Hi. I’m Candice Schutter. I started this podcast during the pandemic, repackaging personal stories as self-help epiphanies because old habits die hard and turning pain into profit was at the heart of what I had long bought and sold as a new-age grifter. Eventually, I began to look more critically at two decades spent in spirituality and wellness circles. Sharing about those years publicly for the first time (See Episode 33) led me into the world of cult recovery, and I soon after became a wellness cult whistleblower. The Deeper Pulse offers cultural commentary alongside in-real-time recovery as my guests and I grapple with moral injuries in the aftermath of spiritual abuse and the toxic positivity that silenced us. Finally free(ish) from the myopia of self-help ‘cult’ure, the pod now focuses primarily on current events, social justice, and ongoing critiques of leadership that disrupt the hierarchical frameworks that live inside and around us.
Candice Schutter (she/her) has a BA in Psychology, an MA in Social Impact, and is currently a post-graduate student in Organizational Leadership at ASU. Writing is her lifeline, and in 2016 she became a Graduate Fellow of the Atheneum Master Writing Program through The Attic Institute in Portland, Oregon. She’s trained extensively in mind-body fitness modalities and has worked as a teacher, trainer, and educational consultant for a variety of fitness and self-improvement organizations. However, in 2019, she stepped away from wellness ‘cult’ure to grapple with the moral injuries she experienced while working in various new age wellness circles – and then perpetuated herself through predatory sales practices and troubling rhetoric while working as a “life coach.”
On her podcast, she speaks openly about her own personal regrets and biases, shares about her lifelong struggles with complex PTSD, and blows the whistle on more than one culty ‘Org’ she was involved in. As a queer, cult awareness advocate, Candice strives to provide a platform for folks to step outside the bounds of psychosocial indoctrination and restore a sense of personal agency. Her primary intention is to normalize conversations around everyday cult dynamics in our families, workplaces, and communities – AND speak to how cult biases shape everyday behaviors and humanity’s ongoing struggle to create a world of equity and justice. She lives in Arizona with her partner of twelve years and their two furbaby kittos.
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