Specialist counselling & consultation
The Exit Clinic works with people affected by coercive relationships, cults and high-control groups, controlling belief systems, and harmful workplace, business, coaching or therapy dynamics.
We help you make sense of what’s happening, work through the effects and develop realistic options. You can begin while still involved, considering change or rebuilding afterwards.
Counselling · Social work
Lived experience · Professional consultation
Coercive or manipulative relationships shaped by intimidation, isolation, affection that comes with conditions, or restrictions on money, contact and everyday decisions.
Terms you may recognise: Coercive control · Emotional or psychological abuse · Financial abuse · Narcissistic abuse · Domestic and family abuse
Cults and high-control groups where questioning authority, maintaining outside relationships or stepping back can bring pressure, fear or punishment.
Terms you may recognise: Cults or destructive cults · High-control or high-demand groups · Spiritual or religious abuse · Guru abuse
Radicalisation, conspiracy-driven communities and other ideological settings where outside views are dismissed, and belonging depends on agreeing more and more.
Terms you may recognise: Radicalisation · Extremism · Indoctrination · Conspiracy communities · Ideological coercion
Workplaces, business opportunities, coaching or therapy relationships where authority becomes difficult to question, boundaries are repeatedly crossed, or financial, relational or professional pressures make it costly to say no or step back.
Terms you may recognise: Workplace bullying · Abuse of power · Cultic workplaces or businesses · High-pressure MLM or network marketing groups · Coercive coaching · Therapy abuse
You don’t need a settled label or decision to enquire.
Support
For people directly affected, those close to them, and professionals working with these situations.
For people directly affected
One-to-one support with fear, guilt, grief, self-doubt, a shaken sense of who you are and the practical demands of staying, leaving or rebuilding.
Together, we work on trusting your own judgement again, strengthening boundaries and making decisions you can revisit as circumstances change.
For relatives and close supporters
For relatives, partners and friends concerned about someone’s involvement in a relationship, group or belief system.
We help you understand the dynamics, consider ways to keep communication open and set workable boundaries without adding pressure or risking the relationship.
For practitioners and organisations
Consultation for counsellors, social workers, legal professionals, journalists and organisations working with complex cases or allegations.
We help clarify the dynamics, separate evidence from assumptions and consider case formulation, safeguarding or organisational response within an agreed scope.
Group support and training may also be available. Enquire about current formats and suitability.
Our approach
Understanding, recovery and practical change often need to happen together.
We look at your experience alongside the relationships, rules, information and resources around you — everything around you shaping what feels possible.
Where we start depends on your priorities and what is possible now.
Look at who sets the terms, and what happens when you question or refuse. Consider which outside views or support you still have access to, and what you risk losing if you change your involvement.
This helps distinguish isolated incidents from recurring patterns and identify what makes change difficult.
Work with fear, guilt, grief, self-doubt, losing your sense of who you are, relationship strain and the effects on everyday life.
Rebuild trust in your own judgement, needs and values. We also consider how current pressures and earlier experiences shape your responses.
Develop access to outside views you can trust, realistic alternatives and practical support, alongside the ability to act on it, or change your mind later.
Planning takes account of safety, housing, income, care responsibilities, family ties and community. Options need to be workable in your actual circumstances.
Work begins with your account, priorities and circumstances. Goals can be questioned and revised as the situation changes. Support continues whether or not you take on a particular label, or decide to leave.
Our team
The Exit Clinic was founded by JT Kua, a counsellor, and Isabel Pham, a social worker.
Both have lived experience of spending more than a decade in a high-control group and rebuilding life after leaving. This informs their understanding of how identity, relationships, belief, authority and practical dependence can become intertwined.
Counsellor
JT holds a Master’s in Counselling. His structured, direct approach helps clients make sense of complex experiences, recognise patterns and develop practical responses.
He considers both the personal effects and what’s going on around you, including the relationships and practical conditions that may help or hinder change.
Social Worker
Isabel is a qualified social worker with experience in child protection, domestic violence and asylum seeker support.
Her approach is warm and relational, with close attention to safety, relationships and the wider circumstances affecting recovery. She helps clients work through difficult experiences without losing sight of the practical realities around them.
Contact
A short outline of what brings you here is enough. We can discuss the kind of support you’re seeking, suitability and next steps.
No. You don’t need to have it figured out — we can make sense of things together. The initial work can focus on understanding the situation and deciding what kind of support may be useful.
Yes. Support is available while someone is still involved, uncertain about change or managing the consequences of leaving. You don’t have to leave to get support.
Include any questions about location, online options, session length, availability or fees in the enquiry. These details can be clarified before booking.
A few lines is enough to get started. Please avoid including detailed sensitive information at this stage.
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