You grew up in a super religious home -  an evangelical, fundamentalist, or Mormon household. 

Growing up there were a ton of rules you had to follow - what you should wear, what you should say, what you could watch, what music you could listen to, who you could spend time with.

Maybe you have a particular identity that you accept now - gay, trans, queer - but when you were growing up that identity was absolutely not okay. You have even been ostracized or excommunicated from your community because of this identity. 

People used the bible against you. 

Your parents had this sparkling image at church and in the community, but behind closed doors, you experienced unspeakable sexual or physical abuse. Maybe your parents even quoted bible verses (“spare the rod and spoil the child”) while they were abusing you. They said the abuse was sanctioned by God leading to even more of a mindfuck. 

You were extremely involved in the church - leadership in bible studies, playing on the worship team, children’s ministry, missions, maybe even in pastoral ministry. You never shied away from volunteering yet again - to set up chairs for Sunday morning worship, to serve on the worship team every single week, to plan Wednesday evening prayer. Now, you’re left tired and burned out. What was the point of it all?

Your doubt had been brewing for years but then there was one event that really made it all fall apart. You had a daughter with terminal cancer or a marriage on the rocks or a wife on life support. Everyone was praying that God would heal and reconcile and everything would be better. You really believed in full faith that your miracle would happen but then it didn’t. How could a good God cause an innocent  child to suffer and die like that?

You were taught to unquestioningly respect authority. You learned to not trust your own feelings and desires because you’re “corrupted by a sinful nature.” Now, without a spiritual leader or the same belief system, you don’t even know how to make decisions anymore.

Whether you lost your faith or you are realizing that your super religious upbringing is affecting you more than you realized…

What you went through is real and worth taking seriously.

One study estimates that spiritual abuse affects roughly one third of of adults in the US.*

*Slade, D. M., et. al. Percentage of U.S. Adults Suffering from Religious Trauma: A Sociological Study. March 2023. Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry. 5(1):1-28

Here's Where I Come In

I provide a safe environment for you to be able to explore what brought you to this point and how to move forward. I’ll ask some clarifying questions, summarize what I am hearing and seeing, provide some evidence-based tools, and use other techniques like EMDR to help you get unstuck.