Where can I listen to this podcast?

This podcast is available on 9 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.

Beyond The Surface

Claim This Podcast

by Samantha Sellers

5.0(11 reviews)

132 episodes

Updated Daily

Accepts GuestsHas SponsorsLocation 🇦🇺

Podcast Overview

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

Language

🇺🇲

Publishing Since

1/4/2024

Visit Website View on Apple Podcasts RSS Feed

Reach the team behind Beyond The Surface

Verified contact details for this show aren't on file yet — sign up to get notified when they land.

Recent Episodes

July 8, 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<ul><li>Find out more about Meliesa here - <a href="http://www.purpledoorjourneys.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.purpledoorjourneys.com</a></li><li>You can also connect via <a href="https://www.facebook.com/meliesa.tigard/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Facebook</a></li></ul> <ul><li>You can find out more about Sam on her website - <a href="https://www.anchoredcounsellingservices.com.au/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.anchoredcounsellingservices.com.au</a></li><li>To connect with Sam on Instagram - <a href="https://www.instagram.com/anchoredcounsellingservices/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@anchoredcounsellingservices</a></li><li>Want to contact with Sam about the podcast or therapy? Use this <a href="https://anchoredcounsellingservices.com.au/contact/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">contact form.</a></li><li>Also check out <a href="https://religioustraumaandcults.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Religious Trauma & Cults</a></li></ul>

July 1, 2026

After Osho: Disillusionment, Recovery, and What Comes Next

Nicola joins Sam to talk about her experience inside the Osho Rajneesh community, a high-control group that doesn't always get the airtime it deserves and what the process of leaving and recovering from that has actually looked like. She speaks openly about the disillusionment that comes when beliefs you once held close begin to fracture, and the particular challenges of rebuilding your sense of self and spirituality in the aftermath. It's a thoughtful conversation about the role community plays in both keeping people inside these systems and in helping them heal once they're out, and Nicola brings a warmth and honesty to it that makes the harder parts of her story genuinely compelling to sit with.Who Is Nicola?Nicola Ranson is a writer and psychotherapist who has worked with survivors from multiple cults and has presented internationally on cult recovery. She has a lived experience of ten years in the Osho/Rajneesh cult in the UK, India, Canada and the United States. Her memoir, A Slice of Orange: loving and leaving the Osho/Rajneesh cult will be published by Unsolicited Press in December, 2026 and is now available for preorder. Nicola was adjunct faculty at National University for seventeen years and provided services for Survivors of Torture, International, San Diego. Ranson’s writing credits include co-writing the documentary, “Tattooed Trucks of Nepal – Horn Please!” which won Best Script at the Sicily Art Film Festival. Excerpts from her memoir have been published in the anthology Shaking the Tree: Brazen. Short. Memoir, Volumes 3 and 4.Born in the UK, Ranson grew up in Canada and now lives in California with her husband, film-maker Ron Ranson.Connect<ul><li>Nicola's website - <a href="https://nicolaranson.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://nicolaranson.org/</a></li><li>You can also connect via <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NicolaRansonwriter" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/nicranson/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Instagram</a> or <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/teaempathy/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a></li></ul> <ul><li>You can find out more about Sam on her website - <a href="https://www.anchoredcounsellingservices.com.au/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.anchoredcounsellingservices.com.au</a></li><li>To connect with Sam on Instagram - <a href="https://www.instagram.com/anchoredcounsellingservices/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@anchoredcounsellingservices</a></li><li>Want to contact with Sam about the podcast or therapy? Use this <a href="https://anchoredcounsellingservices.com.au/contact/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">contact form.</a></li><li>Also check out <a href="https://religioustraumaandcults.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Religious Trauma & Cults</a></li></ul>

June 24, 2026

When the Church Outs You and What Exclusion Costs You

In this episode, Sam sits down with someone very close to home; her wife, Chrissy for an honest and personal conversation about Chrissy's journey through organised religion, from a confusing early experience of Catholicism to the demands and contradictions of Pentecostalism, and everything that unravelled along the way. Chrissy speaks candidly about navigating purity culture, the alienation that came with not fitting the mould, and the moment she was outed within her church community, an event that cost her a whole network of relationships she had relied on. It's a conversation about the very real personal toll of religious exclusion, and what therapy and self-exploration have looked like on the other side of it.Connect<ul><li>You can find out more about Sam on her website - <a href="https://www.anchoredcounsellingservices.com.au/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.anchoredcounsellingservices.com.au</a></li><li>To connect with Sam on Instagram - <a href="https://www.instagram.com/anchoredcounsellingservices/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@anchoredcounsellingservices</a></li><li>Want to contact with Sam about the podcast or therapy? Use this <a href="https://anchoredcounsellingservices.com.au/contact/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">contact form.</a></li><li>Also check out <a href="https://www.thereligioustraumacollective.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Religious Trauma Collective</a> </li></ul>

132 total episodes available

Similar Podcasts

Discover related shows you might enjoy

Queerfully Made

Aaron Kelly and Ben Nicholson

The Tim & April Show

The New Evangelicals

Nomad Podcast

Nomad

Healed-ish

Jubilee Dawn

Everything Happens with Kate Bowler

Everything Happens Studios

Casefile True Crime

Casefile Presents

Dare to Lead with Brené Brown

Vox Media Podcast Network

Deep Cover: Never Seen Again

Pushkin Industries

Spiritual Misfits Podcast

Meeting Ground

In the Shift

Michael Frost

The Imperfects

Hugh van Cuylenburg, Ryan Shelton & Josh van Cuylenburg

The Motherkind Podcast

Zoe Blaskey

Good Hang with Amy Poehler

The Ringer

The Briefing

LiSTNR

Honoring the Journey

Leslie Nease

Deep-dive analytics for Beyond The Surface

Frequently asked questions

Have a different question and can't find the answer you're looking for? Reach out to our support team by sending us an email and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

What is Beyond The Surface?: 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
How often does this podcast release new episodes?: This podcast updates daily.
Where can I listen to this podcast?: This podcast is available on 9 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
Does this podcast accept guests?: Information about guest appearances is not available.

Legal Disclaimer

Pod Engine is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially connected with any of the podcasts displayed on this platform. We operate independently as a podcast discovery and analytics service.

All podcast artwork, thumbnails, and content displayed on this page are the property of their respective owners and are protected by applicable copyright laws. This includes, but is not limited to, podcast cover art, episode artwork, show descriptions, episode titles, transcripts, audio snippets, and any other content originating from the podcast creators or their licensors.

We display this content under fair use principles and/or implied license for the purpose of podcast discovery, information, and commentary. We make no claim of ownership over any podcast content, artwork, or related materials shown on this platform. All trademarks, service marks, and trade names are the property of their respective owners.

While we strive to ensure all content usage is properly authorized, if you are a rights holder and believe your content is being used inappropriately or without proper authorization, please contact us immediately at hey@podengine.ai for prompt review and appropriate action, which may include content removal or proper attribution.

By accessing and using this platform, you acknowledge and agree to respect all applicable copyright laws and intellectual property rights of content owners. Any unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or commercial use of the content displayed on this platform is strictly prohibited.