Religious Trauma Counseling for Atlanta, GA
If you're in Atlanta and you're searching for religious trauma counseling, there's a good chance something brought you here that's hard to name. Maybe you left a religious community years ago and still can't shake a feeling that you're doing something wrong. Maybe you're still inside that community and something just feels off. Either way — you're in the right place.
Religious Trauma Therapy
The religious trauma therapy I offer is built around your specific story. Some people come in wanting to leave religion behind entirely. Others want to stay but reclaim their faith on their own terms. Both are valid, and both are something we can work through together.If you're not sure what you've experienced even counts as trauma, keep reading.
Many people don’t know what they have experienced is considered religious trauma.
What is religious trauma?
Religious trauma is any experience that damages an individual's mental, emotional, physical, sexual, or spiritual health and safety. Oftentimes religious trauma does not come in the form of one specific event, but rather the accumulation of messages heard over time from religious leaders or community members.
If any of the following resonate with you, you may have experienced religious trauma:
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You think you should put others before yourself no matter what, even if it is detrimental to you.
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You feel shame or embarrassment when thinking about sex, sexuality, or even just being physically intimate.
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You feel guilty for caring about your physical appearance.
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You feel like it's wrong to wear certain types of clothing.
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You don't enjoy sex, and the thought of even trying to enjoy sex (or anything sexual) feels wrong.
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You feel guilt related to your sexual orientation or gender identity.
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You feel like it's mean for you to be assertive or to prioritize your needs.
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You feel obligated to do something sexually that you don't want to do or don't enjoy.
Realizing you may have experienced trauma and naming it as such is an important step in finding healing.
I specialize in helping people heal from religious trauma that occurred within Christian contexts. If you have experienced trauma in a different religious tradition and think we would be a good fit, please reach out. I am committed to learning about your background so that I can support you thoughtfully and respectfully.
Religious Trauma Therapy: Affirming Care for All Beliefs and Identities
I affirm all sexualities, gender identities, religious beliefs, and non-beliefs. Whether you're healing from religious trauma, questioning long-held beliefs, deconstructing or rebuilding your faith, or reclaiming your sense of self beyond religion, I honor your path with compassion and without judgment. Your experiences and identities are fully valued here — and together, we'll work toward healing, empowerment, and wholeness.
Below are common themes and questions that come up related to religious trauma.
"I have a sense of shame associated with religion, but I never heard explicitly negative messages . . . could I still have experienced religious trauma?"
Absolutely. For a lot of people, religious trauma comes in form of seemingly harmless messages heard repeatedly over time (such as "God first, others second, self third . . . true love waits . . . everything happens for a reason . . . God doesn't give you more than you can handle" and many more). In therapy, we’ll unpack the harm that can be caused by those messages and how to heal from them.
"I left my religious setting a long time ago . . . cognitively I know it’s the right thing, but I still can’t seem to shake the feeling that I’m doing something wrong."
For clients who haven't had anything to do with religion for over a decade as well as clients who still view religion as a major part of their lives, this is the theme that comes up most often. There’s a sense of shame they can’t seem to shake. Messages told to us during formative years by adults we trust form a pathway in our brains. So even when we start to believe something different, it takes time for our brain
to form a new pathway. In therapy, we’ll talk about how you can become aware of and stop yourself from walking down the old pathway of self-criticism and how to create and utilize a new pathway rooted in self-compassion. You'll establish a new way of thinking, developing strategies for implementing kind self-talk so regularly until it eventually becomes second nature. We will work so that your first instinct is to know that you are worthy, exactly as you are.
"I want to deconstruct what I was taught while still maintaining my faith.
Is it possible to do both?"
Yes, and in fact, examining the beliefs that were handed to us from religious leaders is an important step in developing a mature faith. Deconstructing what you were taught does not distance you from religion, but rather from religious persons who made you feel small, less than, or ashamed. Cultivating a mature faith can help you to feel empowered, free, and embody a radical acceptance for others and for yourself. Yes, and in fact, examining the beliefs that were handed to us from religious leaders is an important step in developing a mature faith. Deconstructing what you were taught does not distance you from religion, but rather from religious persons who made you feel small, less than, or ashamed. Cultivating a mature faith can help you to feel empowered, free, and embody a radical acceptance for others and for yourself. A faith where you can look at who you are and — without conditions or qualifications — believe that you are good.