Monday, June 12, 2023

The 2023 Online Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference August 19 – 20, 2023

The 2023 Online Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference   August 19 – 20, 2023

If you are interested in participating in our conference  or getting on a mailing list, please write: smartnews@aol.com

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

Proof That Ritual Abuse Exists https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/

Large List of Ritual Abuse and Child Abuse References https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/studies/satanic-ritual-abuse-evidence-with-information-on-the-mcmartin-preschool-case/

Grey Faction, Satanic Temple and Lucien Greaves Fact Sheet https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/grey-faction-satanic-temple-and-lucien-greaves-fact-sheet/

Research and Information on Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder) https://ritualabuse.us/research/did/

Sybil – Proof Sybil had MPD and it was caused by severe trauma  https://ritualabuse.us/research/did/sybil-proof-sybil-had-mpd-and-it-was-caused-by-severe-trauma/

Judith Herman: “In order to escape accountability for his crimes, the perpetrator does everything in his power to promote forgetting. If secrecy fails, the perpetrator attacks the credibility of his victim. If he cannot silence her absolutely, he tries to make sure no one listens.” Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence – From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror

Videos and PowerPoints from our 2022 conference https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2022-conference/2022-conference-video-presentations-and-powerpoints/

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

Please note: S.M.A.R.T. has no paid employees and all money paid to S.M.A.R.T. goes toward efforts to educate survivors and the general public about survivor issues and research.

Conference Speakers 

These descriptions may be heavy for survivors to read.  You may want to read them with a support person.

Artificially Rooted in the Natural
Wendy Hoffman

Many of us wonder why recovery from criminal mind control takes so long and is so painful and consuming. This workshop explores one aspect of the difficulties we experience. Perpetrators don’t pull mind control programs out of the blue. They have studied and continue to study what is natural to human emotions, behaviors and motivations. Their mind control tactics stem from those observations. Perpetrators artificially root their commands in the natural tendencies of the human brain, personality and soul, such as dissociation among, the need for love and many others. The purpose of this workshop is to help survivors understand some of the unwanted potency of programming and relieve some of the shame and suffering they may feel as they go through their recovery, or even decide whether to start their investigation of themselves, their brains and hearts.

Wendy Hoffman has published three memoirs, The Enslaved Queen (Karnac Books, 2014, new edition by Aeon Books, 2019), White Witch in a Black Robe (Karnac Books, 2016, new edition by Aeon Books, 2019) and A Brain of My Own (Aeon Books, 2020). The Enslaved Queen has been translated and published in Germany (Asanger-Verlag, 2021). Her book of poetry, Forceps, was also published (Karnac books, 2016) along with a book of essays, From the Trenches, written with Dr. Alison Miller (Karnac Books, 2018, re-issued Routledge Books, 2019). Her fourth memoir, After Amnesia, is published on the SmartNews and Survivorship websites (2022). It also has been translated into German. https://ritualabuse.us/smart/wendy-hoffman/

Child Trafficking through Family Court Proceedings: A UK Case Study – Dr. Rainer Hermann Kurz

This presentation builds on a decade-long investigation into two index incidents that led to the transfer of parental responsibility for a toddler from a mother to a Local Authority, and eventually adoption by the foster carer in suspicious circumstances marred by procedural irregularities. Index Incident 1, dismissed as untrue by a Family Court Judge, concerned the mother’s claim that she gave birth to a baby as a young teenager that succeeded from incestuous rape by her father and ‘disappeared’. Index Incident 2, that was also dismissed in the same judicial process, concerned a daytime sexual assault on the toddler in broad daylight. The presentation draws on a 60-minute audio recording describing the two index incidents and information submitted to a document review by complex trauma specialists in the process of preparing an appeal application. The content of the presentation is potentially triggering but provides rare insights into the workings of an Organized Ritual Crime Abuse Network (ORCAN) in the midst of society.

Rainer Kurz is a Chartered Psychologist based in London. Since 1990 Rainer has worked in Research & Development roles for leading test publishers. His PhD dissertation was on enhancing the validity and utility of ability testing. Rainer developed 50+ psychometric tests and authored more than 100 publications. He is a Consultant Editor for Test Reviews at the Psychometric Testing Centre (PTC) of the BPS. Rainer has been investigating complex trauma assessment problems since 2012. He presented 30+ posters on trauma, dissociation and healing at international peer-reviewed conferences that are available here: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rainer_Kurz2

The Effects of Social Movements on Survivor Support Systems and Survivor Recovery – Neil Brick

Neil Brick will speak about the history of ritualistic abuse and the effects of social movements on survivors. He will present historical information regarding the literature of clinicians and researchers. He will describe the effects of social and historical movements on survivor support systems and survivor recovery.

