the blogArticles & Reflections
The Sexual Grooming Model: How Manipulation Unfolds, and How Understanding it can Help you Heal
Psychologist explains the five stages of sexual grooming and how manipulation unfolds in spiritual or authority contexts. Learn how understanding these patterns helps survivors rebuild trust, recognise coercive control, and begin healing from abuse.
Spiritual Abuse: Understanding, Recovering, and escaping the invisible cage
Spiritual abuse and coercive control can leave deep psychological, emotional, and spiritual scars. This article explains how manipulation, misuse of scripture, and clergy exploitation erode autonomy and faith. Learn how spiritual abuse impacts identity, mental health, and relationships—and why independent, trauma-informed care and Christian psychology support are essential for recovery, resilience, and healing in faith contexts.
Faith, Trust, and Control: Making Sense of Spiritual Abuse
Spiritual abuse occurs when faith or religious authority is misused to control, shame, or silence. Learn how a psychologist explains its signs, impact, and recovery pathways. If you’re in distress, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Spiritual Abuse Counselling: What Helps and What Doesn’t
Spiritual abuse counselling provides a safe space to heal from the misuse of faith, authority, and control. Learn how therapy can help survivors of spiritual abuse rebuild trust, process grief, and reclaim their voice—while avoiding common pitfalls that may repeat harmful dynamics.
Adult Clergy Sexual Abuse and PTSD: When Trust Turns into Trauma
Adult clergy sexual abuse causes profound psychological and spiritual trauma. Research shows high rates of PTSD, relational harm, and loss of faith following abuse by trusted religious leaders. This article explores the impact of adult clergy sexual abuse, institutional betrayal, and pathways to healing through trauma-informed, faith-sensitive support.
When Faith Leads to Avoidance: Understanding Spiritual Bypassing in Christian Contexts
Learn how spiritual bypassing can show up in Christian communities—when faith is used to avoid pain or accountability. A faith-sensitive psychologist explains how to recognise bypassing, support healing, and build emotionally healthy spirituality.
Life After Leaving a High-Control Religious Group: What People Often Experience
Leaving high-control religious groups or spiritually abusive churches can cause deep wounds. Psychologist Kylie Walls provides information about identity loss, trauma, family impacts, and pathways to healing and resilience.
When Love Becomes an Invisible Cage: Recognising the Signs of Coercive Control and Emotional Abuse, and Religious Abuse
Coercive control and emotional abuse often begin subtly—masked as concern, faith, or guidance—before escalating into an invisible cage of fear, guilt, and isolation. This article explores the signs of coercive control, emotional and spiritual abuse, and the devastating psychological impacts. Learn how to recognise red flags in relationships, why early intervention matters, and how professional Christian psychology support can provide healing, autonomy, and recovery from abuse.