Why I love counselling cult survivors

When Gillie Jenkinson was 18 years old and studying at secretarial college, a woman approached her with a promise: God's eternal love. Captivated by the idea, Gillie threw herself into the evangelical charismatic Christian movement and eventually into a radical offshoot she calls ‘The Community’.

Life inside was suffocating. Members surrendered all their money to the group, lived together under one roof, and obeyed their leader without question. Disobedience, or even the suspicion of ‘sin’, was met with physical punishment. Gillie herself was beaten with a bamboo cane. It was amid this brutality that she found an unexpected kindness in a new arrival named Tony.

After seven years of total devotion, Gillie saw The Community collapse. As it fell apart, Gillie confessed her love to Tony. They escaped together and married, but found themselves gravitating toward other churches she considered controlling. It would take another 14 years before they finally left.

Since then, Gillie has trained as a pastoral counsellor and earned a master's degree in Gestalt psychotherapy. After two residencies at the Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center, she decided to specialise in counselling cult survivors. She has also written a book, Walking Free from the Trauma of Coercive, Cultic and Spiritual Abuse.

Presenter: Mobeen Azhar

Producer: Anna Lacey / Saskia Collette

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707

(Photo: Dr Gillie Jenkinson sitting on a couch and smiling: The Outlook Mixtape. Credit: Paul Blythin Visuals)