January is Spiritual Abuse Awareness Month. The earliest I have found mention of this is 2012. However, it wasn’t until 2023 that I began seeing more information circulating about spiritual abuse and the recognition of Spiritual Abuse Awareness Month. Maybe this is the first time you’re hearing about it too. What Is Spiritual Abuse? Spiritual […]
January is Spiritual Abuse Awareness Month Read More »
I recently received a Google Trends alert showing that the phrase “in my _ era” was a trending topic this year. That is all thanks to T. Swift I’m sure. It got me thinking about what “eras” I’ve experienced this year. I can’t label the entire year, but as 2023 has been winding down, I’ve
In My Planning Era Read More »
Have you ever heard of a “Judgement House” or a “Hell House”? These are a way that many evangelical churches in the Southern US have chosen to deal with Halloween. They were especially popular in the 90s and early 2000s, but I still see marketing for them at area churches today. In fact, I just
The Impact of Judgement Houses Read More »
Religious Trauma and Body Image Concerns are often intertwined. Diet culture. Purity culture. Body as a temple. Bodily desires as sinful. I address the common roots and issues that can arise from both religious trauma and from body image concerns throughout this site. I recently got the chance to chat with Aubrey Baptista of Kindred
FEATURED: Religious Trauma on Kindred with Aubrey Baptista Read More »
Bodies Behind the Bus is a podcast that has created a space for survivors of spiritual abuse and religious trauma to reclaim their stories. I have been listening to this podcast for over a year. I have resonated with the similarities that so many of the stories share, and have felt deep connection with some
FEATURED: Bodies Behind the Bus Podcast Read More »
Faith leaders, those who hold positions of leadership within churches and other faith-based organizations, would be well-served by increasing their knowledge of religious trauma. Understanding trauma, and religious trauma in particular, could help faith leaders create spaces that are able to be responsive to trauma and offer increased safety to trauma survivors. Some survivors of
Why Should Faith Leaders Care About Religious Trauma? Read More »
Experiencing an injury within a faith system is being wounded by faith. Some folks may resonate more with the phrase “wounded by faith”, rather than the concept of religious trauma, to describe their experience of being harmed within a faith system. These injuries can take a variety of forms, and they can’t be healed by
What does religious trauma have to do with body image? If you’ve been around here a while, you know that these are 2 areas where I focus professional counseling work. I specialize in working with survivors of religious trauma and spiritual abuse. I also focus on working with folks to address their body image concerns
Religious Trauma & Body Image: Finding the Connection Read More »
A few weeks ago, I was invited to chat with Gordon Brewer of The Practice of Therapy podcast about working with those who have experienced religious trauma or spiritual wounds, as well as about my own journey into private practice. We had a great discussion, and Gordon recently let me know that the podcast episode
Podcast Guest Announcement Read More »
The title of this post came from a statement made by someone in a recent conversation about spiritual abuse and religious trauma. The concept of being rejected by the church struck a chord with me, and the individual who made the statement gave me permission to share it and explore it more here. I spent
The Church Rejected Me Read More »
