Our member Gillie Jenkinson wants to contact therapists who work with survivors of cults to share knowledge and expertise.
Gillie has dedicated her life to working with survivors and into researching what helps ex-cult members recover from an abusive experience.
She says there are potentially thousands of cult survivors in the UK who require help, and she wants to take steps to ensure they get the best possible assistance.
“It’s my life’s work,” said Gillie, director at Hope Valley Counselling. “and It’s what I work with all the time.
“I am 67 and the next step I need to do is to pass on information to therapists. The issues don’t come up in general training, it’s like it doesn’t exist.
Thousands of survivors
“There are thousands of survivors out there.
“I really want to reach therapists who are working with former cult members. You I hear of former members going into therapy and they report that very often the therapist doesn’t seem to know where to start or has never heard of cult related issues.”
Gillie is a cult survivor and last week lent her expertise to BBC 2’s Victoria Derbyshire programme and to BBC Radio 4’s PM programme.
And she said she has developed an approach to therapy with survivors that she wrote about in the March edition of Therapy Today in an article titled ‘Out in the World: Post-Cult Recovery’.
“It’s a tailormade approach for former cult members that I have developed over the years,” she said.
To contact Gillie email her at info@hopevalleycounselling.com