Monday, March 26, 2018

Child abuse survey, Women in UK who can't report sexual abuse, Animal ritual sacrifice, Jehovah's Witnesses accused of silencing victims of child abuse

 
Survivorship Movie (the Survivorship edit)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BONGdkCuSiw
 
Survivorship Conference 2017 - Promo Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgq6z3F-Wgw 

For survivors of ritual abuse, mind control and torture and pro-survivors https://www.survivorship.org  info@survivorship.org 
 
- Scale of child abuse survey 'needed every 10 years'
- Secret world: The women in the UK who cannot report sexual abuse - ritual ceremonies
- Multiple arrests made Friday in possible animal ritual sacrifice
- Jehovah's Witnesses accused of silencing victims of child abuse

Scale of child abuse survey 'needed every 10 years' 3/25/18
Thousands of children should be surveyed to build a true picture of sexual exploitation, experts have said.
 
The government says it does not know how many girls have been groomed in the wake of questions about sexual exploitation in Telford.
But the Centre of Expertise for Child Sexual Abuse is designing a survey of children to run every 10 years to assess the scale of the problem.
 
Authorities raised 18,800 concerns of children at risk in 2016-17.
This was equivalent to 51 every day.
And there were 29,600 assessments of children by social services in England about other sexual abuse because of concerns raised by teachers, social workers and health services.
 
That works out at 16 assessments of whether children were at risk of child sexual exploitation (CSE) and 25 for sexual abuse for every 10,000 under 18s....
 
 

Secret world: The women in the UK who cannot report sexual abuse
By Megha Mohan BBC Stories 3/25/18
They often fled their homelands to escape sexual abuse - but for many asylum seekers, it continues in the UK. Fear of deportation often means they don't tell police, but one effect of the Harvey Weinstein revelations is that they have now begun to talk about their experiences among themselves.
 
At the age of 37, Grace has never had consensual sex.
"I am not the only one. There are many more women like me," she says, hunched over and looking down at the table. She indicates to the wall that separates the small meeting room from her friends in the adjacent room.
 
"We are the most destitute and vulnerable women in the UK."....
Grace and her sister were subjected to continuous physical, verbal and sexual abuse by their husband. They were also made to take part in superstitious ritual ceremonies that he believed would advance his political career - including drinking animal blood, she says with a shudder.
 
The young women relied on each other for support, afraid that if they spoke out their family would be harmed.
"Our husband was a powerful man," Grace says.....
"The asylum process is flawed and works against a victim of sexual harassment or abuse at many stages," says Girma.
"If you don't have legal status you are not considered a person in the eyes of the law. You are not really a human being.
 
"These women have endured a prolonged and continual cycle of abuse - fleeing sexual violence and walking straight into a life of abuse while in the UK."
The situation is worst for those who are living in the country without having applied for asylum.
"Currently there is data-sharing between police and UK immigration officers and we have heard of cases where women go to report abuse and are held in detention centres or even deported back to the countries they came from, and the deadly situations they were trying to escape. The current system prevents these women from reporting sexual violence and the predators know this," Girma says.....
 
 
 
Multiple arrests made Friday in possible animal ritual sacrifice in West Bexar County
By Chris Quinn, mySA.com / San Antonio Express-News Saturday, March 17, 2018
A gruesome scene unfolded Friday night as Bexar County Sheriff's deputies discovered dead and dismembered animals in a West Bexar County home after receiving calls that animals were being sacrificed.
 
Deputies responded to an animal cruelty call in the 11400 block of Bronze Sand Road about 7 p.m.
When deputies arrived, they saw more than a dozen people inside the garage of a residence where a woman was cutting up "animal parts," while another person was draining the blood of a chicken into a container, according to Sgt. Elizabeth Gonzalez.
"It appears that they were having some sort of unknown ritual," Gonzalez said. "They were speaking a different language the officer did not recognize." Gonzalez explained the responding deputy is fluent in English and Spanish.
 
During the investigation deputies found multiple dead and mutilated animals inside the residence as well, including "goat heads" and more chickens, Gonzalez said....
 

Jehovah's Witnesses accused of silencing victims of child abuse
Scores of alleged victims come forward and describe culture of cover-up in religious group in UK
Sarah Marsh Sun 25 Mar 2018

More than 100 people have contacted the Guardian with allegations of child sexual abuse and other mistreatment in Jehovah’s Witness communities across the UK.
Former and current members, including 41 alleged victims of child sexual abuse, described a culture of cover-ups and lies, with senior members of the organisation, known as elders, discouraging victims from coming forward for fear of bringing “reproach on Jehovah” and being exiled from the congregation and their families.
 
