This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp.

Are cult leaders born or made? Did we get sucked into NXIVM because of our attachment styles? Was Vanguard always just wookin’ pa nub in all the wrong places? In this episode of A Little Bit Culty, licensed therapist and social media sweetheart Eli Harwood joins us for a chat about the way that attachment patterns impact our vulnerability to culty situations and vice-versa. It can be a real intricate venn diagram, ya know? (Or maybe it’s a line graph, or a Gantt chart. We don’t know. We’re not chart people.) But however you map it, this stuff is always way better when you navigate it with a pro. The brilliant Ms. Harwood explains the brainy stuff of attachment theory along with D-I-Y tricks for better relationships, and helps us process our stuff in a way that made us laugh, cry, and also cry-laugh. We loved it so much, we rolled it right into a two-part episode. Here’s part one, ALBC listeners!

Show Notes: Eli Harwood is a licensed therapist and educator with more than two decades of experience helping people process relational traumas and develop secure attachment relationships in an accessible way. She wrote the guidebook Securely Attached: Transform Your Attachment Patterns Into Loving, Lasting Romantic Relationships to help folks cultivate lasting, loving relationships. Her latest title, Raising Securely Attached Kids: Using Connection-Focused Parenting To Create Confidence, Empathy, And Resilience is available for pre-order now. Eli has three children, one husband, one cat, and an extraordinary number of plants. Under the social media moniker of Attachment Nerd, and with hundreds of thousands of followers, Eli shares her light-hearted, sensible insights on the intersections of attachment style, relationship, parenting, and more.

Check out @attachmentnerd on Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, Threads, and YouTube.

Become a member of the Nerd Herd

Check out her online courses, upcoming books, and in person workshops at www.attachmentnerd.com

Also…let it be known that:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

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CREDITS:

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

Production Partner: Citizens of Sound

Producer: Will Retherford

Writer & Co-Creator: Jess Tardy

Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

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The New Exhibit