Support Services

Support Services

We offer tailored support services to people in the UK who have experienced harm in faith cultures. This includes:

• Survivors and victims of spiritual abuse
• People who have experienced harm as a result of being in an unhealthy faith culture, even if they wouldn’t say they experienced direct abuse
• People who are supporting others who have experienced harm within faith cultures
• People who are concerned about an unhealthy or abusive faith culture and are deciding what action to take

If this is you and you would like support, please get in touch.

Our support process

Once you contact us, we will be in touch within 5 working days via email.

If we feel that our services are appropriate for your needs, we will offer you an initial call to discuss how we can help you. We can support you with things like:

• listening to your story. For some people this will be unhelpful, as talking about your experiences can make certain mental health problems worse, for example PTSD. There is never pressure to share your experiences, but if you would find it helpful, we are here to listen.
• processing whether what you experienced or are witnessing is spiritual abuse
• understanding your options for reporting any concerns
• focusing on what you need in the present and supporting you to make a plan for moving forwards

Support calls are offered over the phone or via Microsoft Teams.

We do not offer counselling

We do not offer counselling or psychotherapy, and we are not able to help you processes your experiences in depth or support you throughout your healing journey.

If you feel you would benefit from counselling, we can recommend Hope Valley Counselling who have a list of counsellors trained to work with people who have experienced harm in spiritual and religious settings. 

We only operate in the UK

As we are a registered charity in the UK, for legal reasons we are only able to offer support to those who are either currently based in the UK, or who were based in the UK at the time the harm occurred.

If neither of these apply to you, you are still welcome to access our online resources, but we won’t be able to offer you our support services.

We operate a waiting list during busy periods

During busy periods we operate a waiting list, so there might be a wait before we can book in your initial session. We will let you know how long your wait is likely to be, and give you the option to join the list.

If you join the list, we will be in touch as soon as a volunteer is available and get an initial session booked in.

If you would like to contact us anonymously

We understand that sometimes you might feel more comfortable contacting us anonymously. We do not have a support line so there is not a number that you can call. Instead, we recommend that you create a new email address which you don’t use anywhere else. You can do this using Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo mail, or any other email provider.

Your new email address does not need to include your name or any other identifiable information. You can use this email address to contact us.

We can arrange your support sessions over email, and then at the time of our call you can ring our volunteer with your number blocked, by typing *67 before the phone number. This way we won’t have your phone number.

We never share your personal information with anyone outside of our organisation, unless we are concerned for the safety of a vulnerable child or adult. If this is the case, we will speak to you first before we contact the relevant services. We will never give your details to any faith or spiritual organisation unless you ask us to. You can read more about this in our Safeguarding policy.

Cost of support

Our support is free to anyone who needs to access it.

If you are an organisation wanting to commission support services or refer people to us, there is an expectation that you will pay for the cost of this support. We will discuss this with you when you get in touch.

Our support services cost us £60 per session to run. If you would like to donate to cover all or part of a cost of a session, you are welcome to do so.

If someone accessing support decides to make a donation towards the cost of that support, they are welcome to do so. However those who donate will not receive any preferential treatment.

“I just wanted to thank you for listening yesterday on the phone. I felt heard, understood and believed, which has been very healing for me…..It was such a release to hear the recognition in your voice that identified with what I was saying, where I have been misunderstood and at times criticised for my actions…..I know my journey is not yet complete, but I really feel supported by you.”