it does match my experience. Knapp had behaved toward me as he had toward others.

But none of the others were clients.

Chris and I communicate via email and phone through the following few years. We  meet face-to-face in the spring of 2011.

August, 2010

A week or so after my initial conversations with Chris, I contact one of Knapp's colleagues. In July, Knapp stated to me in a phone call that he had trouble with this colleague and that the colleague "hated" him. He did not share specifics, and I didn't ask. Now I was wondering about the colleague's and Knapp's interactions.

I share with the colleague what has happened between Knapp and I. They are not surprised. They too have been on the receiving end of Knapp's wrath and twisted scenarios. But they don't "hate" Knapp. They believe he has major anger issues and had been concerned when Knapp had gone into mental health practice - concerned that he may someday harm a client. That day had come. The colleague and I communicate via email and phone a few times over the subsequent months.

I am beginning to see that this behavior is a pattern for Knapp. I realize that, as a client, I have a responsibility to report Knapp. I painstakingly contemplate and weigh that option for a month before making a decision. I mull aloud through my thoughts with my psychologist. He doesn't encourage me either way regarding a complaint, but we do discuss possible outcomes if I file and my emotional well being whatever my decision may be. The choice is up to me.

I never wanted to be in such a situation faced with such a decision. It weighs heavily on me. I feel damned if I do and damned if I don't.

Sometime between August, 2010, and March, 2011

Knapp changes his physical appearance to the point that his online photograph looks like a different person from his previous photograph. (Link: Scroll down the entry for photos.) 

September 10, 2010

I painstakingly decide to file a formal complaint. It is one of the most difficult decisions of my life. On September 10, I begin writing the complaint and gathering emails as evidence. The process takes me over three weeks. There are hundreds of email exchanges to ferret through.

I figure the only disciplinary action, if any, might be that Knapp would have to attend courses regarding boundaries and ethics. As stated at the end of my complaint I file it "because of the manner in which Knapp cut off communication with me," and I feel "the only reasonable recourse I have is to file a complaint with the hopes that Knapp realizes the deep and agonizing emotional trauma and harm this entire situation has had on my life and that another client-turned-colleague-friend will never again endure such."

(Over two years later in December, 2012, I learn that, unfortunately, Knapp had harmed at least one other client-turned-colleague-friend.) 

September, 2010

About a week after I begin compiling my complaint a friend of mine, who is also one of Knapp's clients, informs me that Knapp has emailed her justifying his harmful behavior and unethical actions toward me. This too is a boundary violation. She forwards me the email which I give to my psychologist. I do not include the email or the incident in my formal complaint because I do not want to involve my friend.

I never shared with my friend the fine details about what had happened between Knapp and I. I did not share anything at all regarding Knapp's and my split, except that I had committed a huge faux pas and that Knapp and I had split, until after my friend expressed her concern that in her sessions with Knapp, she sometimes felt like the therapist and that Knapp was the client. (Link: Confidential Wedges)

September 29, 2010

I mail my  formal complaint to the New York State Office of Professional Discipline. I am physically shaking as I drop the 1-1/2-inch thick packet into the mail bin.  

November, 2010

A previous volunteer, Matthew (not their real name), whom Knapp had solicited to help start Knapp's new non-profit, contacts me. Among other tasks, Matthew had been heading up fundraising for the non-profit; that is, until Knapp gave him the boot. Knapp had previously mentioned to him that I might be filing a complaint on Knapp. Matthew wants to know more about my story because of how Knapp gave him the boot.

While working on fundraising, in a private conversation with Knapp, Matthew had raised concerns about a possible conflict of interest regarding Knapp's role in the formulating non-profit. (Matthew wasn't the only person with this concern.) Matthew offered options as to how to structure the organization so as to avoid the conflict. Knapp would not even consider the concern. Instead, Knapp showed Matthew the door and then twisted the scenario relaying to the non-profit volunteers and staff that Matthew resigned because Matthew wanted to pursue a different cult-recovery project, which wasn't true. When Matthew contacts me, he states "I felt like [Knapp] put a gun to my head and pulled the trigger."

 December, 2010

New York Office of Professions opens an investigation on Knapp.

March, 2011 

Knapp announces the opening of his online non-profit Center for Healing Spiritual and Cultic Abuse (CHSCA) and begins soliciting the public for people and for funds in the amount of $10,000. I then post a retraction of my previous support and endorsements of Knapp.

Beginning in Spring, 2011

Knapp's public Facebook page begins to go in a bizarre direction. He and his new girlfriend practically carry out their love affair on Facebook. (Knapp had split with his wife in early 2011. I was told in early 2012 that domestic abuse was involved toward at least one family member.)

Knapp's standard mode of operation was to have his clients as his Facebook friends. Because Knapp routinely posted intimate, personal details on his FB timeline, his online behavior most likely presented boundary issues for his clients. At the very least, it could (and I feel surely did) put them in an uncomfortable position.

