Blog
A Religious Trauma Therapist Walks Into a Nude Sauna…
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…
Healing From Religious Trauma: 4 Ways a Therapist Can Help
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…
Happy Pride Month! Thoughts From A Queer-Identifying Religious Trauma Therapist
As we celebrate this significant time of the year, I wanted to share some thoughts and reflections from my perspective as a queer-identifying religious trauma therapist…
Making New Friends After Leaving High Control Religion
Making new friends after leaving your faith community is HARD. Churches are often marketed as second families, and the longer you spend in a faith community, the deeper those familial bonds and attachments grow. The loss of that community…
Embracing Emotions After Leaving High Control Religion: A Healing Journey
Years ago when I was still in high control religion, I remember being at a worship gathering that I was involved in (yes, former worship leader here!) where a time of intercessory prayer had started…
Four Signs You Experienced Religious Trauma (and aren’t just overreacting)
Learn about religious trauma symptoms like triggered reactions, internalized shame, avoidance of pleasure, and constant vigilance against sin.
Feeling Angry About Being Harmed in Religion? Good!
I remember from my time in conservative evangelicalism that anger was categorized as a sin, and often religious texts were used to back up that belief. Anger was described as being bad and wrong…
Three Ways Purity Culture May Still Be Affecting You
If you grew up in high control religion, you likely heard messages about sexual purity, gender roles, and what defines holiness when it comes to sex, dating, and relationships…
Setting Intentions for the New Year
Well, it’s the first week of 2024 and the holiday season is officially behind us! (Confession, though – I still have the Christmas tree and decorations up… still not quite ready to “un-Christmas” our space). A lot of us are letting out a big exhale.…
A Religious Trauma Survivor’s Guide To Navigating The Holidays
Deck The Halls With Tons Of Triggers, Fa-La-La-La-La, La-La-La-La… It’s finally sweater weather! The days are getting shorter, and even here in…
I Interviewed My Friends About Their Religious Trauma – This Is What They Said (Part 1)
When I was thinking about what I would write for a blog post on religious trauma this week, I realized that my own personal experience with it is just that – my own unique experience…