The Cult Next Door

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About Today's Episode:
Our guest is Trisha Wilkerson, a former member of Mars Hill Church, a non-denominational evangelical Christian megachurch, founded in 1996 by Mark Driscoll, Lief Moi, and Mike Gunn in Seattle Washington.

She is an author, a certified nutrition & health coach, registered yoga instructor & co-founder of The Aftermath Agency. Trisha helps people heal from diet culture & disordered eating and rebuild peaceful relationships with food, their bodies & themselves.

Drawing from her experience at Mars Hill, she also supports people healing from harmful religious systems.

You can visit Trisha's website here: https://www.trishawilkerson.com

The Aftermath Agency: https://www.theaftermathagency.com/

Cited: The Rise & Fall of Mars Hill (podcast by Christianity Today)

Leave us a voice message: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheCultNextDoor
Join our Patreon: patreon.com/TheCultNextDoorPodcast

About Today's Episode:
Our guest is Margarit Davtian, a social science researcher and content creator passionate about social change innovation. She actively works to raise consumer awareness about cult of personalities in the media, high-control group dynamics, unethical marketing practices, medical misinformation, and other dangers that live at the intersection of politics, business, and mental health.

Margarit shares her story about joining, living in and eventually leaving the infamous Osho Cult. She goes on to share the “yellow flags” that she saw along the way & how many of today’s wellness and self-help leaders display these same flags.

You can find Margarit & her work here:
Substack: seekwithser.substack.com
Instagram: @seekwithser

Leave us a voice message: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheCultNextDoor

Join our Patreon: patreon.com/TheCultNextDoorPodcast

About Today's Episode:
Our guest is Margarit Davtian, a social science researcher and content creator passionate about social change innovation. She actively works to raise consumer awareness about cult of personalities in the media, high-control group dynamics, unethical marketing practices, medical misinformation, and other dangers that live at the intersection of politics, business, and mental health.

Margarit shares her story about joining, living in and eventually leaving the infamous Osho Cult. She goes on to share the “yellow flags” that she saw along the way & how many of today’s wellness and self-help leaders display these same flags.

You can find Margarit & her work here:
Substack: seekwithser.substack.com
Instagram: @seekwithser

Leave us a voice message: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheCultNextDoor

Join our Patreon: patreon.com/TheCultNextDoorPodcast

About Today's Episode:
In this episode, Mitzi and Jordan dive into the messy reality of leaving high-control religious environments and the "rot at the core" of systems that prioritize conformity over people. They reflect on the absurdity of purity culture—specifically revisiting a bizarre 1990s abstinence film—and how those teachings instill a deep-seated fear of "true freedom."

The conversation shifts into the personal work of deconstruction: learning to trust your own "lizard brain" again, the speed of self-forgiveness, and the importance of refusing to stay inside the "fucking little box" religious leaders build for you. From critiques of creationist logic to the healing power of art and self-acceptance after a cancer diagnosis, the episode is a raw look at what it actually takes to "come home to yourself" and live a life no longer defined by shame.

Leave us a voice message: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheCultNextDoor

Join our Patreon: patreon.com/TheCultNextDoorPodcast

About Today's Episode:

In this episode, Mitzi and Jordan open up about the painful reality of leaving their church and the "gut punch" of realizing they could no longer belong to that system and themselves at the same time.

They discuss the heavy silence that follows walking away, the struggle of deconstructing "Boss Babe Christianity", and the journey of finding a new sense of community through art and shared interests.

From navigating a stage four cancer diagnosis to learning how to "fall in love with uncertainty", this conversation is a raw look at reclaiming your own life, trusting your intuition, and finally stopping the cycle of "shoulding" yourself.