Knapp's specialty was cult-recovery helping ex-cult members sort out life, including societal norms, after being in abnormal/abusive groups or relationships. A client may think their discomfort with Knapp's online conduct is a triggered response from being in controlled cultic/abusive relationships, instead of a normal (even innate) response to behavior outside human-group norms. Thus, they may then consider his posts as an acceptable standard and may begin to normalize his behavior. They may emulate, or consider emulating, Knapp's supposedly bold, authentic, speaking-one's-mind practice.

At one point, Knapp's profile picture was of a woman dressed in a white dress with blood splattered all over her. If I recall correctly, the woman was holding a bloodied hatchet. It was a joke referencing his girlfriend's state of mind as she was trying to quit smoking. That's fine for an avant-garde artist, but Knapp used his public Facebook page to post about his cult-recovery and healing practice.

Spring, 2011

I discover Knapp has copied a paragraph of an endorsement that I had previously, when I was his client, given him permission to share on his Knapp Family Counseling site. I had also given him permission to use my full name. Knapp copied that endorsement, adjusted it, changed my name to "anonymous," and posted it as an endorsement for his new non-profit, the CHSCA.

I never endorsed the CHSCA, and Knapp knew that in March, 2011, I had publicly retracted any support and endorsement of Knapp.

June 29, 2011

I begin bringing forward on my blog my personal story with Knapp. I feel compelled to speak up, and I weigh the possible outcomes. I think worst case scenario is that Knapp might try to sue me for defamation. Since I'm not lying, he would have no case. I figure he might respond by twisting the story, but it never crosses my mind that he would fabricate outright fairy tales and try to smear my character.

July, 2011

One of the Advisory Board members of Knapp's non-profit, the CHSCA, seeks me out after some of their questionable experiences with Knapp (including an incident akin to plagiarism) and after a friend of the member shared their concerns with the member about Knapp.  Part of those concerns were validated when they read part of my Knapp story that I had begun bringing forward on my blog and after we speak on Skype. Shortly thereafter the member resigns from the Board due to his questionable experiences with Knapp.

Summer, 2011

I initiate contact with an ex-Way follower, Jacob (not their real name), who had worked with Knapp through the mid and latter 1990s  helping to expose cult tactics of The Way. I have recently been told that Jacob knew about the Singer Foundation. I was still trying to come to terms with what had happened to me with Knapp. I wasn't trying to "dig up dirt." Jacob and I talk on the phone a couple times. He fills in more detail about Knapp's mental health challenges, Knapp's past relationship with Margaret Singer, and how she did not approve of Knapp starting The Singer Foundation. (Margaret Singer died in 2003.)

Around 2009, Knapp had shared with me that Jacob was a "very bad man" and to be careful if I ever communicated with him. (Jacob and I never communicated directly until the summer of 2011 when I contacted him.) In 2010, Knapp shared with the members of his phone support group (three of whom were ex-Way), that Jacob in previous years had set up a small online sex-ring. In 2011, from what I gathered from a few folks, that accusation was not valid. After Knapp later tries to smear my character with outright lies, I speculate that Knapp contrived the accusations against Jacob to smear Jacob's character because of what Jacob knew about Knapp's questionable past.

[In 2017, I learned that Knapp probably did not contrive his allegation against Jacob. There was a rumor, but its truthfulness was never validated that I am aware of. Regardless, Knapp's motive may have been to use that rumor in order to malign Jacob.]

August 25, 2011

Knapp sends me a private Facebook message with a link to an article he has posted. It is our first contact since August, 2010, when he had harmfully cut off contact with me. I respond to Knapp via a private message. I also send a private message to the colleague whom Knapp writes about in his linked article. I let her know that I will be backpacking and without internet service for the next couple days.

Some hours after his email to me and after I am without internet service, in an attempt to smear my character, Knapp posts a defamatory online article on his non-profit Center for Healing Spiritual and Cutlic Abuse website, the chsca.org, and on his and others' Facebook timelines.

August 27, 2011

After my backpacking trip, I again have internet service and discover Knapp's article. I also discover that two people in the cult-awareness field have spoken up on my behalf. One of those had contacted the New York Office of Professions state investigator to let the investigator know what Knapp had posted. Since it is a Saturday, I have to wait until Monday to call the investigator.

Knapp's article is filled with twisted-truths, half-truths, and outright fabrications. When I initially read it, I am shell-shocked. That Knapp lies doesn't stun me. What stuns me is the quantity of twists and lies, and the fairy tale about me sexual propositioning Knapp (a total fabrication), and that he posts his defamatory piece on Facebook timelines of some of our mutual acquaintances in the cult-recovery field.

August 28, 2011

On my blog, I post a response addressing most of Knapp's August 25th allegations and accusations: My statements addressing John M. Knapp's allegations & accusations.

August 29, 2011

I call the New York state investigator. She states she is sending her proposed charges to the prosecutor and suggests I retain a lawyer, partly due to Knapp's public threats that he is going to take out a lawsuit against me (which he never does).

August 29, 2011, through September, 2011

Knapp continues his defamatory distortions via eleven more libelous, public, online tirades. All of this plays out on his public Facebook timeline. At least one of those threads turns into a feeding frenzy, and I'm the meal. I do not posts on any of those threads. Knapp never posts a link to my August 28th response.

