Gloriavale is all over the news again, and for the wrong reasons. This week our hosts talk about the recent Education Review Office report which revealed that the Gloriavale School has failed yet again to meet the basic requirements expected to function as an education provider. Liz explains the background to this report and asks the question, at what point is there enough evidence that this school cannot provide the necessary ingredients to educate children well and safely?

This week we have a bonus episode - part 2 of our conversational expose about the International Cultic Studies Association Conference which Caz went to in Montreal in July. We wrap up our conversation by talking about emerging evidence on child abuse in cults, the relationship between sacred values and the extreme actions a person is willing to take for their group, male experience of cultic abuse, collective narcissism and healing the spiritual self after it has been abused in in a cult. 

Show notes

Website: International Cultic Studies Association 

Survey -  questionnaire for participants wishing to take part in research for people born and raised in cults

LinkedIn profile - Prof Omar Saldana - Identity Fusion - 

LinkedIn profile - Dr Andre Jackson - Collective Narcissism 

You'll love this pot luck episode! Caz has just returned from the International Cultic Studies Association conference in Montreal, Canada. We’re joined in this episode with ‘friend of the show’ Maria Esguerra who also went to the conference. Maria and Caz fill Lindy and Liz in on their learnings from the conference, covering topics such as neurodiversity, financial abuse, cult apologists, the power of social media for cult survivor activism. We talked so much we had to do a second episode!

Show Notes

Website: International Cultic Studies Association

Website: Get A Life Podcast

Instagram: Ben Woodbury excultboy

LinkedIn: Maria Esguerra

LinkedIn: Heidi Clemons

LinkedIn: Omar Saldana

It is difficult to truly leave a cult if someone you love remains in the group. In this chat Liz, Lindy and Caz talk about the difficult line that former members often have to navigate after leaving because they still have people in their lives who remain in the group. Join us as we discuss setting clear boundaries and keeping yourself safe, understanding what it is you want from the ongoing contact, and the lifeline ongoing contact can offer to your loved ones if they ever decide to leave.

Show Notes

Book: “Cult Trip” - Anke Richter

Podcast episode: Cult Chat episodes 48 & 49 - Health Care and Cults Parts 1 & 2 with Gina Catena 

Book: “Walking Free from the Trauma of Coercive, Cultic and Spiritual Abuse” - Gillie Jenkinson 

Podcast: Cult Chat episode 57 - Waking Up with Andre Jackson

Did you wake up one day to the realisation that your child has joined a cult? Are you struggling to know what to do? In today’s episode we discuss the challenges of having a cult controlling your relationship with your child, and trying to navigate the best path forward. Parent Renee Spencer talks to Lindy about the journey to understanding what happened and her efforts to reclaim an authentic relationship with her daughter after she was recruited into the Jesus Christians (aka the Kidney Cult).

Show notes

• Documentary - The Dark Reality of the Kidney Cult - 7 News Spotlight

• Podcast of Liz's experiences of witnessing her daughter join a cult in on YouTube: ⁠https://youtu.be/WbUnis4Vyp8⁠

• Podcast: Let’s Talk About Sects - The Jesus Christians Part One and Part Two

• Podcast: Let’s Talk About Sects - Cult Bride and Providence/JMS with Liz Cameron

• Book - Carol Giambalvo - Exit Counseling: A Family Intervention

• Article - Carol Giambalvo - Family Interventions for Cult-Affected Loved Ones 

• Book - Steve Hassan - Combatting Cult Mind Control

• ISCA Article - What Impact Does Cult Involvement have on a Family Member 

• ISCA Article - Steve K. D. Eichel (ICSA) For Families Who Suspect That a Loved One May Be Involved With a High-Demand Group (Cult)

• ISCA Website - general information about cult indoctrination for families

  Renee’s Website:  www.recoverfromcoercivecontrol.com

Today our Cult Chat hosts share what listeners have told them are the best things about life after leaving a cult. From finding space to be who you truly are, to getting the chance to make mistakes, and to being allowed to have the full range of human emotions, this episode digs right down into the wonderful things that leavers can experience once they set out on their new post-cult lives. Be prepared to be moved to tears in this hopeful episode about what you might find on the other side.