Neil Brick is a survivor of ritualistic abuse. His work continues to educate the public about child abuse, trauma and ritualistic abuse crimes. His child abuse and ritualistic abuse newsletter S.M.A.R.T. https://ritualabuse.us has been published for over 28 years. http://neilbrick.com

Ongoing Work by Survivor Led Non-profit Organisations in Scotland – Dr. Laurie Matthew OBE

This presentation will explore the ongoing work carried out by survivor led non-profit organisations based in Scotland. Ritual Abuse Network Scotland (RANS) has provided support and information to adult survivors of ritual abuse for the past 20 years and Eighteen And Under has provided support services for young abuse survivors for the past 30 years. Both organisations have been at the frontier of raising awareness about ritual abuse in the UK and beyond. She will also share findings from recent survivor led participatory research highlighting the importance of involving survivors as researchers with lived experience in all aspects of research from deciding the research question, to agreeing methodology, gathering data, analysing results and dissemination of the findings..

Dr. Laurie Matthew OBE is founder and Manager of Eighteen And Under an award winning charity providing confidential support services to young people who have been sexually abused. She is also a founder member and advisor to Ritual Abuse Network Scotland the UK’s leading charity for survivors of organised and ritual abuse. She is the author of several books about ritual abuse and the multi-award-winning Violence Is Preventable abuse prevention programmes for children and young people. She has over 40 year’s experience of directly supporting abuse survivors. Her published research includes participatory research with adult ritual abuse survivors and participatory research with young survivors of sexual abuse.
http://www.18u.org.uk  http://www.rans.org.uk

The Identification and Use of Trauma Triggers in the Treatment of Extreme Abuse Survivors – Dr. Randall Noblitt

Extreme abuse survivors sometimes seek psychotherapy services because of the overwhelming consequences of previous or ongoing incidents of abuse. Repeated severe circumscribed abuse often leaves survivors with trigger-responsive dissociation of identity and traumagenic amnesia, including initially impaired awareness of the abuse and its effects. This workshop will discuss methods for safely exploring, identifying, and desensitizing triggers where the goal is to assist clients in reclaiming effective self-regulation, autonomy, and quality of life.

Randy Noblitt is a professor of Clinical Psychology at Alliant International University, Los Angeles and a licensed psychologist in Texas. He has evaluated and treated extreme abuse survivors clinically since 1979. He has authored three editions of the book Cult and Ritual Abuse with Pam Noblitt (1995, 2000, 2014). Together they also edited Ritual Abuse in the 21st Century (2008) and they have authored a recent book, Navigating Social Security Disability Programs: A Handbook for Clinicians and Advocates (2020).  https://ritualabuse.us/smart/randy-noblitt/

False Memories – The Deception That Silenced Millions – Lynn Crook

Lynn Crook explains why accused child molesters needed a defense, why they selected false memories and how they sold it to the media. She’ll explain how the media then sold false memories to the public with rhetoric and false, false memory research results. Prevalence rates were forgotten. As the media coverage slowed, FMSF recruited therapy patients for lawsuits against therapists. Today, psychology students learn about false memories in their textbooks. Although false memory claims are no longer making headlines except when celebrities are on trial, they have become a “given” as reporters paraphrase memory researcher Elizabeth Loftus.

Lynn Crook received an M. Ed. from the University of Washington. She worked at a sexual assault agency in eastern Washington as a community educator and treated clients in crisis. She admired the courage of her clients and soon discovered that she, too, was molested as a child. She sued her parents for damages in 1991. The judge declared in her favor in 1994, as false memories were making headlines. She discovered an oddity in the deposition of her parents’ expert, Elizabeth Loftus. That investigation led to her recent book, “FALSE MEMORIES – The Deception That Silenced Millions LLC.”  http://www.lynncrook.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/

Please note: None of the material on these pages or at the conference is meant as therapy, or to take the place of therapy.

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Catholic clergy in Illinois sexually abused more than 1,900 minors, state attorney general says in report

 Catholic clergy in Illinois sexually abused more than 1,900 minors, state attorney general says in report BY CARA TABACHNICK MAY 23, 2023

"In many instances, allegations were reported and not acted upon, the report found"

An investigation has substantiated child abuse claims against Catholic clergy in Illinois by more than 1,900 victims, state Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a news conference detailing the findings of the office's five-year investigation that uncovered hundreds more cases than first reported by the dioceses in 2018.

More than 100,000 pages of diocesan documents and 600 confidential contacts with survivors of child sex abuse helped the state's office piece together the 696-page report released Tuesday on clergy sexual abuse in all six Catholic dioceses in Illinois, the office said....

