ICSA TODAY 14
ICSA’s Lifetime Achievement Award “honors
individuals who have, to an exceptional degree,
embodied in their work ICSA’s values of openness,
courtesy, and dialogue, and who have made academic
and/or other exceptional contributions to the field of
cultic studies.”
Henry David Thoreau famously said in Walden, “The
mass of men live lives of quiet desperation.” Joseph
Kelly, the recipient of ICSA’s Lifetime Achievement
Award for 2022, is not such a person. Joe has lived a
life of quiet dedication. He has done so much without
a shred of self-aggrandizement that it is easy not to
realize how much he has done.
Joe’s first encounter with the cult awareness
community was while he was still in a cultic group. He
attended two programs about cults before he could
no longer suppress his sense of dissonance. What he
was hearing at the conferences was just too close to
his own group experience. This led him to re-evaluate
his commitment to his guru and then move on to a life
of self-determination.
Within weeks of exiting, Joe was traveling with Kevin
Garvey, one of his mentors, sharing his experiences
ICSA 2022
Conference
Awards
ICSA 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award
Presentation by Patrick Ryan

VOLUME 13 |ISSUE 3 |2022 15
during his 14 years in two different eastern meditation
groups: Transcendental Meditation and International
Society of Divine Love. And thus began his career as
a cult intervention and recovery specialist. Joe has
helped thousands re-evaluate and heal.
If you have attended an ICSA event, you were likely to
be warmly greeted at the registration desk by Joe. He
joined with Carol Giambalvo in offering workshops for
former members at ICSA events and local meetings.
Based upon his own experience and how he exited, Joe
has continually advocated for the value of openness
and dialogue with those with whom you disagree. I
can’t think of a person who embodies ICSA’s culture of
openness and dialogue more than Joe.
Joseph F. Kelly, a graduate of Temple University with
a focus on religion, has been a cult intervention
specialist, thought reform consultant/exit counselor
and mediator since 1989. He is a co-author of “Ethical
Standards for Thought Reform Consultants,” published
in ICSA’s Cultic Studies Journal, and contributed a
chapter to Captive Hearts, Captive Minds by Madeleine
Tobias and Janja Lalich. For many years, he was the
News Desk Editor of ICSA Today.
Joe has also facilitated ICSA workshops for families and
has lectured extensively in Canada, Spain, Belgium,
Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, The Netherlands, France,
China, Cyprus, the UK, and elsewhere on cult-related
topics such as
• inner experience and conversion
• hypnosis and trance
• helping families address a loved one’s group
involvement
• ISKCON, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Transcendental
Meditation, yoga, qigong, and many more.
It’s my pleasure to present Joseph Kelly with ICSA’s
2022 Lifetime Achievement Award.
ICSA 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award
Acceptance by Joseph Kelly
I am both humbled and pleased that I was chosen as the 2022
recipient of ICSA’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Thank you to
the Board of Directors of ICSA and Michael Langone, whose
stewardship through these last 40 years has been instrumental in
keeping cult awareness alive in our community. I spent the last 32
years working with some of the most brave and amazing people,
families, and former members who have come out of toxic cultic
situations and who have gone on to report a healthy and full life.
The part that I played in that for any of you is the satisfaction that
I gained from the work that we do. I can’t thank you enough for
this honor. I’m also glad to report that there’s a new generation
of people who are studying the issues of undue influence and
coercive control. It is vital that this information be passed on. For
them, I support and encourage you to continue to fight the good
fight.
Again, thank you.