I have been thinking that it would be very nice if the US government would be willing to fund ex JW Counseling Services all over the United States. I understand that many counselors do not really understand ex JW issues but we can educate them if we have additional funds, etc…If someone here is willing to write a letter to their local representative about it, that would be great!
Counseling for Ex JW
by Iamallcool 13 Replies latest jw friends
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Iamallcool
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Simon
Why would they give special treatment to exJWs? Why would it be any concern of the government? Why would exJWs be a priority over any other groups?
Aren't there already counselling services people can use?
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truth_b_known
I do not think government funding is required to accomplish the same thing. I have seen users on this site state that their therapist/counsellor was no familiar with JW practices/doctrine. I experienced the same thing when I saw a counsellor.
Perhaps a licensed counsellor/therapist could work with the eJW community in preparing a course of a book for counsellors to refer to when helping exJWs.
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carla
See this site, she was a jw and now a therapist and has help for therapists as well
https://bonniezieman.com/?fbclid=IwAR1sBGo7yJXMLTZTzp8xDOzG4SJ8HsMxPgm4AdUSCO6WgEe3CjTD6BDv_G4
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Simon
Is this a holdover of the "JWs are unique" thinking that JWs have?
Because there really isn't anything that unique about the JW world or upbringing that requires "specialists in JW-ism" IMO.
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carla
From my understanding it seems that many therapists do not understand high control groups/cults very well whichever flavor they may be. People have complained that they have to educate the therapist before they can get down to getting actual help. It is very frustrating for the client of the therapist to have to pay an hourly fee for educating the therapist.
The therapists often don't understand why the person just didn't leave the group, not understanding shunning or whatever pain the high control/cult inflicts on its members who choose to believe differently. It makes no sense to me that a therapist isn't somewhat educated in this or couldn't spend even a half hour learning about it but apparently many don't.
That very reason of 'why didn't you just leave' is the reason there will never be any special governmental help for specific cults/high control groups. They didn't hold an actual gun to your head just your entire family and social structure. I wonder if a diagnosis of PTSD would be better financially speaking? I am not sure how insurances work regarding mental health issues.
Whenever I (a non & never been jw) would try to discuss why I was so opposed to jw's in general to non jw's they often truly did not believe me when I told them about 'apostates', shunning, how child sexual abuse is handled, blood issue and so on. Once someone said I was the one with the problem and they refused to even look at the official jw site, apostate sites, books or legal documents from actual court cases. They still see jw's as just some quirky group that dresses nice and at least they 'truly live their faith by knocking on peoples doors to tell them about God'.
I know nothing about the therapist link I posted above other than what her website says.
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Simon
The therapists often don't understand why the person just didn't leave the group
I suspect there are a lot of therapists who are simply not very good and only vaguely qualified in reality (I'm guessing it's more of a "registered" thing). It'a not a hard science after all.
If someone doesn't understand something so basic, that many lay people know of, people should leave and find someone more competent. You shouldn't be there to train them IMO.
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LongHairGal
CARLA:
From what I have heard not all therapists are knowledgeable about cults/high control groups. I imagine it would be frustrating to have to literally explain from A to Z to some professional.
I never got therapy when I ‘Faded’ from the religion but maybe I wasn’t as bad off since I was not raised in this awful religion.
I do remember feeling somewhat annoyed when I met people who knew absolutely nothing about the Witnesses. The average person knows nothing about them except they go door to door.
The uninformed public sadly cannot know the damage that can be done to people - and only see (as you mentioned) ‘a quirky group that dresses nice’, etc…They also wonder how you ‘could have fallen for this’.🙄 I try to explain that “I was only interested in end-time prophecy and they misrepresented what they were”.
Yes, it was a mistake and a lesson learned but I’m glad I’m Out. At least I quit smoking 😊.
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Simon
You can fill people in very quickly - just say "it's a bit like the Amish" and they know the gist of it.
Isolated group, cut-off from the outside, not allowed to join in with things like the rest of society.
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Foolednomore
I went to a therapist an was very open about my life as a JW. Told her everything. It was painful. But she gave me good advice to move on from that " Dead weight " that was my former life.