Live Patron Q&A: Audience Capture, IFS & Podcast Hosting

Live Patron Q&A: Audience Capture, IFS & Podcast Hosting

Author: Dan Koch August 28, 2025 Duration: 36:49
Last week I hosted a live Q&A session for our Patrons—one of the perks that comes with a YHP Patreon membership (now on sale for 42% off an annual subscription with code BIRTHDAY).  We spent a good portion of the time talking about the concept of “audience capture” and this podcast in particular, and whether I've been shaped by what my listeners want to hear rather than staying true to my own interests and convictions. I admit I might be constitutionally allergic to giving people what they want and may be too resistant to audience preferences rather than captured by them—while another member suggests that my contrarian nature might itself be a form of audience capture! Other questions come up about the experience of hosting a podcast— how I handle criticism, my defensive tendency to avoid listening to podcasters who do what I want to do better than me, and the raw envy I feel when I see smaller podcasts outperforming mine. We also get into the Internal Family Systems modality of therapy, which sparked a rich discussion about this approach to understanding different "parts" of ourselves. In the Patreon-only portion, we continue the IFS discussion with input from trained therapists, discuss the challenges and benefits of having podcast listeners as therapy clients (including awkward moments when they look me up!), and field questions about work-life balance, religious traditions, and personal experiences with various therapy modalities. Thanks to all of you who came… and hope to see the rest of you soon! ___________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by sprungle.co/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted by Dan Koch, Religion on the Mind digs into the messy, fascinating, and deeply personal space where our inner lives meet our search for meaning. This isn't a sermon or a debate; it's a series of conversations that feel more like late-night talks with curious friends. Each episode brings in a different voice-psychologists, scholars, writers, and other experts-to explore how our beliefs, doubts, rituals, and spiritual yearnings are intertwined with the workings of the human mind. We get into the psychology behind religious experience, the spirituality that emerges outside traditional structures, and the very real ways these forces shape identity, community, and coping. The tone is thoughtful but unvarnished, embracing complexity without pretension. You'll hear genuine curiosity, nuanced perspectives, and, yes, the occasional bit of cussing when the topic calls for it. The goal is to offer a space for reflection on how these fundamental aspects of being human collide and coexist. If you've ever wondered about the psychological roots of faith, the spirituality of non-belief, or just how our brains make sense of the profound, this podcast provides a grounded, accessible entry point to those questions.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Religion on the Mind
Podcast Episodes
Study Hall: Sex, Aging & Purity Culture (#403) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:06
Sex drive, religious formation, and the stubborn residue of purity culture — welcome back to Study Hall, where I bring you along as I cram for my licensure exam and connect to the psychology of religion along the way. To…
When Theater Kids go to Youth Group (#401) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:08
In this episode, comedian and podcaster Jordan Morris describes growing up as a youth group kid in Orange County, and how those experiences informed his new graphic novel Youth Group, which treats its faith-filled charac…
Purpose & Calling After Religious Change (#400) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:29:10
Psychologist Dr. Pamela Epstein King returns to explore how religious systems provide purpose, calling, and meaning — and what happens to those foundations when people go through significant religious change. Pam's Facul…
The Jewish Renewal Movement with Rabbi Simcha Raphael (#399) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:30
I sit down with Rabbi Dr. Simcha Raphael and learn about his remarkably wide-ranging spiritual journey. From a traditional Montreal Hebrew education through India, the San Francisco counterculture, and ultimately into th…
Study Hall: Nature v. Nurture (#398) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:29
The nature vs. nurture debate is largely settled (spoiler alert: it's both), but the implications for how and when religious identity forms are striking. The research points to a surprisingly early window for faith forma…
Parenting After Faith Deconstruction with Meredith Miller (#397) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:25:44
Meredith Miller returns to talk about something many of us have been navigating in our personal lives: how do you raise kids with a meaningful faith after your own deconstruction? We cover the real reasons to consider ch…
Eclectic Therapy: Mind, Body & John Wesley with Brad Strawn (#396) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:43:06
Brad Strawn of Fuller Seminary returns to unpack the four clinical and theological influences that shape his work as a therapist, pastor, and professor (Wesleyan theology, relational psychoanalysis, 4E cognition, and ter…
Sh*tty Minister’s Club with Lillian Daniel (#394) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:22:12
Lillian Daniel returns after five years to discuss her new book Defrocked: Good News from a Bad Pastor for a Better Church — a candid, often funny, and deeply human account of the misconduct process she underwent in the…