A podcast about cult hacking! Cracking the cult code to understand what they are, how they work, how people leave and how to make sense of the world after leaving. Father and daughter team, media graduate Celine, and former cult member now organizational psychologist Stephen, explore how cults work, why they are so dangerous and the experience of leaving and making sense of the world. They speak to cult hackers from all over the world, from ex members to academics, from writers to filmmakers, and from therapists to activists. https://pod.link/1540824671 https://www.patreon.com/culthackers https://culthackers.com/ Music is Snap by Purple Planet Music Music: https://www.purple-planet.com
Episodes
Saturday Jul 15, 2023
Saturday Jul 15, 2023
Daniel Shaw, former member of a yoga cultic group, is a professional psychotherapist and author, who has researched extensively traumatic abuse from narcissistic systems of subjugation and control. He's a fascinating person to talk to with a wealth of knowledge and experience. Dan talks about his work into narcissistic abusers and cult leaders, the road to recovery for their victims, the common misuse of the word and responds to Stephen's controversial question about whether Jehovah's Witnesses have constructed their own narcissistic cult leader.
To support Stephen's ride in aid of the Family Survival Trust you can donate on his Just Giving Page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cult-hackers
To reach out to us: https://culthackers.com/
To become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/culthackers/posts
Daniel's Website
Wednesday Jul 12, 2023
Wednesday Jul 12, 2023
In this week's bonus episode in the mini-series The Psychology of Cults, Stephen uses social psychological to explore the attraction of a cult and how these groups appeal to our basic psychological needs.
You can read the script of this podcast on Stephen's Medium Page.
https://medium.com/@SteEvilSheep/why-people-join-cults-and-why-they-stay-fe23cb160e51
To support Stephen's ride in aid of the Family Survival Trust you can donate on his Just Giving Page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cult-hackers
To reach out to us: https://culthackers.com/
To become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/culthackers/posts
Saturday Jul 08, 2023
Saturday Jul 08, 2023
Leaving a high control group is difficult for everyone. Men and women have specific challenges, and today Celine and Stephen explore the challenges for men.
To support Stephen's ride in aid of the Family Survival Trust you can donate on his Just Giving Page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cult-hackers
To reach out to us: https://culthackers.com/
To become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/culthackers/posts
Wednesday Jul 05, 2023
Wednesday Jul 05, 2023
In this bonus mini-series, Stephen talks about the psychology of cults. Today's episode is about the practice of shunning, its psychological effects, arguments some use to defend it and how society should view it. All of these episodes are available as blogs on Stephen Medium page.
To support Stephen's ride in aid of the Family Survival Trust you can donate on his Just Giving Page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cult-hackers
To reach out to us: https://culthackers.com/
To become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/culthackers/posts
Stephen's Blog on Medium: https://medium.com/@SteEvilSheep/what-should-we-think-about-the-religious-practice-of-shunning-7e9cd5d0567
Saturday Jul 01, 2023
Saturday Jul 01, 2023
Abby was a 15 year old girl suffering from anxiety when she was taken against her will to a lockdown facility in Utah. Abby's story is shocking but not, unfortunately unique, where powerful organizations prey upon desperate parents and the misery of children. This is the first time Cult Hackers has spoken to a victim the so-called troubled teen industry.
