Meet a Scientologist - Barbara Schneider's Happy Ending

Scientologist Barbara Schneider is a model, TV personality, paramedic, Scientology counselor and mother of four who didn’t anticipate how well things would turn out 18 years ago when things went wrong.  

Born and working as a paramedic in Lugano, Switzerland, in the early 1990s a failed relationship left her desperate to get away.

“I went to a travel agent and told him I needed a change,” she says. “I wanted to be someplace far away and on the sea.”

The next thing she knew, she was flying to Majorca with her 3-year-old son. Once there, she was paying a friend a visit at a hotel when a man directed her ‘right this way for the audition.’  She tried to tell him that was not why she was there, but he insisted, and she ended up being cast as co-host of a TV show.

Despite the change in scenery and an exciting new job, a year and a half later, Schneider was still suffering.

“My twin sister Elena could tell I was unhappy,” says Schneider. “She had been a Scientologist since we were 16 and she was convinced Scientology would help me.”

Agreeing to give it a try, she received some Scientology spiritual counseling and was amazed—the upset vanished.

Schneider relocated to Clearwater, Florida—the spiritual headquarters of the Scientology religion.  It was there that she met and married husband Roberto. 

A Scientology auditor (religious counselor), she credits the skills she has gained from her training for her success as a mother and in so many other aspects of her life.

“I don’t know how I would raise a family in the world today without what I’ve learned in Scientology,” she says.

She is tremendously proud of how self-reliant and responsible her children are.

“My kids have a very good life but they work hard for it,” she says.  “It’s not automatically—‘Oh, you’re 16 so here’s a car.’ They earn what they get by studying hard and doing well in school. Even with my little one who’s only four, she loves contributing to the family.  She helps me around the house.  We make it a game and she’s proud of what she does.”

Schneider’s commitment to helping others extends beyond the family.  A Scientology Volunteer Minister, she traveled to Port-au-Prince in January 2012 with her three sisters and several close friends to help in the wake of the Haiti earthquake. 

 “We are all mothers and the children there really touched our hearts,” she says. “We took on helping more than 100 children who were living on the streets, orphaned or separated from their parents. We built tents, turned an old school bus into a cafeteria, cooked and served their meals, arranged medical care, and tutored them.  Where possible, we helped them find their families.  My sisters stayed on for months and made sure the children would be cared for when they left.”

Involved with helping others since she was a child, Schneider finds being a Scientology auditor (counselor) enormously gratifying.

“What I like most is to touch someone’s life with a bit of magic—that’s what I really love to do,” she says, “to inspire them, bring out the best in them, so they can see solutions on their own and go ahead and resolve their problems and be happy.”

To meet more than 200 Scientologists and hear their stories, watch the “Meet a Scientologist” videos at www.Scientology.org. 

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The popular “Meet a Scientologist” profiles on the Church of Scientology International Video Channel at Scientology.org now total more than 200 broadcast-quality documentary videos featuring Scientologists from diverse locations and walks of life. The personal stories are told by Scientologists who are educators, teenagers, skydivers, a golf instructor, a hip-hop dancer, IT manager, stunt pilot, mothers, fathers, dentists, photographers, actors, musicians, fashion designers, engineers, students, business owners and more.

A digital pioneer and leader in the online religious community, in April 2008 the Church of Scientology became the first major religion to launch its own official YouTube Video Channel, with videos now viewed more than 7 million times.

^{I like to help others and count it as my greatest pleasure in life to see a person free himself of the shadows which darken his days.— ScientologyFounder, L. Ron Hubbard}

Church of Scientology Backs UN Drug Demand Reduction Strategy

Active in drug education and prevention throughout the year, Scientologists around the world participated in United Nations Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

According to this year’s United Nations World Drug Report, drug-abuse kills some 200,000 each year and creates a “heavy financial burden” internationally. In a concerted effort to counter this epidemic, in the weeks leading up to the UN Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking June 26 through the first week of July, Scientology Churches, Missions and groups around the world, working with like-minded individuals and groups, organize, sponsor and contribute to drug awareness activities to prevent drug abuse before it begins.

The International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking was created by the UN General Assembly in December 1987 to encourage all sectors of society to work together to tackle drug abuse and addiction. Scientologists commemorated the day by organizing and sponsoring conferences, lectures and symposia, participating in cross-country running and cycling races, meeting with elected officials and manning drug education booths and kiosks.

