LifeSpring

Lifespring was an American for-profit human potential organization founded in 1974 by John Hanley Sr., Robert White, Randy Revell, and Charlene Afremow. The organization encountered significant controversy in the 1970s and 1980s with various academic articles characterizing Lifespring's training methods as "deceptive and indirect techniques of persuasion and control", and allegations that Lifespring was a cult that used coercive methods to prevent members from leaving. After these allegations were highlighted in a 1987 article in the Washington Post as well as local television reporting in communities where Lifespring had a significant presence, Lifespring changed its name to the "Legacy Center." The Legacy Center was also met with controversy, and when it was under investigation by the North Carolina Attorney General's office for allegedly defrauding its members, it changed its name to the "Gratitude Center." Before becoming defunct in the mid 1990s, Lifespring claimed that it had trained more than 400,000 people through its ten centers across the United States.