Steven Hassan provides intervention consulting services for families who want to use the Strategic Interactive Approach for a team-oriented ethical intervention.
We recommend to concerned families and friends that they get started learning about the Strategic Interactive Approach by accessing these 2 books and 1 online video course:
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- Combating Cult Mind Control 30th Anniversary Edition – Listen to or read the 2015 or later edition of this book. This book explains how mind control happens and about the different types of undue influence situations.
- Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults and Beliefs – Read this book second. This handbook for how to use the Strategic Interactive Approach includes information regarding how to form a Strategic Interactive Approach team and suggested strategies. We recommend that you obtain the book in either print or e-book format so that you can:
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- Highlight important parts of the book,
- Make a list of questions to ask Dr. Hassan if you decide to request a consultation with him, and
- Refer back to the book as needed as you develop your team and your strategies for helping a loved one.
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- Understanding Cults: A Foundational Course – Take this 9 hour video course to learn more about how to help a person who has been affected by undue influence.
Accessing the above recommended books and course may reduce the amount of direct consulting time you need to learn the basics of the Strategic Interactive Approach.
If you cannot access the books and course, you can instead explore the other resources listed at the bottom of this page, including blogs and answers to frequently asked questions.
The key elements of the Strategic Interactive Approach are:
- Initial 60-minute Consultation: Available by Zoom video conference call.
- Intervention Strategy and Team Building Consultations: Develop a strategy and team of family, friends, and other resources to work together to help your loved one. Available by Zoom video conference call.
- 2-Day Team Preparation Meeting: Team members meet with Steven Hassan and agreed upon subject area experts and/or ex-members to learn about mind control, your loved one’s specific needs, and how to work together to apply the Strategic Interactive Approach to help your loved one. Typically at your preferred location.
- Team Coaching Consultations: Team members consult with Steven Hassan every one to two weeks to focus on strategy, problem-solving, and maintaining momentum to progress toward goals. This can include preparation for an in-person intervention. Available by Zoom video conference call.
- 3-Day Intervention Meeting: It is recommended only if there is a high probability of success. The intervention occurs at strategic time and place. It includes your team, the person you are helping, and Steven Hassan. Available in the Boston, MA area or at your preferred location.
- Other Services Customized to Meet Your Specific Needs: As your consulting partners, we work with you to tailor an approach that meets your needs: intensive or slow-paced, involving just family or also friends, with additional support staff or a simpler style. Available by phone, Zoom video conference call or in person.
How to Request the Initial Consultation:
Insurance is not accepted.
If you believe that this approach is a good fit for your needs and resources, please call our office at (617) 396-4638 to request an initial 60-minute Zoom video call consult with Steven Hassan.
Please understand that there may be a waiting period for the next available consultation appointment if other individuals have already reserved dates in the calendar for services.
Initial consultations are scheduled on weekdays, from 9 am to 5 pm Eastern time.
Complete the Intervention Services Case Evaluation Form prior to the consult:
- Complete our form online
- Download the form, sign, scan and return via:
- ProtonMail – encrypted email to admin@secure.freedomofmind.com
- Signal-encrypted messaging (call our office for instructions)
- Postal mail to Freedom of Mind Resource Center,
351 Pleasant Street Suite B, PO Box 212 Northampton, MA 01060
You may submit additional materials for review prior to the initial consult, such as investigative, medical or legal reports; copies of communications; and photos. Review of up to 10 pages of material, inclusive of the case evaluation form, is included. There is an additional charge to review over 10 pages. We provide encrypted email for sensitive documents.
During the initial consult, you and Steve will discuss your Case Evaluation Form and any other materials that you have submitted. Some people prefer to give more sensitive information directly to Steve during the consultation. Steve will answer your questions and provide recommendations for the next steps including strategies, intervention services, post-intervention recovery resources, and other resource and referral options.
What is the focus of this intervention approach? The Strategic Interactive Approach (SIA) encourages a positive, warm relationship between cult members and their families while helping to raise essential questions for cult members to consider. It is non-coercive and empowers individuals by giving them the tools they need to detect and remove undue influence from their own minds. The SIA proposes a “dual identity” model: the cult identity and the authentic identity. It liberates and then integrates the parts of the authentic identity that were co-opted by the cult identity. The goal is to restore the creative, interdependent authentic self, and enable the individual to digest and integrate their experience, and become stronger from it.
The SIA focuses on the development of healthy relationships within the family and with friends and others. The safe and nurturing environment created by the SIA offers many opportunities to heal old wounds if there are any. The SIA provides a long-term recovery support group for both the cult member and members of the family. Everyone is traumatized by the cult involvement, even those who are not directly involved. Feelings get hurt. Belief systems are assaulted or shifted. People lose sleep. They get depressed. Anger, frustration, and resentment are repressed. Each person who has been involved in the traumatic experience of having a loved one in a destructive cult needs support on psychological and emotional levels.
Who may benefit from this approach? In addition to religious cult cases, we help people involved in destructive one-on-one relationships, therapy and self-improvement groups, families, parental alienation, mini-cults, professional abuse, institutional abuse, corporations, multi-level marketing, political groups, human trafficking, hate and violent extremism, and other undue influence situations. All involve radical personality changes, often resulting in dropping out of school, work, alienation and loss of contact. Some involve covert uses of hypnosis and sexual abuse.
Why are these services needed? Former members often express anguish over the damage done to their psyche and to their valued relationships. They feel sorry about lost educational and career opportunities. Even worse, they feel guilty about the people they recruited, the money they collected, and the unethical behavior they committed as members. The longer they were in, the deeper the regrets when they get out. A passive, hands-off, wait-and-see approach can have tragic consequences.
Learn more about the Strategic Interactive Approach:
Frequently Asked Questions about the Strategic Interactive Approach
Deprogramming vs. Strategic Interactive Approach
How Can I Rescue My Child from a Cult?
Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults and Beliefs
Click here for answers to other Frequently Asked Questions.