Cult exit counseling pdf

Cult expert steven hassans freedom of mind resource center. Fact support services families against cult teachings and. Counseling and support for friends and family of cult. Counseling is a process that can be done in varying environments and processes which depends on the reason why counseling has been deemed necessary. Steven works continually to develop further as a cult expert.

The long hours are due to the depth and challenge of the topic for all involved and not because anyone wants to work that long on any given day. A recent christian research journal article on exit counseling angered many exit counselors in large part because it failed to stress the distinctions between exit counseling and deprogramming. Counseling and support for friends and family of cult members. As they recognize the deceptive, stepatatime influence program that led them into the group, they will be less hard on themselves. Dec 29, 2005 exit counseling is a voluntary approach to helping those involved in cults make informed decisions about their group affiliation. Cult exit counseling in a voluntary process often takes several days of up to 10 to 16 hours a day of open dialog and information sharing to succeed. In short, exit counseling is a session loan students are required to do whenever their loans enter grace period. Social control in scientology carnegie mellon school of. Il a evolue aux etatsunis vers une procedure appelee exit counseling.

In other words, all concerned parties, including the cult member and her family and friends, meet voluntarily with an exit counselor for an agreedupon length of time. They are advised to exmember to talk about and deal with these episodes. Even if you plan to enroll again, loan exit counseling at the time you take a break from your education beyond summer term provides valuable information on your loans. Pdf gillie jenkinson describes the sophisticated techniques used by cults to. Help for victims of psychological and spiritual abuse, edited by michael d.

Direct loan exit counseling guide federal student aid. Exit counseling for federal loans financial aid office. In exit counseling, counselors help the cult members loved ones find the most effective way to reach the member, who may not willingly communicate with people outside the cult. Today most professionals engaged in cult intervention work prefer other labels to describe their work. Intervention index, deprogramming, exit counseling please see our new site. A walkaway is a cult member who has left a cult without having had any form of counselling to provoke the exit from the cult. Exit counseling leaves out the kidnapping and focuses instead on employing psychological techniques that might get the cult member to voluntarily submit to debriefing. While that may be a desired outcome, the purpose is to give the group member the information that enables them to make a fully informed choice. He has been helping people exit destructive cults since 1976. Steven hassan, cult counselor and mind control expert, explains his breakthrough approach to help loved ones rescue cult mind control victims. Often at the request of family members who believe the cult member is being. Cults and the mindbody connection psychology today. The act of counseling allows individuals to reflect about their actions and behavior and how these affect people, procedures, or even a companys operations. Cult mind control is a real and serious phenomenon.

During exit counseling, families should be told that floating is likely to occur for a time after the cult member leaves the group. It is also acceptable to email exit counseling information to the students personal not school email address. Because some persons who perform deprogrammings like to call themselves exit counselors, the two terms are sometimes confused. Deprogramming and exit counseling, sometimes seen as one and the same, are distinct approaches to convincing a person to leave a cult. If individuals choose to stay involved with the cult after exit counseling sessions, they are free to do so. Cult leaders commonly make outlandish claims or appear to have paranormal powers like telepathy, bilocation, spirit contact, mental healing, teleportation, and so on. In fact, the desire for a quick and easy recovery may be in itself a residual effect of the cult. Exit counseling requirements student loan repayment. During these meetings, exit counselors might provide educational material about a given cult, facilitate a discussion of family matters and try to assess relevant identity issues. Direct loan exit counseling guide the art institutes.

In both exit counseling and thought reform consulting, the purpose of the intervention is not to get someone out of a cult. Exit counseling provides important information you will need as you prepare to repay your federal student loans. Exit counselor hassan recognizes that the cult mind control model which he has adopted is incompatible with the traditional philosophical and christian view of man as a responsible moral agent. In other words, all concerned parties, including the cult member and her family and friends, meet voluntarily with an exit counselor for an agreedupon length of. Families against cult teachings is a nonprofit 501c3 that raises awareness and educates the public about dangerous cults, provides victim support in various capacities like intervention services and rehabilitation, in addition to many other anti cult related activities. Its normal for them to think often about various experiences from cult days and sometimes feel as they felt back in the cult. Colorado organization of victim assistance conference beaver creek. Author bonnie zieman was born and raised as a jehovahs witness, leaving after thirty years to gain the higher education that she was denied and build. It is used instead of the controversial process of involuntary deprogramming, which involves coercion note, however, that some counselors claim exit counseling can be either voluntary or involuntary. Exit loan counseling is required for all students who are either graduating or withdrawing from the university. The exit processes for federal direct and perkins loans are different and explained below. Often guised as an intervention, deprogramming was the practice of convincing cult members to renounce their groups ideology using whatever methods were deemed necessary. An exit counselors perspective by carol giambalvo, in recovery from cults. Exit counseling is required even if the student transfers to another school and is enrolled at least halftime there.

