text:
REFUSING PSYCHIATRY
(WITHOUT PISSING OFF THE NEIGHBORS)
Save Elgin! Save the mental health profession!
A couple months ago I wrote an article about how bad a group can go when its members fail to insist upon and enforce a standard of ethics among themselves.
Why does Christy Lenhardt still have a license as a social worker?
The Assoiation of Social Work Boards (ASWB) publishes a "Guildbook For Social Work Disciplinry Acrions" which includes the following section, subtitled, "Summary Suspension":
It is recommended that social work boards be authorized to summarily suspend a license before a formal hearing should extraordinary circumstances exist which require the immediate protection of the health, safety and welfare of the public. Under such authority, the board may summarily suspend the license of a practitioner without a formal adjudication. However, a formal hearing must be held within a short period of time specified by the statute (e.g. thirty days). It is in this formal hearing that the individual will be afforded due process rights.
Isn't it time?? Christy took confessed child molestor Angelo to O'Hare airport and put him on a plane out of the country! So a pedophile has been walking the streets for eleven years, no way to know how many victims! Christy might well decide to effectively abscond from Illinois herself, at any moment now, with her social worker's license fully intact! That means she can get a job somewhere else that will enable her to start sexually abusing black men with impunity, all over again. There are dozens of credible people at Elgin Mental Health Center now, who can make sure this does not happen. File a complaint with the proper authority! Don't just sit there and pretend you know nothing. You might end up being very sorry.
If the worst happens, it will be because everything I've ever said about EMHC being a slave plantation, NOT a hospital where anyone is ever helped by "medicine", is understatement. The longer it takes for you guys to get honest and straight, the worse the fallout will become. For my own abolitionist puposes, so much the better! You may think you'd be "defecting" to my side and betraying your peers by coming forward. But in fact, you betray your supposed profession by remaining silent!
The nice plaque in the public reception area of EMHC's forensic Treatment Building reads, "This is a hospital dedicated by the State of Illinois to the welfare of its people for their relief and restoration; a place of hope for the healing of mind, body and spirit where many find health and happiness again."
If that message is anything but an obscene irony, I would think that somebody within the organization of such a benign institution would choose to stop the ugliness created by Christy Lenhrdt! If nobody does, the message is a very evil lie, and you guys will just have to live with that, every day when you walk past the beautiful plaque.
Such weirdnesses always end. Well or badly, but always. For godssakes guys, at least get
Christy Lenhardt's license suspended!
Posted by SRK at 10:28 AM No comments:
Banish Christy Lenhardt to Alabama
Today's Chicago Sun-Times includes Phil Kdner's column, "Alabama's forgiving view of child Molesters". I sent the email below. If I receive any response, I'll blog about it here.
ILLINOIS' FORGIVING VIEW OF CHILD MOLESTERS
It's easy to talk about Alabama... Those people are Southern redneck Bible-thumpers, right? Do you think Illinois voters are more enlightened, more liberal, less tolerent of child molesters? But we are responsible for the actions of government officials and employees. One such government employee, a social worker named Christy Lenhardt, was a perpetrator of sexual abuse of a disabled person on a daily basis for three years in a state institution (Elgin Mental Health Center, a world-renowned psychiatric hospital). And various individuals, including several administrators and MD psychiatrists) who were required by policy and law to report any slightest hint of such abuse within four hours failed or neglected to do so (for three years)! How much better are we Illinois voters than the people who elect Roy Moore, if we do nothing? Christy Lenhardt has not been arrested fo the class 3 felony which she obviously committed and has incriminated herself by her own emails to the victim, and she retains her state license as a social worker. In fact, the state paid her over $27,000 after her crime was reported, well known and under active investigation by the State Police. And by the way, the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has not seen any urgency in revoking her social worker's license; nor has the Joint Commission seen any urgency in awking Elgin Mental Health Center why they should retain their accreditation in the face of this scandal.
The complaint in a federal civil lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Benahdam Hurt v. James Patrick Corcoran, et al, No. 14 C 5987, is. Public document that should be read in detail by anyone tempted to feel superior to Alabama voters in regards to tolerance of child molestation.
One of the darkest details of the Hurt case is the allegation that Christy Lenhardt effected the escape of an admitted child molester from Elgin Mental Health Center eleven years ago. That individual has remained a fugitive from justice since 2006, walking the streets and probably finding more young victims. How much better are we than those backward, racist Alabamans? Where is evidence of our disgust and outrage? Why doesn't Christy Lenhardt wear the scarlet letter of pedophilia? Why hasn't she been sent to Alabama, instead of being defended and protected at Illinoistxpayers' expense? The years of civil litigation will be expensive, but the loss of public faith in our so-called "forensic mental health system" will be the most lasting legacy. At least, we have to hope there will be a loss of faith.
S. Randolph Kretchmar
(Counsel for Plaintiff Benahdam Hurt)
James Patrick Scared-and-Angry-Little-Boy Corcoran
WONDERFUL staffing today, for my friend's Son Trevor! He Thiems out in a couple weeks, becoming yet another proof that the Illinois forensic "mental health" system is a useless waste of resources (When a patient Thiems out, "treatment" has obviously failed, because its purpose was to get the patient out sooner.)
This began today with a dispute over how many people can attend a monthly staffing.
Section 2-102 of the Illinois Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code [405 ILCS 5/2-102]... is the authority on this....
The relevant language is: "The treatment plan shall be periodically reviewed with the participation of the recipient to the extent feasible...."
The language is NOT (although they clearly wish it were), "The plan shall be periodically reviewed with all feasible convenience for the treatment team and their bureaucrtic bosses, and all feasible acknowledgement and respect for their unparalleled expertise, superiority and magnanimity." It also does NOT say that Administrators may use the section to prevent anyone whom the recipient wants to attend, as retribution against people who have attorney Kretchmar representing them (Although this is really what they wish it said— they'd like to be able to say (depite how utterly contrary to the spirit and purpose of the law it would be, " Well if the attorney comes, we won't let your family participate!). They'd also love to pathologize any patient's choice of attorney, if only "Agreeing with Kretchmar about psychiatry" were a listed symptom somewhere in the DSM (the closest they can get to that is probably under the Diagnosis, "Prodromal anosognosia - 295.001, a perfectly serviceable mental illness that I warned about, and actually invented myself, several years ago.)
This statutory section is ostentatiously positioned under "Article I. RIGHTS". Those rights are, of course, rights of recipients of services, NOT rights of would-be human property owners ("rights" in human property ended 152 years ago in this country, by the outcom e of a rather ultimate clarification, called the Civil War) who reside up in the big house on the psychiatric plantation!
So Trevor has a right to participate to the extent feasible in the staffing today, which is the legally prescribed "periodic review" of his treatment plan. He made it very clear that he wanted both his father and me (as legal counsel) to be present. But in the event, Dr. Corcoran (Medical Director of EMHC) and Dr. Ingram (head of court services) met Trevor's Father and me in the lobby and said only one or the other of us could be allowed ro attend. I asked why, and Corcoran said, "It's our policy." I asked if the policy is formal or written anywhere, and he refused to answer, though he briefly let it slip that it was a recent policy handed down by the legal department (meaning, presumably, by General Counsel CorreyAnne Gulkewiz, whose office is certainly up in the big house, at 100 West Randolph, Suite 6-400, Chicago, IL 60601, 312- 814-4692. But Dr. Corcoran rudely refused to answer any questions from Trevor's Dad or me, arrogantly asserting that he just didn't have to talk to us, and insisting that we decide immediately which one would come in to the staffing. I ended up following him through security toward the conference room. I casually suggested that he discredits himself when he acts so afraid of answering simple questions.
This got to him! He didn' quite squeeze his hands over his ears and go running down the hall screaming, "Blah, blah, blah, I'm not listening, I can't even hear you..." the way an 8-year-old would — pretty close, but not quite (maybe next time). In any event, it was still pretty clear to me, and probably to several others, that he just cannot confront me AT ALL. He was an angry, scared little boy! I never saw this side of Corcoran before, I've only known he was a pathetic liar (even under oath!). I guess the traits are not independent of or unpredictable from, each other.
Shortly after the staffing began, Corcoran interrupted to ask me directly, "You're not recording this, are you? I said no, but in fact, I did record every word, every facial expresssion and every moment, with the smallest and most accurate device ever (mentally).
One extremely incriminating statement was made by Wayne Boyer or Dan Malone (I'm not sure which, they might be kind of hard to tell apart — if both both are obese, bearded, red-faced, with a terrible attitude — Dan is the Social Worker inn charge of the case, and I don't know why Wayne would have been in this staffing, except that he always shows up when talking. "Patient"y.
Trevor was explaining that he finds Alcoholics Annonymous to be less than "Helpful" because it is too much covert Chisistian evangelism. The objection is not uncommon or unreasonable, it's more like an "everybody knows!"
The so-called "treatment" team wanted to get Trevor to do and believe according to their religion (psychiatry), and Wayne/Dan didn't give up easily on AA. He began some formulaic disclaimer about it, but Trevor reiterated that he was not, and would not Erne, be willing to comply with that element of the recommendations. Wayne/Dan insisted the recommendations were only to help Trevor I interjected that if he really wanted to help, he should stop nagging about something that Trevor was very clear on. The comment abt inspired was probably the mos incriminating thing said in thee whole staffing: "Well. I'm trying to help him with his perception of AA." In other words, " Trevor, don't trust your own perception, mine is better, so just adopt it and pretend it's your own." Of course, this is classic brainwashing! Trevor, fortunately, has high enough integrity tha he won't take that horrible invitation. He'll remain true to himself., and he'll be much more able to stay straight with the world for that.
But speaking of whose perception is better, it is the highest irony that the other person in the room, Faisa Kareemi, M.D., is the psychiatrist who failed miserably to perceive three years of daily sexual abuse occurring right under her nose on her own clinical unit, With her supposedly superior perception, she yet failed to perceive that,at all!
And... I'm coming for you Jim. Delenda est psychiatro
Posted by SRK at 5:01 PM No comments:
How Could This Happen?
Almost everyone would automatically ask how the Ben-and-Christy incident could happen in a state institution. This divides into two questions: first, how could Ben have been kept in a "hospital" for years longer than he needed to be there? Second, how could the state's best experts in mental illness and psychology have missed the fact that there was something seriously wrong with Christy?
When someone is found NGRI for a violent crime, they become the effective property of forensic psychiatric authorities. NGRI acquittees are not subject to criminal law, because they aren't culpable: their mental illnesss caused the crime, they didn't do it on their own. Treating the mental illness is thus the only allowed project. Courts don't do that, and they don't tell anyone else how to. Part of the problem is there's no test whatsoever to show that someone has a mental illness or to show that he/she doesn't have it or doesn't have it any longer. These points are totally subjective and up for grabs. They cannot ever be absolutely proven one way or the other, they can only be interminably argued. If a psychiatrist or a treatment team tells a judge, "Well, he's somewhat better, but we think maybe he probably should go to another substance abuse group, and he did have a 'verbally aggressive' incident last month...." or "He's not enthusiastic about medication, so we're not really sure about his insight...." - Then the judge will easily go with the prosecutor's view that there should be no official progress until those "problematic points" are remedied. They're not really problematic points, though, they're negative comments by people who may have motives outside of objective medical evaluation. We'll find out in discovery how many times Christy inserted such things into Ben's record, just to keep him around for motives that were illegal and discreditable as hell. (Those motives are disgustingly apparent in the many emails she sent Ben, some with pictures, in late 2016. Ben's mother recalls various meetings wherein Christy offered frustrating excuses for no court date, no privileges, no progress. All the paperwork and bureaucratic processes were run by Christy. Nobody else wanted her job, so they let her do it. It was a piece of cake for her to make it seem as though Ben wasn't quite ready to leave; other things, paperwork, etc., always had to be done first. And Christy did not want Ben to leave! She told him at one point that she was putting cash aside that her husband wouldn't know about, so that he could buy a car when he left Elgin, and the two of them would still be able to get together. (Coincidentally, that $28,230 which Christy was paid by the state after she was fired, is a credible price for a serviceable new car.... And maybe her husband didn't even know she'd been fired until the media started running this story after our press conference on Nov. 2!)
So the status of the project to treat Ben's mental illness was left substantially in the hands of Christy, the trusted social worker. And why was she trusted? There certainly were people who had a responsibility to predict whether she might use her position to sexually abuse disabled people. They failed to pick up any clues or exercise the necessary precautions.It's a related shortcoming to the complete lack of objectivity about whether any person is mentally ill, of course. Not only are state psychiatrists unable to truly identify what causes bad behavior and unable to reliably remedy it, they are equally incapable of predicting it among their own employees whom they see and evaluate every day! So we, the taxpayers of Illinois, pay approximately a billion dollars a year for complete bullshit. And there's another $100 Million or so that comes from Medicare and Medicaid, on the basis of Joint Commission (formerly JCAHO) accreditation of EMHC, which stands for a (fraudulent!) guarantee of "evidence-based" behavioral and mental health care, as well as, of course(!) effective policies to prevent/stop sexual abuse of patients. Clearly, based on repercussions of Ben-and-Christy alone, EMHC should not be accredited. We, and JCAHO, have to fix this! We need to take all the money back!!)
And the public needs to come to a very unpleasant conclusion: Whaat is widely billed as an "investment in mental health" is in reality "juice" we pay to extortionists for "protection". The American Psychiatric establishment, which is trying to rebrand itself but has been trusted for many decades, in our creations of the Illinois Department of Human Services and Elgin Mental Health Center, is a new type of mafia which is profiting from the plantation system we are all naively willing to call "mental health care" and "hospitals". They have no idea what mental illness is, they can't do anything about it, and they can't even avoid putting dangerous, very sick people in inpositions of trust!
Posted by SRK at 1:31 PM 3 comments:
"Upset"
Apprently the N Unit Administrator of the Day called all "Patients" together this morning for an announcement. It was said that if anyone were to see snything "upsetting" on the news, they should talk to staff about it right away, and somebody will help them.
I told the individual who informed me of this that she should go to one of those wonderful helpful staff and tell them she was very upset by the WGN story of sex slavery at the Elgin plantation, and that she wants some counseling for her upset, right away!
I'll look forward to hearing about what such counseling consists of! How will they reassure people, "Oh, don't worry about these crimes that are being committed! It's alll under control and we're here to help you with modern psychiatry."
I imagine there were overseers on plantations along the route through Georgia, who had comparable announcements for the slaves they were in charge of, "Don't y'all worry none now, 'bout Sherman's Yankees. They ain't comin' here, cuz we got a strong Confederate army under General John Bell Hood just up in Augusta, and those boys in gray will look out for us all!
Posted by SRK at 12:58 PM No comments:
The plantation is in the news!
CBS News ran with a headline last night: "
Suit: Social Worker Kept Mental Patient As Sex Slave
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2017/11/02/lawsuit-social-worker-sex-slave-elgin-mental-health-center/
This followed a press conference held at the Union League Club of Chicago to announce the filing of a federal lawsuit in United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
WGN tweeted a link to this story to over 233,000 followers this morning.
Our PI's are keeping a close eye on Christy, just in case she's tempted to abscond from the country, to what she might hope would be the waiting arms of Angelo, in Italy, to avoid prosecution and all the infamy at home. You have to figure her life is ruined, not that she doesn't deserve it. And speaking of prosecution, it's not a stretch to say her crime (a class 3 felony to begin with) was motivated by racial animus. She wanted, and intended, to sexually abuse black men. Hate crime statutes certainly could increase the stakes for her.
Angelo, as the media were most especially enthralled to discover yesterday, was an admitted/convicted child molester. Christy actually drove him to O'Hare airport and helped him escape in 2006. He's been on the streets, an international fugitive from justice, for eleven years because of her. It's not unfair to ask how many children have been molested because of Christy, in those eleven years? Ben's mother refers to her as a baby rapist.
Chisty's torment, and no doubt the torment of her family now, is only the beginning. EVERY individual defendant in the Hurt case can absolutely count on the same gauntlet of unpleasantness that Christy is currently enduring: endless questions from the police; endless requests for answers from professional regulators; scrutiny by the media; scapegoating by employers, suspicion from professional peers, loss of reputation; legal expenses, subpoenas and depositions; even doubts of family and friends. Maybe we need to keep an eye on several people who may be tempted to abscond.... James Corcoran should go mow the lawn at Chicago Read Mental Health Center, to stay grounded and reduce his anxiety. Decent physical labor is the best therapy of all.
It was recently suggested to me that certain administrative individuals at Elgin Menlth Health Center are lacking the required qualifications for their positions or their pay grade.
Brian Dawson, the Hospital Administrator, is listed as a "Public Service Administraor I" The minimal reqs for that include, "Completion of four years of college, plus three years of progressively responsible administrative experience in a public or business organization including 1 year administrative experience directly related to the option applied for; or equivalent combinations of training and experience." What kind of a degree does Dawson have? Is he in fact qualified for his job? Even dicier than Dawson is the new Program Director, who I'm told has some degree that is completely unrelated to the mental health profession.
The point for the moment isn't who is in violation of what rule or qualification. It's only that there are so many, that the chances of complexity and trouble are effectively endless. It's kind of like the tax code: if you're ever audited by the IRS, they'll find something to nail you for and they will come take some of your money no matter how careful and compliant you think you've been. The machine of government is fundamentally dangerous. too much is automatic, and nobody pays attention. Combine that with the uniquely hopeless corruption of "forensic mental health" and those who happily report for work in the Illinois Department of Human Services are really whistling past the graveyard every day!