Raoul's predecessor, former Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, began investigating the scope of state clergy sexual abuse in 2018 after a Pennsylvania grand jury report documented the abuse of 1,000 minors in six dioceses in that state, the office said. The revelations in that report shocked dioceses around the country and numerous state attorneys general pledged to investigate clergy within their own states – Illinois included. 

At that time, the Catholic dioceses of Illinois publicly listed only 103 substantiated child sex abusers, the office said.

The investigation covered all six Illinois dioceses — Chicago, Belleville, Joliet, Peoria, Rockford and Springfield — which serve the state's 3.5 million Catholics. Investigators substantiated child sex abuse allegations against 451 clerics and religious brothers. The largest number was in Chicago, where there were 150 reported abusers, and Joliet, with 52 reported abusers, the report found. Since some reported abusers were registered in two dioceses, there were a total of 494 substantiated abusers reported, the report said.

The depth and breadth of the sexual abuse varied – as did the punishments they received, the report states. In many instances, allegations were reported and not acted upon, the report found. In 1993, two survivors accused one priest at the Chicago Diocese of abuse, but the review board did not recommend that the priest be punished, the report said. Instead, the clergy had him monitored and he was still allowed to meet with teenage girls, the report found. The abuse continued and at least three more survivors reported abuse at the hands of the priest until in 2002 - almost a decade later – he was removed from the clergy, the report said.  

One priest accused of abusing numerous young boys was known by the parish children as "Happy Hands," the report said, but he evaded punishment for years. Prosecutors often declined to move the case forward — an assistant state's attorney told Our Lady of the Snows parishioners, "It was our decision not to put the children through any court process, because we feel that our goal can be achieved without doing that," the report said. The priest moved from parish to parish after accusations against him started in 1990 but he didn't leave the Catholic church until 2008, the report said. He was never punished for his alleged abuses, the report said, and instead, he resides at "his cottage—the same residence where he had been accused so many times of abusing young boys."

At least 1,997 survivors reported being abused by Illinois clergy, the report said. Sexual abuse survivors shared their narratives – which were essential to the report's investigation said the Illinois Attorney General – and many spoke frankly about the struggles they've faced since their abuse. 

Nearly every survivor struggled with mental health issues, the report found, with some turning to alcohol, addiction and others having anxiety, and feelings of unworthiness.... Some survivors struggled with suicidal thoughts, while others dealt with physical health and financial issues. 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/illinois-catholic-clergy-sexually-abused-over-1900-minors/

Illinois clergy sex abuse investigation uncovers hundreds more cases in Catholic church BY BRAD EDWARDS, MEGAN HICKEY MAY 23, 2023

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A nearly five-year investigation by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul's office has uncovered hundreds more cases of child sex abuse by Catholic clergy members than first reported by church officials.

A nearly 700-page report released Tuesday features detailed narrative accounts of child sex abuse committed by Catholic clerics. 

https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/illinois-attorney-general-clergy-sex-abuse-report/

Monday, May 22, 2023

Survivorship Celebrates Its 34th Year Helping Survivors at its Eleventh Annual Conference

  
Survivorship Celebrates Its 34th Year Helping Survivors at its Eleventh Annual Conference
 
 
https://survivorship.org/the-survivorship-ritual-abuse-and-mind-control-2022-conference-presentations/

 

https://www.prnews
wire.com/news-releases/survivorship-celebrates-its-34th-year-helping-survivors-at-its-eleventh-annual-conference-301830451.html 
x
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif.May 22, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Survivorship of Extreme or Ritualistic Abuse 2023 Online Conference 

https://survivorship.org/the-survivorship-ritual-abuse-and-mind-control-2023-online-conference/


At the conference, participants reported they received a lot of information. They appreciated having a chance to get support and ideas to help them heal from their traumas.
 
In her discussion on Researching Ritual Abuse and Mind Control in Art and Literature: One Art Historian's Journey, Lynn Brunet PhD talked about the connections between a person's art and their past trauma memories. She discussed her book Answer to Jung: Making Sense of 'The Red Book' and Freemasonry. https://independent.academia.edu/LynnBrunet1
 
Neil Brick discussed The Effects of Social Movements on Survivor Support Systems and Survivor Recovery. He explained how those that attack trauma victim's stories use techniques like DARVO (Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender) and how they may suffer from the Dunning-Kruger effect (overestimating their knowledge). https://ritualabuse.us http://neilbrick.com


Rainer Kurz talked about the Enmeshment of the British False Memory Society and the British Psychological Society and his efforts to correct their views to reflect the actual memory research in the field. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rainer_Kurz2


Evidence-Based Practice Guidelines and Standards Relevant to the Psychological Care of Extreme Abuse Survivors was discussed by Dr. Randall Noblitt. He discussed the research supporting survivor stories and different types of evidence-based standards. https://ritualabuse.us/smart/randy-noblitt/


Ellen Lacter Ph.D. talked about Systematic and Organic Psychological Mechanisms that Perpetuate the Cycle of Extreme Abuse. She covered the topics of ritualistic abuse, production of sadistic child abuse materials, and sex-trafficking of young children to multiple perpetrators. https://endritualabuse.org


Shelby Rising Eagle's topic How to Create a Successful Recovery Path for Disassociated Survival Skills and DID discussed how to create a successful path of recovery for survivors of severe abuse. She talked about her own abuse story as well.


