Episode 022: Creating and Validating a Spiritual Abuse Assessment
Nov 05, 2024
Can you really ever know when you’ve experienced spiritual abuse by church leaders and organizations? Victims and survivors are so often manipulated and gaslit that they question their own memories and experiences.
This is the work Organizational Psychologist Lianna Chong is setting out to complete. Through her work with the Spiritually Abusive Leadership & Climate Survey, she is hoping to have quantifiable and scientifically validated research and hard data.
The survey measures areas like abuse of power, emotional manipulation and abuse, defend and attack (based on DARVO and gaslighting), deflection, and psychological safety.
This research will be completed in two rounds, with the first running from Nov–Dec 2024, and a second round in early 2025. The minimum goal is 300 completed surveys, with a full goal of 600.
Would you be willing to complete the survey? It’s all scaled multiple choice (strongly agree – strongly disagree), and takes about 10-15 minutes to complete. It’s fully anonymous (with a few demographic questions), and all online. You can complete it on your phone or computer.
[ take the Spiritually Abusive Leadership & Climate Survey ]
download Episode Transcript 📄
Quotes 💬
Unless you look at the whole picture, unless you talk to everyone who is involved and look at it from a systemic perspective, you may not be finding the actual root cause of the problem, and therefore, whatever intervention or steps that you are taking in that organization, it won’t work. It won’t solve what is trying to be solved if you haven’t achieved a correct diagnosis.
I think, as many victims know, sadly, when you’re gaslighted, when you’re dealing with somebody who is manipulative and willing to change their story, it’s very hard on you to sort of prove that this is really happening.
Episode Resources and Links
- Take the Spiritually Abusive Leadership and Climate Survey
- by on Bookshop | Amazon
- Spiritual Abuse Assessment by Karen Roudkovski on Bookshop | on Amazon
Guest Spotlight
Lianna is an organizational psychologist with experience in ministry and secular organizations. She is passionate about helping teams and leaders create environments where people can bring their best self to work. She provides training and consultation on compassion fatigue, burnout, organizational change, and psychological safety. Recently, Lianna has pivoted her focus to helping people recognize spiritually abusive leadership and promote healthier church cultures.
Lianna has a Master of Arts in Organizational Psychology, a Master of Theological Studies, and is a Certified Fearless Organization Scan (FOS) practitioner. In addition to consulting, she has served as Adjunct Faculty at William James College teaching quantitative and qualitative assessment.
Website | Substack | Instagram
Take the SALC (Spiritually Abusive Leadership & Climate) Survey
(To participate, you need to have direct experience with leaders in a church or Christian organization.)
Don’t Miss the Next Episode!
Subscribe for free and never miss out on these conversations with old and new friends. Is there a guest you’d like to hear from? Let us know!
Subscribe using your favorite podcast app:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube
Spread the Word. Leave a Rating and Review. It would mean the world if you would leave us a rating and review on Apple or on Spotify. They’ll help us share these conversations and resources with more people, and let us know how we can better serve you.
Broken to Beloved is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that works to provide those wounded by spiritual abuse and religious trauma with practical resources moving toward healing and wholeness, and to provide pastors and church leaders with resources to grow in trauma awareness and implement safeguarding practices. Get more information or give a tax-free donation here.
As an Amazon and Bookshop.org affiliate, I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you.
