Survivor Conference - Saturday and Sunday May 16 - 17, 2026

Clinician's Conference - Friday May 15, 2026

Please write info@survivorship.org if you would like to get on our conference mailing list.

The conference was an excellent conference this year. Survivorship would like to thank all those that supported and participated in the conference.

The Survivorship Trafficking and Extreme Abuse Online Conference 2026 Presentations https://survivorship.org/the-survivorship-trafficking-and-extreme-abuse-online-conference-2026-presentations/

Conference Web Page:  https://survivorship.org/the-survivorship-trafficking-and-extreme-abuse-online-conference-2026

Past Conference Presentations and Research Information

The Survivorship Trafficking and Extreme Abuse Online Conference 2025 Presentations

The Survivorship Trafficking and Extreme Abuse Online Conference 2024 Presentations

The Survivorship of Extreme or Ritualistic Abuse 2023 Conference Presentations

The Survivorship Ritual Abuse and Mind Control 2022 Conference Presentations

The Survivorship Ritual Abuse and Mind Control 2021 Conference Presentations 

The Survivorship Ritual Abuse and Mind Control 2020 Conference Presentations

Grey Faction, Satanic Temple and Lucien Greaves Fact Sheet  https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/grey-faction-satanic-temple-and-lucien-greaves-fact-sheet/

Video Presentations from The Survivorship Ritual Abuse and Mind Control 2017 Conference

Ritual Abuse Evidence https://survivorship.org/ritual-abuse-evidence/

Child Abuse Wiki - Ritual Abuse http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Ritual_Abuse

The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science - Sadistic Ritual Abuse http://books.google.com/books?id=JQMRmyOfpJ8C&pg=PA1436&lpg=PA1436#v=onepage&

 

Conference Speakers
This information may remind survivors of their programming.  You may want to read this with a support person. Please feel free to write us if you have any questions.

Ritual Abuse as Mind Control - Wendy Hoffman

Rituals are common practice in satanic culture. This presentation explores how every moment of a ritual is used for mind control. Its purpose is to capture the minds of its victims and enforce its programs. Traumatic emotions are also an important part of mind control, and they will be discussed.

Wendy Hoffman has published four memoirs, three books of poetry and a co-authored book of essays. She does consultations for therapists working in the field of dissociative disorders and presentations on mind control internationally. https://ritualabuse.us/smart/wendy-hoffman/

Approaches to Becoming Conscious of Dissociated Identities and Psychological Manipulation of Dissociated Identities in Systematic Abuse - Ellen Lacter, Ph.D.

This presentation will briefly address: 1) the basic strategies used by psychologically-sophisticated perpetrators to manipulate victims’ dissociated identities; 2) abuser strategies to prevent normative-life identities from becoming conscious of: a) dissociated abused identities and b) the psychological manipulations perpetrated on these identities; 3) the importance of victims becoming conscious of these dissociated identities and how they were manipulated; 4) a repertoire of approaches to overcoming abuser-placed obstacles to becoming conscious of these dissociated identities and how they were manipulated; and 5) a repertoire of approaches to overcoming the abuser-placed consequences to becoming conscious of dissociated identities and how they were manipulated.

Ellen Lacter, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist, registered play therapist and supervisor, past president of the California Association for Play Therapy, and was academic coordinator for the Play Therapy Certificate Program at University of California– San Diego Extension form 1998 to 2023. She worked as an art therapist in various agencies between 1975 and 1982 and has had a private psychotherapy practice since 1982. She is an activist against extreme abuse and specializes in the treatment of dissociative disorders and trauma from ritualistic abuse, torture-based mind control, production of sadistic child abuse materials, and child trafficking. Her website: www.endritualabuse.org

Traces of Western Practices of Ritual Abuse in Mary Daly’s
Gyn/Ecology and Other Texts - Lynn Brunet

Mary Daly (1928-2010), born in Schenectady, New York, was a philosopher and theologian and described herself as a radical lesbian feminist, intent on exposing the extent to which the patriarchy exploits women and working towards changing this. This paper will not get into the politics surrounding radical feminism, which is multi-faceted and extensive, but instead will examine one of her key texts, Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism (1978). In this text there are multiple references to the experience of spinning. She describes the book as “an invitation to the Wild Witch in all women who long to spin” (Daly 1978, xv).

This talk will explore Daly’s use of language throughout Gyn/Ecology to suggest that concealed/revealed in her writing may be traces of western practices of ritual abuse, practices that only began to come to public attention in the mid-1980s. It will suggest that the author’s search for the most extreme examples of ritual torture of women across cultures, coupled with the idiosyncratic metaphorical language of ecstatic spiral journeying used in Gyn/Ecology and other texts, may have been a means of expressing a deeply internalised and repressed experience of childhood ritual abuse. As the following discussion will outline, hidden cultic practices of a Druidic nature appear to have been exported to the United States alongside conservative religious practices amongst migrant groups such as the Irish, the culture that Mary Daly celebrates as her own heritage.

