Loneliness is one of the most painful parts of religious trauma. This post explores why faith deconstruction can feel so isolating — and what survivors need to know about healing.

Discover the secret thoughts many religious trauma survivors have but rarely voice. Validation, understanding, and healing start here.

What happens when being loved by your church means hiding who you are? This post explores the connection between queer identity, spiritual shame, and mental health.

If you were taught the devil could be lurking in everything—from music to your own thoughts—you’re not alone. This blog explores how high-control religion creates spiritual paranoia, and how survivors of religious trauma can begin to unlearn that fear.

Growing up in high-control religion, I was taught that emotions like anger and sadness were sinful. This post explores how those beliefs impact survivors—and how healing can begin.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your experience “counts” as religious trauma, or you’ve felt like no one would understand, this post is for you.

If seeking “God’s will” meant losing touch with what you want, you’re not alone. A religious trauma therapist explores the cost of obedience and how to reclaim your voice.

You were promised “freedom in Christ,” but only if you obeyed without question. In this post, I explore the spiritual catch-22 of high-control religion — and what real freedom actually feels like.

Faith deconstruction isn’t rebellion — it’s a valid response to spiritual harm or misalignment. Here’s what it is, why it happens, and how to cope.

You don’t have to be loud to be proud. This post explores what Pride means for LGBTQ+ people recovering from religious trauma who are still finding their voice.

What an adolescent’s coming out taught me about queerness, healing religious trauma, and the opposing feelings of joy and grief that can surface during Pride Month.

Even after deconstructing harmful theology, many survivors still feel inherently “bad.” This post explores how the doctrine of original sin wires in shame—and how to begin healing from it.

High control religion often teaches that suffering is either your fault—or somehow makes you more holy. In this post, I share how those beliefs shaped my own story and how they show up in therapy with religious trauma survivors. If pain has ever felt like something you deserved, you're not alone—and you're not beyond healing.

If you grew up in a high-control religious environment, you may have heard a story like this: During a time of war, a group of Christians is hiding together, quietly praying. Armed soldiers burst in and demand that anyone who follows Jesus stand up…

Like many people this week, I watched the Severance Season 2 finale. (Don’t worry—no spoilers here if you haven’t seen it yet!)  It got me thinking: there are a lot of parallels to religious trauma in the storyline of this show and what the characters are navigating. Fans of Severance, this one’s for you!

For years, I was conditioned to believe that a man and a woman being alone together—regardless of the context—was inappropriate or dangerous. Even after leaving that world behind, I was surprised by how quickly that old conditioning crept in during a simple lunch with a colleague.

Recently I was reminded of a teaching in high control religion that goes something like this: On Judgment Day, your entire life would be played back like a movie for all the world to see, and every thought, mistake, and secret sin would be exposed. Sound terrifying? It was!

Ever find yourself spiraling into self-blame over a simple everyday experience? You're not alone. Dive into my recent experience at the library to uncover how internalized shame from high control religion can sneak into everyday moments and learn ways to combat it.

Sounds like the start of a joke, right? That’s what I thought when I wrote the title for this week’s blog post (i.e. “A priest, a rabbi, and a minister walk into a bar…”). For those of you that follow me on Instagram, you know that I recently was on vacation…

If the pain, depression, and anxiety related to your religious trauma have been steering the ship for awhile, it can be difficult to imagine how anything could help…