Have fun guys.It's not like it wasn't your own idea....
Posted by SRK at 12:38 PM 2 comments:
HURT V. CORCORAN
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION
BENAHDAM HURT )
Plaintiff, )
v. )
) Case No. 14 C 5987
JAMES PATRICK CORCORAN in his )
official capacity as Medical Director of )
Elgin Mental Health Center and )
individually, ELGIN MENTAL HEALTH )
CENTER a body public, ILLINOIS )
DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, a ) JURY DEMAND
Department of the State of Illinois, CHRISTY )
LENHARDT individually, HASINA JAVED, )
individually, WILLIAM EPPERSON, )
individually, ROBERT HAMLIN, )
individually, BRIAN DAWSON individually )
and in his official capacity as Hospital )
Administrator of Elgin Mental Health Center, )
and WAYNE BEYER, individually, )
Defendants. )
COMPLAINT FOR DMAGES AND OTHER RELIEF
WITH REQUEST FOR TRIAL BY JURY
Now comes the Plaintiff, Benahdam Hurt, by and through his attorneys, the Law Offices of Kretchmar and Cecala, PC, with his complaint against the above named Defendants and requests trial by jury, and in support of his Complaint states as follows.
1. This is an action brought by Benahdam Hurt, a person confined to the Elgin Mental Health Center ("Facility") at all times relevant to the claims in this Complaint, to vindicate profound deprivations of his constitutional rights caused by institutionally based brutality, and institutionally organized sexual abuse.
II. JURISDICTION, VENUE AND NOTICE
61. This action arises under the Constitution and laws of the United States, including Article III, Section 1of the United States Constitution and is brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and 42 U.S.C.§ 1988. The Jurisdiction of this Court is invoked pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1343, 2201.
62. This case is instituted in the United States District Court for the Northern
District of Illinois pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §1391 as the judicial district in which all relevant events and omissions occurred and in which Defendants maintain offices and/or reside.
III. PARTIES
63. At all times relevant hereto, Plaintiff Marci Webber was a resident of the State of Illinois and a citizen of the United States of America.
64. At all times relevant hereto, Defendant William Epperson was a citizen of the United States and a resident of the State of Illinois and was acting under color of state law in his capacity as an officer employed by Defendant Illinois Department of Human Services and/or of the Defendant Facility. Defendant William Epperson is sued individually.
65. At all times relevant hereto, Defendant Gloria Langunilla was a citizen of the
United States and a resident of the State of Illinois and was acting under color of state law in her capacity as an officer employed by Defendant Illinois Department of Human Services and/or of the Defendant Facility. Defendant Gloria Langunilla is sued individually.
66. At all times relevant hereto, Defendant Gus Cabazuda was a citizen of the United States and a resident of the State of Illinois and was acting under color of state law in his capacity as an officer employed by Defendant Illinois Department of Human Services and/or of the Defendant Facility. Defendant Cabazuda is sued individually.
67. At all times relevant hereto, Defendant Syed Hussain was a citizen of the United States and a resident of the State of Illinois and was acting under color of state law in his capacity as an officer employed by Defendant Illinois Department of Human Services and/or of the Defendant Facility. Defendant Syed Hussain is sued individually.
68. At all times relevant hereto, Defendant Chriselda Rana was a citizen of the United States and a resident of the State of Illinois and was acting under color of state law in her capacity as an officer employed by Defendant Illinois Department of Human Services and/or of the Defendant Facility. Defendant Chriselda Rana is sued individually.
69. At all times relevant hereto, Defendant Vicky Sandhu was a citizen of the United States and a resident of the State of Illinois and was acting under color of state law in her capacity as an officer employed by Defendant Illinois Department of Human Services and/or of the Defendant Facility. Defendant Vicky Sandhu is sued individually.
70. Defendants Illinois Department of Human Services ("Defendant State") and Elgin Mental Health Center ("Facility" or "State Facility") are Illinois body publics and legal entities responsible for themselves and for the Elgin Mental Health Center. These Defendants employ the individual Defendants and are proper entities to be sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
71. At all times relevant hereto, Defendant Jeffrey Pharis was a citizen of the United States and a resident of the State of Illinois. Defendant Jeffrey Pharis is sued in his official capacity as the Chief of the Elgin Mental Health Center, employed by the Defendant Illinois Department of Human Services and/or the Elgin Mental Health Center, and was acting under color of state law. Defendant Jeffrey Pharis is also sued individually.
72. As the Chief of the Elgin Mental Health Center, Defendant Jeffrey Pharis both exercised and delegated his final decision making power to the staff and the individual Defendants of the Elgin Mental Health Center. On information and belief, he also trained and supervised individual Defendants.
73. Defendant State and Defendant Facility/State Facility and Defendant Jeffrey Pharis are properly sued directly under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for their own and their delegated deliberately indifferent unconstitutional decisions, policies, practice, habits, customs, usages, training and derelict supervision, ratification, acquiescence and intentional failures which were moving forces in the complained of constitutional and statutory violations and resulting injuries.
74. The Defendant State and Defendant Facility are also properly sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for the challenged delegated final decisions of Defendant Jeffrey Pharis in his official capacity as the Chief of the Elgin Mental Health Center, and for those of any final delegated decision makers, with respect to the hereinafter challenged deliberately indifferent policies, decisions, widespread habits, customs, usages and practices.
IV. STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL FACTS REGARDING
THE MAY 3, 2014, AND SEPTEMBER 16, 2014,
FORCED DRUGGING INCIDENTS
75. Plaintiff incorporates all of the preceding paragraphs, including the allegations in the Introduction, as if they were fully set forth at length.
76. At the time that the Plaintiff was asked to see the nurse on May 3, 2014, she was in her room, sitting and calmly speaking to her roommate.
77. At the time that the Plaintiff was asked to see the nurse, she was not creating a threat to herself, other patients or staff.
78. Staff member Zella Napier made the initial contact with Plaintiff during this request to visit the nurse.
79. Napier instructed Plaintiff to see the nurse and the Plaintiff objected to any necessity to her going to see the nurse for any medical reason.
80. Napier observed the Plaintiff in her room and the Plaintiff did not threaten Napier, other patients or staff, and the Plaintiff did not have any weapons.
81. Napier next told the Plaintiff to walk to see the nurse and, although the Plaintiff verbally stated that she did not want to see the nurse, the Plaintiff volunteered to see the nurse in full compliance with the Napier's order and without threat of harm to herself, Napier or any other person.
82. Napier escorted the Plaintiff from her room to the medical treatment room, a distance of over 100 feet, without resistance, threat of harm, argument or any other action by the Plaintiff that would have required her to be restrained for any reason whatsoever.
83. Defendant William Epperson, a security guard, and Defendant Gus Cabazuda, a security guard, confronted the Plaintiff in the men's day room and accompanied her to the medical treatment room; and at the time that these Defendant security guards confronted her, the Plaintiff presented herself in a cooperative, calm and compliant fashion, and she represented no risk or threat of harm to herself, the staff or other patients of the facility.
84. During this time, Defendant Gloria Langunilla, a nurse, was positioned in the medical treatment room, and Defendant Gloria Langunilla had prepared a syringe to forcibly deliver a shot of Lorazepam, a narcotic sedative, a powerful drug that causes sedation and other side effects, to be delivered forcibly to the Plaintiff's body.
85. Defendants William Epperson and Gus Cabazuda used excessive force handling the body of the Plaintiff in order to bend her over at the waist, pull her pants down and permit the forcible drugging of the Plaintiff by Defendant Gloria Langunilla while staff member Zella Napier stood by and watched.
86. The Plaintiff objected to the administration of the unnecessary drugs, and to the excessive use of force against her body, and to forced drugging without following such due process of law as is promulgated by the State of Illinois.
87. Plaintiff's statements were constitutionally protected speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and her right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
88. The Plaintiff did not struggle or resist Defendants' unwanted and forcible pinning of her body either before or during the incident on May 3, 2014, but acted deferentially and submitted to the Defendants, further showing that she was not a threat.
89. The individual Defendants were irate at the Plaintiff's questioning of their legal authority and medical status by a patient.
90. While Defendants held the Plaintiff down during the May 3, 2014 forced drugging, Defendant William Epperson said "you don't want us to put you in restraints," so as to threaten the Plaintiff with additional force, intimidate her and humiliate her should she not continue to submit to being held down, stripped and drugged.
91. All of the actions of the Defendants on May 3, 2014, and September 16, 2014, were done without any justification or provocation.
92. At the time of the September 16, 2014, forced drugging, Plaintiff was under close observation 1:1, not for protection against any harm she was threatening to herself or anyone else, but for protection against harm others were threatening against her.
93. Plaintiff was not suicidal and had given no indication that she might hurt herself or anyone else at the time of the September 16, 2014 forced drugging.
94. Defendant Hussain's expressed annoyance at Plaintiff's questions and the book she was reading, immediately prior to ordering the forced drugging on September 16, 2014, demonstrated his unreasoned animus over Plaintiff's disagreements with his continuing insistence that she would benefit from taking psychiatric drugs and his flat refusal to acknowledge the bad side effects she had suffered when taking them.
95. The insistence by staff member Marva Stroud upon close and intimate physical control over the manner in which Plaintiff was lying in her bed and how she held her bed covers on September 16, 2014, was not justified by any reasonable fear about the Plaintiff's behavior, but was intended to torment, humiliate and antagonize the Plaintiff.
96. As a result of the actions of the Defendants, Plaintiff was drugged on Defendant Hussain's order and suffered humiliation and exacerbation of her inability to make progress toward recovery and she experienced, and continues to experience, traumatic effects in her body from drugs and a hostile, unstable living environment.
97. To provide cover and divert from liability for the initiation and continuation of the unprovoked attacks, staff members Marva Stroud and Velma Westbrook falsely and outrageously fabricated information in the Plaintiff's treatment chart.
98. Stroud fabricated and planted evidence in the Plaintiff's chart, knowing it to be false and that it would be used to justify the retaliation against the Plaintiff for questioning the arbitrary removal of Plaintiff's snack privilege earlier that day.
99. Defendants William Epperson, Gus Cabazuda and Gloria Langunilla battered the Plaintiff on May 3, 2014, subjecting her to excessive and unreasonable force.
100. Plaintiff was battered and forced to endure humiliating exposure by removal of her clothing and injection of harmful, dangerous and medically unnecessary drugs on May 3, 2014.
101. Defendants Syed Hussain, Criselda Rana and Vicky Sandhu battered the Plaintiff on September 16, 2014, subjecting her to excessive and unreasonable force.
102. Plaintiff was battered and forced to endure humiliating and frightening, abrupt abandonment when she collapsed on the floor following the forced injection of harmful, dangerous and medically unnecessary drugs on September 16, 2014.
103. All of the individual Defendants engaged in the unprovoked attacks on the Plaintiff. None of the Defendants took any steps to protect the Plaintiff against the other Defendants' use of excessive force, despite being in a position and having a duty to do so.
104. Amplifying the excessive nature of the scene is the fact that Defendant guards clandestinely positioned themselves after staff member Napier used trickery to make the Plaintiff vulnerable to this one-sided attack on May 3, 2014.
105. Immediately following the attack of May 3, 2014, the Plaintiff requested an
attorney call.
106. Defendant William Epperson attempted to dissuade the Plaintiff from reporting
the attack to legal counsel, stating, "Your attorney won't be available now."
107. Plaintiff proceeded to insist on her right to contact her attorney, and only after
much insistence was Plaintiff given the right to call her attorney and leave him a message.
108. In their angst to divert liability and cover up their brutal attacks on a
defenseless patient and/or, on information and belief, with knowledge that Plaintiff had already complained against them to her counsel, Defendants and staff member guards and nurses next conspired and/or acted in concert to have Plaintiff falsely accused of threatening the staff, other patients and acting in a harmful way to herself by fabrication of information in the Plaintiff's medical chart.
109. At the times of these incidents, Plaintiff was an unarmed female about 165 pounds, 5' 1" tall, 47 years old, no match for two grown male guards.
110. Staff member Marva Stroud falsely reported in her far-fetched chart
statement about the May 3, 2014 incident: "(Plaintiff was) continuing to walk closer to Velma I then step (sic) in front of her and again tried to redirect her but she still wouldn't stop she then tried to get around me to get at Velma. The nurse tried to intervene but she still wouldn't stop so security was called. No other inc (sic) then security intervene."
111. Staff member Velma Westbrook amplified Stroud's false story. She falsely reported that even the threat of violence and intimidation tactics of the arbitrary privilege restriction had no effect, requiring the battery and forced drugging: "(Plaintiff was) loud and disrupted (sic), causing the mileu (sic) to be unstable making other residents agitated."
112. All of the above-described acts were done by the Defendants intentionally, knowingly, willfully, wantonly, maliciously and/or recklessly in disregard for Plaintiff's federally protected rights, and were done pursuant to the preexisting and ongoing deliberately indifferent official custom, practice, decision, policy, training, and supervision of the Defendant State and Defendant Jeffrey Pharis acting under color of state law.
113. With deliberate indifference to the rights of citizens to be free from excessive force, the Defendant State and Defendant Jeffrey Pharis have ongoingly ordered, encouraged, tolerated, ratified, and acquiesced to a dangerous environment of patient brutality and unlawful drugging by:
a. failing to conduct sufficient training or supervision with respect to the constitutional limitations on the use of force and unlawful forced drugging;
b. by failing to adequately punish unconstitutional uses of force and unlawful forced drugging;
c. by ordering and tolerating the use of unconstitutional force and unlawful forced drugging;
d. by ongoingly failing to properly or neutrally investigate complaints of excessive force and unlawful forced drugging; and,
e. by ordering, tolerating, encouraging, and permitting collusive statements by involved Defendants and other staff of the State in such situations.
114. It is the longstanding, widespread, deliberately indifferent custom, habit, practice and/or policy of the Defendant State, Defendant Jeffrey Pharis and the Defendant Facility to order and permit staff members to use excessive force, battery and unlawful forced drugging against individuals when such use is unnecessary and unjustified, as well as to fail to supervise and to train staff in the appropriate constitutional limits on the use of force and forced drugging, knowing that these staff members are significant to the protection of the constitutional rights of the patients and therefore pose a significant risk of injury to the public who are patients at the Defendant Facility.
115. With deliberate indifference to the rights of citizens to be free from excessive force in the care and treatment received at EMHC, the Defendant State and Defendant Jeffrey Pharis have ongoingly ordered, encouraged, tolerated, ratified, and acquiesced to unconstitutional and abusive uses of force and forced drugging under the auspices of "mental health treatment" by:
a. failing to conduct sufficient training or supervision with respect to the rights of citizens to be free from force and forced drugging in mental health facilities;
b. failing to adequately punish retaliatory forced drugging actions;
c. ongoingly ordering and tolerating unlawful forced drugging, excessive force, and manipulation-based selective treatment among the staff and in decisions regarding the ongoing incarceration of those found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity; and
d. failing to properly investigate complaints of unlawful forced drugging, use of medical charts for punishment of patients, animus based on a patients' unwillingness to be forcibly drugged, and toleration of collusive statements by involved staff in such situations.
116. It is the longstanding, widespread, deliberately indifferent custom,
habit, practice and/or policy of the Defendant State, Defendant Jeffrey Pharis and Defendant Facility, to order as well as to permit staff to use force, forced drugging and animus against patients who refuse psychotropic drug "treatment" as motivating factors in staff decisions and actions, as well as to fail to supervise and to train staff in the rights of citizens to be free from unconstitutional, violent actions and collusive decision making by facility staff.
117. With deliberate indifference to the rights of citizens to be free from
retaliation for exercising their constitutional rights, the Defendant State and Defendant Jeffrey Pharis have ongoingly ordered, encouraged, tolerated, ratified, and acquiesced to a dangerous environment of staff retaliation to the exercise of such rights by:
a. failing to conduct sufficient training or supervision with respect to the protected speech and due process rights of citizens to question the actions of staff without retaliation;
b. failing to adequately punish retaliation by staff against the public who are patients at the facility and who exercise their protected speech and due process rights to object to staff conduct;
c. ordering and tolerating the use of retaliation based on protected speech and due process rights; and
d. ongoingly failing to properly investigate complaints of retaliation for exercising their constitutional rights.
118. It is the longstanding, widespread, deliberately indifferent custom, habit
practice and/or policy of the Defendant State, Defendant Jeffrey Pharis and the Defendant Facility to order and permit staff members to retaliate against individuals for exercising First Amendment Rights, as well as to fail to supervise and to train staff in the constitutional rights of individuals.
excessive use of force and forced drugging, the Defendant State and Defendant Jeffrey Pharis have ongoingly ordered, encouraged, tolerated, ratified, and acquiesced to the excessive force and forced drugging of the patients and the cover up of efforts by staff when they have failed to investigate complaints of staff misconduct, instead accepting "medical chart" accounts of events without question and rubber stamping any staff accounts given.
120. It is the longstanding and widespread custom, habit, practice and/or
policy of the Defendants State, Jeffrey Pharis and Facility to find no fault with staff conduct as long as any story is offered by staff, regardless of how incredible.
121. Defendant Jeffery Pharis orders the senior staff to routinely ratify, acquiesce, rubber stamp, and tolerate the malicious collusive conduct and unconstitutional actions of staff by routinely ignoring serious complaints of retaliatory forced drugging and other violent retaliation, as well as fabrication of evidence by the staff. The Defendants State and Jeffrey Pharis did exactly that in this case.
122. These final policy decisions by Defendant Jeffrey Pharis in his role as the