Patricia Quinn in her presentation on Creating Calm talked about ways art can help survivors of child abuse heal. 
Since 1989, Survivorship has been helping survivors of severe abuse. Through advocacy, education, publications and support groups, Survivorship has provided research and important knowledge to help survivors and their helpers. https://survivorship.org


Resources for Survivors of Extreme Abuse


Ritual Abuse Evidence https://survivorship.org/ritual-abuse-evidence/


Child Abuse Wiki - Ritual Abuse http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Ritual_Abuse


The Survivorship Ritual Abuse and Mind Control 2022 Conference Presentations


The Survivorship Ritual Abuse and Mind Control 2021 Conference Presentations  https://survivorship.org/the-survivorship-ritual-abuse-and-mind-control-2021-conference-presentations/

Ritual Abuse Survivors’ Perspectives on Research Participation: An Exploratory Mixed Methods Online Study

Ritual Abuse Survivors’ Perspectives on Research Participation: An Exploratory Mixed Methods Online Study
Laurie Matthew & Ian Barron - Journal of Child Sexual Abuse
09 May 2023
 

This exploratory study sought a deeper understanding of the perspectives of self-defined ritual abuse (RA) survivors, who had experienced sexual victimization, on participation in research. A mixed-methods qualitative design involving online survey and follow-up virtual interviews included 68 adults across eight countries. Content and thematic analysis of responses indicated that RA survivors were keen to be involved in a range of research activities to share their experience, knowledge, and support for other survivors. Having a voice, gaining knowledge, and feeling empowered were reported as advantages of participation, while concerns included exploitation, researcher ignorance, and emotional dysregulation caused by content discussed. To enable their engagement in the future research, RA survivors identified participative research designs, anonymity, and increased opportunities for inclusion in decision-making.

 
Matthew, L. & Barron, I. (2015). Participatory Action research on help-seeking behaviors of self-defined ritual abuse survivors: a brief report. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 24(4):429-43.
 
The existence of ritual abuse is the subject of much debate. Ritual abuse survivor perceptions of seeking help have not been explored, and studies have yet to utilize self-defined survivors as collaborative researchers. This study addresses both issues. Participatory action research was utilized to design a survey and semistructured interview to investigate ritual abuse survivor experience of seeking help.

Sixty-eight participants completed the survey, and 22 were interviewed. A group approach to thematic analysis aided validity and reliability. Participants reported experiencing disbelief and a lack of ritual abuse awareness and help from support services. In contrast, participatory action research was reported by participants as educative and emancipatory. Future research should explore the benefits of participatory action research for survivors of different forms of oppression.
 
In the 1990s, a modest number of research articles (Faller, 1994) and clinical guides were published on ritual abuse. Moreover, a considerable number of clinicians reported encountering ritual abuse (RA) cases in their practices, about 10% in a study of members of the American Psychological Association (Bottoms, Shaver, & Goodman, 1991). Media hysteria, the rise of the False Memory Foundation (Salter, 2008), and the failure of feminism to fit RA into dominant paradigms of sexual abuse led to many professionals becoming wary of RA (Scott, 2001). For practitioners, investigators, and journalists, it was reassuring and convenient to redefine RA as a nonphenomenon. However, it is likely, this left individuals who self-defined as RA survivors
more isolated and disbelieved....
 
DISBELIEF
Fear of disbelief was a prevalent theme across participants’ responses (n = 12). During interviews, participants explored the reasons behind this as well as consequences for survivors. Many tried to understand the reasons behind this lack of belief. “We face denial and disbelief on a scale that beggars belief. They can’t handle our abuse at all but they don’t have to, they just have to
listen, but they don’t.” Others felt angry, particularly when speaking about their experiences of not being believed in childhood. Some expressed child protection concerns. “How can we safeguard children from something that is not known about or recognized?”
 
Issues of mental illness and vulnerability were reflected in experiences of participants when seeking help. “I was given ECT [electroconvulsive therapy] . . . at the age of 13. They diagnosed posttraumatic stress disorder, at 16 a counsellor diagnosed False Memory Syndrome” and “when I started with my new therapist and started to remember ritual abuse she didn’t believe me.
I was devastated. It is hard enough trying to cope with some of these very extreme memories without having professionals disbelieve.”....
 
