Activism (& Advocacy!)

So… what’s this about a cult?

You might find it surprising, maybe even a little weird, that I’m essentially telling the whole world such a personal piece of my life history. It wasn’t always like this. In fact, I didn’t tell most of my professional, academic, and social circles that I was born into the Unification Church until 2021.

A combination of events prompted me to start speaking up about the abuses faced by myself and many other Second Generation Adults (SGAs) in the ex-moonie community, while simultaneously driving me to pursue my dream career:

I took a Harvard Extension School course in human trafficking and modern slavery. I realized that much of what happened during my childhood fell under definitions of labor trafficking and forced servitude, sex trafficking, child trafficking, and overall exploitation.

A more extremist sub-sect of the original Unification Church participated in the January 6th riots. It was a wake up call for several of us in the ex-moonie SGA community, as we realized that the power this violent extremist ideology held wasn’t just something from our past that we could forget. It was continuing to evolve into even more vicious forms. Several of us decided to start speaking out about our past and how it connects to our present in the hopes that maybe our stories could prevent others from getting sucked into harmful groups such as this.

Finally, I got rejected from all eight PhD programs I applied to. 2020 was a tough year. My house burnt down at the end of it (true story). By the time I got the last rejection letter, I was in the midst of a quarter-life crisis and was reaching out to various researchers hoping someone could help me figure out a research path that gave me more purpose. I found an amazing center that provided me with opportunities to grow beyond my imagination and expand my scientific and clinical understandings of violence, trauma, and mental health. I’m now looking forward to continuing this work in my PhD. 

I have been speaking out about the Unification Church since first going on the Falling Out Podcast in fall of 2021 to talk about my upbringing and how I left.

My activism focuses on educating the public about not only the atrocities the Unification Church committed, but also how this cult connects to other and larger systems of oppression that are all around us.

I am also more than a mental health researcher, in that I am a mental healthcare user. I advocate for mental healthcare by being transparent about my own struggles with complex PTSD, along with the healing I’ve experienced through prioritizing my mental wellness.

I can go on and on about all of these topics, so take a look around this page to see various links to blogs, podcasts, and other resources, where I do go on and on about them! These are things I have found helpful, have something to say about, or have been featured in!

Happy browsing

I Also Read!

English was one of my Majors for undergrad. I focused on British Victorian literature and Middle English. Reading books starting from a young age helped me to learn about all kinds of things and expand my worldviews. I’m still a big book worm today!

Current / Recent Reads:

– Misbelief: What Makes Rational People Believe Irrational Things by Dan Ariely

-The Canceling of the American Mind: Cancel Culture Undermines Trust and Threatens Us All—But There Is a Solution by Greg Lukianoff and Rikki Schlott

-The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil by Philip Zimbardo