In Tokyo, the Church helped organize a drug education symposium where legislators networked with representatives of civil society and journalists, sharing information on effective drug prevention strategies.

Sydney Scientologists set up drug information booths on busy streets, where visitors watched the Truth About Drugs documentary, Real People—Real Stories, and took home copies of The Truth About Drugs series of drug education booklets to share with friends and families.

Russian Scientologists ran hundreds of miles in a two-week anti-drug “marathon” from Nizhny Novgorod to Kaluga, on to Ivanovo, Yaroslavl and Orel and ending in Moscow. Along the way they lectured in schools and colleges and distributed thousands of copies of the Truth About Drugs series of drug education booklets. Moscow Scientologists also distributed copies of drug education booklets and fliers in street events on June 26, the same day that St. Petersburg Scientologists participated in a local anti-drug bicycle race.

Danish Scientologists ran in an anti-drug marathon and distributed drug education booklets in Gammeltorv (Old Market), the oldest square in Copenhagen.

French Scientologists, cycling from Paris to Brussels, were met by Belgian Scientologists at the border. Together, they rode on to Brussels, meeting with mayors and aldermen along the way to provide them factual data on the importance of drug education in reducing abuse. Meanwhile, the Dutch “Say No to Drugs” marathon team took off from Amsterdam and, arriving in Brussels, joined the cyclists in an anti-drug bicycle tour through the center of the city, ending on the UN Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking at the headquarters of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions which hosted their anti-drug conference.

On June 12, Czech Scientologists began two weeks of running and cycling through the country for the 10th annual anti-drug “Cyclorun.” They educated youth on the truth about drugs in every town and city on their route.

Scientologists in Milan, Italy, held a “Say No to Drugs” soccer championship, and Scientologists from Padua carried out a bicycle tour through Cadoneghe, Noventa Padovana, Arquà Petrarca, Abano Terme, Montegrotto Terme and Battaglia Terme.

In New York, the Church of Scientology hosted the fifth annual Drug-Free Heroes Awards Ceremony.

In preparation for June 26, at a conference in Tennessee, Scientologists made drug education materials available to judges, court administrators, law enforcement officers, social workers, and treatment providers who deal with the backwash of drug abuse in state adult felony drug courts, DUI courts and juvenile drug courts.

As part of the International Faith-Based Coalition, the Church of Scientology of Sacramento helped bring the drug-free message to Oak Park, California, a community notorious for drug trafficking. At their press conference, religious leaders declared June 26 an “Oak Park drug-free day.”

In researching the destructive effects of drugs, Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote, “The planet has hit a barrier which prevents any widespread social progress—drugs and other biochemical substances. These can put people into a condition which not only prohibits and destroys physical health but which can prevent any stable advancement in mental or spiritual well-being.”

Scientologists live drug-free lives and work throughout the year to prevent drug abuse and addiction. Since last year’s UN Day against Drugs and Illicit Trafficking, Scientologists have distributed some 3.4 million copies of drug education booklets and organized, sponsored and participated in more than 3,000 drug prevention activities in their communities.

To learn more about the drug prevention initiative sponsored by the Church of Scientology or to participate, visit the Scientology website .

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The Church of Scientology sponsors the world's largest nongovernmental drug education and prevention campaign. It has been conclusively proven that when young people are provided with the truth about drugs—factual information on what drugs are and what they do—usage rates drop commensurately.


^{I like to help others and count it as my greatest pleasure in life to see a person free himself of the shadows which darken his days.— Scientology Founder, L. Ron Hubbard}

There are only two tests of a life well lived, L. Ron Hubbard once remarked: Did one do as one intended? And were people glad one lived? In testament to the first stands the full body of his life’s work, including the more than ten thousand authored works and three thousand tape-recorded lectures of Dianetics and Scientology. In evidence of the second are the hundreds of millions whose lives have been demonstrably bettered because he lived. They are the generations of students now reading superlatively, owing to L. Ron Hubbard’s educational discoveries; they are the millions more freed from the lure of substance abuse through L. Ron Hubbard’s breakthroughs in drug rehabilitation; still more touched by his common sense moral code; and many millions more again who hold his work as the spiritual cornerstone of their lives.

^{I like to help others and count it as my greatest pleasure in life to see a person free himself of the shadows which darken his days.— Scientology Founder, L. Ron Hubbard}