We really need to talk about Kevin Laye (“therapist” and fraudster)

We really need to talk about Kevin Laye

Kevin Laye: top-level therapist, international speaker, former SAS/Special Forces officer/trainer, trainer of the Diplomatic Protection Squad, medal-wearing hero, and liar. Let’s start with this:

Press play for audio claims regarding Kevin Laye’s claims about Prince Charles and the Welsh Guards.

How about Kevin Laye in that SAS uniform:

Even Hay House was fooled by Kevin Laye. This video has since been removed.

So now, let’s go straight to the motherload. This is the interview Kevin Laye gave to ANLP’s “Rapport Magazine.” (link opens in new window) It starts on page 16, but for those who have no wish to wade through this drivel, here is a summary of what this fantasist claims:

Kevin Laye was Chuck Norris’s stunt double after Chuck contacted him personally.
Taught Close Combat Training (CTT) to the SAS in Hereford (he appears in some portrait photos wearing a full SAS uniform).
They nicknamed Kevin Laye “Bam Bam” because of the force of his punch.
Kevin Laye trained EVERYONE in the Diplomatic Protection Group (DPG), Military Intelligence, and the Foreign Legion in Close Quarter Battle (CQB).
He speaks fluent Arabic.
He was Chuck Norris’s stunt double.
He’s been tortured, resulting in broken fingers; electric wires placed on his genitals; and beaten.
Kevin Laye has been shot twice.
He’s been stabbed in the face.
Had a parachute fail.
He won the European Karate Championship in 1981, but a detached retina, which made him blind in one eye for 3 months, ended his karate career in 1982.
Kevin Laye was Chuck Norris’s stunt double.
He designed and ran a gym which was popular with famous actors whom he got to know personally, including Alan Rickman.
He worked for the Saudi Ministry of Defence and Aviation as a fitness coach and ended up running a $1.6 billion project for them.
He met Arthur Dolby and developed a process in anaesthetics researched at the Edinburgh Royal Hospital, headed up the sales team, and netted nearly £10 million.
Kevin Laye was Chuck Norris’s stunt double.
In 2000, he had a “big tumour” on his right kidney and was given a “90% chance of not coming through the operation alive”. He lived.
Kevin Laye uses TFT tapping with senior executives.
He works in Harley Street.
Kevin Laye was Chuck Norris’s stunt double.
Kevin Laye was the world’s first certified Havening trainer, personally certified and trained by Ronald Ruden, with whom he works closely.

As for that last claim, I did, of course, email the Havening people, and I also emailed Chuck. I don’t need to tell you what they said. As for Arthur Dolby, well, he died a while back, and Kevin Laye had nothing to do with Dolby Audio. Check Companies House records for the specifics and Google the name “DOLBY MEDICAL HOME RESPIRATORY CARE LIMITED,” which was the company that Kevin Laye worked for. For a small fee, you can get their company accounts to take a look at the profits when Kevin Laye worked there (I’m not permitted to reproduce it here).

Now how about a sweet bit of celebrity action? These are screenshots from Kevin Laye’s own website:

And from elsewhere on the web:

A website page titled Head Trash features an article about Kevin Laye, describing his background, experience, and achievements as a trauma release expert specializing in NLP Hypnotherapy, trainer, author, public speaker, and therapist.

Screenshot of a website section titled About The Author, describing Kevin Laye as an NLP therapist skilled in Hypnotherapy, with a background in the Special Forces, sales, and karate—now dedicated to helping others on their healing journey through therapy.

Let’s go back to the whole Kevin Laye in the SAS thing… (in this one, he’s a sniper! LOL!)

Kevin Laye and his Royal Clients and Celebrities?

Kevin Laye as European Karate Champion in 1981 and 1982?

Take a look at this excellent magazine cover. This was reproduced in the ANLP magazine interview, and Kevin used to have it posted to his Facebook page.

Yeah… the image is fake. It’s a souvenir thing you can get made up at Seaworld. Check the identical text in the versions below:

A young boy in a white karate uniform poses with one hand raised on the cover of Official Karate magazine, surrounded by bold headlines about martial arts, self-defense, NLP hypnotherapy, and fighting principles.

A man in a white martial arts uniform poses on the cover of Official Karate magazine, featuring headlines about self-defense, martial arts knowledge, NLP hypnotherapy, Taoism, and the world’s most dangerous fighter.

A woman with curly brown hair poses in a fighting stance on the cover of Official Karate magazine. Text highlights self-defense, martial arts knowledge, NLP Hypnotherapy, and calls her the World’s Most Dangerous Fighter.

Here’s a copy of a genuine Official Karate magazine from 1981, the same year Kevin Laye claims to have won the European Karate Championship.

April 1981 cover of Official Karate magazine featuring two martial artists in action, one pinning the other on a blue mat. Text includes headlines about self-defense, martial arts techniques, and NLP Hypnotherapy for healing and recovery.

Karate… no, no… he meant Kickboxing Champion…

Now We Enter the Twilight Zone…

I genuinely do not know what to make of this. This is definitely NSFW and is one of the weirdest things I have read in ages. Read through the blog posts in the correct order, and you’ll see what I mean. Did Kevin Laye write this himself? I have no idea. Link: https://kevinlayemeridiantherapyblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/what-is-kevin-laye-blog.html

Stand-Up Comedian and Mentalist like Derren Brown

Kevin Laye works for “Dolby” and is “Highly Decorated for Acts of Bravery.”

Kevin Laye as Hollywood Therapist and Supermodel?

