Exit counselling is deceptive in nature while attempting to avoid the penalties imposed for criminal acts. It has less success than deprogramming however the money is as good according to prices charged in promotional material put out by deprogrammers.

No professional training is required and indeed the name is misleading. Essentially exit counselling, like deprogramming, uses emotional blackmail and audiovisual propaganda to coerce a person to give up a belief system. Exit Counselling relies heavily on the target accepting adverse tabloid or misleading and false reports about their belief system. The target must also be enticed into becoming a willing participant in this information giving . As such exit counselling is more akin to psychological warfare on an individual basis than the overt criminal acts of deprogramming as the target's emotional and situational weaknesses are searched for in detail by the exit counsellor prior to any contact with the target. This personal information is collected without the consent of the target or his/her knowledge and will be used to drive a wedge into the person's resolve and self determinism.

No honest upfront communication with the target is advised prior to this counselling but is indeed discouraged by the exit counsellor and those close to the intended target who are assisting in the planned exit live in a world of deception and deceit.

Exit counsellors are not accountable to any professional bodies or ethics committees. In some jurisdictions they will call themselves consultants as using the term counsellor is prohibited unless you are accountable to a professional body or society or professional ethics committee.