Sun 7th Sept, 11am-1pm: Coercive Control in Cults & Relationships - Part 2
- Space for Soul
- Aug 16
- 3 min read
Back in February this year, Sue Winter led a session on the psychology of coercive controland the ways in which these dynamics can operate in personal relationships and in groups, including cults. In our September session, Sue will be with us again for a session that will invite discussion, questions and reflection on personal experiences. Sue will start by briefly summarising the main points she made in February and then will open the meeting for members to contribute. Once again, this will be a discussion rather than a therapeutic session as Sue is not a counsellor or therapist but she will be able to signpost people to further information and resources.
The information Sue presents is firmly based on academic research. She has an MSc in the Psychology of Coercive Control, and is currently undertaking a PhD on the impact on women’s health over a lifetime of coercive control. She herself is a survivor of a religious cult, domestic abuse and workplace coercive control.
Related resources:
This topic may make some people feel uncomfortable and Sue has recommended these
links for anyone who feels in need of support:
Hope Valley Counselling – Counselling for Coercive, Cultic and Spiritual Abuse by Dr. Gillie Jenkinson: https://www.hopevalleycounselling.com
To Think Again – Cult Recovery Therapy/Cult Psychology Consultancy https://www.tothinkagain.co.uk/about
The Family Survival Trust – Action against cultic abuse: https://thefamilysurvivaltrust.org
Documentaries and podcasts:
BBC iPlayer is currently showing a two-part documentary called “Inside the Jesus Army”
which features sessions with survivors run by Gillie Jenkinson, author of Walking Free from
the Trauma of Coercive, Cultic and Spiritual Abuse. This is an author and a resource that Sue
drew our attention to in the February session and the documentary would be a good
resource to watch prior to the September session.
News articles:
BBC Sounds has at least three podcast series on cults, including: A Very British Cult about a sinister life coaching company that takes over your life https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m001kvf8
The Family Survival Trust https://thefamilysurvivaltrust.org has a petition on its website asking MPs to change the law to make sure that leaders of groups that use coercive control to manipulate their follower, like cults, can be punished and prevented from doing more harm in the future.
Sue has also shared this quote:
Coercively controlling groups include religious cults, but can be non-religious, such as political groups (e.g. some far-right extremist groups), personal development and wellness outfits and yoga groups.There are also individual examples of this abuse, such as between “therapists” and clients.
People affected by these groups have experienced sexual and physical abuse, financial exploitation and long-term psychological harms affecting mental and physical health. Children who have grown up in these groups often experience lasting consequences from trauma, missed education and other forms of abuse. Coercive control laws already recognise the forms of abuse which occur in these groups, but because the laws only apply in domestic and intimate settings it is rare to secure a prosecution, leaving abusers free to abuse again. Widening the law to ensure that leaders of groups as well as offenders within domestic contexts could be prosecuted would stop more of them doing harm.
Why don’t they leave?
Dr. Caroline Ansley, a New Zealand-based GP and survivor of the Centrepoint commune, said this at New Zealand’s DECULT conference in 2024:
Cult leavers, and those still inside, are invisible. Invisible to a society that sees them (if at all) as caricatured stereotypes: the dim or naïve recruit who falls for the obvious or ridiculous, and then lacks the willpower to leave, even once the truth is evident to others. It is easy to mock such people. As a result, those who do get out often retreat into the background, desperate to escape the ridicule, nursing crushing humiliation, long-term health issues, and eager to distance themselves from their history.
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