Religious Trauma, Cult, and Guru Abuse Therapy and Faith Deconstruction, and Life Reconstruction

Are you questioning your religion or guru, or you're in the process of leaving a religious group or cult, or maybe you left years ago or were never even part of a group but are still experiencing trauma from a religious, spiritual, or high-control group, set of teachings, or family members. I can help. I am an expert and pioneer in the field of religious trauma and have been helping people heal from the unique traumas and set of psychological issues caused by harmful religious groups and teachings since 2016. I have a website www.lifeafterdogma.org with free videos, articles, and conference presentations devoted to healing from religious trauma, and if desired, integrating a healthy, authentic sense of spirituality or secular meaning that suits you. 

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Maybe you’ve been spinning your wheels trying to get help through online forums or even therapy but haven’t found someone to work with who really understands what you’ve been through. Perhaps you long for a new sense of purpose and profound experiences of connection and community but are afraid of getting conned again. You may be struggling with mental health issues because of religious harm, or you’ve lost your career and community and don’t know how to transition into a new life in the secular world. Or perhaps you’re religious but you’re having doubts and don’t know anyone to ask for help who will respect your process and won’t pressure you to change.

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For many people, belonging to a religious group is one of the most important aspects of their lives, but it can also be psychologically traumatizing. Harmful religious teachings can crush your self-worth and self-esteem, leaving you anxious, depressed, sexually repressed, angry, powerless, isolated, and spiritually disillusioned. Questioning your religious beliefs can be a terrifying process and changing your religious identity can feel like you’re losing everything and having to start over from scratch. People who’ve left a religious group may even suffer from Religious Trauma Syndrome (a form of complex PTSD).

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There is hope. Instead of spending years spinning your wheels and suffering needlessly, you can speed up this process and get your life back together. Healing is possible, and you can rediscover a beautiful and profound spirituality that works for you, whether that looks like spirituality without religion, humanism, or a healthier form of religion–without the baggage. My clients see major breakthroughs and even total remission from the fear of hell, community isolation, sexual issues, reclaiming their power, and more, often after carrying these burdens for years. I am confident you can experience the freedom you crave.

 

As a former Princeton Seminary-educated Christian minister and missionary, I had to leave my religious faith and community because of the severe psychological trauma I experienced. After spending years healing my own trauma and researching religious trauma and helping hundreds of people transform their lives, I am considered an expert in healing religious trauma. I have studied Judeo-Christian traditions in my MDiv at Princeton Seminary and Indian religious traditions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism) in my MPhil at Oxford and have also researched other religious groups and cults. My clients hire me to heal and find healthy, authentic spirituality or secular sense of meaning and purpose that suits them. I can work with you as a therapist if you reside in the UK or a coach if you live elsewhere.

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In religious trauma coaching or therapy we may work on:

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• Healing and transforming your trauma and connecting with your personal power

• Processing limiting beliefs and behavioral and relational patterns related to indoctrination that are keeping you from thriving with relationships, finances, and emotional health

• Beginning to deeply heal your religious trauma, including but not limited to:

  • Religious fear, including judgment and doctrinally-based phobias and fear of death

  •  Religious anxiety, obsession, and depression

  • Guilt, shame, low self-esteem and self-worth, feeling sinful, broken, and not good enough

  • Trusting yourself, connecting with your body, intuition, intellect, emotions, and consciousness

  • Connecting with your body, enjoying pleasure and the simple things of life

  • Difficulties with sexuality, relationships, and indoctrination about gender

  • Community isolation and relating to religious friends and family

  • Grief work and moving on

  • Relating to emotions

  • Integration of religious past

  • Personal power and responsibility

  • Deconstructing past worldview and reconstructing a new framework for approaching life

  • Intellectual challenges, developmental stunting, relating to the secular

  • Identity healing

  • Finding meaning and purpose

  • Healing from spiritual abuse and disillusionment, explore and connect with spirituality in a healthy, authentic way that suits you

  • And other issues of indoctrination that are holding you back, specific to your needs, religious past, and personal psychological makeup and history

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Interseted in religious trauma therapy or coaching?

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Get in Touch