Writing & Media

ICSA: The Herbert L. Rosedale Award

In recognition of leadership in the effort to preserve and protect individual freedom, help victims, or inform society about ethical and legal dimensions of the cult phenomenon.

 

Gillie said: "I am beyond touched, humbled and honoured to receive The Herbert L. Rosedale Award 'presented in recognition of leadership in the effort to preserve and protect individual freedom' from ICSA (International Cultic Studies Association). Thank you to all who attended and for the standing ovation! Thank you to Bill and Lorna Goldberg and the ICSA board."

 

 

 

 

 

Dr Gillie Jenkinson: Walking Free. The Family Survival Trust annual public event 2023

In this talk Gillie gives a brief overview of her experience of joining, life in, leaving and recovering from a British coercively controlling cult – ‘The Community’. She explains some of her journey to becoming a psychotherapist and trainer specialising in supporting others who have left similar groups and/or relationships. She then introduces her ideas about the recovery journey by introducing her Workbook, newly published by Routledge: ‘Walking Free from the Trauma of Coercive, Cultic and Spiritual Abuse: A Workbook for Recovery and Growth’.

 

Walking Free with Onlinevents

 

In this event Gillie Jenkinson is in conversation with John Wilson to launch her new publication Walking Free from the Trauma of Coercive, Cultic and Spiritual Abuse: A Workbook for Recovery and Growth published by Routledge

 

Buy Now

 

 

 

 

The Influence Continuum With Steve Hassan

Dr. Gillie Jenkinson joins Steve Hassan, one of the leading experts on cults and undue influence in the world.

 

The podcast intro says:

 

Gillie is a former cult member and accredited psychotherapist in the U.K., an international speaker, director of Hope Valley Counselling and author of the new book, Walking Free from the Trauma of Coercive, Cultic, and Spiritual Abuse: A Workbook for Recovery and Growth. Most people require specialized counseling to recover from an experience of cult indoctrination. But many therapists that work with former members are not trained to help with the after-effects of thought reform and cult-related problems, such as the formation of a pseudo “cult identity.” Inspired by her experience of encountering unethical and inexperienced therapists, Gillie created an approach to counseling former members, which she calls Post-Cult Counselling (PCC), that brings together ethical therapy and the knowledge of cults.

 

Check it out if you are interested

 

Click Here

 

 

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Uncovering Cult Recovery with Maddie Drake

An audio documentary about resources in the UK available for victims of cults, coercive control and abuse.

 

Dr Gillie talks about her experience of being in a cult in the 1970's and how joining a live-in community quickly turned into a cult. Maddie Drake explores how people are recruited in to cults, and the type of support former cult members can access through Dr Gillie's Recovery Workbook and via social media with the #igotout movement.

 

Listen Now:

 

Click Here

 

 

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Walking Free: Learning About Cults and how to Stay Safe with Doctor Gillie Jenkinson

Gillie Talks With Sarah B Walsh on her coffee talk style podcast 

 

Sarah's podcast "Come Pray With Me" is a coffee talk style podcast focusing on different religions from around the world.


On this episode Dr Gillie talks with Sarah about ways to recognise a cult as well as ways to support people in the process of leaving a cult. 

 

This episode does not involve prayer or religous practices as Gillie is not religious! 

 

Have a listen here

 

What Should I Think About..?

Podcast with Stephen and Celine...

 

I was happy to have a chat with Stephen and Celine (father and daughter) about Post-Cult Counselling and the four Phases of Recovery and Growth (referred to as stages in this podcast chat).

 

The podcast intro says:

Gillie Jenkinson PhD is a leading accredited psychotherapist, specialising in cult recovery and recovery from spiritual abuse. She shares with us the Phase framework she uses to help people recovering from cult experiences. We discuss the framework, the work done at each Phase and the roles of the individual and the counsellor. We also ask about the special challenges of the born-in member and their sense of identity and self, as well as hear about Gillie's own experience inside a religious cult. We really enjoyed talking to one of the most relevant and knowledgeable voices in this area.

 

Check it out if you are interested

 

here

I hope you find it interesting and helpful.

 

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Podcast Interview with Gillie by GenerationCult

 

In this interview, Gillie offers some ideas for recovery which are applicable to those born and or raised in a cult.

