Aftercult is a revelatory new Australian podcast that takes listeners inside some of the world’s secretive cults and religious sects through the eyes of believers who saw them up close.

The series is hosted by Dave Mullins, a former cult leader who left Australia as a young man on an evangelical mission to Canada. When Mullins walked out of the cult after ten years, together with his wife and young child, he arrived home confused and disillusioned about what had taken place.

Two decades later, he’s coming to terms with the experience with rare honesty and clarity, with the help of other survivors.

Across seven interviews with other former cult members Mullins interrogates the mixed feelings, existential turmoil and shame that followed their return to a more conventional life.

“This podcast is about taking back power. It’s about understanding the unique influence of the cult experience, the way these organisations attract believers while continuing to spit them out into the world feeling worse off. For me, talking to people who have walked the same road has been both energising and exhausting. The vulnerability hangovers were strong. But there’s an acceptance around these experiences I haven’t felt before. I’m still somewhat embarrassed, but it no longer feels threatening to have these conversations, and that’s huge.”