final delegated policy decision maker with respect to reviewing misconduct create liability for Defendant State and Defendant Jeffrey Pharis. They are also further evidence of the ongoing and deliberately indifferent custom, habit, policy, decision, practice, training and supervision of the staff of the Defendant Facility, wherein the Defendants State and Jeffrey Pharis order, tolerate and encourage lawlessness and disregard for the federal rights of patients.
123. In the period addressed by this Complaint, and before and since the events
described herein, Defendant Jeffrey Pharis has declared or suggested that other complaints of excessive force and unlawful forcible drugging and outrageous actions by staff were unfounded, without serious investigation, and he has provided cover-up support to members of the staff who were violating the constitutional and statutory rights of patients under Defendant Pharis' orders.
124. On information and belief, because of this utter failure of supervision and
oversight as well as the direct orders of Defendant Pharis, the Plaintiff reasonably expects to continue to be hurt by the same Defendants named in this Complaint, who have been the subject of complaints both prior to and since May 2014, and these injuries are ongoing to the present time.
125. As a direct and proximate result of the wrongful conduct of each of the
Defendants, Plaintiff has been substantially injured. These injuries include, but are not limited to, loss of constitutional and federal rights, physical injuries, physical and mental impairments and disfigurement, great pain and emotional distress, and/or aggravation of pre-existing conditions, and ongoing special damages for medically/psychologically related treatment caused by the unconstitutional and brutal concerted conduct of all these Defendants.
126. The Plaintiff is now suffering from these injuries, with an inability to
consistently live without fear of retaliation from the very staff charged with the responsibility to enable her treatment or rehabilitation.
127. The Plaintiff also suffers persisting emotional damage the extent of which
has not yet been fully ascertained. Plaintiff continues to suffer ongoing emotional distress, with significant stress related symptoms, including fear, sadness, humiliation, anxiety, stress, anger, depression, frustration, occasional sleeplessness, nightmares and flashbacks, from being violently treated like this.
128. Plaintiff is also entitled to punitive damages on all of her claims against
the individual Defendants personally, to redress their willful, malicious, wanton, reckless and fraudulent conduct.
V. CLAIMS FOR RELIEF
FIRST CLAIM FOR RELIEF:
42 U.S.C. § 1983 -Excessive Force in violation of the
Fourteenth Amendment on May 3, 2014 (Against Defendants Epperson, Cabazuda, and Langunilla.)
129.Plaintiff hereby incorporates all other paragraphs of this Complaint as if
fully set forth at length herein.
130.Relevant portions of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 provide that:
Every person, who under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom or usage of any state or territory or the District of Columbia subjects or causes to be subjected any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges or immunities secured by the constitution and law shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other appropriate proceeding for redress . . .
131. Plaintiff in this action is a citizen of the United States and all of the
individual Defendants to this claim are persons for purposes of 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
132. All individual Defendants to this claim, at all times relevant hereto,
were acting under the color of state law in their capacity as staff of the State and/or Defendant Facility and their acts or omissions were conducted within the scope of their official duties or employment.
133. On May 3, 2014, at the time of the complained of events of the first shot, Plaintiff had a clearly established constitutional right under the Fourteenth Amendment to bodily integrity and to be free from excessive force by the staff of the State.
134. Any reasonable person knew or should have known of these rights at the time of the complained of conduct as they were clearly established at that time.
135. The actions and use of force by Defendants Epperson, Cabazuda and Langunilla, as described herein, were also malicious and/or involved reckless, callous, and deliberate indifference to Plaintiff's federally protected rights. The force and failure to protect the Plaintiff's constitutional rights, and the use of unlawful forced drugging by these Defendants violated the Fourteenth Amendment rights of Plaintiff.
136. The force used constituted aggravated battery in that it could have caused and did cause serious bodily injury through use of drugs.
137. None of the Defendants took reasonable steps to protect Plaintiff from the objectively unreasonable and conscience shocking excessive force of other Defendants or from the excessive force of later unlawful forced drugging despite being in a position to do so. The Defendants are each therefore liable for the injuries and damages resulting from the objectively unreasonable and conscience shocking force of each other Defendant.
138. Defendants engaged in the conduct described by this Complaint willfully, maliciously, in bad faith, and in reckless disregard of Plaintiff's federally protected constitutional rights.
139. They did so with shocking and willful indifference to Plaintiff's rights and their conscious awareness that they would cause Plaintiff severe physical and emotional injuries.
140.The actions of the Defendants, and each of them, in the context and
circumstances where the Plaintiff represented no threat of harm to herself, other patients or staff violates the contemporary standards of decency.
141. The Defendants, and each of them, conducted a malicious and sadistic
use of force to cause harm to the Plaintiff by forcing her to submit to administration of drugs, unlawful bodily touching and stripping away her clothing by two male staff members violates contemporary standards of decency, regardless of whether or not significant injury is evident. The Defendants used force in a willful, wanton and unnecessary fashion as no need for application of any force was evident when compared with any threat reasonably perceived by the responsible staff.
142.The Defendants' excessive force exceeded any reasonable use of force as
no force was required whatsoever. The use of force to pull the Plaintiff's pants down while holding her down over an examination table bent at the waste and exposing her to male staff is a use of force so repugnant as to shock the conscience of mankind.
143.The acts or omissions of all individual Defendants were the direct and
proximate causes behind Plaintiff's injuries.
144. These individual Defendants acted in concert and joint action with each other.
145. The acts or omissions of Defendants as described herein intentionally deprived Plaintiff of her constitutional rights and caused her other damages.
146. These individual Defendants are not entitled to qualified immunity for the complained of conduct.
147. The Defendants to this claim, at all times relevant hereto, were acting pursuant to municipal/county custom, policy, decision, ordinance, regulation, widespread habit, usage, or practice in their actions pertaining to Plaintiff.
148. As a proximate result of Defendants' unlawful conduct, Plaintiff has suffered actual physical and emotional injuries, and other damages and losses as described herein entitling her to compensatory and special damages, in amounts in excess of the jurisdictional limit.
149. On information and belief, Plaintiff may suffer lost abilities to recover in the environment she resides in and may further suffer physical and emotional pain from ongoing and continued loss of society through the prolonged incarceration and remediation of false reports used to cover-up Defendants retaliatory use of excessive force and unlawful forced drugging. Plaintiff is further entitled to attorneys' fees and costs pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §1988, pre-judgment interest and costs as allowable by federal law.
150. In addition to compensatory, economic and consequential damages, Plaintiff is entitled to punitive damages against each of the individually named Defendants under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, in that the actions of each of these individual Defendants have been taken maliciously, willfully or with a reckless or wanton disregard of the constitutional rights of Plaintiff.
SECOND CLAIM FOR RELIEF:
Fourteenth Amendment on September 16, 2014 (Against Defendants Hussain, Sandhu, and Rana.)
152. Relevant portions of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 provide that:
155.All individual Defendants to this claim, at all times relevant hereto,
156. On September 16, 2014, at the time of the complained of events of the second shot, Plaintiff had a clearly established constitutional right under the Fourteenth Amendment to bodily integrity and to be free from excessive force by the staff of the State.
158. The actions and use of force by Defendants Hussain, Sandhu and Rana, as described herein, were also malicious and/or involved reckless, callous, and deliberate indifference to Plaintiff's federally protected rights. The force and failure to protect the Plaintiff's constitutional rights, and the use of unlawful forced drugging by these Defendants violated the Fourteenth Amendment rights of Plaintiff.
163. The actions of the Defendants, and each of them, in the context and
circumstances where the Plaintiff represented no threat of harm to herself, other patients or staff, violate the contemporary standards of decency.
use of force to cause harm to the Plaintiff by forcing her to submit to administration of multiple unknown drugs, followed by immediate abandonment.
165. The Defendants' excessive force exceeded any reasonable use of force as
no force was required whatsoever. The use of force to simultaneously inject the Plaintiff in both arms while she lay helpless and begging for mercy on the floor is a use of force so repugnant as to shock the conscience of mankind. The Defendants used force in a willful, wanton and unnecessary fashion as no need for application of any force was evident when compared with any threat reasonably perceived by the responsible staff.
166. The acts or omissions of all individual Defendants were the direct and proximate causes behind Plaintiff's injuries.
THIRD CLAIM FOR RELIEF:
42 U.S.C. § 1983 -Retaliation in Violation of the First Amendment (Against Defendants Epperson, Cabazuda, Langunilla, Hussain, Sandhu, and Rana.)
174. Plaintiff hereby incorporates all other paragraphs of this Complaint as if
175. 42 U.S.C. § 1983 provides that:
177. All individual Defendants to this claim, at all times relevant hereto, were
acting under the color of state law in their capacity as staff members of the State and their acts or omissions were conducted within the scope of their official duties or employment.
178. On May 3, 2014, and September 16, 2014, at the times of the complained of events, Plaintiff had the clearly established constitutional right to be free from retaliation for the exercise of protected speech.
179. Any reasonable staff member knew or should have known of this right at
the time of the complained of conduct as it was clearly established at that time.
180. Plaintiff exercised her constitutionally protected right to question staff for
arbitrary enforcement of restrictions and counter-therapeutic insults and escalations of hostility between staff and patients; and also exercised her constitutionally protected right to assert, proclaim or promote the statutory rights of patients to refuse psychiatric drugs; and/or also engaged in protected speech related to the constitutional rights of citizens with respect to seizures of their body by the State and objectionable conduct by staff of State.
181. Retaliatory animus for Plaintiff's exercise of her constitutionally protected
rights – to question staff and voice her own opinions regarding the scope of the staff's legal authority to restrict patients, engage in obviously counter-therapeutic insults and hostility toward patients, seize the body of a patient, or force the person of the Plaintiff or another patient to be medically treated through battery and forced drugging – was a substantially motivating factor in the excessive force used by individual Defendants.
182.The excessive force used against Plaintiff on May 3, 2014, and again on
September 16, 2014, in retaliation for her protected conduct would deter a person of ordinary firmness from continuing to engage in the protected conduct.
183. All of these individual Defendanta and other staff participated in this use
of force as a means of retaliation for Plaintiff's exercise of her protected speech. None of the Defendants or other staff took reasonable steps to protect Plaintiff from this retaliation for the exercise of her protected speech. The individual Defendants are each liable for the injuries and damages resulting from the objectively unreasonable conduct that shocks the conscience of mankind.
184.Defendants engaged in the conduct described by this Complaint willfully,
maliciously, in bad faith, and in reckless disregard of Plaintiff's federally protected constitutional rights.
185.The acts or omissions of all individual Defendants were direct and
proximate causes behind Plaintiff's injuries and deprivation of her rights.
186. The individual Defendants acted in concert and joint action with each other.
187. The acts or omissions of Defendants as described herein intentionally deprived Plaintiff of her constitutional and statutory rights and caused her other damages.
188. Defendants are not entitled to qualified immunity for the complained of conduct.
189. The Defendants to this claim at all times relevant hereto were acting
pursuant to State/county custom, policy, decision, ordinance, regulation, widespread habit, usage, or practice in their actions pertaining to Plaintiff.
190. As a direct and proximate result of Defendants' unlawful conduct, Plaintiff
has suffered actual physical and emotional injuries, and other damages and losses as described herein entitling her to compensatory damages, in amounts in excess of the jurisdictional limit.
191. On information and belief, Plaintiff may suffer lost abilities to recover in the
environment where she resides in and may further suffer physical and emotional pain from ongoing and continued loss of society through the prolonged incarceration and remediation of false reports used to cover-up Defendants' retaliatory use of excessive force and unlawful forced drugging. Plaintiff is further entitled to attorneys' fees and costs pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §1988, pre-judgment interest and costs as allowable by federal law.
192. In addition to compensatory, economic and consequential, Plaintiff is
entitled to punitive damages against each of the individually named Defendants under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, in that the actions of each of these individual Defendants have been taken maliciously, willfully or with a reckless or wanton disregard of the constitutional rights of Plaintiff.
FOURTH CLAIM FOR RELIEF:
Violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 –Direct Orders and Deliberately Indifferent Policies, Practices, Customs, Training, and Supervision in violation of the Fourteenth and First Amendments
(Against Defendant State, Defendant Facility and Defendant Jeffrey Pharis.)
fully set forth herein.
195. Plaintiff in this action is a citizen of the United States and Defendants
to this claim are persons for purposes of 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
under the color of state law.
197. Plaintiff had the following clearly established rights at the time of the
complained of conduct:
a. the right to bodily integrity and to be free from excessive force and forcible drugging by State's staff under the Fourteenth Amendment;
b. the right to exercise her constitutional rights of free speech under the First Amendment without retaliation;
198. Defendant Jeffrey Pharis, Defendant Facility and Defendant State knew or should have known of these rights at the time of the complained of conduct as they were clearly established at that time.
199. The acts or omissions of these Defendants, as described herein, deprived Plaintiff of her constitutional and statutory rights and caused her other damages.
200. The acts or omissions of Defendants as described herein intentionally
deprived Plaintiff of her constitutional and statutory rights and caused her other damages.
202. Defendant Jeffrey Pharis, Defendant Facility and Defendant State were, at all times relevant, policymakers for the Defendant Facility, Defendant State and Defendant Facility, and in that capacity established policies, procedures, customs, and/or practices for the same and gave direct orders to violate the Plaintiff's rights in this case.
203. These Defendants ordered and committed the actions, developed and maintained policies, procedures, customs, and/or practices exhibiting deliberate indifference to the constitutional rights of citizens, which were direct and proximate causes behind the violations of Plaintiff's constitutional and federal rights as set forth herein and in the other claims, all of which resulted from a conscious or deliberate choice to follow a course of action from among various available alternatives.
204. Defendant Jeffrey Pharis, Defendant Facility and the Defendant State have ordered, created and tolerated an atmosphere of lawlessness, and have developed and maintained long-standing, institution-wide customs, punishment and enforcement related policies, procedures, customs, practices, and/or failed to properly train and/or supervise its staff in a manner amounting to deliberate indifference to the constitutional rights of Plaintiff and of the public.
205. In light of the duties and responsibilities of those staff that participate in controlling/redirecting the behavior of recipients of services and preparation of reports on alleged threats to others, the need for specialized training and supervision is so obvious, and the inadequacy of training and/or supervision is so likely to result in the violation of constitutional and federal rights such as those described herein that the failure to provide such specialized training and supervision is deliberately indifferent to those rights.
206. The unlawful orders and deliberately indifferent training and supervision provided by Defendant State, Defendant Facility and Defendant Jeffrey Pharis resulted from a conscious or deliberate choice to follow a course of action from among various alternatives available to Defendant State, Defendant Facility and Defendant Jeffrey Pharis and were direct and proximate causes in the constitutional and federal violation injuries complained of by Plaintiff.
has suffered actual physical and emotional injuries, continues to suffer present adverse effects and deprivations of her rights, and reasonably fears that she will suffer the same adverse effects and deprivations in the future, thereby entitling her to injunctive relief.
208. Plaintiff continues to suffer loss of opportunity and ability to recover in
the environment she resides in, and will further suffer physical and emotional pain from ongoing and continued loss of society through the prolonged incarceration and remediation of false reports used to cover-up Defendants' retaliatory use of excessive force and unlawful forced drugging. Plaintiff is further entitled to attorneys' fees and costs pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §1988, pre-judgment interest and costs as allowable by federal law.
209. Plaintiff seeks appropriate declaratory and injunctive relief pursuant to 42
U.S.C. § 1983 to redress Defendants' above described ongoing deliberate indifference in policies, practices, habits, customs, usages, training and supervision with respect to the rights described herein, and with respect to the ongoing policy and/or practice of the State in failing to investigate or appropriately handle complaints of the same, which Defendants have no intention for voluntarily correcting despite obvious need and requests for such correction.
VI. PRAYER FOR RELIEF
Plaintiff prays that this Court enter judgment for the Plaintiff and against each of the Defendants and grant:
A. compensatory and consequential damages, including damages for emotional distress, humiliation, loss of enjoyment of life, and other pain and suffering on all claims allowed by law in an amount to be determined at trial and in excess of the jurisdictional limit;
B. economic losses on all claims allowed by law;
C. punitive damages on all claims allowed by law against individual Defendants and in an amount to be determined at trial and in excess of the jurisdictional limit;
D. attorneys' fees and the costs associated with this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1988, including expert witness fees, on all claims allowed by law;
E. pre- and post-judgment interest at the lawful rate;
F. Court ordered equitable and injunctive relief from enforced drugging, battery or other staff policies or orders that would cause Plaintiff to be forcibly drugged; and,
G. any further relief that this court deems just and proper, and any other appropriate relief at law and equity.
PLAINTIFF REQUESTS A TRIAL BY JURY.
/s/ S. Randolph Kretchmar
One of the Attorneys for Plaintiff
Law Offices of Kretchmar and Cecala, PC.
1170 Michigan Avenue
Wilmette, IL 60091
s_randolph@earthlink.net
jcecala@expansionfunding.com
James Patrick Scared-and-Angry-Little-Boy Corcoran...
I became an attorney late in life primarily to advocate for the universal human right to refuse psychiatry. Twitter: @mentalhealthlaw


