Resources for Survivors and IRG Disaffiliates
Leaving an insular religious group, high-control community or coercive organization can affect far more than a person’s beliefs. Survivors may find themselves rebuilding relationships, education, employment, finances, identity and community — sometimes all at once.
Others may also find themselves being asked to explain what happened: to friends and family, researchers, advocates, journalists or the public.
The resources below are intended as starting points for both.
Inside Voices Collective does not operate these organizations and cannot guarantee or control the services they provide. Inclusion on this page does not constitute an endorsement of every position, service, or piece of content offered by an organization.
Some resources use terms such as cult, religious trauma, spiritual abuse, faith transition, high-control group or insular religious group. You do not need to use any particular label for your own experience to seek support.
Start Here
If you are unsure what kind of support you need, these are good places to begin.
Recovering from Religion
Recovering from Religion provides support for people who are questioning religion, leaving a religious community or adjusting to life after a change in belief.
Its services include peer support, online communities and resources designed to help people navigate religious doubt and disaffiliation without directing them toward another belief system.
For someone who has recently left an IRG — or is still trying to determine what leaving might mean — Recovering from Religion can be particularly useful because seeking support does not require having already figured everything out.
Resources include:
- Peer support
- Online support groups
- Resources for people questioning or leaving religion
- Connections to secular mental health care through the Secular Therapy Project
Visit Recovering from Religion
Undo Oblivion
Leaving a high-control environment can unexpectedly put someone in the position of becoming a source.
A journalist may contact you. A documentary producer may want an interview. A story about your former community may suddenly attract public attention. You may have information that matters but be unsure what speaking to a reporter could mean for your privacy, relationships or future.
Undo Oblivion provides resources for people from controlling groups who are navigating those decisions.
Its materials can help survivors understand how journalism works, what questions they can ask before agreeing to an interview, what control they do and do not retain after speaking with a reporter, and how to think through the personal consequences of becoming part of a public story.
The goal is not to tell survivors whether they should speak. It is to help them understand what they are agreeing to before they do.
Resources include:
- Media tips for people considering interviews
- Information about interacting with journalists
- Legal considerations
- Recovery resources
- Resources explaining responsible reporting on controlling groups
Rights and Religions Forum
Rights and Religions Forum is a nonprofit focused on the rights and experiences of people raised in insular religious groups.
Its extensive community resource directory is particularly useful for finding organizations serving specific religious backgrounds and disaffiliate communities, as well as research on IRG disaffiliation and resources for allies.
Explore the RARF Community Resources directory
International Cultic Studies Association
The International Cultic Studies Association provides research, educational materials, conferences and resources concerning cultic environments, coercive influence and recovery.
Its resources serve former members as well as families, researchers and professionals trying to better understand high-control environments.
Mental Health, Religious Trauma and Recovery
Leaving an IRG can involve grief, isolation, family conflict, identity changes and the loss of an entire social structure. Finding a mental health professional who understands those experiences can also be difficult.
Secular Therapy Project
A program of Recovering from Religion connecting people with participating licensed mental health professionals who have committed to providing secular, evidence-based care.
It can be particularly useful for people concerned that a therapist may attempt to redirect them toward religion while they are processing religious harm or changes in belief.
Find a provider through the Secular Therapy Project
Divorcing Religion
Provides education, support groups, and resources centered on recovery from religious trauma and high-control religious environments.
Tears of Eden
A survivor-led organization providing resources addressing spiritual abuse and religious trauma, particularly within Christian environments.
The Clergy Project
A private support community for current and former religious professionals who no longer hold supernatural beliefs and may face professional, financial and social consequences for leaving religion.
Abuse, Safety and Leaving a Dangerous Situation
Religious and high-control environments can overlap with domestic violence, sexual violence, child abuse, forced marriage and other forms of coercion.
You do not need to determine whether an experience “counts” as religious abuse before seeking help for abuse itself.
RAINN
Confidential, trauma-informed support and resources for survivors of sexual assault and abuse and their loved ones.
National Domestic Violence Hotline
Support, safety planning, crisis intervention and referrals for people experiencing domestic or intimate-partner violence.
The organization also provides resources for people considering leaving an abusive situation as well as those rebuilding afterward.
Visit the National Domestic Violence Hotline
VictimConnect Resource Center
A national referral resource helping victims of crime understand their rights, options and available services.
SNAP — Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
A survivor support and advocacy organization for people abused by clergy and other religious or institutional authorities. Despite its name, its work is not limited to Catholic priests.
Unchained At Last
Provides services and advocacy addressing forced and child marriage in the United States, including assistance for people trying to leave forced marriages.
Child-Friendly Faith Project
Research, education and advocacy concerning abuse and neglect enabled or justified through religious beliefs, institutions or practices.
