Goldfraud!
I have no choice but to tell my story.
I live my life guided by strong ethics and a passion for justice for all beings in our society.
I am aware of the consequences that may arise for speaking out but I am writing this to warn others and to send a strong message to the woman that will be discussed in this piece.
In November 2013 I was studying Autism at University College Cork Ireland.
As a mother to Autistic children, I always suspected that I too was on the spectrum.
One evening studying in class I listened to my Lecturer talk about her own experience of being diagnosed with Aspergers.
I could relate to so much of what she was saying and it was at that moment I decided to seek a possible diagnosis.
I looked up Psychologists in Ireland who were offering Autism assessments in the private sector.
I knew I would be waiting a very long time if I went the public route and at the age of 42 I wanted to know if I was on the Autistic spectrum.
There were not many Psychologists in the private sector but I found a few.
I felt more comfortable going to a female Psychologist and felt they may have a better understanding of females on the Autistic spectrum.
I found a lady Psychologist in Dublin and called her and was due to attend her, however one evening I came across a website based in Cork closer to where I live.
It was called the Apex Clinic, see below.
I looked at a list of their team and found the most amazing Bio of a woman called Dr. Caroline Goldsmith.
She held the prestigious title of Clinical Neuropsychologist and claimed to be a world renowned authority in Autism as well as a Forensics expert.
She claimed to be an advisor to the EU Parliamentary Disabilities Commission in Brussels.
After reading her impressive Bio I thought it would be great to go to this world renowned authority and I would be seeing the best in this field.
I rang the Apex clinic the following day and asked what it would cost to see Dr. Goldsmith.
I spoke to the manager of the clinic and he told me it was 600 euro to see Dr. Goldsmith.
I did not have that kind of money so he then gave me Dr. Goldsmiths number.
I called her and explained I could not afford 600 euro and she offered me a reduction.
She told me I would not receive a proper report but a letter confirming any possible diagnosis.
At the time I did not read much into this but later I would learn that the price varied for many clients of Goldsmith.
Goldsmith said she would accept 350 euros as a payment.
For a world renowned authority she could meet me pretty fast, an appointment was made a few days after our phone conversation.
Back at College I spoke to my Lecturer about Goldsmith and she told me her husband had attended her and there was no indication that Goldsmith was dodgy.
In fact I trusted my Lecturers judgement and seeing as we were in a University studying Autism I presumed that they would have knowledge of Irish Psychologists who specialised in Autism.
On the 22nd of November 2013 I went to see Dr. Goldsmith.
Looking back the clinic was very run down and I was the only person in the waiting room.
I noticed a dead bird lying in the grass outside.
The manager offered me a coffee while I waited.
The coffee was vile and served in a chipped mug.
The bathroom was untidy and it did not feel like the clinic of a world renowned authority in Autism.
I felt very nervous, even though I had been through the assessment process with my two children, I was not familiar with an adult assessment.
I was vulnerable.
I met Dr. Goldsmith who presented as a friendly woman but something was odd about her.
In hindsight deep down I knew something was not right about her.
She carried out a brief interview lasting no more than one hour, asking me questions and then totted up my score.
She said a letter would be posted to me.
She did not tell me the results, I had to ask if I was on the Autistic spectrum.
She said yes you are.
My head was spinning, I had just been given this life changing information about myself.
I went to pay for my assessment and handed over 350 euros to the manager of the clinic.
He did not offer me a receipt for payment.
I was feeling anxious and just wanted to get out and meet my family.
A few weeks passed and I did not receive any letter in the post, neither did my Doctor.
I had to phone Dr. Goldsmith and request my letter to be sent to me.
However I never received a physical copy, eventually she emailed me my results.
I thought this to be very unprofessional but decided to carry on with my life.
After my diagnosis I wrote an article which featured in the Irish Examiner Newspaper.
You can read my article in link below.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/features/i-knew-i-was-different-long-before-i-was-diagnosed-with-aspergers-257774.html
Originally I mentioned Dr. Goldsmith in this article (subsequently removed) after it was published I had many women asking me about Goldsmith.
I formed a Facebook group for women on the spectrum called F.A.S.I Female Asperger/Autism Support Ireland, see in link below.