Conclusions
The current study found survivors appeared to suffer from the continued polarized discourse around belief, memory, and mental illness. The researchers discovered that survivors reported low awareness of RA issues among professionals, which in turn resulted in services being perceived as
poor. As a consequence, participants reported they were reluctant to reveal histories of RA due to anticipated negative reactions. The authors suggest there is a need for survivor agencies to raise awareness of issues for RA survivors, share the experiences of survivors, and encourage development of survivor-sensitive services.

Class action suit by families of those brainwashed in Montreal medical experiments gets go-ahead, Brainwashed: The echoes of MK-ULTRA

Class action suit by families of those brainwashed in Montreal medical experiments gets go-ahead

Treatments included chemically induced sleep for weeks, rounds of electroshocks
CBC News Mar 03, 2022
 
A lawsuit against the Canadian government, the Royal Victoria Hospital and the McGill University Health Centre is moving ahead.
 
About 55 families of victims who underwent medical experimentation in the 1950s and 1960s are suing for millions of dollars.
Alison Steel says her mother was never the same after undergoing brainwashing experiments at Montreal's Allan Memorial Institute.
 
Treatments included chemically induced sleep for weeks, rounds of electroshocks and experimental drugs....
Steel is one of the main plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Canadian government, the Royal Victoria Hospital and the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC).
 
How the CIA's MK-ULTRA mind-control experiments laid the groundwork for torture methods used today
The plaintiffs allege the Government of Canada funded psychiatric treatments by Dr. Ewen Cameron at the Allan Memorial Institute between 1950 to 1964. They claim the government played a role in the supervision and control of these experiments, which were part of the CIA's MK-ULTRA program of covert mind-control.
The defendants had moved to partially dismiss the case, but Quebec Superior Court dismissed the defence's request on Feb. 23.
 
Lawyer Alan Stein says the lawsuit, seeking about $1 million per family on top of legal costs "to compensate them for their [physical and emotional] loss," can now move ahead....
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/class-action-lawsuit-families-montreal-brainwashing-mk-ultra-1.6371416
 
Brainwashed: The echoes of MK-ULTRA
During the Cold War, the CIA secretly funded mind-control experiments on unwitting Canadians in a program codenamed MK-ULTRA. The experiments laid the groundwork for modern-day torture techniques. And victims and their families are still seeking recognition and justice.
By Michelle Shephard, Lisa Ellenwood and Chris Oke
October 21, 2020

The following story is based on material from the CBC podcast Brainwashed, a six-part series co-produced with The Fifth Estate that investigates the CIA's covert mind-control experiments — from the Cold War and MK-ULTRA to the so-called U.S. war on terror.
 
But many of the details are laid out in a thick file of documents, correspondences and reports. He has news articles and pictures spanning decades, all describing what his family went through. And he has his mother's heartwrenching medical report that is still hard for him to comprehend.
 
"She had her 30th and last day of sleep on March 24th," Schrier said as he read from the 1960 hospital record.
"They gave her all the drugs … about four or five barbiturates and amphetamines at a time."
 
Esther Schrier received electroshock therapy, massive amounts of drugs and so-called psychiatric treatments that sound as if they were lifted from the pages of George Orwell's dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four.

She was a patient at Montreal’s Allan Memorial Institute in the 1960s. She had gone to "the Allan," as the hospital is known, to seek treatment for what today would be considered anxiety or postpartum depression.

But once she walked through those hospital doors and into the care of a psychiatrist named Dr. Ewen Cameron, she became an unwitting experiment subject for a massive CIA brainwashing operation codenamed MK-ULTRA.
 
And Schrier was part of this clandestine program, too, because his mother was pregnant with him at the time.
"It's crazy," said Schrier. "I don't think it was fair to do that to a developing fetus."...
 
Hundreds of relatives whose loved ones were experimented upon by Cameron are now demanding compensation for family members and an apology from the Canadian government.
 
Canada has never provided a list of the victims of the experiments that took place during Cameron's tenure from 1943 to 1964. In the decades since, no government has ever admitted liability, let alone apologized — despite the fact that part of the experiments in Montreal were funded not only by the CIA, but also by the Canadian government....
 
But the story of MK-ULTRA isn't just relegated to Cold War history. 
 
The idea of mind control — the theory that breaking a person down will make them do something against their will — has been constantly revisited by governments during other periods of fear and uncertainty, when the military and medicine collide. 
What happened at Montreal's Allan Memorial Institute laid the groundwork for torture spanning decades to follow....

