From Growing Up in the Jehovah’s Witnesses to Counseling People Who Wish to Exit it with Frances Peters

Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum with Dr. Steve Hassan

Dr. Steven Hassan

Self-improvement, Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 684 Ratings

🗓️ 5 December 2022

⏱️ 79 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Come join me in this fascinating interview with Frances Peters who lives in the Netherlands and has a coaching and counseling practice serving people who are former members of a large variety of authoritarian cults, including the one she was raised in. The journey out of a cult for someone raised in it differs from working with someone recruited later in life. This conversation will be of interest to all, but especially to second-generation cult members as well as counselors, spouses, and anyone interested in different approaches to helping. Working with former members is a unique specialization and Frances Peters has a wonderful reputation. I am so pleased to share this interview with her. Learn more about Steven Hassan and Freedom of Mind Resource Center. Visit freedomofmind.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, I'm Dr. Steven Hassan with another episode of the influence continuum.
0:09.0	And I'm absolutely delighted and honored to have with me Francis Peters from the Netherlands with me today.
0:18.0	I know of Francis's work and met with her a number of visits over to Europe.
0:25.6	She lives in Holland. And Francis was raised in the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Watchtower Society,
0:33.6	and left with her husband and two children, if I remember correctly, Francis. A number of years ago
0:42.2	became a professional counselor and you operate free choice to help other people. And when we
0:51.5	recently saw each other in Nottingham for our mutual friend John's wedding,
0:57.0	I asked you if you'd be willing to share your experience and perspective as a counselor
1:04.7	who is like myself a former member, but you were raised in the group.
1:10.3	I was recruited at 19. And so I'm very interested
1:15.2	in your models for how to help people. And I'm also curious what you know about what's
1:21.8	happening in Europe, if there's anything you want to share with my predominantly U.S. audience.
1:29.0	So with that, Francis Peters, why don't you take a few moments and, you know, tell us your story.
1:37.4	Yeah.
1:37.7	Well, thank you for having me, Stephen.
1:39.7	It's really happy to be here.
1:42.6	Well, my story is more of how I was born and raised as a Jehovah's Witness.
1:48.8	And my mother became a Jehovah's Witness when I was a baby.
1:53.7	But my father never never did.
1:56.4	So it was, as they call it in the Jovis Witnesses, a divided family.
2:03.1	But that had its own problems, of course, because my father was having a completely different life.
2:10.8	And there was a lot of fights, not literally fight, but fighting on a level that my father didn't want her to go to these meetings
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dr. Steven Hassan, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Dr. Steven Hassan and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.