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Text on a white background reading 'Religious and Spiritual Trauma & Abuse Finding your way back to yourself'

Religious and spiritual trauma can leave people feeling confused, angry, or deeply lost. For some, it means grieving the loss of a community after stepping away from a faith practice. For others, it’s the challenge of deconstructing beliefs that once felt certain, or untangling what was harmful from what still feels comforting.

I welcome people from many backgrounds. This work is not limited to those who have left religion entirely. It’s for anyone who wants to explore their relationship with faith, spirituality, or community in a way that feels safe and authentic.

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When Faith Has Caused Harm

Religious or spiritual trauma often comes from experiences where religion or spirituality was used to manipulate, control, or harm. That harm can be emotional, financial, spiritual, mental, or physical. It might have come from leaders, organizations, or even family members.

Clients who come to me often describe being taught to see the world in black and white: good or bad, right or wrong, with little room for nuance. When those rigid paths no longer fit, it can feel overwhelming to know what to think or how to move forward.

Therapy offers a space to step out of those “shoulds.” My role is not to tell you how to live or what to believe, but to walk alongside you as you explore what resonates, what doesn’t, and what you want to carry forward.

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A stronger sense of empowerment and voice

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Religious and spiritual trauma doesn’t erase your worth. It doesn’t mean you’re broken. It simply means you survived in environments that may have demanded silence, compliance, or shame. This is a place to honor that resilience while creating new ways of being that feel more aligned with who you are now.

Over time, clients often discover:

Relief from shame and self‑criticism

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Greater clarity about what beliefs or practices feel supportive

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More trust in their intuition

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The ability to hold both grief and joy in their spiritual journey

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Religious and spiritual trauma doesn’t erase your worth. It doesn’t mean you’re broken. It simply means you survived in environments that may have demanded silence, compliance, or shame. This is a place to honor that resilience while creating new ways of being that feel more aligned with who you are now.

Over time, clients often discover:

  • A stronger sense of empowerment and voice.

  • More trust in their intuition.

  • Greater clarity about what beliefs or practices feel supportive.

  • Relief from shame and self‑criticism.

  • The ability to hold both grief and joy in their spiritual journey.

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If you’re carrying pain from religious or spiritual experiences, you don’t have to navigate it alone. I encourage you to reach out with any specific questions or wonderings about your background and needs. Together, we can create a space where your story is honored, and your healing feels possible.

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Dear Reader,

I’d like to share a little of my own background, as I know how important it can be to feel understood. I was raised in Catholicism and deeply involved from childhood through my early twenties. My experience of high‑control religion included public shame and messages that who I was and the traumas I carried meant I wasn’t enough, or wasn’t doing enough.

Those experiences left me with wounds that took time to name and heal. They also gave me a deep understanding of how faith can be twisted into harm. I know the ache of losing belonging, the confusion of questioning everything you were taught, and the courage it takes to begin again.

That history is part of why I sit here now, writing to you. I don’t see your story as something to fix. I see it as something to honor, and my hope is that therapy can be a place where you feel empowered, where your voice is celebrated, and where you learn to trust your intuition. I want you to know that safety can be found even in the unknown.

With care,

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Ready to get started?

Reach out below to schedule a Free 15-Minute consultation call to see if I am a good fit to join you on your healing journey.

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