Who we are

We provide resources for Orthodox Christians who have experienced or are experiencing clergy-perpetrated exploitation. We also conduct research to better understand the breadth and depth of spiritual and sexual abuse in the Orthodox Church and help guide legislators for the greater common good.

Katherine Archer

Katherine is interested in spiritual abuse and trauma within the context of the Orthodox Church. Her background includes working with dual diagnosis adults experiencing homelessness. Katherine has participated in extensive training in nonviolent communication, the harm reduction model and motivational interviewing, as well as completing a 40-hour Domestic Violence training. She sees many similarities between clergy-perpetrated abuse dynamics and domestic violence dynamics. Her work includes participating in events for teens that raise awareness of grooming and predatory behaviors and volunteering with a human trafficking task force.

Katherine has been involved in legislative advocacy within California, seeking to add California to the list of states that criminalize clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse of adults.

Katherine has been married for 15 years to a loving husband, and enjoys time with her family and children.

Hermina Nedelescu

Dr. Hermina Nedelescu is a Romanian-born neuroscientist. Her research work is concerned with the neurobiological control of abnormal behaviors and brain functions relevant to human psychopathology. The majority of this work is directed at understanding brain mechanisms that underly substance use and abuse with emphasis on approach and avoidance behaviors. Another line of research is directed at investigating the neurobiological dysregulation caused by predator-induced PTSD vulnerability and alcohol comorbidity with hopes to inform novel therapeutic treatments.

For her theological work, she is training with the Center for Theology and Natural Sciences at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, where she leverages her expertise in neuroscience to develop a theological anthropology based on the Christian Orthodox tradition.

She is an instructor for Stepping Higher Inc., a faith-based organization funded by the County of San Diego Behavior Health Services Department to teach and support clergy, pastors, and behavioral health providers who minister to people suffering from substances use disorders, substance abuse, as well as, other psychological addictions or mental illnesses.

She is actively involved in the state legislative efforts to protect adults from clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse.

In her free time, she enjoys microscope photography and drawing brain cells to share the beautiful structure and function of the brain with the general public through art exhibits.

Dr. Nedelescu is happily married and has one child.