Therapy for Religious Trauma

I didn’t set out to specialize in recovery from religious trauma, but the lack of local secular providers with knowledge about these experiences led me down this path, as more and more clients sought me out on the basis of being a secular therapist. I have worked with individuals who’ve left all ranges of religions, from cults and isolationist religious sects to more mainstream religious organizations with which they no longer feel welcome or comfortable.

The experience of leaving a religion can be traumatic in and of itself - What do you believe? Who can you talk to? What is the meaning and purpose of life? Does any of that even matter? When you’ve spent a large portion of your life adhering to a specific belief system and then find yourself questioning it more and more, it can feel isolating, scary, or confusing.

If you’ve stepped away from the religion you were raised with, but your family is still practicing, it can sometimes be incredibly complex to navigate. They have strong opinions and beliefs about what you should do and how you should live that feel oppressive to you. It can be hard to interact with them and even harder to heal from your experiences when you feel like they are judging you constantly.

You may also have experiences in your past that others don’t or can’t understand. Depending on your experience, you may have had a very different education than your peers or you may not have been exposed to things that were a typical part of your peers’ lives, like music, television, or technology. You may have experienced abuse, and you may have been blamed for causing it with your sins. You may carry deep shame and guilt as a result of these experiences. That can change - You can heal. I’m here to help.