Therapy for Religious Trauma and Spiritual Abuse
What Happened to You in the Name of God Was Not Okay.
You grew up in a world where love felt conditional. Where your worth was tied to your obedience, your chastity, your silence. Where asking questions was dangerous, and doubt was something to be ashamed of.
Maybe you've left the religion or community that shaped you. Or maybe you're still in it – going through the motions – while something inside you has quietly started to unravel.
Either way, you're carrying something that most people in your life don't fully understand. The grief of losing a community. The disorientation of rebuilding your identity from the ground up. The anxiety and shame that followed you out the door.
This is religious trauma. And it is real, it is valid, and it is healable.
Religious Trauma Syndrome (RTS) is a term used to describe the psychological harm that can result from involvement in authoritarian, high-control, or abusive religious systems. It can stem from:
Purity culture and shame-based sexual teachings
Spiritual abuse by religious leaders or communities
Being part of a high-control group or cult
Faith deconstruction — the painful unraveling of beliefs you once built your life around
Leaving Mormonism, evangelical Christianity, Jehovah's Witnesses, or other high-control faiths
Religious teachings that harmed your sense of identity, especially around gender or sexuality
Excommunication, shunning, or being cut off from your community for questioning or leaving
What is Religious Trauma?
You might be here if:
You feel intense anxiety, shame, or guilt that seems tied to beliefs you no longer hold
You struggle to trust yourself or your own perceptions
You feel grief over the community, identity, or certainty you lost when you left
You experience fear of hell, divine punishment, or being "beyond repair"
You've lost important relationships because of your faith transition
You feel angry — at the institution, at yourself, at God — and don't know what to do with it
You're not sure who you are outside of the religious identity you were given
Signs You May Be Experiencing Religious Trauma
Why Work With Me?
I know this territory from the inside.
I grew up in an LDS (Mormon) community and spent years in full-time pastoral ministry at a conservative Lutheran (LCMS) church. I understand what it's like to love a faith community, to build your entire identity around religious belonging, and to slowly realize it no longer fits.
My deconstruction was not clean or easy. But it led me here: to a practice devoted entirely to this kind of healing.
I am a queer therapist who is LGBTQIA+ affirming, and I hold particular care for those whose religious trauma is intertwined with gender identity and sexuality. I understand the specific pain of being told that who you are is incompatible with the divine.
My work with religious trauma clients draws on EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) to process the traumatic memories that religious systems can leave behind, as well as Relational Psychodynamic Therapy, IFS, and attachment-based approaches to help you rebuild a self that is entirely your own.
What We’ll Work On
Processing grief, anger, and disorientation from your faith transition
Healing the shame and self-worth wounds left by religious messaging
Rebuilding your identity, values, and sense of meaning outside of religion
Strengthening your boundaries, especially with family or community members who are still inside the system
Addressing anxiety, depression, and trauma symptoms rooted in religious experiences
Reclaiming your body, sexuality, and sense of self
You Are Not Broken
Whatever you were told – that you were sinful, not enough, too much, beyond saving – it was wrong. This space is completely free from dogma, spiritual bypassing, or pressure to reconcile with any faith tradition.
You get to decide what healing looks like for you.
I offer a free 15-minute consultation so we can connect and see if we're a good fit. You don't need to have everything figured out before you reach out.
FAQs
Do I have to be religious (or formerly religious) to work with you?No. While religious trauma is my specialty, I welcome anyone who has experienced spiritual harm, involvement in a high-control group, or cult dynamics — religious or otherwise.
What if I'm not sure whether what I experienced was abuse?That uncertainty is completely normal, and we can explore it together. Many people in high-control religious environments were taught that what was done to them was loving or necessary. You don't need to arrive with a clear label. Just bring your story.
Will you try to talk me out of (or back into) religion?Absolutely not. My role is not to guide you toward or away from any faith tradition. This space is entirely yours to make meaning in whatever way feels true to you.