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 a researcher and advocate specializing in spiritual abuse and clergy abuse within the Orthodox churches. With a background in working with dual-diagnosis adults experiencing homelessness, she brings a deep understanding of trauma, addiction, and systemic oppression to her work and research. She has extensive training in nonviolent communication, the harm reduction model, and motivational interviewing, as well as a 40-hour Domestic Violence certification. Her expertise in clergy-perpetrated abuse dynamics draws on her graduate work in both theology and counseling, where she explores the intersections of faith, trauma, and recovery.
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Katherine is actively involved in legislative advocacy in California, working to criminalize clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse of adults. She also engages in community outreach, including educating teens on grooming and predatory behaviors, especially drawing attention to the tactics of the many predators who operate under the guise of religious language. Additionally, she volunteers with a human trafficking task force.
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Katherine is committed to raising awareness of clergy abuse dynamics and survivor-centered healing practices. She has been married for 15 years and finds joy in spending time with her husband 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.
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Dr. Nedelescu is happily married and has one child.