I'm a licensed counselor, author, and trainer offering education and recovery tools for survivors of religious trauma, spiritual abuse, cults, and other high-control groups. I take a religiously neutral approach because it's not my job to defend or condemn anyone's chosen beliefs or religious affiliation. Instead, I focus on identifying the adverse impacts connected to specific beliefs, practices, or systems that were disempowering and harmful. In my experience, healing from trauma and abuse begins with identifying the wound, practicing self-compassion, and letting go of unhelpful automatic judgments.
The Religious Trauma Survival Guide offers people with high-control religious experiences empathy and practical recovery tools. Readers are given language to help them understand what they've experienced, process their hurt and anger, and start healing. Each chapter includes multiple inventories, checklists, and personal reflection prompts to help readers connect more deeply with themselves and gain insight into how religious trauma has impacted them.
Part 1 of the book provides education about trauma symptoms, the impacts of religious trauma, the common dynamics of high-control religious groups, and other things that religious trauma survivors often experience. Part 2 focuses exclusively on healing, offering a holistic view of trauma recovery. By the end of the book, readers will have practical tools for building self-compassion and healing.
As a licensed therapist and a survivor of religious trauma, this book pulls from my personal experiences and professional research on post-traumatic stress disorder, trauma recovery techniques, power and control dynamics, and mental health treatment strategies.