shunned

When a person leaves the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses they may still find themselves attached in ways that they had not considered from a legal standpoint. This interview with a legal professional gives us insight into various topics, from going from our former no blood stance to a pro blood stance, what we need to consider when it comes to wills and insurance, as well as the topic of emancipation...

In the concept of gaslighting, one person is trying to create the reality for another person in order to gain or maintain control of them. Jehovah's Witnesses are masters of gaslighting, weaponizing what is near and dear to others against them, shaming them for who they are and what they want in this life. For Taylor there was massive internal confusion as she got older and realized that there wer...

Thank you to all of the wonderful people that donated this year for our "day" of giving. Because so much is received, it takes more than a day, but we were able to do the following in September 2023. An accounting is below, and mirrored in the video: Amount Raised – $707 (Thank you soooo much to all of you that gave generously!) Accounting: $200 – Ladies at thrift store $20 – Two libraries, book s...

Daniel knew from a young age that the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses was supposed to come first in his life. In his teenage years Daniel would start to realize that something wasn't right and that "The Truth" wasn't actually true, and he took those doubts to his father. His mother would soon be diagnosed with cancer that would take her life, and in that time he would push his doubts aside and try to...

"I can't express to you how crazy this house was, and yet the friends would come, it was perfect…showtime." Trish and her kids were in the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses, but their home too was a place where they didn't feel safe. Although from the outside people may have seen them one way as they put on a good show, the realities didn't match up at home. Instead of living out loud, they had to be si...

Chameleons change their appearance for many reasons, one of which is to avoid predators. Growing up in an abusive home with his stepdad, who was only 11 years older than him, Kevyn couldn't be himself. At an early age he had to be who he needed to be to survive at home and to try to make friends with the limited opportunities that he had as an isolated member of the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses. Ev...

To participate by donating to the cause, you can donate here (I will personally match the first $200 dollar for dollar): PayPal.me/shunnedrecovery You can also Venmo to @michael-shemwell-1 (last four digits of phone are 3279 if needed) To learn more about this day and how you can go out and participate on your own visit:  https://exjwhelp.com/exjwhelpday/

Tara grew up in a family where fear ruled, whether that was of the cult indoctrinated teaching of Armageddon, or whether it was fearing abuse from those entrusted with her care. Future relationships for her sister and herself would involve men that were abusive as well, and the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses would come up woefully short of supporting them in healthy ways. In the end, despite her pray...

Between being told that she was an accident that ruined her mother's opportunity to be a "regular pioneer" as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, and eventually being shunned, Alyssa was baptized into the cult at the ripe age of 9 years old. This is the story of what it is like to have the pressure of expectations to be an adult at such a young age, worried about the end of the world. This is the story of...

Many have heard the phrase "what would you do if you knew you could not fail". Inside the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses, opportunities for failure abound and the constant refrain of "I'm never good enough" echoes in the minds of those exposed to it. But what if a family that started out in the cult started to change the narrative? What would it be like to change the way you see the world as parents,...

Arthur was introduced to the concept of extreme shunning by the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses when he was just six years of age and was forced to shun his sixteen year old big sister. This moment would send him on a course that was opposed to the path that his parents had set out for him, one that would leave him in a place to face his own disfellowshipping and shunning. However, in a surprise turn...

This is a recording of my presentation at the 2023 International Cultic Studies Association annual convention in Louisville, Kentucky.  It was recorded on Friday July 30 in front of a live audience, as well as streamed online for those with tickets to the event.  The theme of the conference was "The Cult Phenomenon in the Covid World".  My presentation was about the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses and...

I'll be speaking at the conference on Friday July 30 and there won't be a regular release of the podcast this week. I do hope to record my presentation and to be able to share it afterward if all goes well. Are you struggling in some area of life? Feeling stuck? Struggling with perfectionism, building a social network, codependency, or feeling like you're not enough? Need an accountability partner...

Growing up, Rachel moved roughly 15 times between the ages of 5 and 19. Without much stability other than the consistency of the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses and her parents in her life, she was forced to move and adapt to new situations without attaching to anything. The out of control feelings and trauma stood to threaten her very existence, but eventually Rachel found better days outside of the...

Behind the scenes of a rock concert for Saves The Day, Spencer gets to interact with these "worldly" people that weren't Jehovah's Witnesses, and he sees that he doesn't need to save them like he had been told his whole life by the cult. Eventually Spencer comes to realize that the only person he truly needs to save is himself. The song that Spencer chose to represent his journey is  Even If It Ki...

While some religions speak about the concept of grace, the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses has another term for it… "undeserved kindness". This is the underpinning of what it is to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses, to know that you don't deserve any chance at salvation as a good for nothing sinner, and to know that you don't even deserve the life that you have now. For Joel, he had something else going o...

If your true thoughts and feelings were put on display in a lineup of Jehovah's Witnesses, would your own parents be able to pick you out? Like so many, Jarvis knew that who he was and who he was expected to be were not necessarily congruent. He found himself living for others because he just wanted to make his parents proud, but in the end he came to realize that when everything broke down, they...

Munchausen syndrome by proxy is a form of mental illness and child abuse whereby a caretaker may make a child think that they are sick or may cause real symptoms in a child to make them sick. The caretaker gets attention through their sick children. In this episode we meet Israel and his caretakers that get attention by making him feel like he is wrong and needs to do what they want him to do in o...

In this episode I talk about what's in store for 2023.  From what's going on with This JW Life and Shunned to new projects and old, I let you in on the realities of the work that I do and will be doing for the upcoming year. Support the show by donating to the cause on our Patreon page,  Patreon.com/shunned Are you struggling in some area of life? Feeling stuck? Need an accountability partner or s...

Today Tamara MC, PhD is an author and activist for women and girls. Growing up, Tamara's father joined a Sufi cult that took her father away and left her with the women of the community at the age of just five years old. Caught between two worlds between her home with her mother and her new home with her father, she would find herself a child bride when she was twelve. This is her story. You can f...

A little girl on a bike ride. A car with a man in it that seems familiar in an unfamiliar place. The result is a long custody battle, a lot of brainwashing, and ultimately a woman that realizes she was raised by Watchtower and the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses. Support today's guest by leaving her a comment  HERE Support the show by donating to the cause on our Patreon page,  Patreon.com/shunned Are...

Imagine being five years old and having your dad reading you scary stories about the Nazi persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses to send you off to sleep. Those stories were often tied into the fiery Armageddon that would accompany the persecution and violence to come into the lives of Witnesses as the world would come to an end. Johanna had those stories firmly in mind in 2020, when the world descend...

Courage isn't the absence of fear, but rather feeling the fear and doing what you want or need to do anyway. Karen grew up in a lot of fear, the fear of a doomsday cult, the fear of not fitting in because her household was religiously divided, and ultimately the fear for her own life due to a cult policy against blood transfusions when surgery was required. Ultimately Karen's courage would win out...

Like many, Daniel was both gay and one of Jehovah's Witnesses. That reality creates dissonance between who one is and who they have been raised and pressured to be by the adults around them. In this episode you'll learn about the fork in the road for Daniel where he had to choose between who he truly was, something he finally got to have a taste of, and who he was expected to be. He could actually...

Coming from a cult that discouraged education and that even discouraged pursuing an upward trajectory in a career, as the cult activity itself was seen as our primary career, it can be hard to know where to start to find one. In this episode of the ExJwHelp series we will explore many career options that others have found that don't require a college education. There are many paths and perhaps see...