Dr Caroline Ansley

Dr Caroline Ansley is a physician with a background in primary care and a clinical leader in the New Zealand Health System. In 2024 she wrote a guidance for doctors and nurses to use when working with people impacted by cults, to support their sensitive care of these patients. This guidance is available for use by doctors across most areas of New Zealand.

Caroline co-hosts an award winning radio and podcast show, Cult Chat, which provides education about cults, promotes awareness of cult activity in New Zealand, and highlights their impacts on victims. Caroline spoke in 2024 at the Decult Conference (the first southern hemisphere cult awareness conference) about health neglect in cults, and soon after presented a plea to members of the the New Zealand government at the site of parliament, asking for political intervention to support better understanding of the cult problem in New Zealand, and action to follow. Caroline has been co-leading the Decult Collective, a network of professionals and activists who work with or support cult-impacted people, since the end of 2024.

Caroline lived as a child at the former notorious New Zealand cult, Centrepoint Community, which was closed in 2000. Since 2015 she has run a website called the Centrepoint Restoration Project which supports children of Centrepoint to recover. Since 2015 she has been a vocal advocate for addressing the injustices which occurred at Centrepoint and exposing the systemic issues which allow cult-based harm to continue unchecked.