Dr. Gillie Jenkinson on Thought Reform, Trauma, and Walking Free (Part 1)

This episode is sponsored by Betterhelp.

Dr. Gillie Jenkinson—the OG, the GOAT, and the GG of cult recovery work (she needed a definition, we provided several)—finally makes her long-overdue debut on A Little Bit Culty. She’s a therapist, cult survivor, and the author of Walking Free from the Trauma of Coercive, Cultic and Spiritual Abuse, and this first part is all about how she got in.

It started in 1970s London: a posh English boarding school girl who grew up in Uganda, wanted to marry a lord, and had no particular ambition or sense of direction. A persistent friend with a sulking habit got her to a meeting, an emotional experience convinced her it was real, and suddenly she was a radicalized born-again Christian baptized in the Leicester Square fountain with a police officer conveniently looking the other way. From there it was a slow drift—au pair jobs, city moves, counseling from a fellowship—until she found herself living in community houses with the Love of God group, a Bible-based cult founded by a charismatic opera singer from Birmingham School of Music.

What followed was seven years of escalating control, a second leader who brought in physical beatings with a bamboo cane framed as spiritual discipline, and a psychological prison so complete that leaving never once crossed her mind. The cult imploded on its own—and she got out with her future husband Tony, whom she'd been secretly carpooling with—but the cult stayed in her for another 14 years through a series of churches that knew, as she puts it, "fuck all" about cult recovery. Part 2 brings the work, the book, and the brilliance she's built from all of it—stay tuned.

Pick up Dr. Gillie Jenkinson’s book, Walking Free from the Trauma of Coercive, Cultic and Spiritual Abuse, follow her on Facebook or LinkedIn, and follow Hope Valley Counselling at hopevalleycounselling.com or on Facebook.

Trigger warning: This episode contains frank discussion of physical abuse, religious coercion, and psychological imprisonment.

Also…let it be known that:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

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CREDITS:

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

Production Partner: Citizens of Sound

Co-Creator: Jess Tardy

Audio production: Will Retherford

Production Coordinator: Lesli Dinsmore

Writer: Sandra Nomoto

Social media team: Eric Skwarzynski and Brooke Keane

Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

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