Supporting recovery
Practical and emotional resources for individuals rebuilding their lives after exit, built specifically for this experience rather than adapted from generic self-help content.
A support and resource platform for life after leaving.
Open Space Support is a support and resource platform for individuals and families affected by high-control religious organisations. We're starting with a specific focus - former Jehovah's Witnesses - because that's the experience closest to our own, and the one we understand best. But this platform is built to be accessible to anyone leaving a high-control group, whatever that group looked like for them. The practical and emotional challenges of rebuilding a life after exit share far more in common than they differ.
A future where leaving doesn't mean starting from nothing.
We want every person who leaves a high-control environment - whichever group, whatever their beliefs now - to have somewhere reliable to turn.
Supporting families
Because the impact of leaving rarely stops at the individual. Partners, children, and relatives affected by shunning, addiction, grief, or relationship breakdown deserve guidance too, and are too often left out of recovery conversations altogether.
Building trust
A safe, professional, and welcoming environment where nobody has to justify their situation or prove their story before they're taken seriously.
Gathering evidence
Collecting real needs-assessment data so we (and eventually others) can identify genuine support gaps, rather than guessing at what's needed.
Enabling growth
A platform built to scale, so today's resource library and application portal can grow into tomorrow's funded programmes, professional partnerships, and direct support services.
Protecting Privacy
Every conversation, application, and piece of evidence handled with the security and discretion this experience deserves. Trust has to be earned before support can be accepted - and that starts with how carefully we handle what people share with us.
This site is the foundation. Over time, we intend to grow it into a long-term social impact initiative - potentially a Community Interest Company, a registered charity, or a funded support service capable of providing direct assistance, not just information. Read more in Future Plans below.
Reflection piece
Are you still gambling with your future?
Most people think gambling is about money. Often, it isn't. Sometimes we gamble with something far more valuable: our time, our relationships, our identity, and our future.
Imagine standing in front of a slot machine. When you first sat down, you were promised an extraordinary prize. So you kept playing. At first, the cost seemed small - a little time, a little trust. Over the years, the investment grew, until your hopes, routines, and future were all connected to it.
The machine didn't only take. It gave something back too - belonging, purpose, moments of real joy. Those experiences were real, and they deserve to be recognised honestly.
Then, one day, different questions start to emerge. And many people discover that the greatest barrier isn't fear of the future - it's the weight of the past. Psychologists call this the sunk cost fallacy: the more we've invested, the harder it feels to walk away, even when we're no longer sure it's right.
But a slot machine has no memory. The next spin isn't improved by everything that came before. The years already invested can't be recovered by investing more of them. They're part of your story - they don't have to decide your future.
Perhaps the more useful question isn't
Have I invested too much to change?
It's:
If I encountered this for the first time today, knowing what I know now, what would I freely choose?
Only you can answer that.
Built for people who've lived this - and the people around them.
If any of this describes you, you're in the right place:
- You've left the Jehovah's Witnesses, whether that was your choice or theirs
- You've been disfellowshipped or have formally disassociated
- You're still inside, but thinking seriously about leaving
- You're currently experiencing shunning from family or your former community
- You left a different high-control religious group, and you're looking for support that understands the shape of that experience even if the specifics differ
This site is also here for:
- Family members - partners, children, and relatives navigating the ripple effects of someone else's exit, or their own
- Therapists and recovery specialists - looking to better understand this specific client experience, or wanting to be part of our future professional directory
- Researchers and journalists - seeking an accurate, evidence-informed picture of what leaving a high-control group actually involves
- Support organisations - who may be a referral partner, now or in future
Whichever of these is you, you don't need to explain or prove anything before you start looking around.
Not here to tell you what to believe
At Open Space Support, we don't exist to tell people what to believe or what decisions to make. We exist because everyone deserves the chance to explore important questions without fear, pressure, or judgement.
Our role is to bring trusted information, practical resources, and specialist support into one place - helping people understand their options and find what actually fits their circumstances.
For some, that journey may involve remaining within their faith community. For others, it may mean redefining long-held beliefs, or rebuilding life after leaving. Many people simply want a safe place to ask questions they've never felt able to ask before.
Wherever you are, you deserve reliable information, compassionate support, and the freedom to reach your own conclusions.
We don't ask anyone to exchange one set of beliefs for another. We provide information, support, and a safe place to think - and we trust that, given freedom, compassion, and reliable information, people are capable of making the decisions that are right for them.
What we stand for, in practice.
Compassion
Every person is treated with dignity, whatever their story or where they are in it.
In practice: no forms that demand you justify your situation before we'll help.
Practical Support
Real-world problems get real-world solutions - not just encouragement.
In practice: our resources tell you what to actually do, not just that things will get better.
Independence
Your decisions are yours. We inform; we never direct.
In practice: we present options and information - never a single "right" path.
Growth
Recovery isn't linear, and we don't expect it to be.
In practice: there's no timeline pressure anywhere on this site - come back whenever you need to.
Inclusion
Whatever group you left, and whatever you believe now, you belong here.
In practice: nothing on this site assumes or requires a particular belief, or lack of one.
Integrity
Everything we share is honest and evidence-informed, never exaggerated for effect.
In practice: we'll tell you plainly when something is outside our expertise and point you elsewhere.
Practically, that means we provide:
Practical guidance
Employment, housing, financial literacy, and everyday life admin many people were never taught.
Emotional wellbeing resources
Support for grief, identity disruption, anxiety, and the weight of religious trauma and shunning.
Addiction and family recovery support
Honest signposting for coping after upheaval - for you or someone you love.
Educational materials
Resources that fill gaps left by restricted access to education and information.
Professional signposting
Connections to specialists who understand this experience, not generic advice.
Community insight
Real evidence from people going through this, so support matches what's actually needed.
This is the foundation, not the finished thing.
Open Space Support began as a website, but it's designed to grow into something bigger.
Over time, we're working toward:
- Formal registration Most likely as a Community Interest Company or registered charity, giving us the structure to raise and responsibly manage funding, and the accountability that comes with it.
- A funded support service Moving from signposting toward direct assistance: subsidised professional consultations, financial support, and practical help that goes beyond information alone.
- A trusted professional directory Therapists, addiction specialists, career coaches, financial advisers, and recovery organisations who understand this experience specifically.
- Deeper community infrastructure Moderated spaces for shared experience, and stronger partnerships with existing support organisations, researchers, and specialists already working in this space.
- A growing evidence base Every needs assessment and every piece of feedback shapes what gets built next, and over time, contributes to a genuinely useful picture of what's needed for people leaving high-control groups.
None of this happens overnight, and none of it happens without the evidence to justify it. That's why gathering real data - not just building resources - is as much a part of our mission as the guidance itself.
Leaving may be the end of one chapter. This is what we're building for the next one.
