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.

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.

Tony Alamo – Research Resources

Answers.com

Wikipedia

Encyclopedia of Arkansas

Cult Research