AFCC Conference: Dr. Regina Marshall & Dr. Shawn McCall
During the plenary session of the AFCC conference on Friday night, Dr. Regina Marshall stood up and gave an impassioned plea to the audience about “something needing to be done” to address the ‘online crazies’ who are waging online attacks against family court professionals. Judge Gould-Saltman was on dais as a presenter and listened intently as Dr. Marshall spoke. Both are tied to the alienation industry.
Dr. Marshall believes that professional organizations need to step up and protect providers like her from negative online reviews and from unsavory things being written. Dr. Marshall finds these “online mobs” to be uneducated and ill-equipped to be speaking about these topics.
I believe what Dr. Marshall meant to say is that she is uncomfortable that a young lady by the name of Maya Laing exposed her and that as a result of Maya’s bravery, people around the world are demanding an investigation, accountability and justice.
Dr. Regina Marshall is the reunification therapist on the case of Maya and Sebastian Laing out of Santa Cruz County, California. In October of 2022, Maya publicly spoke out about her experience with Dr. Marshall (videos below). Maya made claims that Dr. Marshall was dismissive about the abuse she allegedly suffered and said that Dr. Marshall called her names (“liar” and “crazy”). Shortly after Maya spoke out on Instagram, the children were violently removed from their grandmother’s home and sent to a highly controversial camp owned by Lynn Steinberg. Dr. Regina Marshall also participated in this 4-day reunification camp.
Instagram post by Maya Laing - regarding her experience with Dr. Marshall
At the conference Friday night, Dr. Regina Marshall stated:
“To do this work is hard enough -there are greater forces than any of us individuals can handle. Our professional groups need to address this problem because if they don’t, who wants to be in this field. No one wants to get these kinds of messages on their voicemail, letters from other mental health professionals who are anonymous, who are like saying vitriolic horrible, hateful things to you about something they don’t know anything about and it’s much bigger than all of us. I am really hoping that the presidents from all the different associations will respond to us and look at how to evaluate and access and figure out this problem and do something about it - because no one is going to want to do it (this work).”
Dr. Shawn McCall and Dr. Regina Marshall continued this conversation at the conference on Saturday, February 11, 2023. I was fascinated as I listened to them speak, oblivious to how they were presenting. They were so consumed with the desire to preserve their professional images that their masks were completely missing. So consumed by self-interest, unaware of how they were being perceived.
Dr. McCall stated,
“Licensing boards, professional organizations or a combination thereof… there needs to be some kind of ability for the profession to at least put up a minimal response up for the public to see - these are complex issues but only one side is presented and the court of public opinion might not have a full understanding. I'm certainly not saying that any professional organization needs to take our side or anything like that but at least put out some of tempering message that there is more than what just one side is putting out. That often times the other side needs to listen to the sage advice of their lawyer about, ‘don’t post anything online.’ So what happens is a firestorm gets started and is really unstoppable in a lot of ways.
Dr. Marshall and I have recently submitted a letter to a number of the organizations, AFCC, APA, CPA, Board of Psychology, Trust (inaudible) (insurance policy) saying that there is an outdated approach that doesn’t really fully address the professional’s needs in these situations.
My final thoughts, It is more, I think, for the integrity of the field…in that if there are no practitioners, because no one wants to enter, because what can happen to you, the kids out there will be left vulnerable and untreated. So ultimately, when you talk about who is going to be the person suffering the most out of this - its the kids in the situation. We talk a lot about self care and how you deal with the stress- sometimes its more than meditating or going for a run, sometimes its standing up and drawing our own boundaries in the world about what is acceptable for our profession and what’s not, in a more assertive way.”
Since Dr. McCall shared his final thoughts, I will share mine:
The tide is turning.
They are shaken to their core and they are exposed. They're stating that “no one is going to want to do this work,” and that is a beautiful thing because the work they are doing is not in children’s best interest. The industry they work in is the multilevel marketing (MLM) scheme of our lifetime; it is the alienation industry.
McCall isn''t worried about the kids who will be, "left vulnerable and untreated,” that is blatant manipulation weaved into his final thoughts. These professionals are more focused on their own image than they are about children.
Dr. Marshall is deeply worried abut her online presence and Yelp reviews. The worldwide exposure on the topic of reunification therapy and reunification camps will have a direct impact on their pocketbooks.
The world is standing up and drawing a boundary of what is acceptable when it comes to the treatment of children in the family court system. We are drawing a boundary when it comes to ethical professionals in the family court system. The fact that this was the topic of conversation during two different AFCC sessions gives me hope that our boundary is being seen and that as advocates, we are being heard.
