This is just a preview of our Patreon exclusive bonus episode. You can hear the episode in its entirety by becoming a member at: https://www.patreon.com/indoctrination Returning guest, Em Thomas was born and raised in the dogmatic Christian cult The Way International. The daughter of a Way Corps graduate and WOW ambassador, Em attended a fellowship in her home three nights per week, monthly branch meetings with other leadership families, and prolonged stays semi-annually at TWI headquarters. Em’...
Jul 21, 2023•8 min
Em Thomas was born and raised in the dogmatic Christian cult The Way International. The daughter of a Way Corps graduate and WOW ambassador, Em attended a fellowship in her home three nights per week, monthly branch meetings with other leadership families, and prolonged stays semi-annually at TWI headquarters. Em’s family was labeled “Mark and Avoid” (excommunicated) in 1998, after which they attended fellowship within a splinter group until 2000 when Em was 15 years old. Em has two main goals f...
Jul 19, 2023•1 hr 14 min
Chris Shelton is a former cult member who escaped from a lifetime of indoctrination and abuse, started a YouTube channel to educate the public about coercive or cultic control, undue influence, and brainwashing, has written a book on the subject of Scientology and why that group is a destructive, high-control group and has spoken at the Secular Hub many times on these topics. He hosts a weekly podcast, a call-in show, and a Q&A, has been featured on the Emmy-award-winning Scientology and the...
Jul 12, 2023•1 hr 20 min
For this week's bonus episode, Patreon supporters can access Rachel's recent video lecture from the International Cultic Studies Conference. In this lecture, Rachel explains how fear can impact the decision-making process in members of high-control groups. This subject is for anyone including those who have gotten involved in a cult, in a controlling relationship, in multi-level marketing, in a corporation that demands all your time and devotion, or in any situation where you feel it would not b...
Jul 07, 2023•8 min
Sarah Patch is a clinical counselor in Columbus, Ohio who has devoted the past few years of her career to educating herself and others on authoritarian abuse and cult involvement. Sarah cares deeply about raising awareness of the subtle and not-so-subtle signs of controlling behavior so that people can live more authentic and joyful lives. Sarah was both a participant and victim of authoritarian control while in a Christian cult where she spent most of her life. She hopes that by sharing her sto...
Jul 05, 2023•59 min
Guinevere Turner is a writer, director, and actor who has been working in film and TV since her 1994 debut film Go Fish, which she wrote, produced, and starred in. She teamed up with director Mary Harron to write the films American Psycho, The Notorious Bettie Page, and the 2019 film Charlie Says. She can be seen in film roles that include The Watermelon Woman, Chasing Amy, American Psycho, and The L Word. Guinevere has taught screenwriting at Sarah Lawrence College, Columbia University, the Uni...
Jun 28, 2023•1 hr 13 min
This is just a preview of our exclusive Patreon bonus episode. You can hear the full episode by becoming a supporter at: www.patreon.com/indoctrination Returning guest, Mark Turi discovered Scientology while on vacation in Los Angeles, just a month after graduating college in May 2005, Two years later, he joined the staff at the Church of Scientology in Berlin, Germany. While in Berlin, Mark worked for Scientology for over 90 hours a week, earning very little money. He left Berlin in February 20...
Jun 23, 2023•8 min
Mark Turi discovered Scientology while on vacation in Los Angeles, just a month after graduating college in May 2005, Two years later, he joined the staff at the Church of Scientology in Berlin, Germany. While in Berlin, Mark worked for Scientology for over 90 hours a week, earning very little money. He left Berlin in February 2008 when he was transferred to the Church of Scientology in San Francisco, where he worked until May of 2008. Since leaving Scientology Mark has been regularly sharing ab...
Jun 21, 2023•1 hr 26 min
Dr. Tamara MC is a cult, child marriage, and human trafficking survivor and activist who advocates worldwide for girls and women to live free from gender-based violence. Her Ph.D. is in Applied Linguistics, and she researches how language manipulates vulnerable populations. Tamara attended Columbia University for an MFA and has been honored with residencies/fellowships in places such as Bread Loaf, Iowa Writers' Workshop, Sewanee, Ragdale, Cave Canem, VONA, and VCCA. She's published in prestigio...
Jun 14, 2023•1 hr 14 min
This is just a preview of our exclusive Patreon bonus episode. You can hear the full episode by becoming a supporter at: http://www.patreon.com/indoctrination Andrew Pledger is a content creator, activist, and writer who uses social media to share his story and inspire others. He is a religious trauma survivor who was homeschooled K-12 and raised in a fundamentalist Christian cult (Independent Fundamental Baptist movement). He brings awareness to spiritual and religious abuse. Being a part of th...
