High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Exit counseling, also termed strategic intervention therapy, cult intervention or thought reform consultation, is an intervention designed to persuade an individual to leave a group perceived to be a cult. Exit counseling is distinguished from deprogramming by the fact that it is a voluntary procedure, that the follower is treated with respect, can leave any time, and that the decision to stay with the group or leave it is wholly up to the follower and will be accepted by the exit counselor.