"Psychopolitics": Inside The Independence Party Of Fred Newman, Part Four

In Part Four of her special series on Manhattan Independence Party leader Fred Newman, NY1's Rita Nissan examines how Newman's controversial therapeutic approach, called Social Therapy, is being promoted at a Brooklyn high school.

NY1/November 3, 2005
By Rita Nissan

At Erasmus High School in Brooklyn, there's a concern over what some students are learning. Besides math, science and English, some get a dose of Social Therapy.

It's a controversial therapeutic approach, promoted at the mental health center on campus, that was created by Fred Newman, a man with no formal training in psychology.

"It's a mode of therapy which denies the concept of individual change," Newman explains. "Instead it speaks of development and growth and focuses on growth as a way of people helping themselves with their emotional problems, as opposed to change. And it's very group oriented."

But people who have studied Social Therapy say it has no place in public schools. They say it's a recruiting tool to lure people into Newman's cult.

"It's a bait and switch," says Erika Van Meir, a former Social Therapy intern. "People think they are going for therapy, and you end up working for Fred Newman."

The mental health center at Erasmus opened 13 years ago through a partnership with Brooklyn Hospital. After agreeing to let NY1's cameras in, the hospital canceled our interview, refusing to be a part of this story.

A spokesperson claims the program is not linked to Social Therapy. But NY1 has learned otherwise.

A social therapist, Barbara Silverman, runs the center. And on the website of Newman's clinic, The East Side Center for Group and Short Term Psychotherapy, the Erasmus center is called an "award-winning social therapy-influenced" program.

Also, NY1 has learned therapists from a Newman-related health clinic in Los Angeles were sent to Erasmus last year for training in Social Therapy. According to the itinerary, the therapists spent the first day at Newman's clinic, the second day at Newman's youth charity, the All Stars Project, and a third day at the Erasmus Mental Health Center.

Cheryl Moch recently graduated from the Hunter College School of Social Work. She says Erasmus students were brought to one of her classes last year to demonstrate social therapy, accompanied by their mental health director, Barbara Silverman.

"They presented the work they were doing in group therapy, what they did in their lunch time or in their free periods," Moch recalls. "After, she distributed literature that said 'East Side Center' and 'Social Therapy' and 'Fred Newman.'"

Moch says she went home, did her homework, and became deeply disturbed. A few months later, Moch says, Silverman brought the students back.

Moch says she's especially concerned because she's an Erasmus graduate and is convinced that Social Therapy is tied to a cult.

"I'm left wondering – this is a public high school with poor kids," Moch says. "No one seems to care what these social therapists are doing with these kids."

The Department of Education says it has nothing to do with the mental health center. A spokesperson says principals are free to set up their own programs.

But after NY1 brought the allegations to light, a department spokesperson says a meeting will be held soon with the four principals on campus to discuss them.

Barbara Silverman did not return our phone calls.

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