Monday, May 1, 2023

Maryland attorney general releases report on decades of sex abuse by Catholic priests

 

Maryland attorney general releases report on decades of sex abuse by Catholic priests
April 5, 2023 By The Associated Press
 
BALTIMORE — The Maryland Attorney General's Office has publicly released a redacted version of an investigative report detailing sex abuse allegations against more than 150 Catholic priests and examining the Archdiocese of Baltimore's response.
 
The redacted findings were made public Wednesday afternoon, marking a significant development in an ongoing legal battle over its release and adding to growing evidence from parish es across the country as numerous similar revelations have rocked the Catholic Church in recent years.
 
Former Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh launched the probe in 2019 and announced its completion in November, saying investigators had reviewed over 100,000 pages of documents dating back to the 1940s and interviewed hundreds of victims and witnesses. The report's contents weren't immediately released because they include information obtained from church officials via grand jury subpoenas, which are confidential proceedings in Maryland.
 
Lawyers for the state asked a court for permission to release the nearly 500-page document, which identifies 158 priests accused of abusing more than 600 victims over the past 80 years, and Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Robert Taylor ruled last month that a redacted version should be made public. Officials recently started making the necessary redactions, which included removing the names and titles of 37 people accused of wrongdoing....
 
 
State lawmakers are currently considering whether to end the state's statute of limitations for when civil lawsuits related to child sexual abuse can be filed against institutions. Similar proposals have failed in recent years, but the issue received renewed attention this session and the current proposal is nearing passage in Annapolis, where lawmakers have until midnight next Monday to give final approval and send the bill to Gov. Wes Moore, who has said he supports it. Currently, victims of child sex abuse in Maryland can't sue after they turn 38. The bill would eliminate the age limit and allow for retroactive lawsuits....
 
 
When Maryland prosecutors asked to release the findings of their recent investigation, they summarized some of the report's contents, which paint a damning picture. Sexual abuse was so pervasive, the filing said, that some parishes, congregations and schools had more than one abusive priest at the same time — including one congregation where 11 abusive priests practiced over 40 years. In some cases, victims ended up reporting abuse to priests who were abusive themselves, prosecutors wrote.
 
 
The investigation also revealed that the archdiocese failed to report many allegations of sexual abuse to authorities, conduct adequate investigations, remove abusers from the ministry or restrict their access to children.
 
"Instead, it went to great lengths to keep the abuse secret," the court filing said. "While the Archdiocese reported a large number of allegations to police, especially in later years, for decades it worked to ensure that the perpetrators would not face justice....
 
 
_._,_._,_

Thursday, April 20, 2023

The Survivorship Ritual Abuse and Mind Control 2023 Online Conference

  The Survivorship Ritual Abuse and Mind Control 2023 Online Conference


Survivor Conference - Saturday and Sunday May 20 - 21, 2023


Clinician's Conference - Friday May 19, 2023


Both conferences will be online.


International Speakers

 

Please write info@survivorship.org if you would like to get on our conference mailing list.


Conference information is at: https://survivorship.org/the-survivorship-ritual-abuse-and-mind-control-2023-online-conference/


Prices are as low as $50. Please see our conference website for more information.


Conference Speakers


Survivors may want to use caution reading this material or read it with a safe support person.


Researching Ritual Abuse and Mind Control in Art and Literature: One Art Historian’s Journey - Lynn Brunet PhD


The Effects of Social Movements on Survivor Support Systems and Survivor Recovery - Neil Brick


The History of Ritual Abuse and the Effects of Social Trends on the Therapeutic Profession - Neil Brick


How to Create a Successful Recovery Path for Disassociated Survival Skills and DID - Shelby Rising Eagle


The Enmeshment of the British False Memory Society and the British Psychological Society. - Dr. Rainer Hermann Kurz


Child Trafficking through Family Court Proceedings: A UK Case Study - Dr. Rainer Hermann Kurz


Some Evidence-Based Practice Guidelines and Standards Relevant to the Psychological Care of Extreme Abuse Survivors - Dr. Randall Noblitt


Creating Calm - Patricia Quinn


Programmed and Internal Psychological Mechanisms that Perpetuate the Cycle of Extreme Abuse - Ellen P. Lacter, Ph.D.


Lynn is an art historian, artist and survivor of Masonic ritual abuse. She fi

rst began to remember her abuse in her mid-forties but realised that she had been unknowingly making art about it for most of her career as a professional artist. In 1999, alongside her recovery, she began a PhD into Masonic themes and trauma in contemporary art. It was based on the realisation that artists can make disturbing art, often for a lifetime, without realising where it comes from. She was a lecturer in art history and theory at the time, and during the 1990s in my field there was a lot of interest in the relation between art, memory and trauma. Her talk will trace the series of case studies where she has uncovered traces of ritual abuse in the work of some key artists and writers in contemporary art and from earlier in the 20th century.


