Seek Safely

Glenn and Jean dive into the phenomenon of the celebrity turned self-help guru. As trust in traditional authorities breaks down, we turn to other sources, like celebrities. But what happens when a celeb with notoriety in one area starts talking up a self-help storm? It's a tale as old as self-help time...

We get into Goop, The Biggest Loser and early 2000s weight loss culture (yikes), and even the celebrity to self-help to politician pipeline. 

Show Notes:

To Watch:

The Biggest Loser Docuseries, Fit for TV

To Read: 

Jean's thoughts on Netflix's Goop Series

Article About Tracy Anderson in The Atlantic

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

About The Art of the Deal Book

Learn more about SEEK Safely on our website

Follow SEEK on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Follow Dr. Glenn on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Read the memoir “This Sweet Life: how we lived after Kirby died” by Jean and her mom, Ginny Brown

Donate to support SEEK’s mission

To Contact SEEK email [email protected]

Jean and Glenn talk guru origin stories—from the dubious to downright fantastical. Why do they do this? What is the point, and what could be the harm? 

AI is suddenly everywhere it seems, and the self-help world is no different. A low-cost machine that can pump out a nearly endless string of word salad "content" to push on a willing audience? Perfect!

Jean and Glenn chat about the implications of AI for self-help and how we are already seeing it wend its way into the industry and the wider mental health industry. Tony Robbins has created an AI Tony app! As a fun little experiment, Jean asks ChatGPT how it would go about creating an AI guru. So before you go ahead and pay for any AI self-help tools, have a listen!

Show Notes: 

To Listen To: 

A Little Bit Culty Podcast

To Read: 

"AI has started ignoring human instruction and refuses to turn off, researchers claim" in The Daily Mail

To Watch:

Silicone Valley on HBO

The Terminator

Learn more about SEEK Safely on our website

Follow SEEK on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Follow Dr. Glenn on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Read the memoir “This Sweet Life: how we lived after Kirby died” by Jean and her mom, Ginny Brown

Donate to support SEEK’s mission

To Contact SEEK email [email protected]

Glenn and Jean talk about the upcoming International Cultic Studies Association's annual conference in July, where Jean is presenting on behalf of SEEK for the third year in a row. Since 1979, ICSA has been building an international network of resources for cult survivors, educators, and researchers.

SEEK's presence at the conference since 2023 has been about drawing a link between the self-help industry and cults. This year's conference focusses on the role of the media in the cult conversation. Jean will present on the media's role in SEEK's origin, right from the start-when Kirby first saw James Ray on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Into the present day, SEEK sees a role for an ever-changing media to help people draw a connection between cults and self-help.

To Learn:

International Cultic Studies Association

To Listen To:

Jennifer French on The SEEK Safely Podcast

A Little Bit Culty Podcast

Learn more about SEEK Safely on our website

Follow SEEK on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Follow Dr. Glenn on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Read the memoir “This Sweet Life: how we lived after Kirby died” by Jean and her mom, Ginny Brown

Donate to support SEEK’s mission

To Contact SEEK email [email protected]

Jean’s in her PJs. Glenn is wearing sweats. Because we’re all tired… 

In this episode, the podcast is checking in on how we’re all coping (or not) in this very busy, constantly “breaking news” era. It is precisely in these moments of uncertainty that the self-help world typically kicks it into overdrive. So beware! We also talk about this interesting development we’re seeing–the self-helpification of US government. 

And finally, we offer a few thoughts on how to manage in overwhelming times. Thanks, as always, for being our community! 

Show Notes: 

To Listen To: 

If Books Could Kill Podcast

The Huberman Lab Podcast

To Read:
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson

About Dianetics on Wikipedia

About 12-Step Programs on Wikipedia

About Internal Family Systems Model on Wikipedia

To Watch:

The Resurrection of Jake the Snake documentary

Learn more about SEEK Safely on our website

Follow SEEK on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Follow Dr. Glenn on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Read the memoir “This Sweet Life: how we lived after Kirby died” by Jean and her mom, Ginny Brown

Donate to support SEEK’s mission

To Contact SEEK email [email protected]

How do smart, motivated, successful people get pulled into spending thousands of dollars, many years, and lots of trust on a self-help program or teacher? Psychologist Dr. John Hunter applies the dopamine hypothesis to explain how these events may be messing with our brain chemistry in a way that puts us into a manic or hypomanic state. If you are curious about cults or if you’re a self-help person, this is a must-listen! Finally, we have a psychological explanation for what is actually going on in your brain when exposed to certain types of self-help.

Dr. John Hunter’s book is “Manufacturing Mania: The Dopamine Hypothesis of Religious Experience.” His research has focussed on LGATs (Large Group Awareness Trainings) and neurology, providing an important link to understand how anyone is susceptible to the power of these events.

Show Notes: 

To Read:
Manufacturing Mania: The Dopamine Hypothesis of Religious Experience by Dr. John Hunter

LGATs and Fight Club. Dissecting a Delusion by Dr. John Hunter for The Fincher Analyst

To Learn:

Explanation of the Dopamine Hypothesis on Wikipedia

Learn more about SEEK Safely on our website

Follow SEEK on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Follow Dr. Glenn on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Read the memoir “This Sweet Life: how we lived after Kirby died” by Jean and her mom, Ginny Brown

Donate to support SEEK’s mission

To Contact SEEK email [email protected]

SEEK was surprised to learn of the death of James Arthur Ray on January 3rd, 2025, at the age of 67. Ray was responsible for the deaths of 3 people at his 2009 “Spiritual Warrior” Retreat in Sedona, Arizona, a crime for which he spent 20 months in prison. As this event was the genesis of SEEK Safely, Jean, Glenn, and SEEK Board Member and self-help industry expert Dr. Christine Whelan reflect on how his death fits into the arc of the self-help industry itself.

