HELP FOR LOS ANGELES RESIDENTS WHO HAVE LEFT CULTS OR HIGH DEMAND GROUPS

If you have left a cult or other high demand group, live in Los Angeles , and need help with things like

· education and career planning

· medical and mental health care

· employment

· housing resources

· general adjustment to mainstream living

the International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) invites you to work with a case manager educated on issues of cult involvement, who can both help with practical problems and offer support as you adjust to your new life.

The service, at Venice Family Clinic, is free for low-income residents of the West Side of Los Angeles. The program operates during the academic year and will resume September 9, 2009.

Give it a try! Call a clinician at Venice Family Clinic:

310-664-7522

to check your eligibility or make an appointment.

(Note: This is not a line to a receptionist. You will not have to make awkward explanations. A clinician will get your message and return the call.)

Please send this message to people in West Los Angeles who might benefit from the service. ICSA thanks the Venice Family Clinic for renewing this project, which began in 2008. We also thank Dr. Doni Whitsett of the University of Southern California , the project’s Clinical Director, and Livia Bardin , M.S.W., who initiated and chairs the project.

Help available to former followers, those wishing to leave ministry

Now that Tony Alamo faces a sentence that puts him behind bars for the rest of his life, many are wondering what will happen to his ministry and his followers.

“Sometimes we find that people get more stubborn in their beliefs as they try to justify what’s happened,” said Carol Giambalvo, the International Cultic Studies Association Director of Recovery Programs.

Giambalvo, who admitted she was once a member of a group with traits similar to those described during the trial of Tony Alamo, said followers who choose to leave need help. She said anyone who wants help dealing with such an experience can call ICSA at 239-514-3081 or Re-focus, a support and recovery program for ex-members at 386-439-7541.

Outside the federal courthouse Friday in Texarkana, curious observers wondered aloud what led the members of Alamo’s group to their devotion.

The following is a list of characteristics associated with “cultic” groups condensed from a list provided by ICSA. The list was created from a book published in 1989 by Dr. Robert J. Lifton, “Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism”.

1. Milieu Control: Isolation of individuals from society by controlling information and communication.

2. Mystical manipulation: Manipulation of experiences that appear spontaneous but are actually planned and orchestrated to demonstrate divine authority by the leader.

3. Demand for purity: The world is portrayed as black and white and members are made to conform to the group’s ideology. Guilt and shame are powerful control devices.

4. Confession: Sins as defined by the group are confessed to personal monitors or publicly to the group. There is no confidentiality within the group and leaders exploit and discuss what is confessed.

5. Sacred science: The group’s doctrine is considered to be the ultimate truth, beyond all questioning or dispute. Truth is not to be found outside the group. The leader, as God’s spokesperson, is above criticism.

6. Loading the language: The group interprets or uses words and phrases in new ways so the outside world does not understand. The jargon consists of thought-terminating cliches that serve to alter members’ thought processes to group thinking.

7. Doctrine over person: Personal experiences are denied or reinterpreted if they are contrary to the group’s ideology.

8. Dispensing of existence: Those in the outside world are not saved. They are unenlightened and must be converted. If they don’t join or are critical they are rejected. The outside world loses credibility.

All of the involved agencies are asking for the public’s help.

DHS is asking family members of the six girls who are willing to help with their identification or who are interested in having a child to whom they are related placed in their custody to call their local office.

ASP officials are asking anyone who thinks they have information that could assist in the criminal investigation to contact their Hope, Ark., office.

INFORMATION BOX

Arkansas State Police: 870-777-8944

Please contact the ASP if you have information that could assist in the criminal investigation of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries.

Arkansas Department of Human Services: 870-773-0563

Please contact DHS if you are a family member of a child from the compound or if you have information that could assist in their identifications.

The program, first of its kind in the U.S., is designed specifically for people who have left cults or other tightly controlled groups, often burdened by their previous acculturation to beliefs and behaviors foreign to mainstream society:

“It was a huge shock to me leaving, like stepping onto another planet.

“I grew up in a Bible based cult. I felt so claustrophobic in my group I felt that I had to leave. I thought that the group was right in their beliefs but I wasn’t good enough for the group. I also thought that I would die quite shortly after leaving the group because I had sinned against God by leaving. But still I left. I was one of 9 children and while not the oldest child I was the first in my family to leave and as with others who had also left the group, my whole family and everybody else in the cult stopped speaking to me when I left.

“I had real trouble shopping after I left. I remember finding it so hard to work out how to dress, how to decide which clothes to buy. I felt very alone and knew that no one understood where I had come from. I was frightened, young, very naive and faced with a culture which I had no experience of and which was completely alien to me.”
–“Joan”

People who have left cults may be confused, frightened, and reluctant or unable to articulate the extent of their disorientation from and, sometimes, fear of mainstream culture. The new service, an innovation developed in cooperation with the International Cultic Studies Association and supervised by Dr. Doni Whitsett of the University of Southern California School of Social Work, postulates that people like Joan can benefit from specialized assistance based on an understanding of cultic characteristics and cult dynamics. While providing aid and referrals for clients’ practical needs like medical and mental health care, housing, education, and job training, the service will also help them recognize and cope with issues arising from their cultic experience.

Venice Family Clinic welcomes referrals beginning September 15, 2008. There is no charge for this service, which is available to both English and Spanish speakers.

Please distribute this letter to staff members who might know of prospective clients and ask them to post the enclosed/attached announcement. For more information, or an appointment, prospective clients can call 310-664-7522.

Conact us us through email at tonyalamonews1@safe-mail.net

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P.A.C.A (Partnered Against Cult Activity) is a grass roots organization located in Fouke, AR dedicated to helping victims from the Tony Alamo Ministries.

Contact them by email at pacanfouke@yahoo.com for assistance or write them a letter to:
P.A.C.A
P.O. Box 1655
Texarkana, TX 75504

The Arkansas State Police at info@asp.arkansas.gov with complete information (names, ages, dates, locations, circumstances). Include complete contact information where you can be contacted.

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If you have RECENTLY (in the last few years) come out of the Alamo cult and have had crimes committed against you personally, or you have witnessed criminal activity, go to the local police and file a police report and ALSO send the information to info@asp.arkansas.gov