To support Stephen's ride in aid of the Family Survival Trust you can donate on his Just Giving Page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cult-hackers
To reach out to us: https://culthackers.com/
To become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/culthackers/posts
Information about the TTI from Abby
- Indicators of Abuse (Red Flags List)
- r/troubleteens wiki (My passion project of the past 3ish years)
- The Last Stop: Documentary about the Elan School; I actually happen to live only 20 minutes from this program's former campus. I've visited a couple of times and taken pictures and documents
- Who's Watching the Kids?: Documentary about Spring Creek Lodge Academy, a WWASP program in Montana
- 48 Hours "Tough Love": Investigative documentary about Tranquility Bay and Paradise Cove, two WWASP programs in Jamaica and Samoa, respectively
- Locked in Paradise: Another investigative piece into Tranquility Bay from the BBC
- Sent Away: Podcast about a program in Utah called Integrity House, which rebranded as Havenwood Academy (still open today)
- Trapped in Treatment: Podcast about Provo Canyon School in Utah
- The Lost Kids: Podcast about CEDU High School and Synanon's connections to the industry
- The Sunshine Place: Podcast about Synanon; it mentions the Troubled Teen Industry in a later episode
- Breaking Code Silence Website
- Unsilenced Website
Wednesday Jun 28, 2023
Wednesday Jun 28, 2023
In this bonus mini-series, Stephen talks about the psychology of cults. Today's episode is about how cults motivate members to carry out work for the group. All of these episodes are taken from Stephen Medium page. You can read the script here. https://medium.com/@SteEvilSheep/how-cults-keep-you-motivated-3d1eced8344c
To support Stephen's ride in aid of the Family Survival Trust you can donate on his Just Giving Page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cult-hackers
To reach out to us: https://culthackers.com/
To become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/culthackers/posts
Stephen's Blog on Medium: https://medium.com/@SteEvilSheep/how-cults-keep-you-motivated-3d1eced8344c
Saturday Jun 24, 2023
Saturday Jun 24, 2023
Today's special episode focuses on Stephen's endurance challenge as he trains for the Land's End to John o' Groats 970 mile cycle ride from the southern tip of England, through Wales to the northern point of Scotland. Celine and Stephen also preview some of the guests and events coming up on the show.
To support Stephen's ride in aid of the Family Survival Trust you can donate on his Just Giving Page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cult-hackers
To reach out to us: https://culthackers.com/
To become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/culthackers/posts
The original Bike and Psych: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuftwhR3Y4w
Saturday Jun 17, 2023
Saturday Jun 17, 2023
Susan Dones took on NXIVM before most of us had even heard about the cultic self-help group. Against the warning of the Judge, Susan defended herself in court against at the, then powerful and wealthy, self-improvement cult led by the now disgraced criminal Keith Ranieri. In this episode Stephen and Celine talk to Susan about her experience with the group, the coercive methods used to trap people and levels of accountability within the leadership. Susan is now an advocate for, and supporter of ex-members of cultic and coercive situations and seeks to provide useful information through her website and her appearances.
Susan's Website:
Support Stephen's Ride to Support the Family Survivor's Trust.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cult-hackers
Contact us
Become a patron
https://www.patreon.com/culthackers/posts
Saturday Jun 10, 2023
Saturday Jun 10, 2023
Today's 'topic episode' is about grief, and Celine and Stephen explore the famous Kübler-Ross stages of grief and how they might apply to leaving a coercively controlling organization, relationship or cult. They also reflect upon the recent news items revealing the experiences of ex Jehovah's Witnesses and the Rebekah Vardy documentary, including the organization's responses.
If you'd like to sponsor Stephen's charity ride in aid of The Family Survival Trust you can do so here. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cult-hackers
If you'd like to contact us you can do so here:
Shunning videos
https://avoidjw.org/news/jehovahs-witnesses-mysteriously-deleted-shunning-videos/
Papers
Ransom, H. J., Monk, R. L., & Heim, D. (2021). Grieving the living: The social death of former Jehovah’s Witnesses. Journal of religion and health, 1-23.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10943-020-01156-8
Ransom, H. J., Monk, R. L., Qureshi, A., & Heim, D. (2021). Life after social death: Leaving the jehovah’s witnesses, identity transition and recovery. Pastoral Psychology, 70, 53-69.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11089-020-00935-0
The Guardian Review of the Rebekah Vardy Documentary
The Mail Online Piece About Dr Heather Ransom
Saturday Jun 03, 2023
Saturday Jun 03, 2023
Rebecca Woodward is a writer, published in the New York Times, Huffpost and Electric Literature. She was raised as a Jehovah's Witness and recently wrote a well received piece in the Electric Lit about Prince Harry's memoir 'Spare'. Rebecca talks about her experience growing up in and trying to be part of the religious group and her burning desire to write, her struggles to make her way in education and find a life of her own. Stephen, Celine and Rebecca also imagine the astonishing consequences of living forever in so-called perfection - can there be stories and drama when everyone and everything is perfect?
Stephen is raising Money for the Family Survival Trust with a ride from Lands End to John ò Groats. You can sponsor him here. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cult-hackers
If you's like to become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/culthackers/posts
If you'd like to contact us: https://culthackers.com/
Rebecca Woodward's Website:
https://www.rebeccawoodward.com/