Anne Craig allegedly convinced her female patients they'd been abused as kids. It wasn't the truth.

UK woman Anne Craig dubbed herself a spiritual healer. A life coach. She described herself to media as a "teacher" in the field of personal development. 

According to some of her former clients though, she allegedly "brainwashed" and "manipulated" them.

The biggest claim of them all — that Craig falsely convinced her female patients they'd been abused as children. 

Sarah Strutt's daughter was one of Craig's clients.

Reflecting on when her daughter Huey first mentioned her new therapist, Strutt said to Daily Mail: "My daughter said to me, 'She [Craig] told me she only took the really special people and that while she charged £100 for the hour, they would then chat for three hours non-stop.' And that's when my red light should have come on."

Within two years of therapy sessions with Craig, Strutt's daughter had cut off all contact with her family and friends. That zero contact went on for six, long years.

Huey had even quit her job, isolating herself from her entire world as she knew it. 

Watch: explaining coercive control. Post continues below.

"She had a God complex. She convinced me that my mother was taking photos of children on a camera for a paedophile ring," Huey said about Craig on the Dangerous Memories podcast. "I just broke down. I just remember going into this total space of collapse. I stopped being able to function."

Craig then allegedly convinced Huey that she had been sexually abused as a child and that her loved ones were toxic and harmful to her wellbeing. 

Huey was not sexually abused as a child. But Huey says she became entangled in a web.

"My typical day was completely bonkers. I'd wake up, write down my dream, which might take me an hour, then I'd analyse it the way Anne had taught me, which might take up to two hours," Huey recounted to Metro.

"By this point, I wouldn't have had breakfast yet. So I'd call her and ask her permission to eat. If it was a 'no' it would be because I was 'trying to use food to block my emotions', which would in turn, block my ability to heal. So I would carry on working for another hour or two."

This sort of behaviour morphed into something even more concerning — Huey saying she clung to Craig and went to her for guidance on all daily decisions. When she slept, when she should eat — everything.

Huey alleges that Craig would tell her that if she stopped following her teachings, then Huey would get cancer or be raped. Given the fragile mental state she was in, Huey says she was "brainwashed".

Victoria Cayzer is another of Craig's former clients.

Victoria comes from a privileged and wealthy family in the UK, her mother being the Countess of Caledon. In her early 20s though, Victoria says that for seven years she was wrapped up in Craig's "personal development" coaching.

"To the outside world, I seemed to have it all. Yet I was besieged by self-loathing, which had become the very fabric of my existence," Victoria wrote for The Telegraph.

"I heard about Anne Craig, a personal development coach highly recommended by a friend who confided in me that she had sought counselling with Anne and had uncovered suppressed memories from her childhood that lay at the root of her physical and emotional issues. Memories of sexual abuse."

Craig allegedly assured Victoria she could "fix" her eating disorder. And like Huey, Victoria was also allegedly told she had been sexually abused by a close family member. Victoria says Craig told her she had interpreted the incident from a dream.

Victoria also ended up cutting all contact with her loved ones, who feared Craig had "poisoned" their daughter's mind. It took 10 years for Victoria to reunite with her family. She described it as "a painful return, peeling away the layer of lies fossilised" during her time under Craig's 'teachings'.

In February 2014, lawyers acting for Victoria's parents accused Craig of manipulating their daughter.

Following investigations, police spoke with former clients of Craig's. It led to them visiting Craig's home in October 2014, taking her to the police station and charging her with fraud, administering a noxious substance and occasioning psychological actual bodily harm.

The second and third charges were dropped. In court, Craig firmly denied the allegations made against her, and categorically denied that she used psychological techniques to encourage her clients to believe things that were untrue.

Then in April 2015, the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute Craig, and the first charge of fraud was dropped. In July 2015, Craig filed a series of complaints against the Metropolitan Police, claiming unlawful arrest. Her claims were not upheld by police, and the complaints were dropped. 

Now, a decade on, some of the women impacted by Craig have shared their sides of the story via the podcast Dangerous Memories, produced by Tortoise Investigations.

Huey says her time with Craig caused significant mental distress. She has since been diagnosed with PTSD and has had extensive therapy. 

"For a long time, I felt very mentally trapped in a lot of ways. I find it hard to make decisions and I have a lot of trust and commitment issues," she told Metro.

Huey's mother Sarah reflected to Daily Mail: "The most horrendous thing was that at one point she said, 'Mum, I know these things didn't happen to me, but they might as well have, because Anne made me believe it.' She made her live through it. What happened to Huey was coercive control."

If this has raised any issues for you, or if you just feel like you need to speak to someone, please call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service.

Feature Image: Canva.