Focusing for Cult Recovery

This online course offers a compassionate, structured pathway for recovery from cultic relationships, high-control groups, coercive dynamics, or psychologically entrapping belief systems. Drawing on the groundbreaking work of Alexandra Stein in her book Terror, Love and Brainwashing: Attachment in Cults and Totalitarian Systems, this course explores the psychological conditions that make cults possible, and crucially, how reconnection with the authentic self is always still possible.

Cultic harm is not caused by weakness, gullibility, or lack of intelligence. It arises from specific relational and psychological conditions that can affect anyone. In this course, we focus on three core conditions identified by Stein: isolation, engulfment, and terror without solution. Each condition disrupts a person’s natural capacity for self-trust, meaning-making, and relational safety.

Alongside this framework, the course introduces Focusing — a gentle, embodied practice developed by Eugene Gendlin — as a powerful tool for recovery. Focusing helps participants reconnect with their own inner knowing after it has been overridden, silenced, or hijacked by an external authority, ideology, or group dynamic. Rather than telling participants what to think or believe, Focusing restores the capacity to sense what is true from the inside.

Each session combines:

• Clear psychoeducation on cultic dynamics
• Guided Focusing practices to rebuild inner trust
• Reflective inquiry grounded in lived experience
• Space for integration without pressure to disclose

The course also weaves in the facilitator’s lived experience of cultic harm and recovery, including insights creatively explored in her Free the Stories podcast. This personal lens grounds the material in real-world complexity, avoiding both abstraction or clinical distance.

By the end of the course, participants will:

• Understand how cultic conditioning works psychologically
• Recognize its effects on nervous systems, identity and attachment
• Be introduced to Focusing as a tool that can support cultic recovery and connection with one’s authentic self

This course is not about replacing one belief system with another. It is about restoring the capacity to listen inwardly — and to live from that place again.

This course is being delivered by Ella VanGaya. Ella is a PUPA Focusing Trainee with Coordinator Annette Dubreuil.

Workshop Details

Date and Time: Fridays, February 20th-Mar 20th, 2026 1-2:30 pm Eastern Time

Format: Online via Zoom

Who is this course for? This workshop is for people approaching cult recovery from many positions — personal, professional, relational, or simply out of interest – and is suitable for both inexperienced and experienced Focusers.

Contact:
Please contact Ella VanGaya at [email protected] with any questions.

Sliding scale pricing:

This workshop has sliding scale pricing, offering multiple price points to make it more accessible and reduce financial barriers for people with different levels of income. Please view the sliding scale fees page for more details and codes.

Full fee: Live course with breakout room practice: US$250
25% off: US$187.50
50% off: US$125
70% off: US$75
80% off: US$50
90% off: US$25