text:
Kaley Cuoco, Karl Cook, Johnny Galecki
Kaley Cuoco Getting Cozy With Johnny Galecki On 'The Big Bang Theory'; Boyfriend Karl Cook Jealous?
19 October 2016, 8:15 am EDT	By Michelle Guanzon Mobile & Apps
Kaley Cuoco recently found love with equestrian Karl Cook, but he is not the first guy to ride straight into her heart. The actress has been attached to a number of actors over the years, including her "The Big Bang Theory" co-star Johnny Galecki. This is why recent reports say that Cook is acting indifferent towards the on-screen relationship of his beau and Galecki.
According to one report, Cuoco could be cheating on Cook and may have decided to get back together with her ex-boyfriend Galecki.
To recall, real life exes Cuoco and Galecki threw wedding ceremony on the season opener of "The Big Bang Theory". Both played Penny and Leonard, respectively, on the CBS hit drama series.
The pair dated for almost two years off-sccreen and Cuoco, who claims they dated between 2008 and 2009 revealed details of their secret relationship.
"It was a wonderful relationship, but we never spoke a word about it and never went anywhere together," she said during an interview.
"Everyone was always asking, and we deny-deny-denied. And I'm like, "Why am I denying this person that I love?" the actress further added.
However, on her recent interview with Cosmopolitan interview, she made clear that they were just good as friends now.
"Johnny and I are very close now, but the worst part about that is I don't want stories like that, especially during this divorce, to hurt my ex. We have nods with each other. Johnny and I do this thing like a nod that says, 'I got you. I get it," the 30-year-old actress shared.
Moreover, the actress and her new love Karl Cook recent made their relationship red carpet official when they attended the Longines Masters Los Angeles Gala in Long Beach, CA, on Thursday debunking jealous and breakup rumors. The couple showed sweet PDA as they walked the carpet holding hands together.
We had a blast at last nights @longinesmasters opening gala !
"The Big Bang Theory" actress Kaley Cuoco, who was Johnny Galecki's ex, first linked to Karl Cook in March, just six month after the actress divorced tennis pro Ryan Sweeting.
'The Big Bang Theory' Massive Numbers; Actors' Salaries And Cost Per ...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Since 2016, the Veterans Lending Group (VLG) has put on live Veterans Administration Loan Bootcamp classes across the country in order to better educate military and veterans' communities about the VA Home Loan Benefits.
In conjunction with this educational initiative, VLG has created an On-Demand video class, which allows servicemembers who are deployed or very busy to learn about and understand their VA home benefits.
"We created the VA Home Loan Bootcamp after realizing that our military families did not understand how their VA Home Loan Benefit worked," said Brooke Villano, regional manager and one of the founders of VLG. "The power of the VA Loan is invaluable, and our military families need to know this."
Villano said that most servicemembers do not know that they can use the VA Loan more than once, can have multiple VA Loans at the same time, or that the VA Loan process does not have a minimum credit score requirement.
She also pointed out that there is no requirement for other lenders or realtors to have any special certification to work with military families on the mortgage and homebuying process.
"We believe this is a problem, thereby exposing our military families to harm and sometimes discrimination during the home-buying process," Villano added.
"We are bound and determined to educate as many realtors as possible in order to increase the level of awareness in the real estate community."
To address this perceived problem, VLG teaches about 12 to 18 live VA Home Loan Bootcamps and Realtor Education classes per month, mostly in the Puget Sound area.
As to the On-Demand feature of the boot camps, they can be taken anywhere in the world at any time of the day or night. Both the live and the On-Demand boot camps are offered free of charge.
In both types of classes, subject matter experts, veterans' advocates, educators and facilitators work to make sure that servicemembers understand their VA Home Loan benefits.
"The classes are primarily centered around the purchase of a home," continued Villano, "but we do briefly discuss options to refinance, including the VA Renovation Loan."
The programs are offered to those who have served in the military; however, VLG does welcome family members of military members and community advocates and partners to the classes.
VLG also offers one-on-one consultations to those who do not wish to take a class.
Villano described a client named Mike who had expressed an interest in renting. After talking with one of VLG's VA specialty realtors, Mike and his wife decided to take the online class. After taking the class, they opted to finance a house.
"They understood the feasibility of purchasing versus renting, and after evaluating the long-term benefits of home ownership, they found the perfect home," related Villano.
For more information on the calendar of live classes and the On-Demand class, visit vahomeloanbootcamp.com.


