What is The Open Minds Foundation?

The Open Minds Foundation is a non-profit, charitable organization, established to raise awareness of and educate on the dangers of coercion and coercive control within our societies, reducing its impact, and in the long term, eliminating it altogether.
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Our Priorities

We are most concerned about young people (ages 5-18), as studies have shown they are most likely to be coerced. In fact this is the time for young people to be learning about critical thinking and how to recognize coercion in its many forms. We are also interested in educating caregivers, educators and parents of young people, as well as legal professionals and medical advisors in order to raise all-around awareness of coercion and coercive control.

The Open Minds Foundation brings together a collective of like-minded individuals, who either have knowledge and interest in coercion or first-hand experience of coercive control. Our board of trustees all have personal experience with the issue, and our wider community of experts are drawn from a range of backgrounds including academia, healthcare, therapy, law and community leadership.

The Open Minds Foundation is a registered charitable organization in the US and is currently pursuing charitable status in the UK. 

“The key to an open mind is doubt – the freedom to agree or disagree with any idea or belief, even one’s own, as one sees fit.”

-Alan W. Scheflin

The Open Minds Foundation: Mission & Vision

In line with our desire to create a safer and more open society, our work with young people, their educators, parents and caregivers, seeks to support our Vision and Mission:

Our Vision:

A world without coercion.

Our Mission:

To support education in critical thinking skills, encouraging young people to recognize and resist coercion.

Our Promise:

To enable critical thinking education to minimize the effects of coercion and coercive control on society

Our Values:

Integrity, continuous improvement, transparency and collaboration with others.

“When you believe in things that you don’t understand, then you suffer.”

-Stevie Wonder

Find out more about Coercion

A-Z of Coercion

Complete list of everything you need to know about Coercion