Culture & Media
New Videos:Jon Atack Family and Friends: Surviving Stolen Youth with Felicia Rosario, MD
"Felicia came to international fame when she helped to convict Larry Ray for sixy years. The documentary Stolen Youth shows how she was lured into the Sarah Lawrence cult after two of her siblings had joined.
After asking Jon a couple of questions about Tom Cruise and Scientology, Felicia describes her recruitment while she was interning as a doctor at the University of South California. Felicia had full scholarships to both Harvard and Columbia. She testified against Ray at his trial after almost ten years in his cult. Her recovery is nothing short of amazing. She now works helping other survivors, consulting to litigation and working against human trafficking."
Updates
Ongoing FocusLegislative & LegalA major trial underway in the Auckland High Courthas pulled back the curtain on a secretive, isolated religious environment operating out of a residential home in Orewa, New Zealand.
What began in March 2024 as a disturbing mystery—when a fisherman discovered the body of an elderly woman wrapped in plastic bags floating in Gulf Harbour—has evolved into a complex prosecution involving allegations of extreme coercive control, forced isolation, and fatal physical abuse.
The Guardian: ‘I thought I was the saviour of the planet’: how Game of Thrones’ Hannah Murray found a wellness cult – and lost her mindThis Guardian profile and interview with actress Hannah Murray (best known for playing Cassie in Skins and Gilly in Game of Thrones) discusses her departure from acting, her experience being drawn into a dangerous wellness cult, and her subsequent mental health crisis.Key Points of the Article:
- Life After Acting: At 36, Murray has left acting behind entirely, expressing a profound sense of relief and joy about no longer being in the industry. She opens up about the immense pressures she faced as a young actress, including being sexualized at a young age, enduring relentless public scrutiny over her weight, facing demanding and invasive audition expectations, and relying on a reckless lifestyle to cope.
- The Search for "Specialness": Murray explains that the acting world left her on a constant "hamster wheel" of seeking external validation. To find a permanent sense of being "special" and to heal from the traumas of her career—including a particularly harrowing and physically exhausting experience filming intense, abusive scenes for the 2017 movie Detroit—she began exploring the self-help and spiritual world.
- Falling into a Cult: At age 27, while emotionally vulnerable and exhausted, Murray was introduced by a personal trainer to an "energy healer." This became her gateway into a mysterious, unnamed spiritual "organisation" (a wellness cult). The group cost her thousands of pounds through escalating fees for classes and rituals involving shamanic ideas, "spiritual DNA" activation, and crystals. Murray stresses that anyone, regardless of intelligence or education, can be seduced by these groups when looking for a "magic wand" to fix their lives.
- Psychotic Episode and Diagnosis: The combination of the cult's psychological manipulation and her own underlying mental health struggles culminated in a catastrophic psychotic episode. Murray truly believed she was "the saviour of the planet." The crisis resulted in her being sectioned in an acute mental health unit. She was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a diagnosis that finally helped her make sense of the "high highs" and "low lows" she had experienced for years.
- Recovery and Memoir: In the nine years since her psychotic break, Murray has completely distanced herself from the wellness industry, avoiding even mild practices like yoga or meditation. She has processed her experiences by earning a Master's degree in creative writing and writing a memoir titled The Make-Believe. The book explores the dangerous underbelly of the modern wellness industry and how easily it can exploit vulnerable people.
International News
The Guardian: Family of missing woman hope raid on UK-based sect will bring answers
Seven years after Lisa Wiese went missing, a police raid on the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light has given her family a glimmer of hope.
Here is a summary of The Guardian article regarding the disappearance of Lisa Wiese and the recent raid on a UK-based sect:
- The Disappearance: Lisa Wiese, a 30-year-old German national, vanished in March 2019 during a trip to Kerala, India. She had converted to Islam in 2011 and joined the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light (AROPL)—an Islamic sect blending theology with internet conspiracy theories (it is entirely unrelated to the mainstream Ahmadiyya Muslim community). Shortly after arriving in India with another sect member, she sent final messages to her family, her Gmail account was deleted, and she was never seen or heard from again.
- The Recent Raid: In April 2026, around 500 police officers raided AROPL’s UK headquarters—a former orphanage in Crewe, England—under "Operation Decker." Twelve people were arrested and later bailed on suspicion of modern-day slavery, human trafficking, forced marriage, and rape.
- The Connection to the Case: The police raid stems from allegations made by a woman in Ireland and does not directly involve Wiese's disappearance. Furthermore, AROPL has previously stated they have no information regarding her whereabouts. However, German and Indian authorities have long wanted to question a specific AROPL member who they have been unable to reach due to complex transnational legal systems.
- Family's Hope: Wiese’s ex-husband, AbdelRahman Hashem, who is raising their two children (now aged 11 and 12) in the United States, hopes that the massive Cheshire police operation will prompt UK authorities to expand their investigation and assist German and Indian police in finally questioning the group member to bring long-awaited answers to his family.
News, Education, Intervention, Recovery
Intervention101.com to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement.
CultRecovery101.com assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.
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