Post-Decult Conference Survivor Community Day

Monday 26 October (Labour Day) | 10:00am–3:00pm
Location: Multicultural Recreation and Community Centre, Hagley Park, Ōtautahi Christchurch Central

Attending Decult 2026 as someone with lived experience of a high-control or cult-like group can bring up a wide range of emotions. To help create space for rest, connection and gentle processing after the conference, the Olive Leaf Network, Uncult Ōtautahi Christchurch, and the Re:Woven Charitable Trust are pleased to offer a dedicated Post-Decult Conference Survivor Community Day.

This free event has been thoughtfully curated for former members and survivors of high-control or cult-like groups who are attending Decult 2026. Whether you're feeling energised, emotionally full, reflective, or simply looking to connect with others who understand, you're warmly invited to join us for a day of grounding, creativity and community.

Throughout the day, participants will have opportunities to connect with others at their own pace in a welcoming, trauma-informed environment.

Experienced therapists will be present throughout the day to provide support, and there will be opportunities for both individual reflection and gentle group processing.

The day will include a range of supportive experiences, including:

• A catered lunch
• Trained therapists available throughout the day
• Individual and group reflection and processing opportunities
• Creative art therapy experiences, including creative journalling, clay modelling, poetry writing, and Kintsugi-inspired art
• Gentle somatic breathwork sessions
• Time to rest, connect, and simply be with others who share similar lived experiences

There is no cost to attend this event; however, registration is essential. Please register in advance so we can accurately plan catering and prepare sufficient art materials for everyone attending.

We look forward to welcoming you to a day of care, connection, and restoration as we gently transition from the Decult Conference back into everyday life.

That process became her work. Bec is a relationship and recovery coach specialising in coercive control, post-cult identity, and the kind of intimacy that nobody teaches you — the difference between connection and compliance, between desire and obligation, between a relationship that expands you and one that slowly erases you.

Her approach is practical, body-based, and grounded in lived experience rather than textbooks. She draws on hypnotherapy, somatic work, and over a decade of deep study in human psychology and relational dynamics. She works with people who are done being confused about why their relationships feel wrong, and ready to understand what right actually feels like.

Bec splits her time between New Zealand, Australia and Finland, works with clients internationally, and is currently writing about her cult experience and the long road back to a self you can trust.

Rusty is known for his fast-paced, often chaotic, and "hilarious" storytelling, with reviews calling his work a "finely polished masterwork". His material often focuses on absurd observations and personal stories. 

He is a long-standing performer in the New Zealand comedy circuit, with a career spanning over 17 years as of 2018. 

Rusty grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness and walked away as a teenager — and now he turns that world into comedy gold. His humour is dark, a little irreverent, and deeply personal, pulling from the strange, intense, and sometimes surreal moments of life inside a high-control religion. We met him at the Doomsday Comedy Event, loved his set, and invited him on the pod to unpack the story behind the jokes.

By the age of 26, Roydon was burnt out and found himself shamed, shunned, and ostracised by the only community he had ever known. This plunged Roydon into a dark period of addictions, depression and despair followed by recovery and the creating of a new life. Roydon is now in his 60s and his life is very different from the one he experienced in the first 26 years of his life.

But leaving wasn’t the end of Zara’s story. Fear, motherhood and deeply ingrained beliefs eventually drew her back into the organisation, where she spent years navigating doubt, coercive control and the pressure to conform. A confrontation over the safety of her children became a turning point, forcing Zara to question a system she could no longer reconcile with her own values.

Today, Zara is a proud queer woman, mum and advocate for survivors of high-control religion. Through her work with Recovering from Religion, she helps others reclaim their autonomy, identity and critical thinking.

In this episode, Zara talks openly about shunning, gendered control, the danger of questioning, the long process of deconstruction, and what it takes to learn to trust yourself again. Most importantly, she shares what it means to build a life that finally feels like your own.

“You are enough.”

She has been out for over 5 years now and has slowly rebuilt her life, rediscovering who she is, from running a marathon to taking hip hop classes, dipping her toes into the world of dating apps, travelling and moving back to her hometown of Christchurch.

She has spoken out about her experience over the past few years including the Decult Conference in 2024 in the hope that others can avoid being recruited, and so current members know there is life after leaving.

