Recover From Coercive Control
About Renée
Renée brings together over 25 years in education and nearly a decade in mental health to a field she knows not just professionally, but personally. Her lifelong interest in history and religion gave her the intellectual framework — but it was her own lived experience of coercive control and cultic abuse, and ultimately losing her daughter to a high-control group, that made this work personal and urgent.
That turning point made something clear: there wasn't enough education, awareness, or specialised support available for people navigating these experiences. This site, and the counselling practice behind it, is her response to that gap.
Renée is registered with PACFA and serves as Vice-President of Survivors of Coercive Cults and High-Control Groups (SOCCHG).
Tertiary Qualifications
Bachelor of Education (Secondary - Visual Art)
University of Melbourne 1994-1998
Masters of Mental Health (Art Therapy)
University of Queensland 2017-2018
Graduate Diploma of Psychology
University of Melbourne 2020-2024
Hi, my name is Renée. I like walking in forests. Sometimes I wear a red cape while doing so (yes, that is me in the above photo). This in an act of empowerment and rebellion–my daughter's cult leader tried to claim that dressing up in a cape was proof of satanism. Like really, since when was the wolf in grandma's clothing the victim and little Red the villain?
I have a deep appreciation for symbolism and metaphor. Exploring these through the story of Little Red Riding Hood has been transformative and has helped me confront many issues associated with high-control groups. We can all have moments of vulnerability in which we are led astray from the path with promises of pretty flowers.
I enjoy creative expression in many forms–art, mixed media, photography, soap making, African drumming, house renovations–basically anything that involves the creative process.
More About Renée
My encounters with coercive control have been lifelong — across high-control communities, cultic groups, and relationships. The most devastating was losing my daughter to a destructive cult, an experience documented in "The Dark Reality of the Kidney Cult".
It is that combination of personal experience and professional training that shapes how I work with clients. I understand the confusion, grief, and self-doubt that follows these experiences — not just from research, but from having lived it. That means you don't have to explain yourself from the beginning.
My qualifications span psychology and art therapy, and my background includes roles in secondary education and mental health spanning over three decades. Beyond the counselling room, I co-authored "Beyond Belief", a submission to the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the impacts of cults and high-control groups, and serve as an administrator of the Australian Cult Survivors Network (ACSN). My advocacy role also involves being vice-president of SOCCHG (Survivors of Coercive Cults and High-Control Groups).
Cults & Coercive Control
High-control doesn’t always look like a cult.
I know—because I’ve lived it.
I was never in a “cult.”
But…
I was raised Catholic and taught to aspire to purity culture.
I lived with a perpetual feeling of guilt,
which translated into feeling responsible for all harm done to me, even if it was not my fault.
I’ve been in controlling relationships
—before I understood the meaning of 'coercion'.
I’ve searched for answers
in religion, atheism, New Age beliefs,
multi-level marketing,
and groups with no name.
I’ve believed things.
Unlearned them.
Started again.
Something in me kept questioning.
That questioning led me to study,
to understand,
to see the patterns.
To understand the mind and human behaviour,
How mental health and psychology intercept.
Losing my daughter to a high-control group
changed me.
Systems that abuse power and assert dominance need to be challenged.
This work is where that journey has led.
~ Renée Spencer, 2026