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=female%20aspergers%2Fautism%20support%20ireland
On foot of my article,TV appearance and support group, I directly or indirectly was responsible for many women attending Goldsmith.
One woman even traveled from overseas to meet Goldsmith.
Goldsmith even attended a talk I co hosted with my Lecturer in University.
I think Goldsmith was looking for possible clients through my advocacy work which had gained a lot of media attention at that time.
I started campaigning against unregulated and unproven Autism 'treatments' in 2014.
I formed the non profit organisation Autistic Rights Together in April 2015, see in link below.
http://autisticrightstogether.ie/
Our campaign work has led to the recent conviction of Genesis II Cult Bishop Patrick Merlehan who was found guilty of manufacturing and marketing toxic bleach product MMS as a medicine to 'treat' and 'cure' Autism and other conditions.
Read about this important development in links below.
http://www.thesun.ie/irishsol/homepage/news/7254041/Dodgy-self-declared-Irish-bishop-caught-selling-toxic-miracle-cure.html
http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/1027/827423-patrick-merlehan-court/
In September 2014 I discovered that Dr. Goldsmith was due to speak at an event in Bandon Cork close to where I live.
See advertisement below.
I rang the organisers and asked if I could speak as I noticed they did not have a speaker who was on the Autistic spectrum.
I was invited to speak.
I attended the event on the 11th of September.
There were other speakers before me, other professionals in the Autism field.
I spoke before Goldsmith.
Everyone was waiting to hear this international specialist in Autism, this world renowned authority.
I suppose she was introduced in the same way as recognised Autism specialists Simon Baron Cohen or Tony Attwood would be.
Goldsmiths delivery was appalling.
She seemed to be limited in her knowledge of Autism and fumbled when she spoke.
She spoke about Mercury and Autism.
I have since discovered that Goldsmith supports and promotes discredited Quack Andrew Wakefield and his debunked claims and Chelation.
Chelation is not an approved Autism ‘treatment’ and actually killed an Autistic child in 2005.
See screenshots highlighting this below.
I was mortified listening to Goldsmith speak.
People walked out of her talk and there was a strong sense of embarrassment in the room.
The following day a storm erupted and people started asking questions about Goldsmith and her qualifications.
I was so worried not just for myself but for all the women that had gone to Goldsmith through my recommendation.
I started to search the Internet to see if there were any academic papers by her, anything that would prove her titles.
There was nothing.
However I did find links to biomedical interventions.
The very thing I was campaigning against.
One Mother messaged me saying that she had purchased bogus supplements from Goldsmith.
She sold them from a suitcase in a room in her home.
Goldsmith was part of a 2007 documentary called ‘The Lion in the Room’ which turns out to include a Mother who messaged me in 2014 admitting that she gave MMS to her Autistic child.
I have desperately tried to get a copy of this documentary but it seems to have disappeared!
I was so worried and rang Goldsmith and politely asked her for her credentials.
I told her it was not just about me but also about the other women that went to her.
She refused to show them to me and then the crazy behaviour began.
Goldsmith was calling me and saying she would travel to my home to chat about it, she was calling and texting late at night.
Eventually after much persuading she emailed me some papers but demanded that I delete them straight away.
See text messages below.
You can see time of text message above,1:46 in the morning.
What kind of ‘professional’ would do this?
I checked out Goldsmiths ‘credentials’ and they looked extremely dodgy, I also discovered that you could buy many of the papers she presented to me online.
I sent her papers to the Psychology Society of Ireland.
When Goldsmith diagnosed me she claimed to be a member of the Psychology Society of Ireland.
She was registered in November 2013 at the time of my diagnosis but only as a graduate member, not as a Neuropsychologist.
The Psychology Society were concerned and said they had received other complaints about Goldsmith.
Goldsmith still used this Psychology Society Ireland Registration number on other peoples reports even though she was not registered after November 2013.
Please see screenshot of Goldsmiths prestigious title of Clinical Neuropsychologist with so called accreditation at the end of my report below.
Goldsmith regularly changes her title and is now oddly not a Neuropsychologist anymore.
She also changes her name and has been known as Dr.Caroline Ward, Dr.Caroline Goldsmith and even Caroline Daniels.
She operates from multiple websites, using multiple emails.
Her phone numbers answered to both Caroline Goldsmith and Caroline Daniels, she identified herself as both those names.
