View source for Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center

{{notability|Companies|date=January 2015}}

{{Infobox company
| name = Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center
| logo = Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center logo.jpg
| logo_size = 250px
| type = nonprofit [[501(c)(3)]] corporation in the United States.
| genre = [[Psychology]]
| foundation = 1986
| founder = [[Paul R. Martin]]
| location_city = 
| location_country = United States
| location = [[Albany, Ohio]]
| key_people = [[Paul R. Martin]], [[CEO]]
| area_served = 
| industry = residential counseling center
| products = 
| services = treatment of individuals exposed to abusive religious groups, organizations, and [[cult]]s
| revenue = 
| operating_income = 
| net_income = 
| num_employees = 
| parent = 
| divisions = 
| subsid = 
| owner = 
| homepage = {{URL|http://wellspringretreat.org}}
| dissolved = 
}}

'''Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center''' is a [[Christian countercult movement]]-affiliated residential counseling center claiming to specialize in the treatment of individuals who they evaluate as "having been abused in relationships, [[Cult|cults]], situations of trauma, and by destructive therapeutic alliances resulting in emotional betrayal and/or physical harm".<ref name="Wellspring">
{{cite web
 |url=http://wellspringretreat.org/index.php
 |title=Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center
 |access-date=2007-03-17
 }}
</ref> It was founded in 1986 by [[Paul R. Martin]] and his wife Barbara, and is located in [[Albany, Ohio]].

== History ==
It was founded in 1986 by psychologist [[Paul R. Martin]] and his wife Barbara, it is located in [[Albany, Ohio]]. Martin.<ref name="Ashe000101">{{Cite news |last=Sidoti |first=Liz |date=2000-01-01 |title=Cult treatment center braces itself for new millennium |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/asheville-citizen-times-cult-treatment-c/163439418/ |access-date=2025-01-19 |newspaper=[[Asheville Citizen-Times]] |page=41 |language=en-US |issn=1060-3255 |agency=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref>

==Services==
Wellspring claims that it has treated more than 500 former cult members from the United States and nine foreign countries since the retreat opened in 1986.<ref name="dayton">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Cult Exit |url=http://www.apologeticsindex.org/news/an200511.html#42 |newspaper= The Dayton Daily News|date= May 7, 2000 |access-date= 14 June 2014}}</ref> All of the staff are Christian and "former members of cults",<ref name="dayton" /> and their staff have included cult researchers and counselors, one being researcher Larry Pile.<ref name="Ashe000101" />

It also offers educational, consulting, and family support services. Several of its staff members are published authors, and Wellspring is also an informational resource to national and international media to raise awareness about [[coercive persuasion]] and its treatment.<ref name="Wellspring"/><ref name="Montel">
{{cite episode |title=Raised in a Cult |series=The Montel Williams Show |series-link=The Montel Williams Show |network=CBS Paramount |airdate=February 28, 2002 |season=10 |transcript=Raised in a Cult |transcript-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030424024145/http://lisatrust.freewinds.cx/Media/cults-montel.htm}}
</ref><ref name="AthensNews">
{{cite journal |author=Jim Phillips |date=November 24, 2004 |title=Counselor fights for freedom of cult victims 'one mind at a time' |url=http://www.athensnews.com/issue/article.php3?story_id=18985 |journal=The Athens News |access-date=2007-03-17}}
</ref>

Wellspring has been praised by [[Christian countercult movement|Christian countercultist]] Dr. [[Ronald Enroth]], in his best-selling book ''[[Churches That Abuse]]'', as well as in the follow-up book, ''Recovering From Churches That Abuse''.<ref name="RecoveringFromCTA">
{{cite book
  | last = Enroth
  | first = Ronald
  | author-link = Ronald Enroth
  | title = Recovering From Churches That Abuse
  | publisher = [[Zondervan]] Publishing House
  | year = 1994
  | page = 33
  | isbn = 0-310-39870-3 }}
</ref> In the latter he wrote, in part:
<blockquote>Wellspring exists because recovering emotionally, restoring a loving relationship with God, and re-entering society are not easily accomplished on one's own. The accounts in this book reveal how tortuous the path to recovery can be without professional, caring help. The tragedy is that for the victims of spiritual abuse, the options are disappointingly few. Not many programs are especially equipped, as Wellspring is, to treat victims of spiritual abuse.<ref name="RecoveringFromCTA"/>
</blockquote>

==Criticism==
[[Jeffrey Hadden]] said former Wellspring clients have told him the retreat uses some of the very [[Though reform|thought reform]] techniques it attributes to [[Cult|cults]].<ref name=dayton/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Opposition to NRMs}}

[[Category:Organizations established in 1986]]
[[Category:Former members of Evangelical parachurch organizations]]
[[Category:Non-profit organizations based in Ohio]]
[[Category:Christian countercult organizations]]
[[Category:501(c)(3) organizations]]