Visit Child-Friendly Faith Project
If Someone Wants to Tell Your Story
Survivors of IRGs and high-control organizations are sometimes asked to participate in news stories, podcasts, documentaries, research projects, or other public accounts of their former communities.
Being interviewed is different from having a private conversation.
You have the right to ask questions before agreeing to participate. You can ask what a journalist is investigating, how your information may be used, whether they are asking you to speak on the record, and what publication or organization they represent.
You can also decide not to participate.
Undo Oblivion
Undo Oblivion is one of the most directly relevant resources for survivors considering whether to speak with journalists or other media.
Its resources explain the media process from the perspective of someone whose experience may become part of a story.
That includes understanding the relationship between reporter and source, thinking about privacy and personal risk, recognizing what happens once information becomes public and knowing what questions to ask before participating.
For survivors accustomed to environments where authority figures controlled information or discouraged outside scrutiny, understanding that process before entering it can be especially important.
Explore Undo Oblivion’s media resources
RAINN — Are You Ready to Speak Out?
Guidance for survivors of sexual violence considering public disclosure.
Although written specifically about sexual violence, many of its questions are useful more broadly: Why do I want to speak publicly? What information am I comfortable sharing? What reactions might follow? What support will I have afterward?
PEN America Online Harassment Field Manual
Practical guidance for writers, journalists ,and other people who may become targets of online harassment.
Resources address preparation, documentation, digital security, threats and responding to coordinated harassment.
Visit the Online Harassment Field Manual
Electronic Frontier Foundation — Surveillance Self-Defense
Guides covering account security, digital privacy, safer communication, and limiting unwanted access to personal information.
These resources may be particularly useful for survivors concerned about monitoring, unwanted contact or doxxing by former community members.
Visit Surveillance Self-Defense
Community-Specific Resources
Different IRGs create different practical challenges when someone leaves. Some organizations specialize in helping people from particular religious or cultural backgrounds navigate those transitions.
For a larger directory covering additional communities, visit the Rights and Religions Forum Community Resources directory.
Amish, Mennonite, Anabaptist and Plain Communities
The Misfit Amish
Provides secular information, advocacy and resources concerning Amish, Mennonite and other Plain communities, including religious trauma and abuse.
Former Muslims
Ex-Muslims of North America
Advocates for people who leave Islam and provides resources and connections to Ex-Muslim communities.
Visit Ex-Muslims of North America
There’s also ExMuslim.me
A community-built collection of stories from people who have left Islam, organized through an interactive map showing experiences from around the world. Ex-Muslims can also submit their own stories, with options designed to limit identifying information and request removal later.
Former Scientologists and Sea Org Members
The Michael J. Rinder Aftermath Foundation
Provides assistance to people leaving Scientology and the Sea Org who may lack financial, family or community support outside the organization.
Visit The Aftermath Foundation
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Communities
Footsteps
Supports people who have left or are considering leaving ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities, including social, educational and career support.
Mormon, FLDS and Polygamous Communities
Holding Out HELP
Supports people from polygamous cultures working toward independence and self-sufficiency.
Cherish Families
Provides services for individuals and families from polygamous communities, including assistance related to education, housing, mental health and other transition needs.
Open Stories Foundation / Mormon Stories
Provides media, educational resources and community programming for people navigating Mormon and other religious transitions.
Research and Understanding High-Control Groups
Understanding what happened can itself be part of rebuilding.
These resources provide research and educational material about religious disaffiliation, coercive control, identity and life after high-control environments.
Rights and Religions Forum — Research on IRG Disaffiliates
RARF maintains accessible material examining high-cost religious disaffiliation, religious trauma, identity, mental health and life after IRGs.
Its collection is a useful starting point for survivors who want research behind experiences that are often discussed only anecdotally.
International Cultic Studies Association
Research and educational materials concerning cultic environments, coercive influence, recovery and the experiences of former members.
For Families, Friends and Allies
Leaving an IRG can also be difficult for the people trying to support someone through it.
Good support does not require deciding for someone else what they should believe, whether they should leave or how they should describe what happened.
RARF Guide for Allies
Developed with people from IRG backgrounds to help friends, professionals and other allies engage respectfully while centering the autonomy of people directly affected.
Explore RARF’s resources for allies
ICSA Resources for Families and Friends
Educational material for people trying to understand a loved one’s involvement in or departure from a high-control environment.
Suggest a Resource
This directory is intended to grow as survivors identify useful services and gaps in the support currently available.
If you know of an organization, support service, research project, or practical resource that should be considered for inclusion, contact Inside Voices Collective.
We prioritize resources that are accessible to survivors, transparent about what they provide and respectful of each person’s right to define their own beliefs, experiences and path forward.