DCM managing director and investor Wei Meng passed away unexpectedly on August 16.
Two days before her death, she fell into a class at a training institution called LEGACY.
For a time, the topic of whether Wei Meng's death was related to the "coaching technique course" he attended was widely discussed.
Wei Meng’s husband, relatives and friends have stated through LEGACY’s official WeChat account and the media that Wei Meng’s claim that Wei Meng died as a result of the “Mind Control” course is seriously misrepresented.
The truth of his death remains unknown.
Many witnesses who have participated in a similar "coaching technique course" here voiced that some people did withdraw from the course because of the discomfort brought about by the course; some people fell into self-doubt when the psychological defense line was breached in the course; some people lost their wealth due to indulging in it. .
In an interview with a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily, some psychology professionals questioned the professionalism of such courses; some in the legal profession believed that whether this type of training meets the country's relevant requirements for adult education and training is worth exploring .
Participants call each other "family" and "contribute" to others by pointing out their shortcomings
Some students said that participating in the course is not for psychological healing, but just to try a new "possibility."
However, the course "will be designed through some links to guide students to explore the more painful corners or deep memories in their hearts, and then release them."
According to the workshop schedule published on the LEGACY official website, the courses are divided into self-consciousness (including 3 nights plus two full days), leap (including 5 full days), mileage (also known as leadership, including 3 weekends) and wisdom Spring (including 4 weekends) 4 stages.
Wei Meng fainted during the "Flying Force" course.
The courses are divided into theoretical lectures and scene-experienced interactions. There is a coach, a teaching assistant, and several team leaders.
It is said that the group leader is strictly selected from the students who have completed the "mileage" stage of the course.
Xiao Jing is a dropout student.
At the same time, the students included entrepreneurs, corporate employees, insurance personnel, and self-employed individuals. There were not many people from investment banks.
Regarding whether there is an "insult" link in the course, Xiaojing believes that the course is "not insulting."
The second stage of the "Leaping Power" course is to break the inherent belief of oneself, "Game design is at the edge of the student's comfort zone, encouraging students to make breakthroughs, it is indeed a challenging environment."
In the course, the coach asks the students to call each other "family", and "family members" must "contribute" to each other.
The form of contribution is "let everyone point out some of his possible shortcomings from the perspective of helping students improve."
The coach uses "experience" to describe this link, that is, in an atmosphere of love, speak out the "experience" of the other person to help the "family" break through.
Since the students themselves do not have the corresponding professional knowledge and experience, "experience" will often turn into "criticism" and constitute a psychological burden.
The intensity of the course content in the first three stages gradually increases, and there are many similar offensive experiences in the course.
During the "mileage" stage of activities, Xiao Jing felt unwell and asked to withdraw from the class.
The tuition fee of 16,000 yuan for the "mileage" stage has been refunded.
In Xiaojing’s view, in the course, participants need to eliminate negative influences on their own. “But some young people themselves are a blank piece of paper, and some unknown people have drawn pictures on it in the name of love and contribution. The traces underneath are not so easy to absorb or remove."
Xiao Jing does not know whether the coaches and teaching assistants have professional qualifications in psychology.
The professional team currently listed on the official website of LEGACY does not have her coach.
In Xiaojing's view, on the one hand, the course has indeed played a role in better handling of interpersonal relationships; on the other hand, problems in the setting of the experience link will also have a negative impact on the students.
After dropping out of class, it took her a few days to get her emotions back to normal.
Xiaoxin, who had participated in the LEGACY course in Shenzhen, quit in the second stage.
In the first stage, he still felt rewarded, but in the "Leaping Power" stage, he was asked to recall the harm his parents brought to him, recall his unfulfilled promises, and constantly deny himself.
In the follow-up lifeboat game, they will also simulate the "life and death" in extreme situations. A ticket represents a chance to live, whether to transfer or not, if not, some students will experience the cruelty of obliterating life.
Acquaintance advance payment is a common way for similar courses to bring the old to the new
Xiaonan often reflects on the "problems" of her own body. She thought these were all trivial things, but in a chat, a friend suddenly recommended her to take a course that "can help you face many problems directly."
At first, Xiao Nan didn't believe it, and kept saying that he had no money.
Last month, a friend suddenly told her that she had already paid her a tuition fee of more than 4,000 yuan for the first stage, so she must try.
Later, she learned that advance payment is a common way for veteran students of this type of course to recruit new students.
Xiaonan also participated in the so-called "coaching technique course". In the course, the oppression mechanism is ubiquitous.
On the first day of the course, everyone must swear an oath, "Cannot eat, cannot play with mobile phones, and cannot tell anyone the content of the course."
The coach reads the oaths one by one. Those who agree to take the oath stand up, and those who disagree sit down.
When someone didn't stand at first, the coach said, "There are still people who didn't stand up."
As a result, everyone looked at each other to find out who had the problem.
Later, the coach read every oath, and everyone stood up and took the oath.
Any behavior that does not comply with the curriculum regulations will be defined as "non-observance of the oath" and will be blamed.
Each seat corresponds to a person. An aunt changed her seat because the air conditioner was blowing cold. The coach criticized her in public for a long time.
After the aunt quit the class, the coach pointed to the vacant position and said that she did not speak credit, "her child will definitely not succeed in the future."
There is also a link for students to shout out what they want, "There is an indicator that you must cry. If you don't cry, it proves that the subconscious has not been released."
In such an environment, anyone could cry. In the end, everyone's shouts and howls echoed in the classroom for a long time.
The coach will point out the students' shortcomings according to their own logic.
