9 VOLUME 10 |ISSUE 1 |2019
prestigious Gradiva Award granted by the National Association
for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis.
Daniel Shaw, LCSW, is a psychoanalyst in private practice in
New York City and in Nyack, New York. Originally trained as
an actor at Northwestern University and with the renowned
teacher Uta Hagen in New York City, Dan later worked as a
missionary for an Indian guru. His eventual recognition of
the cultic aspects of this organization led him to become
an outspoken activist in support of individuals and families
traumatically abused in cults. Simultaneous with leaving this
group, Dan began his training in the mental health profession,
eventually becoming a faculty member and supervisor at
the National Institute for the Psychotherapies in New York,
publishing papers in Psychoanalytic Inquiry, Contemporary
Psychoanalysis, and Psychoanalytic Dialogues. Dan also teaches
at the Westchester Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis
and Psychotherapy, and the Institute for Contemporary
Psychoanalysis in New York. We’ve been fortunate to have Dan
along with Chris Carlson volunteer to be the facilitators of our
ICSA New York monthly group, which has been a touchstone
for many former cult members and families as well as those
who are interested in the cult field.
Finally, I’d like to add that, most important of all, Dan’s Sour
Cream Cheesecake won first prize in Nyack’s Men Cooking
charity event in the dessert category!
Congratulations, Dan!
Acceptance by Daniel Shaw
When I left Siddha Yoga in 1994,
I thought I would put the 13
years of life I had spent in a cult
behind me and focus on the
future. I didn’t know then that I’d
be spending the next 24 years
thinking, talking, writing, and
counseling about cults.
But that’s what happened.
And it was the understanding,
information, support, and connection that I found through
involvement with ICSA that helped me see my traumatic
abuse in a cult as an extraordinary opportunity to learn and
grow.
Thank you for this honor, and for the privilege and the
pleasure of being part of this learning, growing, and healing
community.
Lifetime Achievement Award to
Carol and Noel Giambalvo
Presentation by Rosanne Henry
Carol and Noel: The Early
Days
Noel and Carol Giambalvo
entered the countercult field
in the 1980s after conducting
research on the Hari Krishnas,
the group Noel’s daughter had
gotten involved in. As they
became cult educated and
helped their loved one, they saw
the need to help others leave cults. They started developing
the field and even their own brand of exit counseling, one
based on respect for personal integrity, high quality of
information, and informed consent. With Noel’s background in
education and Carol’s in the legal field, their approach evolved
organically.
They began by organizing and professionalizing the field and
also mentoring others. Noel and Carol made it their priority to
protect former members and advocate for their rights in many
arenas, but especially when they set up ethical guidelines for
thought-reform consultants that did not allow working with
cult survivors against their will.
For many years, Carol and Noel helped to run the conferences
of the original Cult Awareness Network (CAN) and ICSA’s
predecessor organization, the American Family Foundation
(AFF). They used their organizational and counseling skills
to keep former members safe, calm their distress, and direct
them to appropriate resources.
Noel participated in most of the annual ICSA Colorado
recovery workshops that Carol organized in Colorado between
1992 and 2016, and he patiently awaited her return from
yearly conferences during his retirement.
Carol: Today
Noel’s retirement did not slow Carol down as she found new
ways to organize and advocate for former members. Carol
started an organization named reFOCUS, now an online
support network for former members.
In addition to helping Michael Langone with the AFF and
then the ICSA annual conferences for years, Carol was also the
front-line contact, answering the phone and helping hundreds
of former members and their families begin to make sense of
their situation …Those callers got expert advice and got off
the phone a little calmer and more hopeful…
Carol sat on the Board of Directors of AFF and still sits on the
ICSA Board.
Carol became the first Director of Recovery Programs for
ICSA, where she developed and ran the recovery workshops
prestigious Gradiva Award granted by the National Association
for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis.
Daniel Shaw, LCSW, is a psychoanalyst in private practice in
New York City and in Nyack, New York. Originally trained as
an actor at Northwestern University and with the renowned
teacher Uta Hagen in New York City, Dan later worked as a
missionary for an Indian guru. His eventual recognition of
the cultic aspects of this organization led him to become
an outspoken activist in support of individuals and families
traumatically abused in cults. Simultaneous with leaving this
group, Dan began his training in the mental health profession,
eventually becoming a faculty member and supervisor at
the National Institute for the Psychotherapies in New York,
publishing papers in Psychoanalytic Inquiry, Contemporary
Psychoanalysis, and Psychoanalytic Dialogues. Dan also teaches
at the Westchester Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis
and Psychotherapy, and the Institute for Contemporary
Psychoanalysis in New York. We’ve been fortunate to have Dan
along with Chris Carlson volunteer to be the facilitators of our
ICSA New York monthly group, which has been a touchstone
for many former cult members and families as well as those
who are interested in the cult field.
Finally, I’d like to add that, most important of all, Dan’s Sour
Cream Cheesecake won first prize in Nyack’s Men Cooking
charity event in the dessert category!
Congratulations, Dan!
Acceptance by Daniel Shaw
When I left Siddha Yoga in 1994,
I thought I would put the 13
years of life I had spent in a cult
behind me and focus on the
future. I didn’t know then that I’d
be spending the next 24 years
thinking, talking, writing, and
counseling about cults.
But that’s what happened.
And it was the understanding,
information, support, and connection that I found through
involvement with ICSA that helped me see my traumatic
abuse in a cult as an extraordinary opportunity to learn and
grow.
Thank you for this honor, and for the privilege and the
pleasure of being part of this learning, growing, and healing
community.
Lifetime Achievement Award to
Carol and Noel Giambalvo
Presentation by Rosanne Henry
Carol and Noel: The Early
Days
Noel and Carol Giambalvo
entered the countercult field
in the 1980s after conducting
research on the Hari Krishnas,
the group Noel’s daughter had
gotten involved in. As they
became cult educated and
helped their loved one, they saw
the need to help others leave cults. They started developing
the field and even their own brand of exit counseling, one
based on respect for personal integrity, high quality of
information, and informed consent. With Noel’s background in
education and Carol’s in the legal field, their approach evolved
organically.
They began by organizing and professionalizing the field and
also mentoring others. Noel and Carol made it their priority to
protect former members and advocate for their rights in many
arenas, but especially when they set up ethical guidelines for
thought-reform consultants that did not allow working with
cult survivors against their will.
For many years, Carol and Noel helped to run the conferences
of the original Cult Awareness Network (CAN) and ICSA’s
predecessor organization, the American Family Foundation
(AFF). They used their organizational and counseling skills
to keep former members safe, calm their distress, and direct
them to appropriate resources.
Noel participated in most of the annual ICSA Colorado
recovery workshops that Carol organized in Colorado between
1992 and 2016, and he patiently awaited her return from
yearly conferences during his retirement.
Carol: Today
Noel’s retirement did not slow Carol down as she found new
ways to organize and advocate for former members. Carol
started an organization named reFOCUS, now an online
support network for former members.
In addition to helping Michael Langone with the AFF and
then the ICSA annual conferences for years, Carol was also the
front-line contact, answering the phone and helping hundreds
of former members and their families begin to make sense of
their situation …Those callers got expert advice and got off
the phone a little calmer and more hopeful…
Carol sat on the Board of Directors of AFF and still sits on the
ICSA Board.
Carol became the first Director of Recovery Programs for
ICSA, where she developed and ran the recovery workshops