A Guardian investigation also heard from 48 people who experienced other forms of abuse, including physical violence when they were children, and 35 who witnessed or heard about others who were victims of child grooming and abuse.
The stories told to the Guardian ranged from events decades ago to more recent, and many of those who came forward have now contacted the police.
 
They told the Guardian about:
An organisation that polices itself and teaches members to avoid interaction with outside authorities.
A rule set by the main governing body of the religion that means for child sexual abuse to be taken seriously there must be two witnesses to it.
Alleged child sex abuse victims claiming they were forced to recount allegations in front of their abuser.
Young girls who engage in sexual activity before marriage being forced to describe it in detail in front of male elders.
 
A solicitor representing some of the alleged victims said she believed there were thousands of complainants in the UK and that the people who have contacted the Guardian were “just the tip of the iceberg”.
 
One alleged victim, Rachel Evans, who has waived her right to anonymity, claimed there was a paedophile ring active in the 1970s, although details of the case cannot be divulged due to a current investigation.
“Within the Jehovah’s Witnesses there is an actual silencing and also a network where if someone went to the elders and said ‘there is a problem with this’ and they believe you, the whole thing will be dealt with in-house. But often these people are not dealt with, they are either moved to another congregation or told to keep their head down for a few years,” she said....
 
Child and Ritual Abuse Research  https://ritualabuse.us
 
Articles and Research by Neil Brick  http://neilbrick.com  
 
 

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

The Weinstein Co. Files For Bankruptcy, Cancels Non-Disclosure Agreements

The Weinstein Co. Files For Bankruptcy, Cancels Non-Disclosure Agreements
March 19, 2018  Richard Gonzales  


The Weinstein Company Holdings LLC announced that it has filed for voluntary bankruptcy and entered into an agreement to sell its assets to a Dallas-based equity firm.

It also announced that it is ending all nondisclosure agreements that prevented victims of alleged sexual misconduct at the hands of disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein from talking about their experiences.

The Weinstein Co. will enter into a "stalking horse" agreement with an affiliate of Lantern Capital Partners in conjunction with entering into bankruptcy proceedings....

But it was the second and third paragraphs of the statement that are likely to draw even greater attention in light of the many women who have come forward to accuse Weinstein of sexually harassment and abuse.

    "Today, the Company also takes an important step toward justice for any victims who have been silenced by Harvey Weinstein. Since October, it has been reported that Harvey Weinstein used non-disclosure agreements as a secret weapon to silence his accusers.

    Effective immediately, those "agreements" end. The Company expressly releases any confidentiality provision to the extent it has prevented individuals who suffered or witnessed any form of sexual misconduct by Harvey Weinstein from telling their stories. No one should be afraid to speak out or coerced to stay quiet. The Company thanks the courageous individuals who have already come forward. Your voices have inspired a movement for change across the country and around the world."....

Weinstein has been accused of raping or sexually assaulting many women over decades....
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/19/595089301/the-weinstein-co-files-for-bankruptcy-cancels-non-disclosure-agreements

Survivorship Notes for March/April 2018 are now online, Survivorship Conference - May 2018














Dear Friends,
 
Thank you for all of your support. Our Survivorship Notes for March/April 2018 are now online at https://survivorship.org/notes-and-journal/
Survivorship will be having a conference this May in the Los Angeles area.
 
The Survivorship Ritual Abuse and Mind Control 2018 Conference
When:
Regular Conference – Saturday and Sunday May 19 – 20, 2018
(low income prices available)
Clinician’s Conference – Friday May 18, 2018
Where: Courtyard Marriot Long Beach Airport, Long Beach, CA
Speakers include: Dr. Ellen Lacter, Dr. Randy Noblitt and Neil Brick
At our Clinician’s Conference Speakers on Friday May 18, 2018, eight continuing education credit hours will be available. Please see our conference website for more information.
 –
Attendees will receive a free lunch each day and reduced hotel room rates. The hotel has free wifi, a fitness center and outdoor pool. Please write conference2018@survivorship.org for more information.
 –
We will be co-sponsoring the SMART East Coast Conference this August 2018 in Connecticut.https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/
Speakers include Dr. Randy Noblitt and Neil Brick
Survivorship is one of the oldest and most respected organizations supporting survivors of extreme child abuse, including sadistic sexual abuse, ritualistic abuse, mind control, and torture. Survivorship provides resources, healing, and community for survivors; training and education for professionals who may serve survivors; and support for survivors’ partners and other allies.
Sincerely,

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

The 2018 Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference - Speakers and Special Prices

The 2018 Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference - Speakers and Special Prices

