Services
Gillie offers specialist support through the Walking Free Model, designed for former members and survivors of coercive and cultic groups.
In addition to working directly with survivors, she delivers training and supervision to therapists and professionals worldwide, equipping them to work ethically and effectively in this complex field.
This page outlines the full range of services she offers—from individual counselling and recovery programmes to professional Walking Free training and consultation.
Services for Former Members & Survivors
Walking Free Counselling (previously Post-Cult Counselling or PCC) is for those who have experienced coercive, cultic or spiritual abuse in any form. This includes coercive domestic relationships and religious trauma. It is for those who were brought up in cultic environments, as well as those who joined or were recruited.
It focuses on the importance of understanding your experience and how the abuse has affected the way you think, act and feel. It usually consists of working through a specially designed Recovery Workbook or Gillie's book 'Walking Free from the Trauma of Coercive, Cultic and Spiritual Abuse: A Workbook for Recovery and Growth' in a conversation with a therapist trained to deliver The Walking Free Model. There is more about the Walking Free Model here.
Walking Free Counselling usually involves about 20-26 hours of sessions, although this can be more or less, depending on circumstances. After completing the Recovery Workbook, some people choose to have a period of ongoing regular therapy, either with the same therapist or another.
You can either see Gillie for counselling (if she has space) or a counsellor trained to deliver The Walking Free Model - see Affiliates page for information on others who deliver The Walking Free Model.
Gillie currently offers Zoom and phone sessions only. See our FAQs to find out more about working with Gillie and what to expect before counselling commences. If you wish to work with Gillie, please contact us to discuss the best support options for you and pricing.
Counselling Services (Online Only)
COUNSELLING
Meet with Gillie (usually fortnightly) for The Walking Free Model on Zoom.
The frequency and duration of counselling varies from person to person, depending on an individual’s experience and needs. This is agreed between Gillie and the client following an initial mutual assessment. Therapy is charged at an hourly rate. For more details on working with Gillie, please refer to our FAQs.
RECOVERY WORKSHOP
'Time Away' is a programme designed to help former members and survivors of coercive, cultic and spiritual abuse by providing intensive support to clarify and understand their experiences. Currently it is offered online via Zoom, but the idea is that clients set aside a few days to focus on the programme.
Typically, clients have two two-hour sessions with Gillie each day, amounting to four hours daily, with the programme lasting up to four days (16 hours), depending on individual needs. The exact duration will be decided together after a mutual assessment. Clients are provided with a Recovery Workbook with helpful resources and reference materials. Follow-up support on Zoom can also be arranged.
TIME AWAY
It is sometimes helpful for former cult members to spend a few days exploring The Walking Free Model with other former members, to help them understand and clarify their experience. The Recovery Course/Workshop has been designed to achieve this.
The Recovery Courses take place on Zoom and normally last two to three days.
The aim of the Recovery Course/Workshop is to help you raise awareness and understanding of the dynamics involved in your cultic setting and the impact this has had on you personally, and to support your emotional healing and growth process. Hearing others’ stories can also give you fresh understanding of your own.
We work through a Recovery Workbook together, which includes resources to take away with you.
It is good to have focus on something physical and separated into stages so you can follow this path of recovery. It has been well thought out and detailed enough but not overwhelming. I like the effective but brief exercises you can do at the end of each section and how this allows for the feeling of active self contemplation and deliberation. [June 2023]
Feedback from Gillie’s Clients
My life has greatly transformed over the past three years in ways I could not have imagined. Starting over felt impossible after leaving [the cult]. I will forever be grateful for the mountain of support and clarity you provided when I was at my lowest. Thank you again!!!! [Feedback 2 years after ending PCC - May 2023]
Services For Therapists & Professionals
Training
Hope Valley Counselling training is delivered by Dr Gillie Jenkinson, who has been offering support and training to therapists and professionals for nearly 30 years. Some training is provided in partnership with others.
Training is offered to therapists and other mental health professionals currently working with, or looking to work with, survivors and former members of:
Abusive and high-demand groups
Cults or sects
Coercive control in one-on-one cults or relationships, including psychopathic partner abuse
Group coercive control
Spiritual abuse
Abusive New Religious Movements (NRMs)
Trauma including rape and sexual abuse
Religious trauma
Undue influence
Training is also available for families and friends of former cult members, organisations, including Churches, and the wider community in order to help them understand the recovery process for these client groups.
See our scheduled events, or contact us to enquire about training programmes.
Certificate in the Walking Free Model: Counselling for Coercive, Cultic and Spiritual Abuse
This Certificate provides a 14 day training for therapists and other professionals to equip them to work with survivors of coercive, cultic and/or spiritually abusive groups and relationships using a psychoeducational Recovery Workbook developed by Gillie. It is next planned for delivery in 2025-26. For more information check the Events page.
Supervision & Consultancy
Supervision and ad-hoc consultancy is available to therapists and other professionals working with former cult members and other survivors. Issues covered may include cultic coercion, rape, sexual and spiritual abuse, religious trauma, dissociation and undue influence.
Please contact us to find out more and discuss pricing.
'Yes, my practice will be influenced as it has given me an insight on significant issues around working with the PCC model and incorporating it into my practice. We also explored important ethical and legal issues that may arise which was comforting.'
Feedback from Therapists
'The course content was really helpful and included how to practically start practising and things to consider and put into place.'
'My practice will be greatly influenced going forward whether working with one-to-one relational issues or those who have been/or are in high-demand groups or churches. I will now be much more attuned to such issues when they present and more able to work in a knowledgeable and ethical way with such matters.'
'I absolutely loved this training and it certainly has been life transforming and will continue to impact me as I move forward personally and professionally.'
