Welcome to Beyond the Surface, where being seen means being understood.
Here, we explore the ups and downs of exploring and sometimes losing faith and community, and the healing power of shared stories. This is a safe space to connect, share, and find support in our common experiences of religious trauma and leaving fundamental communities. Join us as we build a community of understanding and connection.
Host - Sam Sellers; Therapist specialising in Religious Trauma & Cult Recovery
Links:
Website - www.anchoredcounsellingservices.com.au
Facebook - www.facebook.com/anchoredcounsellingservices
Instagram - www.instagram.com/anchoredcounsellingservices
Publisher
Samantha Sellers
Category
education · religion & spirituality · society & culture
Gratitude and Closure: The Final Episode of Beyond the Surface
In this final episode of Beyond the Surface, Sam brings the podcast to a close with honesty about why - including her own experience of chronic illness and what it has meant for her capacity to keep showing up in this way. She reflects on the conversations that have shaped the series, the guests who trusted her with their stories, and what it has meant to hold space for the experiences of people recovering from high-control religious environments. It's a warm, candid sign-off that sits with the weight of ending something that has mattered, while leaving listeners with a clear message: the podcast may be finished, but the work of recovery continues, and every story shared here has been part of something bigger than a single show.
Connect
You can find out more about Sam on her website - www.anchoredcounsellingservices.com.au (https://www.anchoredcounsellingservices.com.au/)
To connect with Sam on Instagram - @anchoredcounsellingservices (https://www.instagram.com/anchoredcounsellingservices/)
Want to contact with Sam about the podcast or therapy? Use this contact form. (https://anchoredcounsellingservices.com.au/contact/)
Also check out Religious Trauma & Cults (https://religioustraumaandcults.com/)
15 Jul 2026
Haram Doodles: On Leaving Islam and Finding Her Voice
Sammy (Haram Doodles) joins Sam to talk about what it meant to grow up in a Muslim household and the long, complicated process of stepping away from a faith that shaped everything — her identity, her relationships, her sense of what was expected of her. She speaks openly about the grief that sits alongside that kind of departure, the familial pressures that don't simply disappear when your beliefs change, and the particular isolation that can come with being somewhere in between who you were raised to be and who you're becoming. It's an honest, tender conversation about religious trauma beyond the contexts that tend to dominate this space, and a reminder that the ex-Muslim experience deserves just as much room in these conversations as any other.
Who Is Sammy?
Sammy is an ExMuslim atheist creating Haram (forbidden) doodles with and for ExMuslims.
Connect
Find out more about Sammy here - https://haramdoodles.com (https://haramdoodles.com)
You can also connect on YouTube (https://youtube.com/@haramdoodles), & Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/haramdoodles/)
You can find out more about Sam on her website - www.anchoredcounsellingservices.com.au (https://www.anchoredcounsellingservices.com.au/)
To connect with Sam on Instagram - @anchoredcounsellingservices (https://www.instagram.com/anchoredcounsellingservices/)
Want to contact with Sam about the podcast or therapy? Use this contact form. (https://anchoredcounsellingservices.com.au/contact/)
Also check out Religious Trauma & Cults (https://religioustraumaandcults.com/)
8 Jul 2026
Inside the Two by Twos: On Survival, Creativity, and Finding Her Voice
Meliesa joins Sam to share what it was like to grow up inside the Two by Twos — a high-control religious group where conformity was everything and the gap between outward appearances and internal reality was vast. She speaks honestly about the psychological toll of an upbringing built around compliance and fear, and the hidden dynamics of abuse that can thrive in environments like this one. What makes Meliesa's story particularly compelling is what she's done with it — she's channelled her experience into creating adult picture books that explore identity and self-acceptance, and the conversation takes a genuinely moving turn when she talks about creativity as a way of reclaiming your own narrative. It's a warm, grounded episode about survival, agency, and finding unexpected ways to tell your truth.
Who Is Meliesa?
Meliesa Tigard, writer, educator, and survivor advocate. Her work sits at the intersection of cult deconstruction, civic organizing, and the long road back to a self that belongs to you.
A survivor of the Two by Two (2x2) high-control religious group, Meliesa is the author of two allegorical picture books for adults: Little Mouse and the Purple Door — an allegorical picture book for adults about leaving a cultic community — and Little Bea and the Golden Key, for LGBTQ+ survivors. Both books have companion healing journals. Her Substack series explores mind control, financial abuse, and recovery for survivors of high-control communities.
She is the founder of FocalPoint Learning Center in Wenatchee, Washington, where she has taught literacy and math for 25 years, and of Confluence Indivisible, a civic advocacy organization.
The through line of all her work is the same: teaching people to recognize when their thinking is being controlled, and giving them tools to think freely.
Connect
Find out more about Meliesa here - http://www.purpledoorjourneys.com (http://www.purpledoorjourneys.com)
You can also connect via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/meliesa.tigard/)
You can find out more about Sam on her website - www.anchoredcounsellingservices.com.au (https://www.anchoredcounsellingservices.com.au/)
To connect with Sam on Instagram - @anchoredcounsellingservices (https://www.instagram.com/anchoredcounsellingservices/)
Want to contact with Sam about the podcast or therapy? Use this contact form. (https://anchoredcounsellingservices.com.au/contact/)
Also check out Religious Trauma & Cults (https://religioustraumaandcults.com/)
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
4 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
8 ratings
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