AfME gives platform for company peddling "Ancestor Healing"

[Dx Revision Watch]

Who is up for opening a free leeches and blood-letting booth at next year's AGM? Do you think they would give that some promotion? if its free its fine, right?

Damn, Kyla. I was all set to pitch for free enemas distilled from the urine of Dorset virgins collected on the summer solstice.

 

[Countrygirl]

Damn, Kyla. I was all set to pitch for free enemas distilled from the urine of Dorset virgins collected on the summer solstice.

SH! Don't give AFME ideas! Given their present level of gullibility, they might just believe you!

I would also worry you might find the raw material in short supply

 

[Kyla]

Damn, Kyla. I was all set to pitch for free enemas distilled from the urine of Dorset virgins collected on the summer solstice.

Damn, you've made that sound so poetic I might have to give it a try.

Do you have any subjective questionnaire data from vulnerable patients who have been brainwashed to give the correct answer?
That's generally how I make my treatment decisions

 

[Scarecrow]

Who is up for opening a free leeches and blood-letting booth at next year's AGM?
Do you think they would give that some promotion? if its free its fine, right?

Hey, don't knock leeches. They're not at all woo.

http://www.healthline.com/health/what-is-leech-therapy#2

 

[CantThink]

She has spent £700 on the youngster by sending the 12-year-old to one of the 'therapies' promoted in the past by those associated with AFME and AFME....................and Esther Crawley. The impression given to the relative is that as 'positive thinking' and psychological therapies(using the caller's description) are promoted for the illness it cannot be a 'real' disease worthy of being taken seriously. She is now dismayed and frustrated, however, by the fact that the outcome of the 'therapy' that involves telling the child to ignore her symptoms and push through them has not worked. In other words, unwittingly she has paid some outfit to abuse the poor child.

This is so sad:thumbdown: @Countrygirl I really feel for that child. How very emotionally damaging to be given that message - I fear it will affect the child long-term.

 

[Wildcat]

.
AFME invited an Ancestor Healing Company into their Annual AGM and Conference without a qualm, and provided free publicity for the company.

But AFME have actually banned a very long term AFME member from attending the 2015 AGM and Annual Conference. On a personal whim from the CEO Sonia Chowdhury

The long term member bought a ticket for the AFME Conference/AGM, then their ticket was cancelled by a member of AFME staff acting on the orders of AFME Chief Executive. But no reason was given for the cancellation.

So, Sonia Chowdhury as AFME CEO, never gave any actual reason for banning this long term paid up member from attending the 2015 AFME AGM/Conference, an event the AFME Member has a legal Constitutional right to attend.

.But commercial Ancestor Healers are welcome at AFME's AGM/Conference
.

So much for AFME's Conference slogan "Nothing about ME without me".

The AFME Conference/AGM was without an ME sufferer/AFME Charity Member because the CEO banned the member for personal reasons, overiding the member's legal right to attend the Conference.
.

 

[Dx Revision Watch]

...and no satisfactory response from CEO re rationale for giving this outfit a platform. Someone else has also asked Sonya Chawdhury what evidence there is for the "treatments" this outfit peddles. Again, no reply.

 

[BurnA]

We have eminent professors writing letters on our behalf and then this nonsense..... Holy shit.
Can we call for a resignation ? It's time to get serious with this nonsense. And if anyone mentions the word vexatious ......

 

[worldbackwards]

Can we call for a resignation ? It's time to get serious with this nonsense.

This is AfME. If any of them had any shame they'd have gone years ago.

 

[BurnA]

This is AfME. If any of them had any shame they'd have gone years ago.

True, but lets put pressure on them.
They might think the next time.

 

[IreneF]

According to its Twitter feed, at its AGM and conference, AfME has given a platform to this company to deliver "free treatments" to its delegates:

http://www.qiwellness.org/

"Qi practitioners work with an eastern healing approach using a combination of acupressure and sound."

"Ancestor healing"

which according to the company, changes the impact that ancestor’s energy patterns have on individuals, negatively affecting their health and wellbeing.

Mmmm.

We are fighting in the UK for increased funding for quality research into effective treatments and cure for patients with ME, CFS.

We are fighting for care packages for patients. We are fighting for appropriate education accommodations for our children and young people with ME, who in some cases, are being hounded by social services.

Meanwhile, Action for M.E., the leading UK registered patient organisation, in terms of membership and incoming funding, is giving a platform at its conference and AGM for non evidenced based "treatments" peddled by companies offering

Ancestor healing

I am so appalled and pissed off, that I have nothing more to say on this, but I thought you should be aware.

Suzy

Ancestor healing? My ancestors couldn't heal squat. They went to doctors. What utter bunk.

Oh! Now I get it! You're supposed to heal yourself from the karmic sewage your ancestors left behind. Good luck with that. It's still utter bunk and an embarrassment.

 

[Esther12]

True, but lets put pressure on them.
They might think the next time.

This is trivial compared to the way they've dealt with PACE. Still no sign of thinking going on there.

 

[Hip]

I am not quite sure why people think it is wrong to offer free alternative health treatments at ME/CFS charity's conference? We also have an alternative therapies section on this forum. I can understand how someone who wants scientific proof of efficacy may find many alternative therapies personally distasteful; but I don't see how that equates to it being wrong to give a platform for alternative therapies.

 

[Sean]

I don't see how that equates to it being wrong to give a platform for alternative therapies.

I understand patients are desperate. I have chalked up over 30 years (almost my whole adult life) with ME and trying various possibilities, but I am still waiting for something that works (beyond basic pacing & management), and time is running out for me to get back anything resembling even a half decent life.

But let's not get so desperate that we sink into woomania.