I recently learned a new word from my friend Charlee HM: scheming.
But the context in which she used it was her observation of the planning that AJ Martina and I were doing while on the recent Gothic Girl Art Magazine photoshoot with Charlee. And in that context, yes, AJ and I were scheming.
Scheming about our next photoshoot for that magazine. Scheming about the upcoming photoshoot for Steampunk Art Magazine. Scheming about Addiction, the upcoming short film for Null Paradox, our Interactive Rock Opera.
As it turns out: I like her word.
Scheming adds romance and a bit of darkness to what is commonly called strategy. I've been doing a lot of scheming. For years. It's fun and you should try it.
One of the schemes I've been working on is how to build a sustainable business from music.
As an artist, writing and performing original music seems to be a polar opposite to what cover/tribute bands do. The writer in me can't find the creativity in performing someone else's music. Yet, orchestras have been doing it for centuries as they find creative ways to interpret the works of Bach and Beethoven. What's the artistic difference between a cover/tribute band and an orchestra? It's still a big question mark in my mind.
With an original music project, the comfort of knowing the music in advance is much lower.
In a world with an almost insurmountable amount of noise in the form of the world-wide-web, getting the word out about music without going bankrupt is a true challenge. That's were scheming comes into play.
Short movies are convenient to watch when posted on YouTube. You don't have to go anywhere special to watch something posted on YouTube. This reduces the amount of time that I'm asking a person who I've never met to invest in an artist they've never heard of. It reduces the complexity of what we must achieve and brings it down to the manageable level of: building awareness.
And the way to achieve awareness that has shown success: short films and videos of live concerts. From the comfort of anywhere, anyone can decide if they want to take the next step: seeing the artist in person. It's a significant step, because you're asking a person to spend their time and money, but it's not quite as big of a step as simply saying: "come out and see artist XYZ" because they've seen the preview if they've checked out your video or short film.
Which brings us to selective performances. Yes, I have a scheme beyond selective performances, but that scheme is presently not financially viable. Instead, a small group of us is spending a lot of time finding cities where there are people who are interested in our performance. From there, we're building a small tour to road-test this scheme. If it's successful, we'll move to our bigger scheme.
As it turns out, Betty Riggs, my co-director in many projects had a similar idea about selective performances called: Listening Parties. So we partnered with Haute Is in Michigan and held a Null Paradox listening party in Michigan on 2018 March 3.
For our listening party, we played acoustic arrangements of our music after which DJ Royal-T played the recorded version. Then we took questions from our audience courtesy of The Bully's (Eric Scott Baker) cajoling skills.
We learned a lot! Many of the questions were related to what goes on behind-the-scenes of Null Paradox. Ironically, Betty and I are both introverts, so answering these types of questions is a challenge for us. But, we did learn and we'll get better at responding.
As I've written in a series of business articles, while it's easy to "like" something on [insert your favorite social media platform], engagement with people who are genuinely interested in being part of your project or business is low. It's easy to click "like," but HERE's why that has little value. So we stopped spending much time on social media with the exception of YouTube. While it's hard to capture the true feel of a live performance, video does come the closest. And for many groups and companies, YouTube is the best platform.
Because scheming is a challenge and it's fun!


