Identifying the components of safer, healthier culture

There are many different ways to explore what makes up any culture. We wanted this book to be both accessible and practical in a range of settings and contexts. We have therefore taken the view that a frame­ work for identifying and developing safer, healthier culture may be useful. 

The model was originally devised for the corporate world, but by adjusting the lan­ guage and refocusing our frame of reference to building safer and healthier cultures within churches and other faith­based settings, there is much to learn from this approach. Integrating this model with the learning from previous work undertaken by Oakley and Kinmond (2013) addressing characteristics of spiritually abusive be­ haviour and some preventative practices provides us with a useful basis to start. In their earlier work, Oakley and Kinmond suggest the ESSTA acronym that can be used to frame a preventative approach to spiritual abuse as follows:

Empowerment – It is important that we encourage individ­ uals within spiritual contexts to develop autonomy. That means healthy spiritual contexts encourage people to develop as individuals who can think for themselves and are able to express disagreement or concern.

Supervision – Many places of worship do not have regular supervision or support for those in paid or unpaid leader­ ship roles. Supervision should be a healthy practice within spiritual contexts whereby discussions of helpful and unhelp­ ful behaviours can be held.

Support – It is essential that support is developed for those who have experienced spiritual abuse. This may help to prevent further abuse as people begin to understand spiritual abuse better.