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Seek Safely
Episodes
54 episodes
Tony Robbins on a Federal Healthcare Advisory Board? Hmmm....
Jean and Dr. Doyle discuss the recent appointment of Tony Robbins to the HHS and CMS Mental Healthcare Advisory Commit...
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What does "Good Self-help" Look Like with Anne Peterson
Glenn and Jean chat with SEEK Friend Anne Peterson, asking the question, "What would 'good' self-help look like?" It's easy to focus on the negative in the industry, but SEEK Safely's mission has always come with the assumption that this indust...
Interview with Chris Shelton (Part 2)
Chris Shelton has a Master's degree in Coercive Control and is the creator of the R.E.M. model of human behaviour, which sheds light on the motivations and drivers that can contribute to a person falling under the persuasion of coercive g...
Interview with Chris Shelton Part 1
Chris Shelton has a Master's degree in Coercive Control and is the creator of the R.E.M. model of human behaviour, which sheds light on the motivations and drivers that can contribute to a person falling under the persuasion of coercive g...
Be Your Own Guru (bc your other guru might be in the Epstein Files)
One of the things SEEK Safely has always said about self-help is that it is not a separate culture--it IS very much a part of mainstream culture. It is, then, unsurprising when it gets wrapped up in news stories of the day, such as the Epstein ...
Climate Change and Self-help? Yep!
Dr. Doyle and Jean discuss some of the points of intersection between the self-help industry and climate change and environmental issues in general. How do these things relate, you might ask. The self-help industry is in many ways a reflecti...
Chatting about SEEK Week and the Upcoming SEEK Safely Summit with Anne Peterson
It’s time for SEEK’s annual fundraising push! We just finished up our annual SEEK Week fundraiser, which features a different live-streaming topic each night for a week. You can watch the recordings on our
The Celebrity Guru
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...
Guru Origin Stories
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: The Shiny, Environmentally Destructive Magic 8 Ball
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 implic...
Talking ICSA 2025: the International Cultic Studies Association's Annual Conference
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 ...
Mid-season Check-in (aka SEEK Safely Podcast Pajama Party)
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 ...
Dr. John Hunter Explains how Self-help Events are “Manufacturing Mania”
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 even...
Entering the Post-guru Phase of Self-help: Reflecting on James Ray’s Death with Dr. Christine Whelan
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 mon...
SEEK Safely Summit Recap with Anne Peterson
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...
Chatting with India Oxenberg on the Self-help to Cult Pipeline
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 he...
Discovering the Dysfunction in Self-help
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...
Following up with Anne Peterson, Author of "Is This a Cult"
Previously on the Podcast, Anne Peterson introduced her new memoir, "Is This A Cu...
SEEK Safely Podcast (Taylor Edition) with Brit Barkholtz (Part 2)
Here is Part 2 with Brit Barkholtz. Brit Barkholtz is a licensed clinical social worker specializing in trauma and eating disorders, active in the Twitter therapist community as
SEEK Safely Podcast (Taylor Edition) with Brit Barkholtz (Part 1)
Brit Barkholtz is a licensed clinical social worker specializing in trauma and eating disorders, active in the Twitter therapist community as
Bypassing–Spiritual and Otherwise–in Self-help
Bypassing is, essentially, avoidance. It's something we all do from time to time as a response to something unpleasant in our lives. But sometimes bypassing can cause us to go too far, putting off challenge for later that we'd be better off dea...
Part 2: “Is This A Cult?” – Anne Peterson's New Memoir about Her Time with Landmark Education & the Infamous Werner Erhard
Continuing our conversation with Anne Peterson, who has decades of involvement with Landmark, one of the original large-group awareness training (LGAT) companies, including experience producing a breakthrough leadership program developed for La...
“Is This A Cult?” – Anne Peterson's New Memoir about Her Time with Landmark Education & the Infamous Werner Erhard
Anne Peterson has decades of involvement with Landmark, one of the original large-group awareness training (LGAT) companies, including experience producing a breakthrough leadership program developed for Landmark's founder, Werner Erhard. Milli...
From Kirby Jam 2023: SEEK Safely’s Legislative Effort to Pass Self-help Consumer Protection Legislation
This episode is a throw-back to our annual fundraiser, Kirby Jam, in October 2023. We had live-streamed on a different topic each night, and on this night, Monday, October 16th, we discussed our effort to pass self-help consumer ...
Self-help Books that Arent's Self-help Books with Guest Dr. Christine Whelan
Our resident self-help geeks, Dr. Doyle and Dr. Christine Whelan, along with Jean, talk about self-help books that aren’t self-help books—that is, books that were not written to be self-help books but have been adopted into self-help culture, o...