Beth St Claire : Emergence Therapy

27/03/2026

Emotional Contagion Social Contagion Group-think Cults

It’s important to be aware of how intense emotional contagion can reduce your faculty for reasoning and expose you to manipulation, Arthur C. Brooks wrote in 2024: “My best defense—and yours—against falling prey to destructive groupthink is to understand it.” https://theatln.tc/yxKEJYUt

For decades, social scientists have studied “the mind” of crowds, and research generally describes group thinking as a source of positive wisdom. Recent work also identifies the process by which individuals, each with their own partial and imperfect information, can learn from one another and solve problems as “the wisdom of crowds.” As Brooks writes, these groups are “composed of separate individuals all thinking independently; they feel no sense of oneness, which is precisely why they are collectively wise.”

People can “catch” feelings by being in proximity to others who are experiencing intense emotions, Brooks continues: This “explains the sensation of being rapturously transported that people typically report when they participate in a mass exercise of praise and feel their inhibitions falling away.” But the emotional contagion of crowds isn’t always positive—negative emotions can be similarly contagious. “In our world today, people—myself included—have at times allowed ourselves to get swept up in collective emotions of hatred and anger,” Brooks writes. In part, modern technology has made it easier to drum up cyber mobs, and “online crowds can be as unthinking as in-person ones.”

Giving into groupthink and letting go can feel like a relief—at least in the short term. But before joining a group, whether at a rally or in a protest, it’s important to make sure “you will be participating with your eyes open,” Brooks continues. Asking yourself questions such as “Is the contagious emotion involved love or hate? Is that emotion one you want to ‘catch’?” might “prompt a reconsideration of how you want to participate in politics and public life.”

Read more: https://theatln.tc/yxKEJYUt

🎨: Jan Buchczik

12/03/2026

Do you think you have maybe experienced being in a cult-like organisation, or that you belonged to a group that showed features of being a 'high-demand', 'high-control' , fundamentalist or a coercive / exploitative group? Or maybe you know someone who seems to suffer from something like that in their life story?
Beth is running an in-person cult-recovery support group, scheduled to start at the end of this month in Auckland.
You can apply to join the group by emailing the Rationalists: office@rationalists.nz (8 x Sunday afternoon sessions fortnightly). Fully funded with no means-testing.
You can also feel free to attend Beth's presentation / workshop session this Saturday morning at The Button Factory (2 Abby Street, just down from K Rd) to start getting your head around the idea of organisations having potentially 'cultic' features, and considering how the recovery / repair process might happen: https://thebuttonfactory.co.nz/events/cults/

10/01/2026

This weekend in Auckland , New Zealand, is a huge international Jehovah's Witness convention. Estimated potentially 20,000 participants, in the arena of Eden Park.
A group are gathered at the main entrance with placards drawing attention to four issues - the need for all religious groups to be attentive to human rights; that young people need to have the right to access information about their own religion and the wider world; that shunning is not acceptable practice for how to treat people (or using the threat of it to manipulate people to stay involved if it is not what they would freely choose); and that help / support is availabel to them if they want to consider leaving the organisation.
On seeing the signs on display, Suzanne Snyder, who herself has left religious fundamentalism as an adult, said: "I love the messages on all the signs. I wish I had seen signs like that outside conventions when I was growing up, it might have given me enough courage to keep questioning what was being pushed on me, and hope for a real life outside". (Photo by Jared Brandon - see some of the thousands of attendees in the stadium in the background).
Leading the protest is ex-Jehovah’s Witness Jonas Skogstroll (Plåt Jonas) from Norway. Alongside the protest is a live comedy show he has created, accompanied by other local comedians like Tim Batt, Snap and Mark Darbyshire in a show at Whammy Bar in Auckland this Sunday 11th January, (and later in Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch). https://www.doomsdaycomedy.com/newzealand-2026?fbclid=IwY2xjawPPkMZleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETE5MVhnV1BnNlA4Zkg1UmJtc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHgCh0IwAzJtyTWYVj_tQCfdjyPF7tOGz6LJTLTD9EN_u4Vj4fNE6ymKHxhND_aem_lbfgVOAAUvitNefUlzG55A

15/09/2025

Very pleased to be interviewed and featured on Radio New Zealand's 'Checkpoint' show with Lisa Owen, and reflecting on some of the possibly similar dynamics between cult-type situations, and the Tom Phillips situation with his three children.
Only my second time being interviewed on radio, and it was a very tight time-frame, so felt a little anxious, but I was pleased that I was able to give some useful considerations, and, to some degree, 'counter' some of the hysteria about the children that's been in the headlines.
I certainly understand the fears that the children will be badly affected by their time away with their father, and they certainly may struggle to adjust back into so-called 'normal life', but, with skilled care and support, my hope would be that they find a positive path forward, reclaiming what they want to of their old lives, without lasting difficulties.

A psychotherapist says she believes there are potentially cult-like characteristics to the life Tom Phillips created on the run with his children.

