Welcome to the Open Minds Foundation

Championing critical thinking to create a world without coercion

About our cause

Imagine a world without human trafficking, domestic abuse, fake news, political propaganda, religious extremism or cults. These are just some of the deep-rooted societal issues we can change if we evolve our education systems to encourage critical thinking, and use it to combat coercive control.

Our mission is to do just that, by giving young people, their educators and their caregivers, practical tools and training in critical thinking. Critical thinking is a primary tool in combatting coercion and coercive control in all its forms, helping to prevent its effects on society.

No one is born with a desire for physical or emotional abuse, to die unnecessarily because of faith-based beliefs, or to injure innocent people for their cause, yet these things happen to millions of people every day.
All are victims of coercion, which uses manipulation techniques to control and command victims, especially young people, to act against their own best interests. Sadly, we live in a world where coercion is rife, but we don’t provide young people with the tools to recognize and resist it. The Open Minds Foundation is a charitable collective, guided by experts and those with personal experience, seeking to change these deep-rooted societal issues.

Please consider supporting us by donating today

Resources

Critical thinking is the most powerful tool we have at our disposal to address societal challenges such as grooming or abuse.

Working with a number of academic researchers, we have also identified the link between better critical thinking and a reduction on susceptibility to coercion and coercive control tactics.

We have multiple resources to allow people to get a good understanding of what coercion is, and how to prevent and avoid it

Find out more

Education

We have put in place a nationwide primary school programme in the UK to teach the skill of critical thinking in the early years.

Working with Jigsaw Education Group, the Open Minds Foundation reached children and young people in schools across the UK.

Here’s what one school said about the resources:

“The implementation of critical thinking resulted in more engaged pupils throughout every lesson, better quality thinking with a joyful and non-threatening approach to making learning feel ‘real’. Ultimately, the children were better skilled at critical thinking and had a better defence against future challenges.”

View the critical thinking resources

High Control Groups

We have established the ‘Stop Mandated Shunning’ project and website to raise awareness that this is against individual’s human rights, and to fight against it.

We have been party to High Court legal actions across Europe to prevent mandated shunning by high control groups, with some success.

Stop Mandated Shunning

Academic Research

We are sponsoring a comprehensive project with the University of Roehampton to measure the effects of mandated shunning on society. We will use the evidence generated by this project to further our legal campaigns against mandated shunning.

We plan to continue and extend these initiatives in service of our mission to prevent coercion across the World.

With your support, we plan to continue to extend these initiatives in service of our mission to help individuals and families recognise and resist coercion.