Consultations with Families of Cult Members, with Bill Goldberg
March 12, 2023 @ 1:00PM — 2:30PM Eastern Time (US & Canada)
For Mental Health Professionals and Students - Donation Requested
Mental health professionals may be asked for help by a family when they are faced with reacting to a member who has joined a cult. As with all crises, this situation allows the clinician to mobilize healthy coping responses in the family.
This presentation will give a model for conducting a family consultation. Factors such as who should be included in the consultation, how to help the family to communicate with their family member strategically, and how to decide what kind of intervention would be most helpful will be discussed. The speaker will include special situations, e.g., where there has been a divorce, how to help families reach a consensus when members disagree on how they should proceed, and what to do when the cult member has cut off communication.
William Goldberg, LCSW, PsyA, is a clinical social worker and psychoanalyst with almost 50 years of experience working with former cult members. He and his wife, Lorna, co-lead a support group for former cult members, which has been meeting for about 45 years. It is the oldest group of its kind in the world. In 2007, Bill retired from the Rockland County, NY Department of Mental Health, where he directed several programs and clinics. He is presently an adjunct professor in the social work and social science departments of Dominican College, and he is on the faculty of the Institute for Psychoanalytic Studies. Bill has published numerous articles in books and professional journals. Bill is a frequent speaker at ICSA conferences, and he and Lorna have been the recipients of the Authentic CAN Hall of Fame Award and the Leo J. Ryan Award. In 2010, Bill was the recipient of ICSA’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He is also co-editor of ICSA's Cult Recovery: A Clinician's Guide to Working With Former Members and Their Families, published in 2017. Website: BLGOLDBERG.COM. Email: bill@blgoldberg.com Phone: (201) 894-8515 Englewood, New Jersey
Zoom link and information will be provided in advance of the webinar.