Lynn Brunet (PhD) is an Australian art historian whose research examines the coupling of trauma and ritual in modern and contemporary western art and literature. In particular, it traces the connection between Masonic and other fraternal initiation rites and complex trauma in the work of various artists and writers of the 20th and 21st centuries. https://independent.academia.edu/LynnBrunet1

Remembering Wholeness: Trauma-Informed Writing in Support of Voice, Safety, and Self-Trust - deJoly LaBrier

As both a survivor of extreme abuse and a Life and Writing Coach, her work is informed by lived experience as well as years of supporting women on their healing journeys. In this presentation, she shares how trauma-informed writing practices can support survivors in reclaiming voice, coherence, and a sense of inner authorship after experiences that fracture identity and distort self-perception.

Rather than asking survivors to revisit traumatic material, this approach honors personal boundaries and nervous system readiness. Writing becomes a relational practice—one that allows meaning to emerge slowly, safely, and on the survivor’s own terms. This work reflects a deep belief that survivors are not broken, but adaptive—and that wholeness is not something to be earned, but remembered. This presentation recognizes dissociation and multiplicity as adaptive survival responses and offers trauma-informed writing practices that support safety, voice, and self-trust without requiring integration or disclosure.

deJoly LaBrier is a Life and Writing Coach, public speaker, and survivor of extreme abuse whose work focuses on trauma-informed writing practices for women impacted by trafficking, ritual abuse, and complex trauma. Drawing from lived experience as well as years of coaching, facilitation, and public speaking, she supports survivors in reclaiming voice, agency, and a sense of wholeness after experiences that fracture identity and distort self-perception. https://dejoly.com/shop

Unraveling the Tangled Mind: Psychotherapy with Survivors of Mind Control - Faige Flakser, LCSW

This presentation offers a clinical roadmap for psychotherapy with survivors of Organized and Extreme Abuse (OEA), including cultic abuse, ritual abuse, trafficking, and other coercive systems. It describes how this work frequently presents with complex trauma and dissociation, with dissociative parts and self-states, often including DID. Participants will be oriented to the core psychological binds created by mind control: confrontation with profound human cruelty and the systematic destabilizing of reality-testing through confusion, coercion, and terror-based conditioning. The presentation highlights three predictable trust ruptures that shape treatment from the first contact: mistrust of helpers, including realistic fears that perpetrators may pose as helpers; mistrust within family systems where grooming and recruitment have often occurred; and mistrust of one’s own mind in the aftermath of sustained manipulation. These ruptures complicate the formation of a therapeutic alliance and require a paced, relational approach that honors the protective functions of doubt, vigilance, and withdrawal.

Faige Flakser, LCSW, is a trauma therapist, consultant, and educator with a clinical focus on trauma, dissociation, and DID, as well as Organized and Extreme Abuse (OEA), including mind control and coercive systems. She holds leadership roles within the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD), where she is the former Chair of the OEA Special Interest Group and has presented at ISSTD conferences. She is Director of the Trauma Division at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy (ICP).

An Introduction to Neurofeedback for Trauma - Joshua Moore MA, LMHC, BCN

Neurofeedback is a non-invasive, evidence-based therapeutic modality that helps individuals to self-regulate brain activity through real-time biofeedback of brainwave patterns, often referred to as EEG entrainment. In the treatment of trauma, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), neurofeedback targets key neurophysiological features such as hyperarousal, emotional dysregulation, and altered brain connectivity resulting from traumatic experiences. By identifying specific neuro-markers associated with PTSD, practitioners can transform the often intangible nature of psychological trauma into visible representations on a computer screen or printout, facilitating targeted training to normalize brain function.

This approach serves as a promising adjunct to traditional trauma therapies, effectively reducing core PTSD symptoms—including intrusive thoughts, avoidance behaviors, and heightened arousal—without necessitating direct exposure to traumatic memories, which many clients find aversive. Recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses indicate moderate beneficial effects on PTSD symptoms, with neurofeedback demonstrating clinically meaningful improvements in symptom severity. Neurofeedback is also discussed for its potential utility in Bessel van der Kolk's book, The Body Keeps the Score, which highlights innovative, body-oriented interventions for trauma recovery (van der Kolk, 2014). In this lecture, key research and outcomes will be reviewed, alongside clinical principles and skills, emerging protocols, practical resources for locating practitioners, and training to become a certified neurofeedback practitioner.

