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 YouTube channel. And we're planning ahead for a second SEEK Summit. Glenn, Jean, and Anne Peterson chat about these events: what to expect, why they’re important, and how you can get involved. And because this is the SEEK Safely podcast, you’ll also get some food for thought about what’s up in this complicated, often problematic but (we believe) potentially great industry.

The SEEK Safely podcast comes to listeners ad-free. But it does cost money to produce a podcast, run a website, and run an organization! We need your help! Please consider joining us for these upcoming events. You can also support SEEK by sharing information about our organization and becoming a contributor. Thanks for listening!

Show Notes:

To Listen:

Confronting the Line Anne Peterson’s podcast

A Little Bit Culty podcast

WTF is On My Mind? Mark Vicente’s Podcast

SEEK Safely’s “Manosphere” episode

To Read:

Norman Vincent Peale

The SEEK Safely Promise

Learn more about SEEK Safely on our website

Follow SEEK on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Follow Dr. Glenn on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Read the memoir “This Sweet Life: how we lived after Kirby died” by Jean and her mom, Ginny Brown

Donate to support SEEK’s mission

To Contact SEEK email info@seeksafely.org

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 up a self-help storm? It's a tale as old as self-help time...

We get into Goop, The Biggest Loser and early 2000s weight loss culture (yikes), and even the celebrity to self-help to politician pipeline.

Show Notes:

To Watch:

The Biggest Loser Docuseries, Fit for TV

To Read:

Jean's thoughts on Netflix's Goop Series

Article About Tracy Anderson in The Atlantic

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

About The Art of the Deal Book

Learn more about SEEK Safely on our website

Follow SEEK on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Follow Dr. Glenn on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Read the memoir “This Sweet Life: how we lived after Kirby died” by Jean and her mom, Ginny Brown

Donate to support SEEK’s mission

To Contact SEEK email info@seeksafely.org

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 implications of AI for self-help and how we are already seeing it wend its way into the industry and the wider mental health industry. Tony Robbins has created an AI Tony app! As a fun little experiment, Jean asks ChatGPT how it would go about creating an AI guru. So before you go ahead and pay for any AI self-help tools, have a listen!

Show Notes:

To Listen To:

A Little Bit Culty Podcast

To Read:

"AI has started ignoring human instruction and refuses to turn off, researchers claim" in The Daily Mail

To Watch:

Silicone Valley on HBO

The Terminator

Learn more about SEEK Safely on our website

Follow SEEK on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Follow Dr. Glenn on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Read the memoir “This Sweet Life: how we lived after Kirby died” by Jean and her mom, Ginny Brown

Donate to support SEEK’s mission

To Contact SEEK email info@seeksafely.org

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 resources for cult survivors, educators, and researchers.

SEEK's presence at the conference since 2023 has been about drawing a link between the self-help industry and cults. This year's conference focusses on the role of the media in the cult conversation. Jean will present on the media's role in SEEK's origin, right from the start-when Kirby first saw James Ray on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Into the present day, SEEK sees a role for an ever-changing media to help people draw a connection between cults and self-help.

To Learn:

International Cultic Studies Association

To Listen To:

Jennifer French on The SEEK Safely Podcast

A Little Bit Culty Podcast

Learn more about SEEK Safely on our website

Follow SEEK on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Follow Dr. Glenn on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Read the memoir “This Sweet Life: how we lived after Kirby died” by Jean and her mom, Ginny Brown

Donate to support SEEK’s mission

To Contact SEEK email info@seeksafely.org

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 moments of uncertainty that the self-help world typically kicks it into overdrive. So beware! We also talk about this interesting development we’re seeing–the self-helpification of US government.

And finally, we offer a few thoughts on how to manage in overwhelming times. Thanks, as always, for being our community!

Show Notes:

To Listen To:

If Books Could Kill Podcast

The Huberman Lab Podcast

To Read:
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson

About Dianetics on Wikipedia

About 12-Step Programs on Wikipedia

About Internal Family Systems Model on Wikipedia

To Watch:

The Resurrection of Jake the Snake documentary

Learn more about SEEK Safely on our website

Follow SEEK on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Follow Dr. Glenn on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Read the memoir “This Sweet Life: how we lived after Kirby died” by Jean and her mom, Ginny Brown

Donate to support SEEK’s mission

To Contact SEEK email info@seeksafely.org

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 events may be messing with our brain chemistry in a way that puts us into a manic or hypomanic state. If you are curious about cults or if you’re a self-help person, this is a must-listen! Finally, we have a psychological explanation for what is actually going on in your brain when exposed to certain types of self-help.

Dr. John Hunter’s book is “Manufacturing Mania: The Dopamine Hypothesis of Religious Experience.” His research has focussed on LGATs (Large Group Awareness Trainings) and neurology, providing an important link to understand how anyone is susceptible to the power of these events.

Show Notes:

To Read:
Manufacturing Mania: The Dopamine Hypothesis of Religious Experience by Dr. John Hunter

LGATs and Fight Club. Dissecting a Delusion by Dr. John Hunter for The Fincher Analyst

To Learn:

Explanation of the Dopamine Hypothesis on Wikipedia

Learn more about SEEK Safely on our website

Follow SEEK on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Follow Dr. Glenn on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Read the memoir “This Sweet Life: how we lived after Kirby died” by Jean and her mom, Ginny Brown

Donate to support SEEK’s mission

To Contact SEEK email info@seeksafely.org

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 months in prison. As this event was the genesis of SEEK Safely, Jean, Glenn, and SEEK Board Member and self-help industry expert Dr. Christine Whelan reflect on how his death fits into the arc of the self-help industry itself.

As the Brown family said in its public statement on the death, SEEK’s mission has always been about more than James Ray. His folly had simply served to point out the greater issues within the wider industry, an industry that has since expanded and bled into many more facets of modern life. Listen to hear thoughts on where self-help is going from here, and what safe seeking looks like in this post-guru self-help world.

And if you are a self-help provider, consider joining our upcoming Safe Practitioners Workshop, an opportunity to gather with other industry professionals to discuss best practices. This is an 8-week series starting on March 5th. If you’re unable to join in person, you can opt in to a recorded version instead.

Show Notes:

To Read:
SEEK Safely’s Statement on James Ray’s Passing
The SEEK Safely Promise

Tragedy in Sedona by Connie Joy

To Learn:

Prosperity Gospel on Wikipedia

Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) on Wikipedia

Theranos on Wikipedia

To Listen To:
Conspirituality Podcast

To Follow:

Eva Collins @whydontyousaysomething

To Join:

The Safe Practitioners Workshop

Learn more about SEEK Safely on our website

Follow SEEK on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Follow Dr. Glenn on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Read the memoir “This Sweet Life: how we lived after Kirby died” by Jean and her mom, Ginny Brown

Donate to support SEEK’s mission

To Contact SEEK email info@seeksafely.org