State licensing officials have announced they are going after the licenses of the two heads of an Orem therapy clinic that has recently been caught up in a furor over the water intoxication death of a 4-year-old Springville girl.
Investigators with the Utah Attorney General's Office filed petitions Wednesday against Lawrence Lee VanBloem and Jennie Murdock Gwilliam, who head the Cascade Center for Family Growth.
According to the petition, VanBloem and Gwilliam face 14 counts of professional and ethical code violations stemming from the center's controversial form of "compression holding therapy."
Based on reports by several former parent clients of Cascade, the state alleges that VanBloem and Gwilliam practiced a combined form of child and massage therapy that placed children in both physical and emotional danger. The two therapists are also accused of failing to document treatments adequately and failing to obtain adequate parental consent for holding-therapy sessions.
According to VanBloem's statement to investigators, holding-therapy sessions are administered to 60 to 70 percent of child patients, who fail to bond with their parents. Gwilliam also told the state she used holding therapy to treat children for a variety of other conditions, including sexual abuse and bipolar disorder.
According to the state's description, the child is placed with his or her back to the floor. VanBloem then lies on top of the child to restrict the child's breathing and to induce "belly breathing." With his face near the child, the therapist maintains eye contact. "Depending on the size and strength of the child client . . . VanBloem utilizes other staff members and/or other therapists of the Cascade Center to restrain the child by methods including sitting on the child's legs or wrapping the child in a blanket," the petition states.
The state alleges VanBloem then uses his hands and knuckles to press into the child's abdomen and ribs, causing pain. VanBloem characterizes such action as "deep tissue massage," but when a state investigator asked him for a demonstration, "Respondent demonstrated 'deep tissue massage' on the arm of the investigator, causing pain to the investigator."
VanBloem says he encourages the child to scream and vocalize pain, which he characterizes as emotional pain, not physical pain.
The mother of one 8-year-old girl, named only as Claire, reported to investigators finding bruises on her daughter after therapy sessions. The mother said VanBloem used his hands to "press into Claire's ribs and abdomen."
"During one clinical session, Respondent (VanBloem) wrapped Claire tightly in a sheet, restraining her arms flat against her sides and leaving only her head and feet exposed," the petition says.
Neither VanBloem nor Gwilliam were licensed to do massage prior to June 2000, according to the document.
Investigators found the sessions also left the girl physically exhausted, the petition says. Therapists also required the girl to clean the facility's bathroom and floor. "Said staff applied procedures of restraint, painful physical contact and verbal confrontation if children failed to perform said tasks satisfactorily."
Many staff members were not licensed as therapists, the petition states.
The mother alleges VanBloem failed to provide her with any information about treatment or a professional basis for what he was doing. The state petition reports that over a six-month period, the mother was billed $1,485 a month for services.
State officials say VanBloem's techniques are "not based upon generally recognized psychotherapeutic and professional social work principles, methods and procedures." They go on to say that lying on top of a child can not only cause emotional trauma, especially in sexually abused children, but can risk asphyxiation, organ damage and impaired cardiac function.
Scott Thompson, spokesman for the Utah Department of Commerce, said VanBloem has 30 days to respond to the allegations. VanBloem could not be reached for comment by press time Thursday. VanBloem has said that the state action is part of a political conspiracy against him in light of the death of 4-year-old Cassandra Killpack.
Child abuse homicide and child abuse charges were filed earlier this week against the girl's adoptive Springville parents, Richard and Jennete Killpack, for allegedly forcing water down the girl's throat as punishment for taking a sibling's soft drink.
In a rare condition known as water intoxication, prosecutors say the overabundance of water in Cassandra Killpack's system caused her brain to swell, killing her.
The couple, who recently appeared on national television, denied intentionally harming their adopted daughter and blamed their actions on the advice of Cascade and VanBloem.
The Utah County Attorney's Office says after a three-month investigation that it found no evidence that Cascade therapists gave such advice. VanBloem denies the couple's allegation.
The couple is scheduled to appear in 4th District Court Dec. 6.
E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com