Jun 09, 2023•8 min
Alexandra Stein, Ph.D. is a writer and educator specializing in the social psychology of ideological extremism and other dangerous social relationships. She is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Sussex. Dr. Stein offers programs and materials to help people understand how to identify and protect themselves and others from recruitment into cultic or extremist groups. She also studies and teaches about positive social relationships: "small d" democracy, inclusivity, and hea...
Jun 07, 2023•58 min
Pamela Jackson is a licensed clinical social worker, LCSW, and creative nonfiction writer. She specializes in therapy for adult women who have estranged or difficult relationships with their mothers. After leaving the ICOC cult, Pamela attempted to repair her relationship with her mother, one of the main reasons she was vulnerable to the love bombing and manipulation of ICOC. The mother-daughter conversations ultimately failed but also became the inspiration to her private practice, supporting w...
May 31, 2023•1 hr 7 min
This is just a preview of our exclusive Patreon bonus episode. You can hear the full episode by becoming a supporter at: www.patreon.com/indoctrination Returning guest, Marissa Hackett was born in 1979 in Los Angeles, California. At the time of her birth, her parents were involved with a group called the Foundation of Human Understanding, a right-wing cult led by Roy Masters. When Marissa was 11 years old, she moved with her family to Southern Oregon, where Roy moved the headquarters of the grou...
May 26, 2023•13 min
Dr. Laura Anderson is a therapist, trauma resolution, and recovery coach, writer, educator, and creator who specializes in complex trauma with a focus on domestic violence, sexualized violence, and religious trauma. She holds a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and a Ph.D. in Mind-Body Medicine with her research focusing on the experience of living in a healing body after sexual trauma. Laura has a small private practice in Nashville, TN, and is the founder and director of the Cente...
May 24, 2023•1 hr 18 min
Kayla is a YouTube creator and launched her channel Keya's World back in 2021 to discuss toxic positivity, hustle culture, self-help, spirituality, scams, and everything in between. Kayla started her career in the broadcast & digital journalism industry and still uses her research and storytelling skills while creating her content. Kayla is a former personal development fan who thought the industry was the key to finding success in her life. However, Kayla experienced firsthand how the self-...
May 17, 2023•1 hr 16 min
This is just a preview of our exclusive Patreon bonus episode. You can hear the full episode by becoming a supporter at: www.patreon.com/indoctrination Returning guest Christa Lester‐Pitsch is a survivor of an offshoot of the infamous cult known as The Way. She was born into and escaped the high‐control religious group, River Road Fellowship at the age of 23. Christa’s main goal in sharing her story is to help people who might find themselves in similar situations as the one she was in. She runs...
May 12, 2023•11 min
CONTENT WARNING: Child Sexual Abuse Christa Lester‐Pitsch is a survivor of an offshoot of the infamous cult known as The Way. She was born into and escaped the high‐control religious group, River Road Fellowship at the age of 23. Christa’s main goal in sharing her story is to help people who might find themselves in similar situations as the one she was in. She runs an Instagram page called The Survivor Experience with the hope that others going through similar situations of escaping control and...
May 10, 2023•1 hr 6 min
Zachary Heinzerling is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning director based in New York City. His latest docu-series entitled “Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult of Sarah Lawrence" about Larry Ray and his victims, premiered February 9th, 2023 on Hulu. The New York Times praised it as “a true-crime-coup,” The New Yorker called it "a remarkable work, advancing the prestige true-crime genre’s slow but steady reorientation toward centering victims" In this fascinating look behind the scenes o...
May 03, 2023•55 min
This is just a preview of our exclusive Patreon bonus episode. You can hear the full episode by becoming a supporter at: www.patreon.com/indoctrination In this very special bonus episode exclusively for our Patreon supporters, Rachel reflects on the recent 30th anniversary of the horrific massacre on April 19th, of the infamous compound belonging to the religious cult known as the Branch Davidians, Rachel shares her unique insights on what so often goes wrong in police raids and how the horrible...
Apr 28, 2023•5 min
Brian Rush McDonald grew up in southern Alabama in the early 1970s, where he eventually gave up his dream of working as a professional musician to become what at the time was called a "Jesus freak". During his high school years, however, he unwittingly found himself involved in fundamentalist Christianity. Though he was troubled by his faith's teaching that the lost were damned to hell, he attended Bob Jones University where he was engulfed in the harsh doctrine and rigid views of fundamentalism...
