After twenty years in private practice as a licensed psychotherapist, my recent focus has been on writing and developing resources for people recovering from high-control, coercive, or psychologically abusive environments. As both a therapist and former member of Jehovah’s Witnesses, my work attempts to integrate professional knowledge, lived experience, intellectual exploration, and creative expression in ways that support healing, reflection, and recovery after coercive or traumatic experiences.
Over the past ten years, I’ve authored several books addressing the different stages of recovery after involvement in high-control or coercive environments, including works on shunning, trauma recovery, rebuilding identity, and helping therapists understand the dynamics and extent of cult-related abuse.
Education & Clinical Work
- Master of Education (M.Ed.)
- Graduate Diploma in Education & Training of Adults
- Training in Gestalt & Psychosynthesis therapies
- EMDR therapy Levels I & II
- Psychotraumatology & Crisis Intervention
- 20+ years in private practice
Personal Background & Recovery Work
Both born and raised as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, I spent thirty years of my life in that high-control milieu. After leaving, I experienced firsthand many of the emotional and psychological challenges common to former members of coercive groups—including identity confusion, fear, loss of community, and the long process of rebuilding an independent sense of self and life.
My work as a psychotherapist, writer, and educator is informed by my long overdue post-cult education, professional training, and lived experience. Through my books, articles, and online resources, I have sought to help others better understand the effects of coercive control, religious trauma, mandated shunning, and above all, how to recover and build a new life after escaping identity erasure and all-encompassing controls.
Creative Work & Visual Design Integrated With My Recovery
Creative expression became an unexpected and meaningful part of my own recovery process. After leaving that restrictive environment—that left little room for personal exploration or creative development—I discovered an interest in art, particularly in painting large mixed-media abstracts and making collages from my own digital art compositions.
Based on what I’ve learned about digital art, I design the covers and interiors of my books, and create other visual resources that combine psychological reflection, healing themes, with artistic expression.
My creative work is woven throughout this site in the form of book covers, posters, digital downloads, collage materials, and other projects exploring healing, identity, self-discovery, and creative expression—alongside some artwork created simply for the joy of making it.
Integrating psychotherapy, lived experience, reflection, and creative expression
