By: David Bloomberg Re: Licensing From _Skeptics UFO Newsletter_ (SUN), Jan. 1996, by Phil

By: David Bloomberg
Re: Licensing

From _Skeptics UFO Newsletter_ (SUN), Jan. 1996, by Philip J. Klass:

            Abduction Therapist Boylan Seeks To Regain License

    The Sacremento (Calif.) Superior Court will soon consider the request of
prominent UFO abduction therapist Richard J. Boylan that it overturn the action
of the California Board of Psychology which last August revoked Boylan's
psychotherapist license [SUN #35/Sept. 1995].  Boylan, who in late 1993
established the Academy of Certified Close Encounter Therapists (ACCET) to
train other psychotherapists in how to treat "abductees," claims he himself has
experienced a UFO abduction.

    The Psychology Board's action was prompted by complaints filed by three of
Boylan's female patients, identified in the report by their initials: D.W.,
D.S., and K.G.  After 20 days of hearings in late 1994 and early 1995, the
Board concluded that Boylan had "abused his role as a therapist and was grossly
negligent...in imposing his personal views on the existence of
extraterrestrials into the dreams and memories of D.W. and D.S."  The Board
concluded that Boylan had "committed gross negligence" in violation of business
and professions codes when he:

*   "Invited D.W. to his home in Nov. 1992 and engaged in nude hot tubbing
[and] when he gave D.W. a massage in his hotel room in Las Vegas."

*   "Invited K.G. to his home in Dec. 1991 and engaged in nude hot tubbing
[and] when he bartered therapy for nude massages from K.G."

    However, the board did _not_ conclude that Boylan's act of inviting D.S.
and K.G. to Harbin Hot Springs for nude therapy sessions constituted gross
negligence.  Nor did the Board conclude that Boylan had engaged in "sexual
misconduct" with any of the three women.

    The Psychology Board report noted that Boylan "has been involved in
counseling for about 30 years, first as a Catholic priest and later as a
licensed therapist...He is married and the father of two and the stepfather of
two.  At the time of the Accusation...[Boylan] was president of the Sacremento
Valley Psychological Association."

    Boylan called SUN on Oct. 13 because of an item that appeared in the Sept.
issue which might be construed as indicating that he recommended nude hot tub
therapy for "abductees."  This, he said, was not true.

    Boylan provided SUN with a lengthy rebuttal to the Psychology Board's
charges and actions in which he claimed he was a victim of those seeking to
perpetuate a "UFO cover-up."  Boylan charged that "the engineers of the UFO
Cover-Up fear, resent, and have not been able to refute the data I have exposed
about UFO reality, the extraterrestrial presence, secret U.S.-UFO
manufacturing, the literal Star Wars object of the SDI [Strategic Defense
Initiative] program, and the covert apparatus behind the UFO Cover-Up.
Therefore, they have selected their chief alternative strategy: to smear and
discredit this researcher, with sensationalized and reputation-destroying
allegations, in the hope of terminating my credibility and professional
reputation."