Gerette Buglion, B.A. Elementary Education and Special Education, earned her ‘Master's Degree’ in cult awareness education from the school of life. 

This training occurred during her eighteen-year odyssey with Doug (Fictitious name. Real person), the leader of the ‘Center for Transformational Learning’ or CTL (Fictitious name. Real group). birth families against “true” families is just one of many tools used by cult leaders the world over. But, in CTL, Gerette was not forbidden to speak with her family. There was no tithing, no rules about where she should live, what brand of deodorant to use, or what clothes to wear. Instead, more subtle techniques were used. Unspoken rules were inserted into the everydayness of the CTL culture. Loyal followers like Gerette obeyed them. This is the stamp of an everyday cult. It looks and feels like a wonderful opportunity…like spiritual, social, financial, or psychological growth. Life-affirming tools are offered - but there is also something else: a perhaps unintentional, but gripping mechanism of control, turning what could be a good thing into an environment of cultic, coercive control. 

As a lifelong educator, Gerette was humbled when she emerged from CTL in 2014 at age 52. She asked herself, How did I, an educated, caring mother, wife, and business owner become that lost and for that long? Gerette dusted off her discerning mind and set to work studying cultic dynamics and mind control while reclaiming her autonomy with the help of a supportive family, therapy, and countless hours immersed in nature and writing.

An Everyday Cult published in 2021, lifts the nuanced veil of controlling groups through its subtle weaving of personal experience with insight from recognized cultic phenomena. Her second book, Writing to Reckon Journal - for Survivors of Spiritual, Religious, and Cultic Abuse, features writing prompts that gently accompany survivors through a recovery process based on the written word.

She is the founder of Living Cult Free, a 501c3 nonprofit whose mission is to support the creative expression of survivor stories and empower advocacy through education.