21/07/2025

It's happening, at last! My first Auckland-based in-person Cult Recovery Support group should be starting in August. This first run will have a maximum of 10 participants and will just run for 6 or 8 sessions, with further group runs in the future, so a great opportunity to dip into the experience and try it out.
Please feel free to spread the word! (and if you know people who are interested in knowing more, but are not in a position to sign up to anything right now, do not have personal lived-experience themselves, or are not in Auckland... drop me a note as I will probably run an online interest-group alongside this).

31/03/2025

On this year's Transgender Visibility Day, I reflect on all the trans, non-binary and gender-diverse clients I have currently, and have had in the past... as well as in my social networks. I am so grateful that I see so much support and care in my communities, that allow, accept and celebrate diversity and acknowledge how it enriches our world and our humanity.
It costs SO little to be kind and welcoming.

09/12/2024

*Unravelling Your Spiritual or Religious Path* - an online support and information group.
Do you, or some people you know, seem to continue to be affected by past experiences in religion, fundamentalist groups, high-demand groups, spiritual practices or cults? Whether it was basically 'mainstream', but troubling in some specific aspects; or demanding and manipulative; or outright criminally abusive, if can be very useful to work through it.
Getting some understanding and support with unravelling these past experiences, can help get more perspective and allow reflection and healing to start.
Beth is an experienced registered Psychotherapist with speciality experience in trauma and abuse; life transitions; recovery from cults and fundamentalist groups, and dissociation. She has recently done training in Gillie Jenkinson's 'Walking Free' course for recovery from high-demand groups, and attended the DeCult conference in Christchurch. Beth has run online support groups in the past as well as providing in-person support. She is currently listed in Psychology Today, and the Religious Trauma Collective websites.
The online group sessions combine education on recognising 'cultic' or *high demand* features; practices in relaxation, grounding and resourcing; connection-building in the group; and 'sharing space'.
This will be a trial run at a discounted rate to invite feedback and input, in preparation for running a longer group in 2025, which may include options of in-person sessions, Initial registration $15. Online group sessions $15. (Funding may be available).
Current planned Session Dates: December 23rd; January 13th, 20th; and February 7th and 21st. 7pm start.
Expressions of interest - Please email Beth St Claire, with *Unravelling* in the Subject line, at: stclaire.nz@xtra.co.nz

16/10/2024

05/10/2024

Special Areas of Interest or Experience:
> Recovery from involvement in Cults / cultic groups; Fundamentalist groups, and religious or spiritual trauma
> Life transitions - including recovery after major life disruptions, cancer treatment etc
> Identity, including support for those who are gender diverse / non-binary or part of the rainbow community (or may be also be neurodivergent)
> Trauma treatment - using EMDR, PSI, 'parts' work, creative / experiential work, and body-based / somatic approaches
> Building presence and grounding, especially for those with a history of trauma or dissociation (can include body work / movement etc)
> Pelvic health / Base chakra grounding

02/10/2024

I love these as a meditative / mindfulness experience... just taking turns gazing at one constellation of three and tracking each part's cycle while breathing slowly.... then moving to the next.
I notice how different ones create different responses in me - I find there's a difference between smooth, predictable, repetitive movements versus ones that dance in a syncopated way, looping around and changing direction, or changing pace, spinning around faster when encountering another...
Why not share here what you notice when looking at these, and maybe what other things you find soothing to focus on?

For those interested in the science of it all, there are some very intelligent points, critiques and additions in the Comments on the original post (as well as a bunch of people talking about threesomes!).

https://www.facebook.com/OmniCoreTM/videos/1162156064871930

29/09/2024

Similar to the 'Love Languages' concept, everyone has their own ways of 'resting' that work best for them.
As someone with a tendency to be an 'active relaxer', I can get restless or flat if I spend too long 'doing nothing'... so the 'Creative Relaxer' mode in George Stern's '7 Types of Rest' works best for me - time in nature, reading, dancing, singing and being creative are things that 'chill me out' and 'top me up :)
What about you - what works well for you?

11/09/2024

One of my speciality areas in my therapy practice is working with people who have come out of cults and fundamentalist groups, including those experiencing religious or spiritual trauma.
I was recently interviewed about my work in this area on 'The Nutters Club', a local radio programme featuring Kyle MacDonald that focuses on mental health, and includes a combination of interview and 'talkback'.
It was my first experience of a 'live' interview like this, but I hope it will be of some value to people to get a glimpse of some of the complexity and variety of cult-type groups, and know that there are psychotherapists available to talk to who will be bringing some relevant experience and knowledge.
https://www.facebook.com/THENUTTERSCLUB/posts/pfbid02Sv3b9yGwJmEbK7p5u78HXx1y1zudZpFxfVrA5tjwDWcogCzW4mT5UzQ5GMKsjh6tl?notif_id=1726026828217722¬if_t=feedback_reaction_generic_tagged&ref=notif

08 September 2024: What are cults? How do we known we're in one? How we get out and what happens when one of our loved ones gets mixed up in one? Psychothe