Deliver us from Mother - Single Family Cults with Stella McCormick

In today's episode, Kacey interviews first-time podcast guest Stella, a US Army sexual assault victim advocate and US Navy reservist who began sharing her story on TikTok and wrote a memoir, Deliver Us From Mother: Faith, Fear, and the Family Cult That Broke Me.

Stella describes being raised in a “single family cult” led by her mother, defined by extreme control consistent with Steven Hassan’s BITE model, including severe physical punishment, psychological and information control, financial abuse, surveillance and “snitching,” parentification, and extreme evangelical purity culture, racism, and homophobia, alongside foster care and adoption in a nine-child household.

She explains how writing from journals and collaborating with her sister was healing, discusses no-contact with her parents, complex feelings about her father’s complicity, and realising the dysfunction after joining the military. Stella outlines her advocacy work, PhD research on juvenile reoffending, a planned second book, and the book’s release details and goals: recognize and label abuse, and keep talking to break secrecy.

Stella's TikTok - McCormick House Press (@stella_mccormick) | TikTok Stella's Book - Amazon.com: Deliver Us From Mother: Faith, Fear, and the Family Cult That Broke Me eBook : McCormick, Stella: Kindle Store

Crimecon UK - www.crimecon.co.uk (use code CULT for 10% discount!)