Exit counseling guide for federal student loan borrowers. Exit counselors we talked with, many of them onetime sect members themselves who had gone on to acquire clinical training and credentials, were testing a wide range of eclectic approaches, some more successful, some less so. The problem with exit counselling is that former cult members must forge their own path, which automatically makes most of this book useless. Who i am rosanne henry, lpc, psychotherapy and also cult. Countless people are or have been caught up in manipulative cults, abusive churches, or destructive relationships oneonone cults many make it out by themselves, or with the help of friends and family. The term deprogramming was coined in the 1970s, when the emergence of new religious movements peaked across the usa. During exit counseling, a subject has the ability to leave at any time and so the exit counselor focuses on building rapport rather than persuading the subject that the cult is a negative influence. Hassan has appeared on the tv news programs 60 minutes, nightline, and. But when it comes to providing help to individuals in the process of exiting and recovering from the effects of membership in the cult, few compare with exiting the jw cult.

Note, however, that some counselors claim exit counseling can be either voluntary or involuntary. Frequently asked questions about exit counseling q. If you were in the cult for a long time, or if youre having severe emotional withdrawals, a counselor will be able to help you change your thought patterns and live independently. The long hours are due to the depth and challenge of the topic for all involved and not because anyone wants to. The vast majority of ex cult counselors are associated with for the most part christian countercult organizations and ministries of which there are over 700 in the u. For other sources of useful information, please check out the exit zone projects index.

Exit counseling provides you with contact information for your loan servicer. Below are the links based on your classification in which you may access an online exit loan couseling session. Please check with your school to see how paper or web it expects. We do endorse voluntary counseling that encourages and facilitates independent, critical thinking. Part of exit counseling and the subsequent psychoeducational work is helping former cult members analyze their involvement. Description cult mind control is a real and serious phenomenon. Exit counseling is a voluntary approach to helping those involved in cults make informed decisions about their group affiliation. Your loan servicer is the company that you will make payments to and who you should contact if you need to change your repayment plan. Look for a counselor who has experience helping former cult members. This allows the department of education to confirm that you are receiving up to date information on your. That said, bonnie does not ram anything down your throat thank god. Exit counselors guide the family in the most effective ways to get a cult member to communicate with outsiders.

Exit counseling can help you readjust to life outside the cult. In some cases, former cult members may even be brought in to speak with him. Psychotherapy with former cult members by patrick oreilly a specialist in cults discusses a reallife example of a former cult members struggle to recover from his traumatic experiences within the group, and offers treatment advice for this unusual and challenging population. If the total amount you receive over the course of your education reaches. Subsidized and unsubsidized loans, or the pdf version of the federal direct plus loan master promissory note mpn for a graduateprofessional student. For example, exit counseling, thought reform consultation, or. The cult mind control model assumes that a combination of pressure and deception necessarily disables personal responsibility. Becoming informed is the first step to finding your way out of a destructive cult, and the path to helping your loved ones escape. Families against cult teachings is a nonprofit 501c3 that raises awareness and educates the public about dangerous cults, provides victim support in various capacities like intervention services and rehabilitation, in addition to many other anticult related activities. Deprogramming providing members with information about the cult and showing them how their own decisionmaking power had been taken away from them exit counseling, is an intervention designed to persuade an individual to leave a group perceived to be a cult. But it is possible too, i would hope, that these models may sensitize any reader to recognize them if such types of experience occur in his or her own life.

What is your position on deprogramming or exit counseling. Therefore, unlike many other websites that deal with the issues we address, many topics on this site include links to christian, nonchristian and secular. Turn in pages 19, 21, 22 of exit counseling guide if you dont have all the information with you, turn it in to. Exit counseling can be completed on paper or on the web. Student borrowers who are graduating, leaving school, or dropping below halftime enrollment are required to complete exit counseling. Federal student loan borrowers are required to complete exit counseling before they graduate, leave school, or drop below halftime enrollment in preparation for repayment.

Skeptical societies and research by scientists regarding paranormal claims and events are valuable resources for exit counselors who deconstruct cult activity for their clients. Fact support services families against cult teachings. While we recognize that some movements employ psychological manipulation tactics in their efforts to maintain members, we do not endorse or practice deprogramming either voluntary or involuntary we have never engaged in deprogramming. Suspicions about the deprogramming manuals authenticity quickly surfaced in. Many people fall victim to charismatic leaders and cult heads, and get caught in a cult without even realizing the brainwashing they have undergone. Based on the information provided to them, most cult members will then make a decision on whether to stay involved with the group or leave. Exit counseling is required even if the student begins a new program of study the next semester. It is used instead of the controversial process of involuntary deprogramming, which involves coercion. This allows the department of education to confirm. Park cities combining identity development theory and trauma counseling in helping heal sgas cyndi matthews hillcrest thursday 30 june 2016 continued 12. This includes many trained professionals, but also many lay people who may or may not be skilled in counseling techniques. Many were generalists, counseling cultists and families across america and, increasingly, in other countries. This includes socalled exit counseling, particularly as offered by those counselors who subscribe to the ethical guidelines for thought reform consultants.

When counselling this type of excultist, it is important not to assume that he has any real understanding of the of the group he has just left. Workshop for former cult members who were parents in the cult lorna goldberg only former members of cultic groups who were parents in the cult may attend this session. Exit counseling provides important information to prepare you to repay your federal student loans. From deprogramming to exit counseling to thought reform. Recognizing these patterns may make the reader less vulnerable to cult recruitment in the first.