• Surviving the IFB: Shelly Snow Pordea on Trauma, Healing, and Fiction

  • Mar 3 2025
  • Length: 1 hr and 14 mins
  • Podcast

Surviving the IFB: Shelly Snow Pordea on Trauma, Healing, and Fiction

  • Summary

  • This episode is sponsored in part by Betterhelp.

    Novelist, screenwriter, and publishing consultant Shelly Snow Pordea grew up in the Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB) church, an insular and oppressive religious environment that shaped her childhood. She survived religious trauma and abuse before finding her path to healing through storytelling.

    In this episode, ALBC sit down with Shelly to discuss her escape from the IFB, the power of fiction in processing trauma, and how writing her novel, The Cheating Wife, became an act of liberation. Shelly shares the harrowing realities of life in the IFB, the psychological grip of fundamentalist teachings, and the moment she realized she had to leave. She also highlights Living Cult Free, a nonprofit supporting survivors of religious abuse.

    Plus, we explore the transformative power of self-trust, the language of healing, and the role of creativity in reclaiming personal narratives.

    Trigger warning: This episode discusses sexual abuse and religious trauma.

    Find Shelly and her work:
    Instagram
    Facebook
    Website

    For resources and support in surviving religious abuse: Living Cult Free

    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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    Cult awareness and recovery resources

    Watch Sarah’s TEDTalk

    CREDITS:

    Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

    Production Partner: Amphibian.Media

    Writer & Co-Creator: Jess Tardy

    Associate producers: Amanda Zaremba and Matt Stroud of Amphibian.Media

    Audio production: Red Caiman Studios

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

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