In 2017 she came across Carl Jung’s Red Book, a magnificent volume containing his disturbing mid-life fantasies along with his own exquisite paintings. She recognised at the first reading that this could be ritual abuse and in 2019 published Answer to Jung: Making Sense of the Red Book. It demonstrated that his fantasies were not entirely original but were based on abusive forms of Masonic rites practiced in Switzerland when he was a child. This talk will be accompanied by a slide show depicting examples of these artists’ work.


Lynn Brunet (PhD) is an Australian art historian, artist and survivor of Masonic ritual abuse. Her research examines the coupling of trauma and ritual in modern and contemporary Western art and literature. In particular, it traces the connection between Masonic and other fraternal initiation rites and complex trauma in the work of so-called ‘tortured’ artists and writers.


The Effects of Social Movements on Survivor Support Systems and Survivor Recovery - Neil Brick


Neil Brick will speak about the history of ritual abuse and the effects of social movements on survivors. He will present historical information regarding the literature of clinicians and researchers. He will describe the effects of social and historical movements on survivor support systems and survivor recovery.

The History of Ritual Abuse and the Effects of Social Trends on the Therapeutic Profession - Neil Brick


Neil Brick will speak about the history of child and ritual abuse and the effects of social trends on the therapeutic profession. He will present historical information regarding the literature and the practice of clinicians and researchers. He will describe the effects of social and historical movements on the clinical field and clinical practice.


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 28 years. http://neilbrick.com


How to Create a Successful Recovery Path for Disassociated Survival Skills and DID - Shelby Rising Eagle


How to create a successful path of recovery for DSS (disassociated survival skills) (DID) of Satanic/Ritual Abuse. Topics will include: Understanding our boundaries as a victim. Learning what boundaries are for healthy people. Healthy boundaries. How to recognize toxic shame vs. healthy shame. Self-Honesty guidelines. Learning to see life from different viewpoints for similar situations. Understanding memories. Learning to understand and see what happened in the past and how it affects you today. Creating your life as you want it to be. Healthy boundaries, life skills that work in a positive manner for your happiness. Never give up and always believe in yourself.


Shelby Rising Eagle was born in the SF Bay Area raised in the Mormon Church. Mother was a multi-generational Mormon; father was a convert. She reports both parents participated in satanic worship, pedophile sex ring in the church. She has done over 20 years of recovery work. She is the writer of two books – How Would You Know? & How Would You Know My Whole Story? She owns and operates a Martial Arts School and is a Master in her style of martial arts and now testing for her 6th degree black belt. She is a master gardener and loves growing vegetables and flowers. She does workshops with therapists on working with victims with DID and the recovery process. She practices meditation for centering her life and progress towards a better life. She is committed to helping to up lift others in their recovery work. She teaches that everyone that they can recover and claim their life back from extreme abuse.


The Enmeshment of the British False Memory Society and the British Psychological Society. - Dr. Rainer Hermann Kurz


This presentation builds on an article ‘The Policy Alignment of the British False Memory Society and the British Psychological Society’ published in 2022 by Dr. Ashley Conway and Professor David Pilgrim in the Journal of Trauma & Dissociation. It outlines the exemplary response of the British Psychological Society (BPS) in 1995 to the ‘Memory Wars’, subsequent ‘policy capture’ in 2008 through individuals associated with the British False Memory Society (BFMS), and the ongoing battle to restore a credible position on Memory-Based Evidence. A new BPS Task and finish group is currently working on this difficult topic and is expected to return to the ‘gold standard’ of the 1995 document. The presentation will feature examples where a Discourse of Disbelief derailed proper procedures.


Child Trafficking through Family Court Proceedings: A UK Case Study - Dr. Rainer Hermann Kurz


This presentation builds on a decade-long investigation into two index incidents that led to the transfer of parental responsibility for a toddler boy from a mother to a Local Authority, and eventually adoption by the foster carer in suspicious circumstances marred by procedural irregularities. Index Incident 1, dismissed as untrue in 2013 by a Family Court Judge in Cardiff, concerned the mother’s claim that she gave birth to a baby at age 14 that succeeded from incestuous rape by her father (in the Kingston-upon-Thames area in South-West London), and ‘disappeared’. Index Incident 2, that was also dismissed in the same judicial process, concerned a daytime sexual assault on the toddler boy in broad daylight in a Cul-de-Sac in South Wales. The presentation draws on a 60-minute audio recording describing the two index incidents and information submitted to a document review by complex trauma specialist in the process of preparing an appeal application. The content of the presentation is potentially triggering but provides rare insights into the workings of an Organized Ritual Crime Abuse Network (ORCAN) in the midst of society.


