Almost everything that existed in this space had come from North America. The books, the podcasts, the training, the clinical frameworks, the language. And while so much of that work is genuinely important, it does not always land the same way here.

Faith is not in the water in Australia and New Zealand the way it is in the United States. Religion is not woven into nationalism in the same way, although we are watching that shift. The cultural backdrop is different, and that shapes how harm is experienced, how people find language for it, and what kind of support actually helps.

The most recent census data tells a significant story. For the first time since colonisation, both Australia and New Zealand recorded populations under fifty percent Christian. More people than ever are identifying as spiritual but not religious, or as having no religion at all. And as that cultural shift happens, the people moving with it, particularly those leaving high-control or high-demand faith environments, are often realising mid-shift that what they were part of caused real and lasting harm.

We are naturally more sceptical here. Australians and New Zealanders tend to raise an eyebrow at megachurches asking for money and to be openly uncomfortable with the kind of religious nationalism that is increasingly visible elsewhere. And yet we have our own version of all of it. Pockets of Bible belt suburbs. Large Pentecostal and charismatic communities. Spin-off Christian denominations and movements with cult-like dynamics. World religions representing between one and three percent of our populations that carry their own forms of coercive control. And increasingly, secular high-control groups, wellness cults, MLM structures, and online communities causing serious harm with no religious framework at all.

The people coming out of all of these environments deserved something built specifically for them, not adapted from something built for someone else. That is what we set out to create.