Creme of Nature has earned the reputation of being one of the best ethnic hair care products on the market today. Featured in magazines such as Essence, Ebony and Spring Style, Creme of Nature offers organic hair and body care products. Their line is varied and has offerings such as relaxers, hair shampoo, hair conditioner, hair treatments styling products, hair colors and body lotions. They even offer a line with certified organic argan oil.
Argan oil is one of the latest ingredients to be introduced to modern beauty products. Its benefits have been known and used for centuries to those native to Morocco. It is often referred to as liquid gold. Its lightweight, age defying properties have made it the beauty must have. Creme of Nature has incorporated this wonderful oil into a line of products that will be a must have. Included in this line is a moisture and shine shampoo, an intensive conditioning treatment, strength and shine conditioner as well as an argan relaxer. Creme of Nature has taken all the benefits of this oil, fatty acids, vitamin E and antioxidants and has used them to give your hair the radiance and shine you want it to have. It's certified organic so you will have confidence using a product that you know is good for you and works magic with your hair.
They also have other treatments. Their jojoba and olive oil is a moisture-active deep conditioning treatment. It will help rid your scalp and hair of build-up, while providing the hydration that your hair needs. A Red Clover and Aloe Daily Breakage Relief by Creme of Nature can be used daily to help stop breakage and repair split ends. This will leave your hair looking and feeling the way that turns everyone else's heads.
If you are looking for a coloring product that will leave your hair with a natural looking color, but is also protect your hair as you color the Creme of Nature has the answer for you. They have a full line of colors available. The colorant includes certified organic ingredients that will pamper and hydrate your hair to protect it during the coloring process. You will have a brand new vibrant color with healthy beautiful hair. The line also includes shades for men.
We all know that it is not just our hair that needs the hydration. Our skin needs it as well and Creme of Nature has not left that out of their product line. Three wonderful body lotions are included in their line. Olive oil and lemon zest helps to revitalized dull skin. When using this you will notice a wonderful glow. African violet and Chamomile helps to protect, calm, soften and soothe your skin. Sweet Mandarin and Lemongrass will help your skin look and feel healthy.
Be sure to try these Creme of Nature products as well as the many others they have to offer. You will soon see why ethnic women demand these products when they go to salons and why they use them at home. Pamper your hair and your skin with certified organic products and you will never look or feel better. See our full slection of Creme of Nature .