 

Check out the fantastic podcast library including my own interview on the GenerationCult website.

 

 

 

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Understanding Trauma Theory

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Wrap Up Q&A

Two talks by Gillie recorded live for International Cultic Studies Association - Cult Recovery NOT Cancelled

 

Understanding Trauma Theory &

Wrap Up Q&A

 

Gillie explains some areas of psychoeducational theory that may be helpful for former members in their recovery and answers some of the attendees questions.

 

This series was recorded to offer support to former cult members and survivors of spiritual abuse in the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Click on the images to access the interviews.

 

Please consider donating to or becoming a member of International Cultic Studies Association in order to access many other resources - www.icsahome.com.

 

 

 

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Interview with Gillie by International Cultic Studies Association on Hope Valley Post-Cult Counselling and what helps former members recover

 

In this interview, Gillie offers some ideas for recovery which are applicable to all former cult members.

 

Click on the image to access the interview.

 

Consider becoming a member of International Cultic Studies Association in order to access many other resources - www.icsahome.com.

 

 

 

The Cult Pseudo Identity and the Phases of Recovery and Growth

 

Talk delivered for ICSA Mental Health Series - 3 April 2022

 

 

In this talk I discussed the rationale for being informed by the Phases of Recovery and Growth when working with former members of coercive, cultic and spiritual abuse focussing on former cult members. I explore how a relational psychoeducational approach can assist the individual to unlayer and dismantle their cult pseudo-identity. The Therapist can then work with the former member's authentic autonomous identity and not the pseudo-identity. The client can then recover and grow, free from the influence and control of the cultic experience.

 

Check it out if you are interested

 

here

I hope you find it interesting and helpful.

 

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Understanding the Trauma of having been a member of a High Demand Group workshop with Dr. Gillie Jenkinson PhD with OnlineEvents

 

Dr. Gillie Jenkinson (PhD) will discuss why our normal counselling modalities, including trauma therapy, are not enough when it comes to working with former members of High Demand Groups including cults, survivors of spiritual abuse and religious trauma.

 

Take a Look Here

 

The Intersection of Apostasy and Mental Health

Recording of the Apostate Conference 2021

Humanist UK and Faith to Faithless

 

In this recorded talk Dr Gillie Jenkinson discusses the intersection of apostasy or leaving a religion and some of the mental health impacts on those who leave.

 

My part of the talk starts at 2 hours 18mins and can be accessed here.

 

I hope you find it interesting and helpful.

 

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Cult Recovery A Clinicians Guide

Media - BBC 2 Victoria Derbyshire

 

Dr Gillie Jenkinson was interviewed for a news article on a group called The Jesus Army on BBC 2 Victoria Derbyshire Programme on 19th July 2017.  See the link below. The article is around 20mins in.

 

This same news report was also on Radio 4 PM programme 5-6pm on 19th July 2017 and can also be found on iPlayer.

 

This came about after Gillie was contacted by the Survivors Association in regard to her Post-Cult Counselling. Gillie has delivered face to face counselling and a Recovery Workshop to some of the survivors.

 

Check out the interview.

 

Link to Jesus Fellowship Survivors Association

 

British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy - BACP - have a brief article on their website about this report

 

Link to BACP

 

Leaving Psychologically—Breaking the Confluential Trance

Gillie Jenkinson, PhD

International Journal of Cultic Studies, 2019, Vol 10

 

Abstract

In this paper, I offer an additional explanation for the state of trance many cult members experience—the confluential trance. These concepts arose from doctoral research into what helped 29 former cult members recover from an abusive cult experience (Jenkinson, 2016). I address a new concept, and whilst it applied to some participants and potentially applies to coercive cults more broadly, further research is required to establish the veracity of this concept and whether it is generalizable across former-member populations. I discuss how the confluential trance may make it psychologically difficult to leave an abusive cult, and I explore how some of my doctoral-research participants experienced this altered state and broke free through formal and informal interventions.

 

Whilst the term trance is applied ubiquitously and across a spectrum of states, and more often in relation to hypnotic trance, I adopt the term to imply an “altered state of consciousness” in which an individual becomes suggestible, lacks critical thinking, and is therefore more “vulnerable to social influence” (Galanter,1989, p. 65).