Show notes

• Website: The Religious Trauma Collective Annual Event - 19-21 June, web-based conference

• Website Inquiry into the recruitment methods and impacts of cults and organised fringe groups - Parliament of Victoria

• Website: Decult

• Book: Take Back Your Life - Janja Lalich

• Song: What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong

• Resource: Thinking of Leaving - Olive Leaf Network

• Article: 10 Reasons People Should Leave Gloriavale

• Article: 10 Reasons People Remain at Gloriavale

In this second of three episodes on leaving, Lindy is joined by Liz Sallows, Canadian psychotherapist and grief expert. Liz and Lindy discuss the unexpected (and often unrecognised) sadness which accompany the freedoms of leaving a cult. There is a lot to grieve - loss of a community, loss of an ideal, loss of everything you have known and love. We will hear about ambiguous loss, the importance of rest after leaving, and why going slow is absolutely ok. Liz shares practical tips and hope for the grieving.

Show notes:

Website: Thresholds of Life Counselling  - Liz’s website

Theophila Pratt, author of “Unveiled - A Story of Surviving Gloriavale” joins the team for our first of three episodes about leaving cults. This compelling conversation explores the immediate  challenges, discusses identity construction, and the difficulties of finding people to help along the way. Theo and our hosts explore these topics and more, with a focus on those born and raised in a cult, inviting those thinking of leaving to sit up and listen.

Links

• Website: Theo’s website where you can buy her book

• Book: Unfollow by Megan Phelps-Roper

• Book: Excommunicated by Craig Hoyle

• Website: NZ Community Growth Trust therapy fund - For information about funded therapy for survivors of cults in NZ

• Event: Religious Trauma Collective - Annual event - to find out about the June 19-21 2025 event

• Event: Decult Fund & Film night - June 13 2025 event

• Resource: Olive Leaf Network - Thinking of Leaving? booklet

There’s a lot going on in the cultiverse! We thought it time for an update on the culty happenings in our neck of the woods. In this episode you'll hear more than you want to know about chickens, rats, and mice, and heaps about cults. From news from the Olive Leaf Network, to Caz's connections with professionals & researchers, to Liz sharing culty tree metaphors with professionals on the West Coast. This episode has everything, including some really odd census data about Gloriavale!

Show notes:

• Webpage: Olive Leaf Network and how to donate

• Webpage: International Cultic Studies Association home page and Montreal annual conference  

• Podcast: Cult Chat Episode 58: 2x2s and Survivor Advocacy with Tristan Phipps and Kyle Eggleton

• Podcast: Cult Chat Episode 55, 56 and 57 - Are the Jehovah Witnesses a Cult? (Parts one and two) and Waking Up  - with Dr Andre Jackson

• Article: One News coverage of Two By Twos

• Article: Inquiry into cults prompted by media attention on Geelong Revival Centre in Victoria. 

• Facebook group: Stop Religious Coercion Australia run by Ryan Carey

• Podcast: Secrets We Keep - Pray Harder - series about Geelong Revival Centre

• Article: BBC - Japan court dissolves controversial 'Moonies' church

• Article - The Saints cult and the convictions for the manslaughter of 8 years old Elizabeth Struhs - Brisbane

• Religious Trauma Collective and the on-line conference

• Webpage: Theophila Pratt - Unveiled - A Story of Surviving Gloriavale

Article: Press -  Gloriavale population falls while 100 babies born, census shows

In this second of two chats Maria and Caz talk about bad information, and the critical role of education in teaching discernment between good information and bad. Maria shares about coming to understand how the cult used psychological processes to control members, and how often distrust of establishments persists in the minds of cult survivors after leaving. The duo chat about trauma, and the role of safe spaces, and candidly share how even professional people get triggered into the past.