Cult Chat

*Trigger Warning* What exactly is needed for an organisation to be safe for a child? Willow Duffy, co-founder and CEO of Safeguarding Children, answers these questions and more, in a conversation which explores what can be done when an organisation not only fails to have the rights of children at its centre, but instead actively promotes processes which harm children. Is a policy enough when the c...

Gloriavale again! We come back to talk about the other reason that the closed West Coast community is in the news again - this time because the Overseeing Shepherd - the community’s leader, Howard Temple - has just been convicted of indecent assault of numerous girls and women at Gloriavale. Our hosts discuss the culture that allowed his public behaviour to become normal, the impossibility of spea...

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 schoo...

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...

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...

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 conta...

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 rel...

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 prep...

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...

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, i...

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 t...

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...

Maria was born into one of history's most harmful cults, the Children of God. Maria joins us in the first of two chats to detail what the group was like from the perspective of a child. Maria brings her knowledge and expertise as a psychologist to the conversation, sharing both the harms that children experienced in the group, and also the results of a 2024 study which she authored which detai...

Join us for a moving conversation with Tristan Phipps and Dr Kyle Eggleton, who share about the Two by Twos in NZ. This organisation is currently under FBI investigation for child abuses, which has prompted NZ survivors to speak up. Our guests talk to us about the hierarchy & control of the church, the social context which has made systemic child sexual abuse possible, and the work they are do...

We loved Andre so much we got him back for a third episode! This time he tells us about his PhD on waking up from indoctrination in the Jehovah Witnesses. In this fascinating interview you’ll find out all about the role of doubt (even in the most fervent believer), the trigger event which leads to the effort to resolve the doubt, and if that isn’t resolved… the turning point which leads to waking...

Dr Andre Jackson returns in this episode to finish his chat with Liz about the JWs, their doctrines and the methods they use to control members. Together the two examine different methods of control utilized by the JWs, particularly  information control, use of propaganda, and justifications for misleading people for the benefit of the organisation. At the end of this episode Liz is joined by Lind...

Liz plumbs the depths of the JW’s with Dr Andre Jackson in this episode, to try to understand the control mechanisms within this organisation. What are the expectations of members of the JWs? How is the organisation structured? What are their key beliefs, and are any of these harmful? What are the impacts on witnesses when they ask questions or try to leave? With approximately 15,000 JWs in New Ze...

What is happening at Gloriavale? Join Liz and two of the lawyers representing Gloriavale Leavers, Steve Patterson and Dennis Gates, as they give a comprehensive update on the long and arduous road to justice and holding the Gloriavale leaders to account. The chat about the highlights and lowlights of 2024, and discuss the many investigations and court cases that are ongoing. They reveal some new a...

Today our co-hosts wrap-up the shunning mini-series, unpacking what they’ve learned from Craig, Lindy, Windy & Savin. This topic has been given four episodes because the costs for individuals, families and communities who experience this cruel tactic of control is devastating and poorly understood. Mandated shunning destroys lives, destroys communities, and there are no laws to protect people...

In this 3rd episode on shunning, Craig Hoyle, author of “Excommunicated” shares about growing up in the Exclusive Brethren, aware that many members of his family have disappeared and been painted by the church as evil. Ultimately Craig faces his own sudden excommunication. This conversation shows powerfully the inter-generational impacts of shunning, both for those who are obliterated from the fam...

Listen in to the second half of Lindy’s interview with Drs Windy and Savin, who share findings from their research on shunning including the serious life-long impacts for both the individual and their communities. Savin says, “Shunning is not a one-off event,” - indeed it is a trauma that affects a whole life. Our guests share insights for those affected by shunning, and discuss ways to reframe an...

Is shunning the most insidious of all cult practices? In today’s episode Lindy and our guests, researchers Windy and Savin from Roehampton University, define shunning and discuss how it's used deliberately as a tool by coercively controlling groups to threaten and impose social death for those who question the rules. Savin and Windy introduce listeners to their research, and the movement sweeping...

This is the second episode with Gina, who was raised in a cult which discourages members from seeking medical care. In episode two she describes how she slowly changed her view of health to the scientific world view, as she trained to be a medical professional. She shares stories of working as a clinician with people from cults, and some helpful tips for how medical professionals can gain the trus...

Today Caz interviews Gina, a nurse practitioner & midwife from California. Gina grew up in a cult which discouraged mainstream evidence-based health treatments, in favour of non-scientific treatments. Gina talks about growing up in the group and watching people die to suicide, or suffering from treatable health conditions because the group did not allow Western medical care. This first episode...

On 23 October Liz, Lindy and Caz hosted a dinner event at Parliament called "Unmasking Cults." We were delighted that a range of dignitaries, ministers, and representatives of key services in New Zealand were interested in hearing about, and hopefully take action to address, the harms that cults cause across New Zealand. Listen to our hosts - along with guest host Dr Janja Lalich - share some of t...