text:
<?php

namespace Omnipay\Helcim\Message;

//use Omnipay\Common\Message\AbstractResponse;

/**
* Helcim Hosted Pages Complete Authorize Response
* Used by both authorize and purchase.
*/
class HostedPagesCompleteResponse extends AbstractResponse
{
    /**
     * Check if the response from the Hosted Pages indicates a successful authorisation.
     */
    public function isSuccessful()
    {
        // 1 = approved, 0 = declined
        return isset($this->data['response']) && $this->data['response'] == "1";
    }

    /**
     * This is the unique transaction ID generated by helcim.
     */
    public function getTransactionReference()
    {
        return isset($this->data['transactionId']) ? $this->data['transactionId'] : null;
    }

    /**
     * The notice contains warnings that the form may have generated, but which did not prevent
     * the payment being authorised.
     * The notices will be an array of text messages.
     */
    public function getNotice()
    {
        return isset($this->data['notice']) ? preg_split('/[\n\r]+/', $this->data['notice']) : array();
    }

    /**
     * Any custom fields the form may have POSTed.
     * This is the only point the application will get to capture them, so be fast.
     * The custom fields are an array keyed on the field name.
     * Checkbox type custom fields will be an array of selected checkbox values.
     */
    public function getCustom()
    {
        return isset($this->data['custom']) ? $this->data['custom'] : array();
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


For the week ending October 30th, I wrote a post on the state of the 4 major US stock market indices. This post included the Dow Jones Industrial Average, NASDAQ Composite, S&P 500, and the Russell 2000, as all were at or near important resistance levels.
These levels would provide clues as to whether the bullish sentiment was still intact or if the market was becoming exhausted.
The DJIA added +1.39% and has closed above trend line resistance that began in 2011.
The NASDAQ added +1.84% and has closed 5 consecutive weekly candles above trend line resistance that began in 2012.
The S&P 500 added +0.95% and has closed 3 consecutive weekly candles above trend line resistance that began in 2011.
The Russell 2000 added +3.26% and has closed above trend line resistance that began in 2011.
That said, in the following 4 charts, you'll see where all 4 stock market indices are entering into a tight zone where there is likely to be a tug-of-war between the bulls and bears.
In my opinion, swing and/or position traders should watch price very closely going into the Christmas buying season especially if and when they reach the current highs that can be seen on the charts (i.e. watch for breakouts). The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ are particularly close to those overhead levels now.
It's worth noting there are 843 companies reporting earnings the week of November 9th.


Interim Management Agreement means any Interim Management Agreement to be executed between the Parent and NWIP pursuant to Section 4.16A of the Joint Venture Agreement upon the occurrence of any "Change in Control" under and as defined therein.
This Agreement is terminable, without penalty, at any time, by the Manager, by the Board, or by vote of holders of a majority (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Portfolio's shares; or on 60 days' written notice by the Adviser, and will terminate five business days after the Adviser receives written notice of the termination of the Interim Management Agreement between the Trust and the Manager.
Snake River fall Chinook production for brood years 2005-2007 for the Lower Snake River Compensation Program at LFH, the Fall Chinook Acclimation Ponds, the Idaho Power Program, and the Nez Perce Tribal Hatchery as listed in the 2005-2007 Interim Management Agreement.
Or.), Order Adopting 2005- 2007 Interim Management Agreement For Upriver Chinook, Sockeye, Steelhead, Coho & White Sturgeon (May 11, 2005) (Doc.
Or.), Order Adopting 2005-2007 Interim Management Agreement For Upriver Chinook, Sockeye, Steelhead, Coho & White Sturgeon (May 11, 2005) (Doc.
Production levels for salmon and steelhead at LFH have been approved through the U.S. v Oregon (US v OR) 2005-2007 Interim Management Agreement.


text:
Home / Pockets of Hope
All posts tagged Pockets of Hope
ABC doco tells of pilgrimage to Poland
Australian musician Fay Sussman embarked on a moving pilgrimage to Poland, which has been recorded in a captivating documentary called Fay's Journey, set to screen on ABC's Compass program on March 24 at 6pm.
Child survivors teach life lessons
WHILE there are many thought-provoking portrayals of the Shoah, Last Witnesses, a documentary set to screen on ABC TV's Compass program this weekend, sets itself apart from other Holocaust films with its moving message that bears strong relevance to youth today.
Arts & Features News
Crowdfunding for a story of hope
TWO Sydney filmmakers and a klezmer singer have launched a crowdfunding campaign to enable the production of Pockets of Hope, a documentary film which tells an inspiring story they believe


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Agua Fria High School
530 E. Riley Road
www.aguafria.org
Agua Fria High School serves 1,761 students in grades 9-12.
The percentage of students achieving proficiency in math is 55-59% (which is higher than the Arizona state average of 45%) for the 2017-18 school year. The percentage of students achieving proficiency in reading/language arts is 40-44% (which is approximately equal to the Arizona state average of 44%) for the 2017-18 school year.
Agua Fria High School placed in the top 50% of all schools in Arizona for overall test scores (math proficiency is top 30%, and reading proficiency is top 50%) for the 2017-18 school year.
The student:teacher ratio of 20:1 is higher than the Arizona state level of 19:1.
Minority enrollment is 81% of the student body (majority Hispanic), which is higher than the Arizona state average of 62% (majority Hispanic).
Agua Fria High School's student population of 1,761 students has stayed relatively flat over five school years.
The teacher population of 90 teachers has declined by 6% over five school years.
Grades Offered Grades 9-12
Total Students 1,761 students
Agua Fria High School is ranked within the top 50% of all 2,111 schools in Arizona (based off of combined math and reading proficiency testing data) for the 2017-18 school year.
The diversity score of Agua Fria High School is 0.55, which is less than the diversity score at state average of 0.65. The school's diversity has stayed relatively flat over five school years.
School District Name Agua Fria Union High School District
The nearest high school to Agua Fria High School is West-mec - Agua Fria High School (0.0 miles away)
The nearest middle school and elementary school is Bradley Academy Of Excellence (0.1 miles away)
Avondale West-mec - Agua Fria High School Vocational School
Grades: 9-12
530 E. Riley
(623) 873-1860 0.0 9-12 n/a
Avondale Bradley Academy Of Excellence Charter School
200 North Dysart Road
Avondale Estrella High School Charter School
510 North Central Avenue
Avondale Imagine Avondale Elementary School Charter School
950 N. Elisio C. Felix Jr. Way
Avondale Imagine Avondale Middle School Charter School
950 North Eliseo C. Felix Jr.
See more public schools near to Agua Fria High School
Review Agua Fria High School. Reviews should be a few sentences in length. Please include any comments on:
Students: 1,761 students
Graduation Rate: 89% (Top 50% in AZ)
Overall Testing Rank: Top 50%
Math Proficiency: 55-59% (Top 30%)
Reading Proficiency: 40-44% (Top 50%)
Related School Videos
Agua Fria High School students skip class for a good cause
Agua Fria High School Winter Sport Highlights (Owl TV)
Verrado High School Girls Basketball vs Agua Fria High School
Paradise Valley High School Boys Soccer [0 - 1] Agua Fria High School
View more school videos
Related School News
Honor Our Heroes
posted on August 31, 2013 at 05:49:00 am
Right after graduating from Agua Fria High School in 1999, Gallegos enlisted in the U.S. Army as a ...
Pros and Cons of Sports Competition at the High School Level
Public School vs. Private School


