According to their website, the organization’s purpose is to “create responsible and creative world-citizens… MITT is a stimulating, experiential environment where you can start to build the next level of your life.”
They call it the “Harvard for the mind,” but do not have any specific descriptions of what they do.
In an article for GQ, published in late 2018, one journalist describes his experience with the organization.
For newcomers, M.I.T.T. can seem like a sideshow barker, promising mind-blowing experiences once you get inside the tent, but you have to take their word for it and pay first… For the next hour, Aunt Lydia explained a set of “ground rules” we needed to obey through Sunday. No tardiness. No phones. No “side-talking” with others, which meant no conversing unless instructed, and no saying “bless you” if someone sneezed. Also, no alcohol or drugs, and no eating or drinking at any time in the ballroom.
Overall, the organization controlled every aspect of a person’s life while being there, including when they were allowed to use the restrooms. The author of the GQ article discusses sleep deprivation and humiliation, including being mocked by their “coach.”
In the months since my training, knowing that more trainings were taking place in a dark room nearby, I wondered: Can participants say no when they want to? The success of M.I.T.T. relies on a troubling premise: To get anything out of it, you need to yield to all of it, despite rarely knowing what comes next. It turns the idea of consent into one more like submission. The pressure inside the room to conform is intense. Submit and be revealed. Submit and be rewarded. Submit so that your problems finally can be cured.
The author concluded that the experience was overall troublesome, and almost addictive, which is concerning to say the least.
So is this what Leah was doing?
“A powerful, strong, trusting force we are! I love each and every single one of you!! You can count on my word! ♥️ Each one of you have changed my life and we will forever be connected!! I AM A POWERFUL, CONNECTED, INSPIRATIONAL LEADER! I LOVE ALL OF YOU!!” read her latest Instagram caption. She included the hashtags #onesixheaven #family #MITT #lifechanging.
Overall, fans are convinced the organization is a cult, or at the least extremely similar to a cult situation. Many self-help organizations have turned out to be much worse, such as NXIVM, which was branded as a series of personal and professional development seminar.
Fans may not have overreacted when it comes to her posts, but let’s hope Leah doesn’t become a member of any cult organizations.