August 18 – 19, 2018

DoubleTree Hotel
Windsor Locks, CT

Internet conference information:
https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/

Conference Goals
– To help stop future occurrences of ritual abuse
– To help survivors of ritual abuse
– To name the groups that have participated in alleged illegal activities
– To unite those working to stop ritual abuse

Special Early Registration Deals:
Register and pay:
Before May 1, 2018 – Fri night, Sat and Sun only $150
Before June 1, 2018 – Fri night, Sat and Sun only $175.
Low income fees are $100.00 for two days and $50 for one day

Conference Speakers
The Credibility of Ritual Abuse Allegations
Presenter: Randy Noblitt, PhD

Synopsis: To what extent do mental health and other helping professionals believe the stories of ritual abuse survivors? This presentation systematically reviews the empirical research on the credibility of ritual abuse allegations. After presenting the findings there will be a discussion that welcomes the opinions of the attendees regarding their own conclusions including considerations of the community standard, professional ethics, related forensic questions, and advocacy for extreme abuse survivors. (Skype Presentation)

Randy Noblitt, PhD, is a clinical psychologist (licensed in Texas) and professor of clinical psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University, Los Angeles. In the course of his practice, Randy has treated more than 300 individuals who met the criteria for dissociative identity disorder. He is the principle author of Cult and Ritual Abuse: Its History, Anthropology and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America (Praeger, 1995. 2000), and its third edition, Cult and Ritual Abuse: Narratives, Evidence and Healing Approaches (Praeger, 2014). He is also co-editor and contributing author of the book, Ritual Abuse in the 21st Century: Psychological, Forensic, Social and Political Considerations (Robert Reed, 2008).

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
Presenter: Jillian Jackson
CPT Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) is short-term, specific 12 session therapeutic intervention to help adults address specific life events associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It was originally designed to assist victims of rape and it has been widely used within the Veterans Administration to assist combat veterans address PTSD. Clinicians are now using this evidence-based practice to help individuals who struggle with a continuum of traumas. CPT is a derivate of the more widely known Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Research demonstrates that CPT is effective in reducing the symptoms associated with PTSD. In this workshop, participants will learn the history of CPT, determine who is an appropriate candidate for the intervention, and how CPT is administered. The workshop will also highlight the research supporting this intervention and discuss it’s outcomes.
Jillian Jackson received a Masters of Social Work from Marywood University. Jillian provides services at the Village of Radikal Healing in Warminster and online through WeCounsel. Jillian also maintains employment at a local psychiatric hospital where her main focus is on adults with co-occurring disorders: mental health and substance abuse. Jillian’s experience includes working with a myriad of people with various life challenges and stressors and utilizes a holistic approach in assisting both adolescents and adults. Jillian offers individual, couples, and family counseling. Jillian’s experience includes grant writing, creating community-based programs and working with individuals who have extensive histories of trauma. Jillian is trained in Cognitive Processing Therapy and is certified in Reiki I.

Radikal Healing
Presenter: Manjot Singh Khalsa
Radikal Healing is a holistic therapeutic approach for the healing of trauma. This workshop will provide a primer introduction to various modalities that are available and also highlight why it is vital for a process of healing and transformation to be tailored to each individual’s needs and experience.

Be Here Now
Presenter: Manjot Singh Khalsa
Manjot Singh Khalsa is the creator of a Kundalini Yoga and Meditation curriculum, “Be Here Now: Yoga, Meditation & Mantra for Trauma Survivors.” In today’s experiential workshop, participants will have the opportunity to stretch, breathe, strengthen and rest in a safe space. No previous yoga experience necessary. Participants will choose to sit in a chair or on the floor during this workshop.

Manjot Singh Khalsa is a psychotherapist in private practice, sacred healer, interfaith minister, teacher and co-creator of Radikal Healing. Radikal Healing is a process of life transformation utilizing a complement of modalities tailored to each client’s individual needs including psychotherapy, meditation, Kundalini yoga, Shamanic technology, energy medicine, life coaching and supervised fasting. Village of Radikal Healing in Bucks County, PA is a healing center that provides opportunities for people to embrace the Radikal Life they were meant to live.

Changes in Awareness of Severe Abuse and Child Abuse Crimes Over Twenty Five Years
Presenter: Neil Brick
The awareness of severe abuse and child abuse crimes has changed over the last 25 years. In the early 1990s, severe abuse survivors were often believed and supported. Then a backlash started and severe abuse survivors and their supporters were harassed and attacked. The child abuse survivor movement changed and adapted. Ten years ago, research began again to help expose severe abuse crimes. More recently, first in the UK and Australia and now in the United States, a variety of child abuse, severe abuse, sexual harassment and rape cases are bringing public awareness again to the mainstream media of severe abuse crimes. This presentation will discuss the changes of the last 25 years, with an emphasis on the more recent exposures of organized child abuse crimes and social systems that have been part of the cover up of these crimes.

