Deconstruct your past, reclaim your future.
Religious Trauma Therapy in Denver & online across CO and TX
Are you tired of your life being bound by shame and guilt?
Does this sound familiar?
“I can’t escape the things I was told to believe in church no matter what I try.”
“I know in my head I don’t believe what I was taught anymore but I keep acting like I do.”
“I can’t keep myself from judging other people for what they wear.”
“I decide what to do, wear, and be based on what I think I should want or what I think other people want and have no idea what I actually want.”
“I find myself living a double life because I can’t let people close to me think I’ve ‘fallen astray.’”
Maybe you feel like you will never be able to let your old beliefs go. Or maybe it feels like you will always have this voice inside your head judging you anytime you try to be someone outside of what you were taught to believe. You might have no idea how to figure out what you really want in life because even the thought of doing that has you up all night worrying about what people at church might say about you.
Even though you’re pretty sure you no longer believe in the religion you grew up with, you’re still consumed with the thought of not living up to those standards and can’t face putting your Bible away for good. All of this is leading you to feel like you’ll never figure things out, you’ll be stuck in this limbo forever, and you’ll always put everyone else’s needs before your own.
Maybe you are particularly struggling with:
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Maybe no matter what you believe about sex now, it’s hard for you to let go of what you learned in church or in books like “I Kissed Dating Goodbye.” You’re up at night with the metaphors you learned about anyone who is “impure” running through your head - worried you’ll never escape feeling like a chewed up piece of gum or a piece of tape that’s been pulled off a sheet of paper.
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It’s hard to make friends and you find yourself second guessing everything you do in relationships, asking yourself, “is this how a normal friend would respond?” Or maybe it feels like you’ll never “catch up” on the socializing and Spongebob references your peers seemed to get growing up, so you find yourself either avoiding social interactions or pretending you know more than you do just so you can feel less like an outsider.
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You feel isolated and so different from your peers. Maybe you had to raise your siblings from a young age and now struggle to get along with your peers. Or maybe you’re struggling with feeling like your needs are “too much” because your parents couldn’t be there for all of you all at once so you learned to swallow any requests for help.
It doesn’t have to stay like this. Religious trauma therapy can help.
Questions? Send me a message today!
A safe place to process your painful religious experiences.
I’m here to help you heal and move forward.
Imagine a life where you…
Make decisions based on what you want, rather than what you “should” do
No longer live in constant fear of being judged and don’t judge others against standards you don’t want to believe in anymore
Feel whole and complete just the way you are, regardless of what you believe
Can let go of old beliefs that don’t fit with your values anymore and feel confident in what you do want to believe
Together, we will work on…
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As we get to know one another, you can share as much of your story as you feel comfortable. Together, we’ll unpack the things you were taught to believe and work through what (if anything) you want to keep and what no longer serves you. I’ll also ask you to share about what your life is like in the present, and we’ll explore ways your old beliefs might be keeping you stuck.
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Before we work directly with any traumatic religious experiences, we will build skills for you to become aware of how you hold your religious beliefs and trauma in your body and keep yourself calm and present. You will learn breathing, grounding, and other body-focused calming skills to help you feel more in control of your emotions and prepare you for digging deeper into the past.
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When you feel ready, we’ll process your religious trauma at your own pace, helping you feel like your past is less in control of you and more present in your daily life. We might do this through EMDR, somatic therapy, parts work, or a combination of them all.
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We’ll make meaning of your story, celebrating the resiliency it’s created for you, and help you build a set of values and beliefs that feel right to you now.
Religious trauma therapy can help you…
Identify beliefs you feel stuck in and break free from them
Trust yourself and those around you
Find your voice and become comfortable using it
Break free from judging yourself and others
Stop using “should” to dictate your decisions
Process traumatic religious experiences and reduce how distressed you feel when you’re reminded of them
Methods for healing religious trauma
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EMDR helps with trauma by rewiring the brain, making traumatic memories less upsetting. It integrates fragmented memories into a more cohesive narrative, helping you understand your experiences better. EMDR also helps you better control your emotions and find coping strategies, so you can move forward in life with greater resilience and well-being. Learn more about EMDR.
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Somatic therapy helps with trauma by focusing on the connection between the mind and body. Trauma often manifests in the body physically, with symptoms like tension, pain, and discomfort. Somatic therapy helps you explore and process these sensations through techniques like breathwork, mindfulness, and gentle movement, releasing trauma from the body. Learn more about somatic therapy.
Purity culture
Sexual abuse
Evangelical Christianity
Catholicism
Homeschool & social isolation
Repression
Large families
Religious trauma therapy for:
A future free of shame and guilt awaits.
It’s time to break free from old beliefs & reclaim your future.
Questions?
FAQs
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We will walk through the beliefs you were taught to believe, which ones you are struggling to let go of, how those beliefs are impacting your life today, and explore what you might like to believe one day. We will work together to create a plan that is tailored to your unique circumstances that can include things like EMDR, somatic therapy, and parts work. Reach out for a free consultation to learn more.
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We’ll process your trauma slowly, as you are ready. We’ll use methods like EMDR and somatic therapy to ensure you are healing your full self and getting long-lasting results.
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Trauma is our response to difficult events or circumstances. There’s a common misconception that trauma is only “big events” like experiencing assault or a natural disaster. The truth is, trauma far more common than most people think - nearly all of us have experienced some type of trauma in our life. It’s also important to know that what one person experiences as traumatic might not be considered traumatic by someone else. Reach out today to learn more.
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We’ll start with a quick 15-minute consultation where I’ll answer any questions you have and we’ll both make sure we’re a good fit for working together. I can share more about how I work with religious trauma and help you understand the process. From there, if you’d like to move forward, we can schedule our first appointment - I try to offer times within a week of our consultation so you can start getting the relief you need.