Leaving a Cult & Living with Purpose
Flor Edwards was born into a cult. After leaving, she overcame the mental health fallout - including substance abuse & a suicide attempt. This is her story.
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Series Overview
Why People Join Cults 31 Min
According to Flor, a cult “sneaks up on you.” Flor gives insight into how the Children of God cult did just that with its founding members. She breaks down the ideologies of the cult, but she also demystifies the aspects of cult life that are often over-sensationalized by the media and highlights how she maintained a sense of normalcy in her childhood.
Cult Life & Its Psychological Effects 21 Min
Flor explains the effects of cult life on her mental health and her relationships with her family members. She dives into what it was like growing up believing the narrative that she was a chosen martyr who would die by the age of 12.
Adjusting to Traditional Life After a Cult 22 Min
Flor walks us through her tumultuous but eye-opening journey to a conventional life in America after spending her entire life in a cult. She explains how her life changed when the cult leader passed away. She shares how she reconstructed her beliefs around sexuality, relationships, maturity, death, and more.
Coping with the Realization of Growing Up in a Cult 14 Min
Flor describes a defining moment in her life: the moment she found out she grew up in a cult. She also recounts the ways she coped, and how these coping strategies affected her mental health.
Coping with Suicidal Thinking & Healing In the Aftermath 23 Min
Flor walks through what life was like as her alcohol use increased and as she felt an increasing need to “escape.” She discusses her suicidal ideation, attempt, and the aftermath.
How Flor Manages Her Mental Health Today 21 Min
Flor has lived an entire life since she left the Children of God - even since she finished writing her memoir Apocalypse Child. In our final session, she explains how her unique perspective has shaped her relationships, her belief system, her goals for the future, and how she lives her life today.
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About the Series
Flor Edwards was born into the apocalyptic cult Children of God. Throughout her childhood, she lived in 24 different locations preaching the cult leader’s narrative, which was: all of its members, like Flor, were “chosen” martyrs charged with saving the world from the Antichrist before a supposed apocalypse in 1993. When this date came and went and the world didn’t end, Flor went from anticipating death to facing the possibility of life.
In this eye-opening series, you’ll learn what it was like for Flor to grow up in the confines of a cult and how its narrow constructs initially shaped her beliefs about life, love, and relationships. You’ll discover what it was like to leave the only world she’d ever known after the cult disbanded, and how she navigated the tricky road of reconstructing her belief system as a teenager. Above all, you’ll understand how she faced the mental health impacts that resulted from each stage of her journey.
Unlike most media coverage of stories like Flor’s, this series doesn’t sensationalize. It educates. Flor’s journey is extraordinary, but it’s relatable. We all have obstacles to overcome and the ability to learn from them in order to create the life that we want, just like Flor has. Flor has rewritten her narrative since leaving the Children of God. This series provides real insight into this authentic narrative – not the one sensationalized by most media outlets.
Who is this series for?
This series is beneficial for anyone who has suffered from emotional or psychological abuse and is interested in learning from a survivor who has overcome one of the most severe forms. Additionally, anyone can benefit from Flor’s mental wellness practices.
In this series, you’ll discover:
- How the cult’s forms of emotional and psychological abuse impacted the mental health of its members, both short- and long-term
- How Flor adjusted to a conventional lifestyle in the U.S. after leaving the cult – and how that transition impacted her mental health
- How Flor overcame substance use as a negative coping mechanism
- How Flor healed in the aftermath of a suicide attempt
- How the cult control tactics interfered with the relationships of the traditional family unit, and how Flor’s relationship with her parents and siblings are today
- What daily practices have helped Flor heal, and how others can use similar practices in their own lives
“We were completely sheltered from media, education, institution, social obligations, everything [in the cult]… then we were just dumped into reality. And that was the hard part…. [but] I always say my curiosity kept me alive.”
Author & Former Member of Children of God
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You can get free access to all 6 segments of this video series when you become a MedCircle Member. You’ll also get access to every video series from the MedCircle doctors.
