The Take Back Your Life Recovery is a collaborative effort between Dr. Janja Lalich, educator, author, and international authority on cults and coercion, and two experienced trauma-focused mental-health professionals: Beth Matenaer, Licensed Professional Counselor and Sally Martin, Licensed Clinical Social Worker. We develop and facilitate psychoeducational interactive sessions and practical healing tools for survivors of cults or other types of closed or extremist groups, coercive and high-demand environments, and destructive and controlling relationships. Our aim is to provide the information and resources our clients need to effectively heal from a variety of harmful and/or traumatic personal experiences. Additionally, we create course material and training sessions to educate and train professionals to better assist such clients.

As the three of us are also survivors of cultic systems, we personally understand the importance of safe and effective interventions for healing as you take back your life and navigate your own recovery. We believe the most enduring path forward offers psychoeducation, self-regulation tools, and personal insight and empowerment.

For more information on this program you can find us on Facebook at Take Back Your Life Recovery or go to our website at takebackyourliferecovery.com.

It has long been understood that physical exercise does more than just exercise the body. It engages the brain, releases tension, improves hormonal balance and stimulates brain growth. Think Boxing is a specialized boxing curriculum designed to capitalize on these benefits and reduce stress responses commonly associated with many mental health challenges.

For more information, visit thinkboxing.co.

The Innovative Wellness Initiative was established by my colleague Katie Hodgson and me in 2019.

IWI is an “outside of the box” collaboration of professionals whose focus is to identify, support, and network individuals, organizations and programs that provide innovative approaches that enhance the mental, physical, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being of clients.

Objectives of the Innovative Wellness Initiative include educating the community about our services and local resources while forming alliances between the professionals providing them. Additionally the initiative also aims to identify needs within a population and pioneer creative ways to meet those needs.

Connect. Educate. Innovate.

The idea for the project unfolded as 6 former Cascadians re-connected and sought out ways to better understand our experiences at the school and in our lives since. For some of us, it was the first time we had consciously and intentionally examined this part of our lives and how it has impacted us over the years. For others, our time at the school was something that we had packed up and left behind many years ago. Although we were all at different places in life, in the way we felt about our experience, and in our healing, we knew how beneficial speaking with other Cascadians had been for the six of us.

We began monthly Zoom calls for all survivors. As we listened to former students, we realized that connection and support, participation in TTI advocacy, and having access to information and resources can be helpful in better understanding the school and its impacts on each of us. We committed ourselves to creating pathways for healing, advocacy, and education for the Cascade community. As a small group, we explored ways to build community and support for former students, and created a Non-Profit Organization to best achieve this goal.

The Cascade School Project creates opportunities for healing, advocacy, education, and community support for all survivors of the Cascade School. We believe a path forward is created by us coming together to become the community we have always deserved.

To learn more about this project go to the Facebook page.

More information coming soon.