Neil Brick is a survivor of ritual abuse and mind control. His work continues to educate the public about child abuse, trauma and ritual abuse crimes. His child abuse and ritual abuse newsletter S.M.A.R.T. https://ritualabuse.us
has been published for over 22 years. http://neilbrick.com

The conference is sponsored by S.M.A.R.T., a newsletter that examines the possible connections between ritual abuse and secretive organizations. SMARTNEWS@aol.com  http://ritualabuse.us/

For those interested in helping to promote the conference, lease write smartnews@aol.com  to receive a press release to forward to others.

Permission to forward this e-mail to pro-survivors lists and resources.

 

Thursday, March 1, 2018

Are you susceptible to brainwashing?

Are you susceptible to brainwashing?

by Michael Nedelman, CNN Tue February 13, 2018

"Brainwashing" is often used to describe when an individual or group uses coercive tactics to control another person


Scholars are split on what might make some people more susceptible to "mind control" than others

(CNN)Steven Hassan was a college junior in the mid-1970s when he was recruited into the Unification Church, a cult also known as the "Moonies." Hassan said he quickly came to believe that Armageddon and World War III were imminent. The Moonies, he thought, were singularly tasked with saving the world.

"It only took a few weeks to get me convinced that the Messiah was on the Earth, even though I'm Jewish," said Hassan, author of "Combating Cult Mind Control."

It wasn't until he met with ex-Moonies, albeit reluctantly, that he began to leave the cult 2½ years later.

"I was an off-the-charts, fly-a-plane-into-the-World-Trade-Center-if-Father-ordered-you-to Moonie," he said of the group's leader, Sun Myung Moon, whom the members called Father. "I was sure they wouldn't be able to make me betray Father. I wanted to prove to my parents that I was not brainwashed or mind-controlled."

Hassan, now a licensed mental health counselor who specializes in helping former cult members, said that just about anyone's mind can be controlled in similar ways....

"What was the chance Patty Hearst was going to become a bank robber without being violently kidnapped, thrown in the back of a car, put in a closet and mind-controlled for days and days?" asked Hassan, who was coincidentally recruited into the Moonies the week Hearst was kidnapped. He said he felt a certain empathy for her while she was on the run from authorities and later stood trial....

'I didn't know the warning signs'

"I had a secret life that nobody knew about," said social psychologist Alexandra Stein, author of "Terror, Love and Brainwashing: Attachment in Cults and Totalitarian Systems."
Stein was 26 when she joined a political cult in Minneapolis -- the O, it was called -- though she didn't really realize it was a cult at first. The organization controlled her life throughout the 1980s, isolating her from her from friends and keeping her sleep-deprived with multiple jobs, including one as a computer programmer and one at a bakery....

Stein, who had just left a relationship when she joined the cult in Minneapolis, remembers feeling lost and confused, like they could offer answers she didn't have. It broke her down, she said....

But Stein said that "the vulnerabilities are situational, not dispositional." At the wrong time in someone's life, anyone could find themselves vulnerable to manipulation and mind control, as she did.

"Any human being is going to have situational vulnerabilities throughout their lives," Hassan said. "Whether it's the death of a loved one or some illness or moving to a (new) city ... that's going to create a vulnerability that then a cult recruiter can deceptively appeal to."
Cults don't want people who are "disturbed" or unstable, because they can be more difficult to control, Hassan argued. He said groups often target productive, smart people who can work and donate money to the cause....

'It could never happen to me'

"We can be programmed with specific mind control techniques and methods to shut off critical thinking, to have irrational fears or phobias implanted in our minds that take away our choices," Hassan said.
In his clinical work with former cult members, he said, he aims to increase their self-awareness through means such as having them research how other groups work and revisiting the memories of their cult experiences.

When Stein left the cult in Minneapolis, her critical thinking "clicked back" almost immediately. What took longer was coming to terms with the previous 10 years, reinterpreting what had happened to her and getting her life back on track.
"The nature of these groups, of isolating you, means that you have no friends on the outside," no job, no housing, she said. "You certainly don't have an identity that's separate from the group when you leave."

But she also experienced a lot of joy when she came out of the group, she said....

"We all want to believe that we're in control of our minds all the time," Hassan said. "Cults love people who say 'it could never happen to me,' because it because it makes them that much easier to recruit." "I would've said that if it hadn't happened to me." ....
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/13/health/brainwashing-mind-control-patty-hearst/index.html