One can be too open minded, to the point where one's rational brain falls out.

 

[TiredSam]

I am not quite sure why people think it is wrong to offer free alternative health treatments at ME/CFS charity's conference? We also have an alternative therapies section on this forum. I can understand how someone who wants scientific proof of efficacy may find many alternative therapies personally distasteful; but I don't see how that equates to it being wrong to give a platform for alternative therapies.

We are natural targets for these scumbags, and AFME are facilitating access to desperate ME patients so that they can be abused and ripped off. This is not a free alernative health treatment - their object is to take all your money for no treatment whatsoever.

 

[worldbackwards]

I am not quite sure why people think it is wrong to offer free alternative health treatments at ME/CFS charity's conference? We also have an alternative therapies section on this forum. I can understand how someone who wants scientific proof of efficacy may find many alternative therapies personally distasteful; but I don't see how that equates to it being wrong to give a platform for alternative therapies.

Regardless of anyone's opinions on alternative therapies, surely the allegations of cultism, brainwashing and exploitative behaviour might have given a better charity pause for thought.

That AfME apparently didn't worry too much about this, or didn't even check their history at all, shows a lapse in their duty of care to their members. Though I'm not especially sure we should be surprised at that.

 

[BurnA]

I am not quite sure why people think it is wrong to offer free alternative health treatments at ME/CFS charity's conference? We also have an alternative therapies section on this forum. I can understand how someone who wants scientific proof of efficacy may find many alternative therapies personally distasteful; but I don't see how that equates to it being wrong to give a platform for alternative therapies.

It is wrong when we are trying to establish this as a real disease that requires proper funding and research in the hope of real medical treatments.
Individuals are of course free to try whatever they want but a representative body should have nothing to do with this malarkey.

 

[Hip]

Regardless of anyone's opinions on alternative therapies, surely the allegations of cultism, brainwashing and exploitative behaviour might have given a better charity pause for thought.

I completely agree with this. I missed the posts about brainwashing accusations, but looking into this a bit more, it seems that Qi Wellness / Innersound Foundation may be brainwashing their clients in order to extract money from them.

We should alert AfME to this fact. (But this is a different issue to that of AfME offering alternative treatments, which I see no problem with).



According to this Twitter page, Qi Wellness (aka: Innersound Foundation) have in the past called themselves:

Ki Global
Ki Health International
Heaven's Gathering
Jungshim
Chun Do Sun Bup

Innersound Foundation's UK registered charity number is 1133398. Their annual accounts given here.

There is a Cult Education Institute forum discussion on Qi Wellness is here.


I found this article on the money-making brainwashing scam apparently used by Qi Wellness very telling:

Family of deceased British Army officer calls for investigation of “cult”

The family of a 27-year-old British Army officer who died of cancer in November (2012) have called for an investigation into the brainwashing tactics of a group who claimed they could cure her cancer. Leaders of Innersound, who have a clinic in London and are recognized as a cult by UK experts, dissuaded Naima Mohamed from having the chemotherapy that could have saved her life. Innersound ‘masters’ claimed she would recover from their meditation and therapy alone, and that chemotherapy was poison.

The Sandhurst-trained officer rejected chemotherapy and all other NHS treatments in January 2011. She handed over more than £15k to Innersound, but then the cancer spread to her sternum and lungs.
...

The Innersound Foundation, just off Harley Street and formerly known as Ki Health, told Naima that their Master Oh (photo left) had cured himself of cancer and said he could cure hers. The enrobed South Korean leader said she would recover through ‘ancestral healing’ which gets rid of ancestors’ ‘bad energy’ to heal their troubled successors living in the present.
...

Innersound’s therapies use techniques derived from those used by a South Korean couple jailed in 2000 for conning their followers out of £44 million. Mo Haeng Yong and Park Gui Dal were imprisoned in Seoul for 8 and 5 years respectively. Innersound deny associations with the couple, although theyhave visited them in the UK.

Ki Health were forced to change their name to Innersound after being exposed by a British newspaper in 2008. They now are also using the name Qi Wellness. Frequent name-changing is routine among cults who want to distance themselves from negative publicity and law enforcement. The UK anti-cult movement is lobbying the Charity Commission for it to withdraw Innersound’s charitable status.

 

[worldbackwards]

But this is a different issue to that of AfME offering alternative treatments, which I see no problem with

I'm not really sure support groups should be offering any treatments without evidence. I use ATs at the more respectable end of the scale (and find them valuable) and I've gone in for homeopathy in the past (to no useful effect). But these were/are choices I make myself, having looked into them and taken my own risks.

AfME offering these sorts of things I think would amount to an endorsement and potentially give people a false sense of their claims to efficacy, which as we all know is somewhat hit and miss at best.

But "Ancestral Healing", cult or not, is way out there on the margins of the bizarre. What does it say about their attitude towards patients if they're prepared to essentially endorse something so outlandish and frivolous as a potentially effective treatment?

 

[BurnA]

I'm not really sure support groups should be offering any treatments without evidence. I use ATs at the more respectable end of the scale (and find them valuable) and I've gone in for homeopathy in the past (to no useful effect). But these were/are choices I make myself, having looked into them and taken my own risks.

AfME offering these sorts of things I think would amount to an endorsement and potentially give people a false sense of their claims to efficacy, which as we all know is somewhat hit and miss at best.

But "Ancestral Healing", cult or not, is way out there on the margins of the bizarre. What does it say about their attitude towards patients if they're prepared to essentially endorse something so outlandish and frivolous as a potentially effective treatment?

Agree.

We are fighting for recognition among the medical establishment.
We are fighting for proper evidence based treatments.
Whatever people want to do in private is fine by me but afme should have nothing to do with this.