Apr 26, 2023•1 hr 9 min
Rachael and Molly are the hosts of the podcast Cheers to Leaving, where they share their journey of deconstruction from evangelicalism. The podcast has been a platform for Rachael and Molly to explore their thoughts and feelings about religion and spirituality, as well as connect with others who are going through similar experiences. Rachael is a deconstruction advocate, from Kansas City, Missouri, who was raised in a house church where she was surrounded by religious teachings her entire life. ...
Apr 19, 2023•1 hr 7 min
This is just a preview of our exclusive Patreon bonus episode. You can hear the full episode by becoming a supporter at: www.patreon.com/indoctrination Daniella Mestyanek Young is the author of UNCULTURED: A Memoir of Cults, War and Belonging which The New York Times calls “A painful and propulsive memoir delivered in the honest tones of a woman who didn’t always think she’d live to tell her story” She was born a third-generation member of the infamous Children of God religious cult and grew up ...
Apr 14, 2023•14 min
Kathleen Oh is a Coach, writer, and safe drug use advocate and educator specializing in psychedelic integration. Her primary focus has become understanding her responsibility in anti-racist, capitalist, and colonial systems of oppression, especially in New Age Spirituality, Self-Help, and Wellness Coaching. She has been in and around areas of mental health work for 25 years, working in private practice since 2007. Her niche clients are online business owners, entrepreneurs, and medical and legal...
Apr 12, 2023•1 hr 5 min
In recognition of the recent one-year anniversary of the tragic Russian Invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, we wanted to share with our entire audience a very special bonus episode that was previously only available to our Patreon supporters. Last year we recorded this episode with Ukrainian journalist Olga Yurkova, who we spoke with from Ukraine while the initial brutal assaults were still being felt across the now war-torn country. In this episode, Rachel also shared a few of her own reflect...
Apr 05, 2023•50 min
This is just a preview of our exclusive Patreon bonus episode. You can hear the full episode by becoming a supporter at: www.patreon.com/indoctrination Vanessa Reiser is a mother, entrepreneur, life coach, advocate, and a ground-breaking psychotherapist specializing in narcissistic abuse using Therapist Self-Disclosure (TSD); a form of therapy where therapist statements are shared that reveals something personal about the therapist when an opportunity to create validation exists. Ms. Reiser grad...
Mar 31, 2023•6 min
Tim Elliott is a senior writer at Good Weekend, the Saturday magazine for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, where he has won two Kennedy Awards and been nominated for a Walkley. His work has also appeared in London's The Financial Times, The Sunday Times, and The Australian. He has won multiple awards, including Best Feature at the Australian Magazine Awards and from the Australian Society of Magazine Editors. A 2014 Good Weekend story by Tim about his father’s suicide generated one of the ...
Mar 28, 2023•1 hr 8 min
Kate Amber is the founder of End Coercive Control USA, an organization that helps survivors, leaders, advocates, attorneys, therapists & other professionals in domestic abuse, extremist groups, human trafficking, cults, and organizations detect and prevent coercive control. She is a domestic violence, domestic abuse, and coercive control expert certified in the Psychology of Coercive Control by the University of Salford. In addition, she is certified in Executive Leadership in Violence &...
Mar 22, 2023•1 hr 19 min
This is just a preview of our exclusive Patreon bonus episode. You can hear the full episode by becoming a supporter at: www.patreon.com/indoctrination Rachel offers her expert guidance and insights on how anyone can ensure they are working with a safe therapist, psychologist, counselor, or coach etc. She points out useful diagnostic tools for patients to assess the validity of the techniques used in sessions and explains specific red flags to be aware of when seeking help. These insights are us...
Mar 17, 2023•5 min
Nikieta Lambert and Asha Glenn are former members of the International Churches of Christ. Both having grown up with narcissistic mothers, they've been gaslit, shamed, and silenced their whole lives by the people closest to them, while thriving academically and professionally, a true paradox. They're now making it their mission to speak out against psychological, emotional, and spiritual abuse in the hopes of providing a safe space for others to speak out about their own experiences and learn wh...
Mar 15, 2023•1 hr 18 min
Marissa Hackett was born in 1979 in Los Angeles, California. At the time of her birth, her parents were involved with a group called the Foundation of Human Understanding, a right-wing cult led by Roy Masters. When Marissa was 11 years old, she moved with her family to Southern Oregon, where Roy moved the headquarters of the group and opened the only school Marissa attended in her childhood, Brighton Academy. As a black family, this experience created unique challenges for Marissa as she navigat...
Mar 08, 2023•1 hr 1 min