Joshua Moore is a licensed mental health counselor who incorporates a variety of treatments, including talk therapy, EMDR, QEEG brain mapping, family systems work, and neurofeedback. Joshua is passionate about making evidence-based quality neurofeedback more available to the community. Joshua provides neurofeedback mentorship to several clinics and creates online workshops for beginners and advanced clinicians in the field of healthcare. Clinically, he works with difficult cases, including dissociative identity disorder, PTSD, traumatic brain injuries, and complex or unclear diagnoses. Joshua holds a Master’s degree in Counseling from Multnomah University and a Bachelor’s degree in Theology, and he is board-certified in neurofeedback through the Biofeedback International Certification Alliance (BCIA).

Intergenerational Occult Families, and One Father’s Fight for His Abducted Daughter - Iain Bryson

Iain Bryson’s daughter was taken fifteen years ago by his first wife and her family after his first wife told him that her family is a “cult,” and that she would be taking their daughter back to them because of “mind control.” Iain had no idea what ritual abuse and trauma-based-mind-control were until his daughter was taken. He had to reconcile that fact with what his wife had warned and the signs that his mind had refused to see. Iain tried to get help from local authorities and international authorities. Despite the fact that his daughter is a United States citizen, the only advice given by the Embassy was to re-abduct his daughter given that Poland is out of the Embassy’s jurisdiction. Having to take matters into his own hands, Iain ended up in the Polish criminal justice system. He was incarcerated for fifty months in Poland because of his attempts to make the system aware on his daughter. Iain was released in 2015.

In 2024, Iain Bryson published an evidence-based, documentary style memoir of his daughter’s abduction. He continues to fight for his daughter, and for other survivors of the horrendous atrocity we know as ritual abuse.

Manipulation, Coercion & Mistakes in Extreme Child Sexual Abuse Investigations – Dr. Rainer Kurz

This presentation builds on findings of Prof Jane Ireland (2012) that 2/3 of psychological assessment reports trawled from UK Family Courts were found to be ’poor’ or ‘very poor’, and US Law Professor Joan Meier (2020) that in about half of child custody cases investigated the parent who raised concerns about Domestic Abuse and Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) lost custody. The underlying ‘Discourse of Disbelief’ of authority representatives is illustrated through three case studies.

Rainer Kurz is a Chartered Psychologist based in London. Since 1990 Rainer has worked in Research & Development roles for leading test publishers. His PhD dissertation was on enhancing the validity and utility of ability testing. Rainer developed 50+ psychometric tests and authored more than 100 publications. He was a Consultant Editor for Test Reviews at the Psychometric Testing Centre (PTC) of the BPS. He is a Patron of the International Society for Mental Health Advocacy and Action and was at the inaugural Delhi summit (January 2026) an Invited Speaker. Rainer has been investigating complex trauma assessment problems since 2012. He authored 40+ posters and presentations on trauma, dissociation and healing at international peer-reviewed conferences (most of which are available here https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rainer_Kurz2 Five 2025 ISPCAN papers are accessible through the Winter 2026 issue of the Survivorship Journal and at Survivorship conferences.

Clinical Discussion Group - How Ethics and History Effect Present Practice

Survivorship Board Members will moderate a discussion on how ethics and history in the field of psychology effect present practice. The discussion will include historical events in the field of psychology, allegations of ethical lapses that happened in different psychotherapeutic settings and how historical misconceptions of the field and different diagnoses may effect present practice.

Discussion Group with the Survivorship Board Members

Attendees are invited to discuss their challenges in their own personal therapy and how they may feel stuck in therapy and how they worked through this. Presenters and attendees will discuss ways to find an RA/MC therapist and how they can manage if they can't find one. Survivors will discuss different self help ideas. Moderators and attendees will discuss how survivors can use peer support and groups in recovery. Presenters and survivors will discuss different support groups, why it is important for therapists to listen to survivors and ways treatment ideas can come from survivors.

 

We recommend that survivors bring a safe support person to the online conference who is familiar with the issues ritual abuse survivors may need help with.

None of the material on this page, on linked pages or at the conference is meant as therapy, or to take the place of therapy.

Survivorship is one of the oldest and most respected organizations supporting survivors of extreme child abuse, including sadistic sexual abuse, ritualistic abuse and torture. Survivorship provides resources, healing, and community for survivors; training and education for professionals who may serve survivors; and support for survivors' partners. The organization functions as a support for survivors who may be isolated emotionally or geographically. Through community outreach and training, Survivorship also raises awareness about these difficult issues. The purpose of the conference is to help survivors of ritualistic abuse. The conference is for survivors and their helpers. https://survivorship.org  info@survivorship.org

The conference is co-sponsored by S.M.A.R.T., a newsletter that examines the possible connections between ritual abuse and secretive organizations. http://ritualabuse.us/ SMARTNEWS@aol.com