Generation Cult

Want to know more about the host of Generation Cult? Join us as co-host Ashlen Hilliard interviews Dhyana Levey.

Welcome to the first episode of Season 3! We are so excited to be back, and also thrilled to welcome Ashlen Hilliard as a co-host. Since you'll be hearing her voice throughout the new season, we wanted you to get to know her better, so she's also our guest for this episode.

Ashlen grew up in the conservative Church of Christ while living in the midst of Utah's Mormon culture. Mormons were constantly trying to convert her, while she was trying to convert them. When the strict rules handed down by her church began to cause her panic attacks, she left. Ashlen then went on to help women leave polygamist groups, organize events for the International Cultic Studies Association, contribute to CultNews101 and, most recently, started her own LLC called People Leave Cults.

We hope you enjoy this episode and the rest of the season!

On the final episode of Generation Cult, we wrap up Season 2 with a conversation with Meghan, an ex-Jehovah's Witness. She left as a young adult when the mental anguish she experienced within the organization threatened to take her life. But that departure sent her on a roller coaster of family detachments that she still rides to this very day.

Although relieved to flee the bible-based religion, she continued to believe its teachings and was convinced she was going to die in Armageddon. So, she experimented with everything she had been taught not to do: She smoked cigarettes, tried a few drugs and worked on a pot farm. And she had a lot of sex. Eventually, she began to work in the sex industry as an escort.

Find out what happened to Meghan and how she became the person she is today.

Thank you so much for listening to Generation Cult.

*This episode contains discussions of self-harm and sexuality and is not for younger listeners. Discretion is advised.

**Photo courtesy of Meghan Smith

Do you remember Gina from Season 1? She discussed growing up in the Transcendental Meditation movement during the height of its guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's fame. Well, due to some pretty poor sound issues in that last episode, we've brought Gina back for Season 2!

Hence, the "TM Redux" title.

While Gina does talk again about her unattended childhood in the movement, which led to a relationship with a much older man and, subsequently, children, we also discuss other issues with TM overall. Like, why did people get so upset that we brought up Transcendental Meditation at all on the show?

Join us as we offer a better-sounding episode touching on Gina's life in a TM community through age 30, leaving with three kids and a reluctant husband, education in both medicine and cultic groups, as well as her own thoughts on communication about the TM movement.

*Image courtesy of Gina Catena

In this expert episode, we talk to Gillie, a psychotherapist and the director of the UK-based Hope Valley Counselling, which for the past 16 years has provided post-cult counseling to those recovering from extreme, "high-demand" organizations.

Join us as we chat about the mental health services she provides to patients as well as the training she offers for other therapists who want to work with people coming out of cults. Gillie also discusses her doctoral research and thoughts about what she calls "the cult pseudo identity," which people can develop while integrating aspects of an authoritarian group into their own personalities.

When Aaron and his twin brother were 4, their mom joined Scientology. The boys grew up with the organization as a main focus in their lives.

Their formal education ended after Aaron finished the seventh grade. He then worked full time for Scientology as a staff member from age 12 to 26. But soon came a wave of family rifts, including a great tragedy that severed him from someone he loved.

Aaron left Scientology in 2014 and appeared on the first season of A&E's "Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath." While he has a happy life, job and family, the fall out from their time in Scientology continues to undermine relationships for him, his wife, children and even his dog

He's now the vice president of the The Aftermath Foundation, a nonprofit that helps people suffering from "disconnection" and "fair game" as they leave the group.

Join us as we talk about his life, The Aftermath Foundation and recent legal action brought against Scientology.

**This episode contains language and subject matter that some listeners might find disturbing. Discretion advised.

*Image courtesy of Aaron Smith-Levin

When Katharina was 10 years old, her parents packed up their possessions, moved out and joined "The Family," a New Age cult that started in Germany and moved around a bit before settling in a Belize jungle. The group was led by a controlling man who managed a woman claiming to be a medium. Both favored inappropriate relationships with minors and encouraged other members of the cult to do the same.

Katharina's childhood experiences included separation from her parents, sexual abuse, underage labor, denial of emotions and the bizarre fashioning of a time machine. She made her way out and now directs Stronger After, an online resource for people harmed by coercive groups and relationships. https://www.stronger-after.org/

In this episode, we'll hear her story and thoughts on the psychological impacts of high-control groups on children.

*This episode contains descriptions of sexual abuse and violence. Listener discretion advised.

**Image courtesy of Katharina Meredith

It's time to bring in an expert! As much as we love hearing personal stories, we'd also like to add commentary about cults and coercive control from someone who has studied the subject matter and worked directly with patients. In this episode, we sit down with Colleen Russell, a San Francisco Bay Area therapist who has spent about 20 years counseling people who were raised in or joined cults.

Colleen has not only helped people recover from controlling group or one-on-one experiences but she's also dealt with those experiences personally. Join us to discuss her own story as well as her thoughts and professional observations about recovery, cult leaders, narcissism and people who were part of high-demand groups.

For more information about her practice and online workshops, visit her website at https://www.colleenrussellmft.com

During this week of Halloween, we discuss fear -- fear of punishment, fear of the apocalypse, fear of God. Tammie grew up with these fears in an ultra fundamentalist Christian organization that subjected children to harsh punishments and encouraged its members not to interact with the rest of society.

Tammie was taught everyone outside her church and school was sinful, but what she ended up fearing most was the group itself. And now that she's out, she sees some pretty scary things in current politics that remind her of her childhood.

*Image from photo courtesy of Tammie Willis

In Part 2 of our two-part series about The Unification Church (Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity) otherwise known as the "Moonies," we chat with Lisa Kohn, author of the recent memoir "To the Moon and Back: A Childhood Under the Influence."

Lisa joined the church at age 10 with her mom and little brother and thought it was the answer to her family's problems. She hadn't approved of her parents' counter-culture lifestyle and craved the stability she believed she was offered in the Unification Church. She preached on soapboxes, enthusiastically wore a pin featuring the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's face and watched her mom get remarried in a mass wedding at Madison Square Garden.

But in college, her ideas began to change and she suffered while figuring out where she belonged in the outside world -- a struggle that included drug abuse, an eating disorder and unhealthy relationships.

*Image from photo courtesy of Lisa Kohn