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International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) conferences


penworks
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Hi Grease Spotters,

I thought I'd pass this info from the International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) along to you in case you or someone you know would want to attend this conference.

High-Control Groups: Helping Former Members and Families

Santa Fe, New Mexico - November 3-5, 2017

ICSA offers a whole lot of info to help people. I have spoken at two of their conferences, although I won't be going to this one.

More such conferences are available throughout the year at different locations.

Cheers,

Penworks
Online Information

Online Registration

 

ICSA will conduct a conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico November 3-5, 2017.  This conference will focus on the helping needs of former group members and families and will include a training track for mental health professionals.  Conference sessions will emphasize discussion so participants can address issues pertinent to their individual concerns.

 

The conference will take place at La Fonda on the Plaza, one of Santa Fe's finest hotels, located in the heart of the old city.

 

Santa Fe has been chosen to give ICSA's western supporters an opportunity to attend a conference closer to home.  It is also a lovely setting for those who come from other parts of the USA, Canada, and the world.

 

Speakers include some of the cultic studies field's most experienced mental health professionals, as well as former members and family members who will share their experiences.  More Information is available online: http://www.icsahome.com/events/conferencesantafe (links to hotel etc. on left).

 

Attend this conference if you are interested in how psychologically manipulative and demanding groups can hurt people and what can be done to help those who are harmed.  The agenda will address the needs of those seeking help and those who want to help others.  Among the topics to be explored are

 

  • What helps people leave cultic groups and relationships?
  • Dealing with cult-related trauma
  • Coping with triggers
  • Building relationships and communicating with the cult involved
  • After the cult: who am I
  • Support groups
  • Exit counseling and conflict resolution
  • Spiritual issues in recovery
  • What churches can do
  • Cults and children
  • Case discussions for mental health professionals
  • Postcult sexuality
  • Hypnosis

 

Because Santa Fe is a “daytime” city, we have scheduled 2-hour lunch breaks so that attendees can enjoy walking around old Santa Fe, where there are numerous art galleries, museums, and quaint shops, as well as stunning Southwest architecture.  The hotel will permit the special conference rate 3 days pre- and post-conference for those who wish to spend time touring Santa Fe and its environs.  Call La Fonda’s Reservations Department at 800-523-5002, #1 or 505-982-5511, #1. Give group code 873870. Please call between the hours of (Mountain Standard Time): Monday – Friday: 7am-8pm; Saturday: 8am-5pm; Sunday: 9am-5pm. Or register online.

 

Please tell others about this conference.  We hope you join us!

 

Online Registration  (https://icsahome.givezooks.com/events/high-control-groups-helping-former-members-and-families)

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Pen, isn't this the group that was purchased by Scientology? or is that a different group?

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22 hours ago, Thomas Loy Bumgarner said:

Pen, isn't this the group that was purchased by Scientology? or is that a different group?

No.

I have no idea what group you might be referring to.

You can check the history of ICSA at http://www.icsahome.com

Here's a snippet:

In December 2004 AFF (American Family Foundation) officially changed its name to International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA). The change of name had been discussed for many years. Until a few years ago, those who felt that "AFF" had established an identity and was "known" had prevailed. However, several factors tilted the name-change decision in favor of those wanting a change.

First of all, the constituency of the organization has changed over the past 25 years. Initially, nearly everybody who contacted AFF for help did so because he/she had a child involved in a cultic group. AFF's unique role was to bring these parents into contact with helping professionals, increasing numbers of whom became interested in and/or involved with AFF as time passed. By the early 1990s, however, the majority of people contacting the organization were former group members who had left their groups without an intervention ("walk-aways"). By the late 1990s, AFF and people associated with the organization had completed a sizeable body of research and an increasing number of people, particularly researchers, from outside the United States began to get involved with the organization. At some recent conferences 25% of the attendees were from outside the U.S. Today, we speak of our four international "constituencies" of family members, former members, researchers, and helping professionals (including mental health, law, clergy, educators – some of whom are also former members of groups or family members of involved persons). Consequently, although "family" may have reflected the organization's focus in its early years, it no longer is THE focus, though it still remains a vital concern.

Most people favored "cultic studies" because it expressed the organization's interest areas without being so narrow and precise as to exclude phenomena that might be similar but not equivalent to those associated with the admittedly vague concept "cult." Many high-control or abusive groups from which people leave are not necessarily "cults" in a strict sense, but they may nonetheless resemble "cults" in some ways. "Cultic studies" also gives us a link to the past, for our journal has used that term since 1984 and our main Web site has used the term for the past several years.

For more visit, http://www.icsahome.com/aboutus/name-change

 

 

 

Edited by penworks
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After doing some research, I just found out that the group you're referring to, Thomas,  was Cult Awareness Network (CAN). That's was a different group.

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Here's a bit more detail:

ICSA was never bought by Scientology or any other organization.  ICSA has always been independent.  In the 1990s the Cult Awareness Network (CAN) was driven into bankruptcy as a result of law suits.  Scientology or individuals associated with the organization obtained certain assets of CAN in the 1990s.  See this article for a detailed history of the cult awareness movements in North America: http://www.icsahome.com/articles/changes-in-the-north-american-cult-awareness-movement

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