As the Brown family said in its public statement on the death, SEEK’s mission has always been about more than James Ray. His folly had simply served to point out the greater issues within the wider industry, an industry that has since expanded and bled into many more facets of modern life. Listen to hear thoughts on where self-help is going from here, and what safe seeking looks like in this post-guru self-help world.

And if you are a self-help provider, consider joining our upcoming Safe Practitioners Workshop, an opportunity to gather with other industry professionals to discuss best practices. This is an 8-week series starting on March 5th. If you’re unable to join in person, you can opt in to a recorded version instead.

Show Notes: 

To Read:
SEEK Safely’s Statement on James Ray’s Passing
The SEEK Safely Promise

Tragedy in Sedona by Connie Joy

To Learn:

Prosperity Gospel on Wikipedia

Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) on Wikipedia

Theranos on Wikipedia 

To Listen To:
Conspirituality Podcast

To Follow:

Eva Collins @whydontyousaysomething 

To Join: 

The Safe Practitioners Workshop

Learn more about SEEK Safely on our website

Follow SEEK on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Follow Dr. Glenn on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Read the memoir “This Sweet Life: how we lived after Kirby died” by Jean and her mom, Ginny Brown

Donate to support SEEK’s mission

To Contact SEEK email [email protected]

In November 2024, SEEK was proud to present the SEEK Safely summit, a day of reflecting, brainstorming, and imagining what a better, safer self-help world looks like. We gathered together self-help industry professionals to discuss tools for seekers and self-help practitioners, to find and facilitate more ethical self-help. In this episode of the podcast, Glenn and Jean chat with Anne Peterson, SEEK friend and author of “Is this a Cult” about her experience in Landmark, who facilitated the Summit event.

SEEK plans to make the Summit an annual event–learn all about it so you can join in 2025! You can also buy a ticket to gain access to the November 2024 event recordings. 

Show Notes: 

Learn more about the Summit, here (buy a ticket to access recordings)

Learn more about SEEK Safely on our website

Follow SEEK on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Follow Dr. Glenn on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Read the memoir “This Sweet Life: how we lived after Kirby died” by Jean and her mom, Ginny Brown

Donate to support SEEK’s mission

To Contact SEEK email [email protected]

Jean and Glenn chat with India Oxenberg, author, producer, and activist whose escape from NXIVM is documented in the Starz series “Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult.” India was an executive producer on the series. India also shares her story in her memoir, “Still Learning.”

The conversations focusses less on the sensationalist aspects of her cult experience, and more on the self-help nature of NXIVM as an organization, and what attracted India to the group in the first place.  

More about India:

India produces ‘Still Learning’ the podcast, which engages its audience with ongoing conversational advocacy through interviews with compelling guests. She is one of the founding members of Healix 180, an online healing hub for recovery. India is a supporter of psychedelic therapeutics and is passionate about public speaking. In 2020, she was awarded for her production work by WIN (Women's Image Awards) in 2022 by the Colleges in Beverly Hills as a "Champion for Children" for her advocacy for survivors.

By sharing her personal story, she helps to raise awareness about the insidious nature of coercion and psychological manipulation. India resides in Key West, Florida with her husband Patrick and their two cats. In her free time she enjoys immersing herself in the wellness community, cooking, painting and yoga.

Show Notes: 

To Watch:
“Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult” on Starz
“The Vow” HBO Series about NXIVM

To Read:
“Still Learning” by India Oxenberg
“Captive” by India’s mother, Catherine Oxenberg
“The Program” by Toni Natalie 

To Listen To:
Audiobook of India’s Memoir, “Still Learning”
Still Learning podcast, produced and hosted by India

Learn more about SEEK Safely on our website
Follow SEEK on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook
Follow Dr. Glenn on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook
Read the memoir “This Sweet Life: how we lived after Kirby died” by Jean and her mom, Ginny Brown
Donate to support SEEK’s mission
To Contact SEEK email [email protected]

In this episode, Dr. Doyle and Jean return to the underlying discussion of the self-help industry and the flaws within it that drive SEEK Safely’s mission. It was after Kirby Brown’s death at the 2009 Spiritual Warrior retreat that the Brown family discovered some of the rot at the core of this multi-billion dollar industry. This drove the family to found SEEK Safely, recognizing that the impulse to seek is not the issue—it’s the unethical, unregulated self-help providers that are the issue and the source of potential harm. Empowering and protecting seekers has always been, and remains, SEEK’s ultimate goal.

Show Notes: 

To Read: 

Positive Imaging by Norman Vincent Peale

Tragedy in Sedona by Connie Joy

Cult Education Institute, website of Rick Alan Ross 

Stanley Milgram Authority experiments

To Watch: 

School House Rock: How a Bill Becomes a Law

Learn more about SEEK Safely on our website

Follow SEEK on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Follow Dr. Glenn on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Read the memoir “This Sweet Life: how we lived after Kirby died” by Jean and her mom, Ginny Brown

Donate to support SEEK’s mission

To Contact SEEK email [email protected]