Complaint Review: Depression and Anxiety Peer Support Group Calgary

WARNING TO PEOPLE CONSIDERING JOINING DAAPS: Before you entrust Alan Eastman to be your counselor you should know about the deceptive claims he makes.

I was searching online for a support group for my mother in Calgary, AB and came across the Depression and Anxiety Peer Support Group at http://daaps.webs.com. The group is run by a person who calls himself Dr. Alan Eastman. When I looked into his credentials I discovered that his so-called doctoral degrees are from 'degree mills', or unaccredited and disreputable organizations. For example, he claims to have a PhD in Psychology, but the degree is from Lacrosse University, Bay St. Louis, MS, which has been completely discredited and is a degree mill (see http://www.geteducated.com/diploma-mill-police/degree-mills-list/lacrosse-university-accreditation). In Alberta, where Eastman is running his scam, it is illegal to use the title 'Doctor' when offering health services (counselling in this case) unless you have the required degrees (valid ones, that is) and are registered with the relevant regulatory colleges, which Eastman is definitely not (I checked).

On another site (http://alaneastman.com/dreast.html), Eastman claims to be a licensed Psychological Assistant and implies that the license is from the College of Alberta Psychologists (the following text appears in a number of his websites: College of Alberta Psychologists license #0343). I checked into this and found that Alan Eastman is not registered with the College of Alberta Psychologists and they havent registered Psychological Assistants for many years. Thus it appears that Alan Eastman is purposely trying to mislead potential clients by advertising himself as being a registered clinician.

Alan Eastman also makes deceptive claims in order to pass himself off as an academic and scholar. He claims that he was a professor at Breyer State University (http://www.hypnosiscanada.com), which is another unaccredited and disreputable school(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breyer_State_University). No legitimate academic would consider Breyer State University to be a bona fide institution, and the fact that Alan Eastman presents Breyer State as a valid school demonstrates that he is either supremely ignorant or that he is intentionally trying to deceive people. Either way, it calls into question Eastmans judgment and character.

Alan Eastman also runs a distance learning website, called Trafalgar Distance Learning Institute, that offers degrees (bachelors to doctorate level) without the necessary authorization from the Alberta Provincial Government, which is ILLEGAL. The degrees that TDLI issues are totally invalid and would be considered a joke by counselling and psychology regulatory bodies. Alan Eastman attempts to pass off Trafalgar Distance Learning Institute as being in some way officially recognized by a higher authority (The Professional Board of Hypnotherapy). People should know that Alan Eastman is President of both Trafalgar Distance Learning Institute AND The Professional Board of Hypnotherapy, which suggests that he either doesnt care about conflict of interest or he is intentionally misleading potential students.

Alan Eastman is a scam artist who is taking advantage of people who are looking for a trustworthy, caring person to help them. Would you want this man to be your counselor?