Rainer Kurz is a Chartered Psychologist based in London. Since 1990 Rainer has worked in Research & Development roles for leading test publishers. His PhD dissertation was on enhancing the validity and utility of ability testing. Rainer developed 50+ psychometric tests and authored more than 100 publications. He is a Consultant Editor for Test Reviews at the Psychometric Testing Centre (PTC) of the BPS. Rainer has been investigating complex trauma assessment problems since 2012. He presented 30+ posters on trauma, dissociation and healing at international peer-reviewed conferences that are available here: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rainer_Kurz2


Some Evidence-Based Practice Guidelines and Standards Relevant to the Psychological Care of Extreme Abuse Survivors - Dr. Randall Noblitt


We will review the APA’s (2021) Professional Practice Guidelines for Evidence-Based Psychological Practice in Health Care, and discuss its relevance to the care of extreme abuse survivors. We will also critically examine Clinical Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Adults (APA, 2017) and the ISSTD (2011) Guidelines for Treating Dissociative Identity Disorder in Adults, Third Revision. Included will be discussion of the roles of common factors and empirically supported treatments in implementing guidelines and standards.


Randy Noblitt is a professor of Clinical Psychology at Alliant International University, Los Angeles and a licensed psychologist in Texas. He has evaluated and treated extreme abuse survivors clinically since 1979. He has authored three editions of the book Cult and Ritual Abuse with Pam Noblitt (1995, 2000, 2014). Together they also edited Ritual Abuse in the 21st Century (2008) and they have authored a recent book, Navigating Social Security Disability Programs: A Handbook for Clinicians and Advocates (2020).


Creating Calm - Patricia Quinn


Art making is a form of expression available to all, though many have felt discouraged to continue to enjoy it. It’s sensory and motor aspects engage the reward system of the brain (Kaimal et al 2017). Using art materials can help modulate the survival-oriented mid-brain with the higher cortex which we use to plan, and contextualize experience (Lusebrink 2004; Lusebrink & Hinz 2019). We can use various art materials to bring ourselves into the present and to help focus us on what we want. Using a future-oriented directive to attain a feeling of stability and peace, along with a brief lead in describing stabilizing elements of nature, participants will learn a way to use art for restoring the nervous system.


Patricia Quinn is an artist and art therapist who worked in the fields of psychiatry and addiction for 30-plus years. She’s taught graduate and undergraduate students in art therapy since 1994, and has recently published “Art Therapy in the Treatment of Addiction and Trauma” (Jessica Kingsley Publ., 2021). She has served for the past ten years on the committees and boards of several large mental health agencies that provide addiction, mental health, and developmental disabilities services. She strives to promote awareness of the effects of ritual abuse and complex trauma.


Programmed and Internal Psychological Mechanisms that Perpetuate the Cycle of Extreme Abuse - Ellen P. Lacter, Ph.D.


This presentation will examine the psychological mechanisms that perpetuate the cycle of extreme child abuse, including ritualistic abuse, torture-based mind control, production of sadistic child abuse materials, and sex-trafficking of young children to multiple perpetrators. We will explore many of the ways that the cycle of extreme abuse can be perpetuated: 1) within victims, as in ongoing abuse, abuse re-victimization, psychological suffering, self-injury, suicidality, harmful relationships, re-enactments of psychological, physical, and sexual abuse, etc., and sometimes, 2) by victims, in abuse against others, including abuse of one’s children (intergenerational transmission).


Two mechanisms by which extreme abuse is perpetuated will be presented: 1) externally-applied, calculated, manipulation of victims’ dissociated self-states to control victims long-term to serve abuser agendas, i.e., mind control programming, and, 2) naturally-occurring internal responses that yield long-term psychological symptoms, suffering, and, in some case, harm to others. Finally, we will discuss broad approaches to treatment to break the cycle of extreme abuse.


Ellen P. Lacter, Ph.D., is a California licensed Clinical Psychologist and Registered Play Therapist and Supervisor. She is Academic Coordinator of the Play Therapy Certificate program at University of California - San Diego, Division of Extended Studies. She worked in community mental health settings from 1975 to 1984, and in private practice thereafter. In the mid-1990s, she acquired expertise in the treatment of dissociative disorders and extreme abuse, particularly victims of ritualistic abuse, torture-based mind control, child sex-trafficking, and production of sadistic child abuse materials. She is an activist on behalf of survivors of extreme abuse, based in her website: www.endritualabuse.org.


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 help survivors; and support for survivors’ partners and other allies. The organization helps survivors who may be isolated emotionally or geographically. Through community outreach and training, Survivorship also raises awareness about these difficult issues.