See: https://www.shutterstock.com/editorial/image-editorial/hollywood-therapist-kevin-laye-stockholm-sweden-04-sep-2014-4193604a

Kevin Laye’s Claims of Memberships and Associations

At the time of writing (25/07/2022) on his website, https://www.kevinlaye.co.uk At the bottom:

Kevin Laye displays the logo for The College of Medicine. He is not a member. He displays the logo for The National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH). He is not a member. He displays the logo for The Meta Changework Practitioners Association. ~~I can find no such association, and the logo appears nowhere else on the web.~~ After much searching, I finally found this: https://metachangework.wordpress.com/our-training-directors/ He displays the logo for The General Hypnotherapy Standards Council. He is not listed in their directory. He displays the logo for The British Complementary Medicine Association. He is not listed in their directory. He displays the logo for the American Board of NLP (ABNLP). He is not a member of ABNLP. He displays a logo for The Association for Thought Field Therapy (ATFT). This logo appears absolutely nowhere else on the web other than on Kevin Laye’s own website.

This is that ATFT logo:

On further investigation, I found that the ATFT did indeed exist but closed in 2017. Here’s the Companies House entry: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/06121447

But he was personally mentored by Richard Bandler (lol!):

Kevin Laye the LinkedIn Sex Pest?

Click here for Part 2: The Kevin Laye Scandal and The “Standards Bodies” of NLP and other Alphabet Therapies.

Other than Kevin Laye currently claiming to be battling a brain tumour, is there anything more I’ve missed? The comments section below is open.

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4 years ago

I came across 3 separate individuals in Wellington, NZ who were lying about membership of official associations in about a 5 year time period. Two of these men were well known in the NLP community.

It seems to be a thing that is easily claimed that very few people check.

Nick

Reply to K

These certification bodies have IMO done NLP no favours at all and the result has to create something like a pyramid scheme which is a shame as the core NLP skills are excellent. The problem is that in many (not all cases) it all becomes a bit daft with ever more grandiose titles including “Master Trainer” ‘Associate professor” (this one disappeared after a while” “Meta Master practitioner” “Ambassador for NLP” all denoting status and authority. Little wonder the wider world and many professions find this all very odd and lacking in credibility. A little bit more common sense and proper scrutiny would have really helped the field be viewed in a better light. Such a wasted opportunity, but its become much worse in the last 10 years and during covid some of these ‘master trainers” have really showed how delusional they actually are, dreadful ad for the field.

John

Never heard of him but glad I know about him now. Perhaps those who do know him or are ‘treated’ by him will do some re-evaluation.

There have of course been all manner of stories circulating in the NLP community for two decades, most of which are detailed here. If any of this information is in any way inaccurate then I’m sure Mr Laye can clarify and provide evidence for all these claims which are directly from himself.
Respectfully I would suggest ANLP fact check future articles. I know there is a tendency in NLP circles to exaggerate, but a lot of what is in that article is quite frankly beyond surreal to say the least. Did nobody think ‘Hang on, does this sound credible?”

Author

Andrew T. Austin

3 years ago

Reply to Nick

ANLP state that they have “withdrawn” the article, which is ridiculous of course – how can one withdraw a digital article from the internet once it is in wide circulation? They have failed to address any of the issues created by this piece – it endorsed this creep and gave him a platform of credibility to enable him to exploit his position for sexual and financial advantage over vulnerable older women. What I expect ANLP will never do is issue a correction or statement about it.

ANLP claim: “ANLP International CIC continues to thrive as an umbrella organisation offering impartial and independent advice and welcoming NLP Professionals from a variety of backgrounds, whilst supporting the community by being the Global Flagbearer for Professional NLP.
[…]
As a Community Interest Company (CIC), it is our raison d’etre to promote NLP, the NLP Community and our members by providing them with an independent Professional Body which enables them to raise the standards of their practice and professionalism.”

And yet here is an instance where they do the exact opposite.

Lance

Where can this magnificent man be found online? I’d like to ask him a few questions.

Reply to Lance

Just google him, or look on Facebook.

Neecy

He has removed his history from his website. I wonder if Paul McKenna is aware as he endorses him?

Reply to Neecy

I think the Mckenna endorsement video highlights the dangers of giving video testimonials. What goes online stays online and I’m not sure what he can do to stop it being used now.

Steve

That Psy.D. beneath his name on his website, is yet another fantasy. It gives a certain impression of academic standing, which will appeal to the unknowing… and unlucky.

Stella

Oh my, a random Friday afternoon and I come across this article. I had professional and personal dealings with this man for a good few years from around 2010. My instincts kept telling me something was off and I pretty much came to the conclusion that it was largely, smoke, mirrors and hype and I did my own research which bore out my concerns. Thankfully I didn’t become too entangled either professionally or personally and ultimately there was no harm (though Zero benefit whatsoever either in terms of therapeutic benefit). I have long abhorred this ‘dark triad’ side of a certain combination of modalities when mixed with certain persons. Fortunately I keep the grass short so as to see the snakes (or snake oil persons) 😊. The ‘D.Psy’ post nominal letters this person claims don’t actually exist, I’m guessing it’s a conscious reversal from Psy.D. (Doctor of Psychology) hoping no one would notice or know 👎

Kealy

2 years ago

Hi, had online skype treatment from him and it was very successful, I have a phobia from childhood he eliminated in minutes, may that kind of power got to his head?

Hi, had online skype treatment from him and it was very successful, I have a phobia from childhood he eliminated in minutes, maybe that kind of power got to his head?