On September 7, 2011, within two weeks from Knapp's continued outrageous statements and behavior, he turns on his own non-profit staff and Board of Directors, twisting situations, blame shifting, and falsely accusing them. Shortly thereafter Knapp skips state and flees to Indiana.

October, 2011 through November, 2011

Knapp begins to whitewash and erase his defamatory rants without any accountability. His non-profit website, which contains some of his defamatory posts, goes defunct in October, 2011. Knapp cleans up his defamatory Facebook threads by deleting or hiding them from public view. At some point, he also deletes or hides from public his online love affair with his girlfriend, whom he later marries. 

November, 2011, and forward

In Indiana Knapp garners a new social circle and takes on a stage name, Johnny Profane.

December, 2011

More is forthcoming in private communications and conversations with a recent ex-client-friend-colleague of Knapp and with a recent previous employee of Knapp. Both had been on the receiving end of Knapp's manipulations. The ex-client contacts me. They tell me about the ex-employee whom I then contact.

The previous employee was not paid for hours worked. Around August, 2011, after Knapp refused any negotiation on the matter, the employee filed for payment via small claims court. The employee won. Knapp skips state when he is served the papers in September, 2011. As of this date the claim is still outstanding.

The previous client was exploited and psychologically violated. Their story turns my stomach. For that client alone I'm glad I reported Knapp and that the state decided to investigate.

In 2012 that client calls and speaks with the state prosecutor of Knapp's case. The prosecutor asks the client if they would testify at Knapp's hearing. Their response is, "No." They are "terrified of how Knapp might retaliate." I totally understand their choice. I think they made the right decision.

May, 2012

I attend a face-to-face conference for former cult members. While there I'm introduced to a professional in the cult-recovery field who had been on the receiving end of Knapp's wrath in the mid-1990s. He shares his side of the story, filling in more details, verifying what I had initially been told by Chris in August, 2010.

November, 2012

I am a witness for New York state at Knapp's licensing board hearing. Knapp does not show nor have representation. He never responded sufficiently to any of the state's multiple inquiries of him. The state investigator told me he did call her one time and said he would send my records which the state had requested. He never sent the records.

Update: January 14, 2014

Knapp's license is revoked. On January 14, 2014, the New York Licensing Board found John M. Knapp, LMSW, guilty of professional misconduct along with negligence, incompetence on more than one occasion, and of unprofessional conduct. His license was revoked.
Link: January, 2014 Summaries of Regents Actions on Professional Misconduct and Discipline

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Table of Contents: In Knapp's Own Words
(Other than John Knapp, names are disguised so that web search engines will not pick up those names. Non-italicized titles are Knapp's titles. Italicized titles are my made-up titles based on Knapp's online content and language.)

P1) For the Record: Prequel One ("The Mental Health Field Isn't")

P2) For the Record: Prequel Two ("Trust Your Gut—Not the Credentials on the Wall")

1) For the Record: Part One ("Beware Ca*** We*** - Cyberstalker")

2) For the Record: Part Two, Facebook Dialog Number One (August 25, 2011, 4:45 PM ~ "Beware Ca*** We*** - Cyberstalker" or "Ca*** - the 'sadisitic,' 'terroristic,' 'crazy as a shit-house rat' 'professional victim.' ")

3) For the Record: Part Three ("M***** P*******, PhD: Is This Cyberharrassment??!")

4) For the Record: Part Four ("More Ca*** We***, Cyberstalker Crap—featuring Mo**** Pi******, PhD)

5) For the Record: Part Five ("More Ca*** We*** Fan Mail from Flounders: Mo**** Pi******, Ph.Fucking.D.")

6) For the Record: Part Six ("More Ca*** We*** "Private" Fluff and Bluster from M***** P*******, Ph.Fucking.Unemployed.D.")

7) For the Record: Part Seven ("M***** P******* B.F.W. CAN NOT STOP HERSELF. SO I BLOCKED HER")

8) For the Record: Part Eight ("DESPERATE FOR ATTENTION AS EVER, L*** N** REJOINS THE ATTACK" or "The Dime Store Sex Fable")

9) For the Record: Part Nine ("M***** P*******, B.F.W., 120 DAYS Same Subject—and Counting!")

10) For the Record: Part Ten, Facebook Dialog Number Two (August 26, 2011, 5:00 AM  ~ "I'm under attack and have the FBI at my back")

11) For the Record: Part Eleven, Facebook Dialog Number Three (August 26, 2011, 6:40 PM Facebook dialog ~"Let's throw punches based on false allegations at M*****")

12) For the Record: Part Twelve, Facebook Dialog Number Four (August 26, 2011, 9:00 PM Facebook dialog ~"Those women who are after me")

13) For the Record: Part Thirteen, Facebook Dialog Number Five (September 7, 2011, 11:22 AM Facebook dialog ~ "My actions are justifiable and everyone else is to blame while I tell off my CHSCA staff and board")
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