Episode 106: Elise Heerde (she/her) is author of the recently published book "Holy Hell: Saved so hard I needed therapy". In this conversation we talk about Elise's experience of growing up within a high-demand/high-control pentecostal megachurch, her journey toward becoming a leader and staff member, through to the ways in which it all fell apart. Elise has now gone on to work in the space of helping people recover from religious trauma, and so we talk about red flags and warning signs of an unhealthy spirituality, we discuss "sin journals" and spiritual gaslighting, methods of control and manipulation, as well as dive into the kind of work she does to help people work through these experiences and find healing.

Elise is a Certified Coach in Melbourne, Australia, who helps people recover from religious trauma and cultic systems. Her work is grounded in lived experience, professional training, and a passion for creating safe, judgment-free spaces with a splash of sarcasm. You can find out more about her work here. She is also a co-founder of The Religious Trauma Collective (Australia/New Zealand)

You can support the work of In the Shift via Patreon. Get in touch via email: feedback@intheshift.com.

In this episode I also mention fundraising for an album of progressively-inclined worship music by my faith community, Edge Kingsland. You can support that project here.

Episode 105: Dr Andrew Shepherd is a Senior Lecturer in Theology and Public Issues at the University of Otago, with a particular interest in climate and ecological issues and the wider polycrisis that relates to the convergence of current economic, political, social, cultural and ecological challenges. In this conversation we talk through these intersecting issues, and how the work of theology and spirituality - in community, over time - could renew a kind of moral imagination that could help us tell and inhabit different stories about what matters.

Andrew also features on the Ngā Here podcast with James Beck, and has been variously involved in the work of the Christian environmental organisation - A Rocha Aotearoa NZ

Episode 104: James Beck works with an organisation called A Rocha Aotearoa NZ (https://arocha.org.nz/) which is a Christian environmental conservation organisation. In this conversation we discuss the trajectory of his spirituality and work, especially how and why he made intentional choices to move away from the up-and-coming charismatic preacher kind of life, to become someone who instead is pouring his energy into environmental care, both in his own faith community and also in helping to cultivate this across a diverse range of faith communities in NZ. We talk about the tension between despair and active engagement that can come in this kind of work. We also reflect on how the 'outcomes' of ecological action (e.g. reversing climate change etc) are not the only measure of the importance of caring for our environment; there is something deeply human and deeply spiritual that can resonate in this space.

As a part of his work, James is the director of the Eco Church network in New Zealand (https://www.ecochurch.org.nz/), as well as the host of the podcast Ngā Here – the Many Connections - a podcast that explores the connections between faith, caring for nature, and living in the context of Aotearoa NZ.