 

Within a Gestalt-psychotherapy theoretical framework, the confluential trance is shown to be a result of a merged state—confluence—which results in the cult member becoming open to introjecting the cult ideology without “chewing it over.” I hypothesize that the resulting confluential trance is further explanation of why the cult leader/ship and thought reform have such a deep impact on many.

 

Keywords: confluential trance, former member, abusive cult, thought reform, exit counseling, Gestalt

 

This article is all my own work and has not been submitted or published elsewhere. Much of it arises out of my PhD thesis, which is published on the University of Nottingham theses website.

 

Consider becoming a member of International Cultic Studies Association in order to access the full article - www.icsahome.com.

 

 

 

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Gillie’s chapter (written with Dr Nicola Crowley) is included in the Second Edition of ‘Spirituality and Psychiatry’ Chapter 17 published by Cambridge University Press

 

The summary from the website states:


This chapter describes the psychopathological consequences of harmful spiritual beliefs, practices and experiences. It explores the concepts of spiritual defences, offensive spirituality, false spiritual teachers or gurus, and attempts to define the characteristics of cultic groups and compare how they differ from healthy groups. Terms such as ‘conversion’, ‘brainwashing’, ‘thought reform’, ‘coercive persuasion’ and ‘mind control’ are discussed. The complex psychopathology experienced by people who have been harmed by cult-like organisations and the related abuse is examined, and specific diagnostic issues are considered. Current evidence-based recovery-orientated psychotherapeutic interventions are also described. Treatment may best be understood in four phases: separation from the cult, psychoeducation and story-telling, emotional healing, and – finally – a resumption of an authentic identity and new life. The themes of the chapter are explored in a series of case studies.

ICSA Book chapter

 

Dr Gillie Jenkinson's chapter outlining her Time Away for Post Cult Counselling model was published in 2017 in the book 'Cult Recovery' and available for purchase on the ICSA website.

 

This landmark, 500-page book, with chapters from leading clinicians and researchers, describes the current state of the art in helping people adversely affected by a cultic dynamics, whether in a cult, mainstream religious denomination, psychotherapy, family, or other interpersonal relationship.

 

Click on the image to access the book.

Cult Recovery A Clinicians Guide

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Latest Article: Therapy Today Magazine

 

Read Dr Gillie Jenkinson's article in the March 2019 issue of Therapy Today magazine which explains the need for a relational, psychoeducational approach to working with cult survivors.

 

Click on the image to access the article.

Interview: New Psychotherapist Magazine

 

Read Dr Gillie Jenkinson's interview in issue 69, autumn 2018 of UKCP's New Psych otherapist magazine. Hear more of her personal experience and how traditional therapy isn't enough, or can even be counterproductive, in a cult leavers recovery. Gillie discusses the methodology she has built and researched over the last 2 decades and is using in her work with cult leavers today.

 

Read in full on page 53, here.

 

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Other Writing

 

Gillie Jenkinson has authored chapters and is a regular contributor to publications in the cultic studies field. She is the Mental Health Editor for the ICSA Today Magazine.  She is also in the process of writing her first book based on her doctoral research.

 

You can access some of her publications here:

  • Out in the World: Post-Cult Recovery  (2019) - BACP Therapy Today Magazine - see article above
  • Working with Cult Survivors (2013) - BACP Therapy Today Magazine - article here
  • An Investigation into Cult Pseudo-Personality: What Is It and How Does It Form? - Cultic Studies Review - article here
  • Path or Pathology? - BACP Spirituality Thresholds Magazine - here
  • Dr. Paul Martin-A Good Leader and a Wonderful Counselor - Gillie Jenkinson (4-7) ICSA Today Vol 1 2016
  • Pathological Spirituality - Chapter 13 in 'Spirituality and Psychiatry' - Dr Gillie Jenkinson and Dr. Nicola Crowley, Royal College of Psychiatrists
  • Rebuilding the Jigsaw - BACP Spirituality Thresholds Magazine - here
  • Writing Routes - A Resource Handbook of Therapeutic Writing - Gillie Bolton, Victoria Field and Kate Thompson, Jessica Kinglsey Publishers
  • Cult-Pseudo Personality vs Cult Pseudo-Creativity - Cultic Studies Review - here
  • Cults - Thresholds Magazine, BACP/APSCC