As Caroline Daniels she claimed to be in administration but as Goldsmith she was a Neuropsychologist, a world renowned authority!
See some of her websites/Facebook pages below.
Advertised in Counselling directory below claiming to be accredited with Psychology Society of Ireland.
Her latest website now known as Caroline Ward Goldsmith below.
At the time of discovering that this woman was not who she claimed to be, I engaged with others who had gone to Goldsmith who were also very concerned.
One woman had been diagnosed in Goldsmiths sitting room in her home, there were various prices for Goldsmiths assessments, ranging from 150 euro to over 600 euro for assessments.
Goldsmith was fired from the Apex Clinic where I was diagnosed and removed from other Clinics also.
Goldsmith swiftly reimbursed clients who asked for their money back.
I made official complaints to the Psychology Society of Ireland and to the Police, others did also. We do not have regulation in Psychology in Ireland and sadly our many complaints fell on deaf ears.
I met two wonderful women who stood up to Goldsmith and I am sharing their quotes.
Dr. Anna Kingston is author of Mothering Special Needs: A Different Maternal Journey, see below.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mothering-Special-Needs-Different-Maternal/dp/1843105438
Dr. Kingston says this about Goldsmith. "the facts are that she bought her PHD from the States. She no longer claims to be a world renowned authority in Autism or a Neuropsychologist. Her behaviour is bizarre and threatening and I hope that people will discover that she is a dishonest human being"
Aoife Garde is a Mother to a teenager with Aspergers.
She says "I won't rest until Goldsmith is held responsible for lulling parents into a false sense of trust and security that their child was in a qualified Autism Psychologists care. She has damaged so many vulnerable families that I know on a personal level"
Goldsmith then did something even more despicable!
She breached the Data Protection Act by disclosing my personal details and diagnosis to a third party without my knowledge or consent.
The lack of regulation will not protect her in this instance, I am in the process of reporting her to the relevant bodies.
Read what she wrote about me in an email to another woman who kindly sent it to me below.
Goldsmith talks about a risk of me “curling up again”
How dare she say such things!
I am a hundred times more competent than her!
She also threatens this woman and even admits that her education is not from “a big fancy institution”
Goldsmith then sent me and this woman solicitors letters warning us to shut up!
I ignored this letter and was outraged by this womans behaviour.
We now knew that Goldsmiths qualifications did not give her the right to call herself a Clinical NeuroPsychologist and in our eyes it was clearly fraudulent behaviour on her part.
We paid for a service that held this expert title and Goldsmith was none of that.
In April 2015 the Irish Examiner published an article about Goldsmith, simply to serve as public interest.
I and others contributed to this article.
Goldsmith sued the Irish Examiner for defamation and last Thursday I was a witness for this Newspaper in the High Court in Dublin.
After meeting with the Examiners legal team and Barrister, we felt confident as we had a wealth of evidence against Goldsmith.
To my horror the Irish Examiner chickened out at the last minute and this woman was paid off and exonerated!
Even though the Journalist had bought the same PHD that Goldsmith held online and had researched this matter at length and even given Goldsmith a right to reply at the time of writing the article.
Thankfully at least they will not be issuing a public apology, it was all about the money and not about ethics and justice!
It hurt like hell hearing this outcome.
The Newspaper has removed the said Article from their website.
The reality is this woman was not what she claimed to be when I and others went to her to receive an assessment about such a deeply personal matter.
We trusted her and her titles at the time.
I personally feel violated and disgusted at the lack of regulation in this area.
To conclude, I have since received a diagnosis of Aspergers through the HSE by a qualified Psychologist.
An assessment that took a number of meetings and was completely different to my encounter with Goldsmith.
My question is, does Goldsmith diagnose everyone she meets as Autistic?
Goldsmith is still engaging in what amounts to false advertising.
She states on one of her current websites that she accepts Medical Cards, this would lead one to believe that she is affiliated and accepted by the HSE but this is not the case.
http://waterfordpsychology.com/assessments/
On further investigation we have found that this simply means that she will offer a Medical Card holder a 10% discount.
Take from this what you will but please be aware of this woman and her many identities and titles.
I will NOT let this go and will continue to seek Justice for all the victims that fell prey to this woman.