The European Parliament has thrown out a proposal to impose a ship recycling levy on commercial vessels calling at ports in Europe, after objections from industry.
MEPs rejected their environment committee's recommendation to insert the tax into draft EU legislation meant to limit the risks of health and environmental damage from the dismantling of vessels.
The Parliament called instead on EU regulators to propose by the end of 2015 an incentive-based system to encourage safe ship recycling.
International shipowners' organisations said the provision was "an unacceptable tax on trade and will cause grave offence to the EU's trading partners".
Italian steel and engineering specialist Danieli has snapped up US company Riverside Products. The acquired business will adopt the name Danieli Riverside Products, with the Italian company taking control of primary facilities at Bettendorf in the US and satellite operations in the UK and China.
According to Danieli executive vice-president Emanuele Brusini, the Riverside product line and business units will be merged into the Danieli Centro Recycling division.
Riverside Products has been a supplier of highly engineered rotors and wear parts to the worldwide metals recycling industry for more than 50 years.
Germany wants companies to harvest metals, including rare earths, from recycled electronics as Europe's biggest economy seeks to become less dependent on imports.
Germany could significantly reduce rare earth imports if companies recycled products such as mobile phones and computer hard drives, said environment minister Peter Altmaier at a UN International Resource Panel in Berlin.
China, the biggest supplier of rare earth elements, announced in 2010 that it would limit production.
While companies are already recycling some electronics, they are mainly targeting gold and ignoring other potentially valuable metals, which are lost in the process, Altmaier said.
Germany has a target to double the efficiency with which it uses resources by 2020 from 1994 levels.
A year after a recycling plant, jointly administered by two cities in the western Japanese region of Kansai, started operations, it is being developed as a leisure park and tourist attraction.
Some 8,000 local people have already visited the plant, helping to raise awareness on protection of the environ-ment by recycling valuable metals and plastic waste.
Ahead of Gominohi - Refuse Day, being observed on 3 May in Japan - the plant was being spruced up with amusement facilities.
A joint Israeli-Palestinian environmental project is teaching children at 10 schools across East Jerusalem, Palestine, about environmental issues including recycling.
Between 15 and 20 million cubic metres of rubbish and sewage are dumped each year in the Kidron Valley, which is near historic sites.
The Kidron Valley Project is the product of co-operation between Israeli lawyers, grassroots organisation Only Green, Friends of the Earth Middle East and the Water Resources Action Project.
Several companies announced recycling initiatives and milestones to mark Earth Day on 22 April.
Coca-Cola has granted $2.59m (£1.7m) during the next five years to Keep America Beautiful, which will purchase more than 50,000 wheelie bins, expanding the scheme across Chicago.
Telecoms company CenturyLink said its recycling programme had exceeded 70 million pounds (32,000 tonnes) during 2007-12.
EcoScraps, an organic lawn and garden products manufacturer, said in the past 12 months it had diverted more than 14,000 tonnes of food waste from landfill.
Clothes recycling is going kerbside in more US towns as global prices rise for used apparel, shoes and linens.
Since September 2012, more than a dozen local governments - in Arizona, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington state - have begun kerbside pickup of textiles, often in special bags next to bins containing paper and cans.
New York City has put clothing collection bins in 250 apartment buildings in the past two years.
A southern California recycling and waste management company has pledged $500,000 (£322,000) to Orange Coast College's recycling centre.
The money from Stanton-based CR&R Waste and Recycling Services, plus $1.5m already pledged from Associated Students, will fund the centre's expansion.
This will include an educational centre, classrooms and increased parking. Visitors can drop off used electrical and electronic devices, as well as recyclable beverage containers, at the centre.
Supervisers in Riverside County, California, have signed off on an application seeking to have the county designated a Recycling Market Development Zone (RMDZ).
Eight cities, seven unincorporated communities and an airport within the county are recognised as belonging to an RMDZ, but the designation will expire in August. The Board of Supervisors wants it renewed, this time encompassing the entire county.
If state officials grant the request, manufacturing facilities within the RMDZ would be eligible to apply for annual loans up to $2m to purchase equipment and expand recycling schemes.
William Kabogo, governor of Kiambu county, Kenya, has vowed to initiate a law that will ensure that residents separate rubbish for easier collection and disposal.
The waste will be recycled for the generation of fertiliser that will be given to farmers to enhance production.
Rubbish sites will be managed by the county government. Kabogo warned that people caught dumping waste along the roadside will be prosecuted.


text:
> Button phobia treatment
Button phobia treatment
Phobias (from the Greek word for fear, Phobos) are categorised as anxiety disorders. While anxiety is a normal response to the possibility of the existence of danger, its 'fight or flight' mechanism can also spiral out of proportion to a presenting, or even imagined, threat.
Simple or specific phobias (concerned with objects or situations) are often developed in childhood, and linked to negative experiences or learned responses. Complex ones (like agoraphobia and social anxiety) usually develop during adulthood.
Symptoms of phobia induced panic attacks
The distressing physical symptoms of phobic panic include:
having difficulty breathing
feeling pain in the chest
a rapid heartbeat
feeling sick
feeling faint, confused, or disoriented
Fear of buttons: what are the signs?
Koumpounophobia (fear of buttons) is one of the more difficult specific phobias to understand or rationalise. It is believed that an exaggerated and debilitating reaction to being in the presence of buttons could be caused by:
a harsh word or traumatic experience
an aversion to germs
fear of ingestion
anxiety replacement
a genetic disposition
It could be one or a combination of these factors, and a person may also suffer from several other phobias at the same time. There may be no understandable reason for a phobia to develop, but explanation or not, koumpounophobia affects around 75,000 people in the world today. The most famous of these was Steve Jobs, whose phobia has shaped our modern world. His aversion to buttons led to his invention of the button-free 'pro mouse' and the touch screen, two of Apple's most remarkable successes. But most people are not in a position to change the world to accommodate them.
How to tackle button phobia
So what to do with a child who is faced with the imminent prospect of dressing to go to school? Or how to help a student moving up a grade that requires a uniform that involves buttons? What about adults who panic when they're too close to someone wearing buttons? There are several avenues to explore; the most recommended ones are:
cognitive hypnotherapy (which involves modulating thought processes)
exposure therapy with progressive desensitisation
relaxation techniques, including hypnotherapy and mindfulness
the neurolinguistic programming (NLP) fast phobia rewind technique
medication for anxiety (anti-depressants, tranquillisers, beta-blockers)
Not included in this standard list, however, is eye movement desensitisation reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, an approach more than worth mentioning.
What is EMDR, and how can it help with Koumpounophobia?
EMDR is an evidence-based form of psychotherapy, based on research published by Francine Shapiro in 1989. Since 2004 it has been recommended as an effective treatment for trauma in the practice guidelines of The World Health Organisation (WHO), The International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, The American Psychiatric Association, and, in the UK, by The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Although it was originally developed to treat adults, it is also now used to treat trauma PTSD and phobias in children and adolescents.
The goal of EMDR is to reduce the long-lasting effects of distressing memories and relieve presenting symptoms. The method utilises a specific eight-phase approach which includes having the client recall distressing images, while simultaneously receiving one of several types of bilateral sensory input. The bilateral stimulation could be side to side eye movements produced by following a finger, object, or light. The stimulation can also be produced by listening to a bilateral sound or experiencing bilateral touch (left and right knees or hands, for example, being alternatively tapped).
In brief, the eight phases, according to Francine Shapiro, are as follows;
Phase one: History taking, identifying possible targets and developing a treatment plan.
Phase two: Helping the client create a 'safe state or place' of calm, relaxation and self-control so they can handle emotional distress
Phases three-six: Identifying and processing the target using EMDR procedures and bilateral stimulation
Phase seven: Debrief and closure
Phase eight: Examining progress and moving forward
There has been controversy as to how or why EMDR works. The prevalent view is that the process artificially creates a natural process that was interrupted, ineffectively processed, or perhaps has relegated a memory to the 'wrong' part of the brain. Since initial controlled studies were published in 1989, hundreds of case studies and several controlled outcome studies have been published.
Despite debates on how it is practised and questions about its efficacy, the results have often been astounding. Whereas CBT was primarily promoted for phobia treatment (using graduated exposure), EMDR serves to uncover traumatic connections, resolving the trauma and thus the resultant phobia. In one to five sessions, EMDR can make life-altering changes.
One could ask what would have happened in the IT world if Steve Jobs had sought EMDR help for his button phobia? For today's children and adults alike, it is wondrous to know that they no longer need to be paralysed by the fear of objects or situations. Goodbye to button phobia, and goodbye to all phobias!
Find a hypnotherapist dealing with Phobias
Phobias: How to deal with the fear
Let's discuss what a phobia is and how having hypnotherapy can help. Fear is a natural response caused by...
Learn common phobias and how to identify if you have one
Let me be clear about one thing, if you have a phobia and it is uncommon your response to the thing you fear is...
Juliet Hollingsworth