He later lived abroad for seven years in Ecuador and Vietnam where he primarily focused on developing the skills to run a boutique documentary production studio. He and two friends in Hanoi created Banana Island Films, a music video and documentary production company that he runs to this day. scott@bananaislandfilms.com

Over the past two years, he has been helping raise awareness and speak out on issues including religious trauma, indoctrination, coercive control, high-control groups, and men’s mental health.

His advocacy began when abuse within the 2x2 Church started reaching the public news cycle, while most communities still had no idea who this group was and very few people were publicly naming that it even existed. What started in online support groups grew into media appearances, podcasts, and an ongoing social media presence.

Outside of advocacy, the spaces that bring him healing and peace are music, both collecting and DJing, long-distance trail running, and more recently, creating art. And from September, he will also be stepping into a new role: becoming a dad and welcoming a new arrival into the family.

Having grown up within the strict confines of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jonas spent his early life being told that the world outside the organization was a place of darkness and despair. Since leaving, he has dedicated himself to proving the exact opposite: that there is a wealth of joy, absurdity, and freedom to be found on the "outside."

Jonas is the mastermind behind Doomsday Comedy, a stand-up collective featuring comedians who have survived fundamentalist backgrounds. By transforming religious trauma into punchlines, he provides a cathartic space for survivors to laugh at the very things that once controlled them.

Recently, Jonas made waves in New Zealand during his 2026 tour, where he balanced sold-out comedy sets with peaceful protests at Jehovah’s Witness conventions. Known for his "one-man Muppet Show" energy and his recent ADHD diagnosis (which he weaves brilliantly into his storytelling), Jonas brings a refreshing, high-energy perspective on what it means to truly reclaim your life.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The transition from "religious fanatic" to stand-up comedian.

• The healing power of humor in cult recovery.

• His mission to show young people still inside high-control groups that there is a vibrant life waiting for them.

• And, of course, what life is really like as a Swedish goat farmer in Norway.

Her early years were marked by intense control, coercion, and abuse. Being cast out so young left Jennie vulnerable, and the decades that followed were spent in another deeply controlling and abusive relationship and marriage that lasted from the age of 16 until she was 49.

Yet Jennie’s story is not defined by what was done to her—it is defined by how she survived it.

At 50, Jennie began rebuilding her life on her own terms. Now 66, she is a proud mother of two incredible children and a loving grandmother to four beautiful grandchildren. Supported by loyal friends, caring family, and the guidance of an exceptional psychologist, Jennie has reclaimed her voice, her identity, and her future.

Today, she shares her story to show others that life after a cult is possible. Her journey is one of resilience, healing, and rediscovery—a powerful reminder that no matter how long you’ve been controlled or silenced, it is never too late to find yourself and create a new life.

Together, they explore the patterns that have emerged across these conversations: identity, deconstruction, creativity, healing, spirituality, coercive control, and the lifelong process of rebuilding after leaving. They discuss why recovery looks different for everyone, the power of telling your story, and why survivor voices matter.

This episode also challenges the way we think about cults. Rather than focusing on labels or checklists, Jaya argues that the real conversation should centre on coercion and control—the behaviours that cause harm, regardless of whether a group is called a cult, a high-demand group, or something else.

Whether you're a survivor, supporting someone who has left a controlling environment, or simply interested in understanding coercive control, this conversation offers an honest, compassionate look behind the podcast and the lessons that continue to shape it.

If this conversation resonates with you, consider following Unspun, sharing the episode, or connecting with the Uncult Ōtautahi community.

Alisa Woodruff is a counsellor, artist, based in Christchurch, New Zealand. She recently completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Creative Arts Therapy and is interested in how creativity, storytelling, and reflection can help people make sense of complex life experiences. As a second-generation cult member of Subud herself, Alisa brings both personal insight and professional curiosity to conversations about leaving high-control groups.

On Unspun, she helps create thoughtful spaces where people can share their stories and explore what rebuilding life beyond those systems can look like.

Having grown up within high-control environments, including Subud, Alisa brings lived experience to the conversations Unspun exists for — life after, recovery, and rebuilding on the outside. Unravelling cult narratives, thread by thread.