The "red and black game" on the second day of the course is one of the most typical content of this type of course.
In the memories of LEGACY students, the principle of this game is similar to the prisoner's dilemma in game theory.
No matter what choices the students make, they will be judged morally.
From this time on, Xiao Nan began to wonder if he was really selfish.
On the third night, during the one-on-one tutoring session, the coach stared at her and pointed out, "You dye your hair like this to show that you like to attract attention" and "self-righteous, high above."
At first, Xiao Nan was so angry that she stood up and slammed the door out, but after listening, she began to wonder if she really had a problem?
In later courses, she and the trainees referred to each other as "family", fell into a warm and loving mania, and worked enthusiastically to complete various weird tasks together.
The coach deliberately portrays himself as a flawless "leader."
He often tells the students, "Be an ordinary person or a leader" and "If you want to become a leader, you must continue this lesson."
On the morning of the fifth day, the trainees were urged to pay more than 10,000 yuan to continue the next stage of the course.
They "either sign up or be surrounded and persuaded."
Xiao Nan recalled that for at least 20 minutes, the door of the room was locked, and they couldn't get out at all, so Xiao Nan had to pay the fee.
After the fee was refunded, her former classmates kept coming to contact her and said, "You can't give up her."
As for whether there will be a rebate for this kind of offline behavior, Xiao Nan asked a few students who came to persuade them. The other side said yes for a while and no after a while, just "really good for you."
In fact, recruiting more trainees is also the task that veteran trainees must complete in the second and third stages of the course.
At the beginning of the course, Xiao Nan wrote down 8 points for herself. Four days later, at the end of the course, she only gave 4 points.
The self-evaluation scores of other trainees are also greatly reduced.
As for whether the coach will be responsible for the psychological reconstruction of the trainees after the psychological destruction phase, according to the organization, it is necessary to pay a fee to register for the next phase of the course.
After the Wei Meng incident, screenwriter Li Yaling questioned such organizations.
She said that when she was working as an investigative reporter for the media in 2007, she reported that there were trainees in Chengdu who crashed into a train and committed suicide after class.
In 2013, an entrepreneur in Guangzhou was forced to drown in the water by other trainees in this kind of course.
Li Yaling said: "99.9% of people will experience varying degrees of psychological trauma after attending this class. Because these are a group of professionals who have mastered psychological attacks. (The person who inspired you to attend the class) join forces to initiate group oppression against individuals with other students!"
Is "coaching technology course" training or consulting
Shen Cheng is one of the organizers of the anti-coaching technology charity community.
In 2015, two of his friends joined the "coaching technique course" one after another. One of them behaved abnormally after the course, was diagnosed with persecution delusion and mania and was admitted to the hospital.
Since then, he has learned about and joined the mutual aid group for victims of coaching technology, and together with everyone, he has formed an anti-coaching technology charity organization.
From more than 60 people in 2016 to now, there are more than 400 people in the group.
In the group, there are victims of the "coaching technique course" and their relatives and friends, as well as former mentors and former employees of related institutions.
The main work of the core members of the public welfare community is to promote anti-coaching techniques on social media and provide assistance to those who come to consult.
It is understood that in terms of qualifications, most coaching technical organizations have not obtained the qualification for "opening classes", but they still organize training, charge tuition, and issue invoices and receipts, which are full of loopholes.
Such institutions are generally registered as "business consulting companies" or "adult training platforms", package group courses as "corporate consulting" and issue invoices for "non-academic training", so it is difficult to supervise them.
In the daily chats in the group, someone told about their bad experiences in detail. For example, their spouse was addicted to "coaching skills courses" and spent their savings at home, and emotionally broke with themselves.
There are often employees of "coaching technology courses" who enter the community undercover, using words to try to "inspire" everyone to participate in the training.
According to Shen Cheng, there are many institutions in China that offer courses based on coaching technical training, and the qualifications of various “coaches” who teach and organize courses are still vague.
The International Coach Federation (ICF) is the world's largest professional coaching organization, founded in 1995, its purpose is to give credibility to emerging professions, so that coaches can connect with each other.
As of press time, the ICF official website shows that in mainland China, only 117 people have officially obtained the PCC (Professional Coach) qualification, and only 9 people have officially obtained the MCC (Master Coach) qualification.
A paper by Wang Qing, a psychologist from East China Normal University and Beijing Normal University, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology in 2019, mentioned that there is no formal coaching psychology education, training, supervision and guidance in China. Qualified organization.
In July of this year, the General Office of the Ministry of Education issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Management of Social Adult Education and Training", mentioning that social adult education and training institutions strictly carry out education and training in accordance with the business scope determined by the private school license or legal person registration certificate. Education and training are carried out in the name of consulting, scientific and technological consulting, technical consulting, enterprise management consulting, etc.
Currently, Beijing Chengquan Cultural Development Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of LEGACY, has temporarily closed its doors and ceased operations.
Tianyancha shows that the company's business scope includes organizing cultural and artistic exchange activities (excluding chess and cards), undertaking exhibitions; economic and trade consulting, business management consulting, public relations services, education consulting, etc.
Some members of the legal profession suggested that it should be investigated whether Beijing Chengquan Cultural Development Co., Ltd. is engaged in training activities or education consulting. The two are in different business scopes.
According to media reports on the 19th, the Beijing Tongzhou District Market Supervision Bureau is investigating the company.
(In order to protect the privacy of interviewees, the names of interviewees in the text are all pseudonyms)
Intern Chen Huiqi China Youth Daily · China Youth Daily reporter Hu Ning Source: China Youth Daily