I joked last week on my Instagram stories that I’ve long had a therapist crush* on Canadian Psychologist, Dr Hillary McBride, whose new book, Holy Hurt is coming out soon.
Hillary was my inspiration for becoming a therapist. Back in the days when she co-hosted The Liturgist’s Podcast, I was working in the humanitarian sector. I was travelling every six weeks, cycling through burnout and trying to figure out which was up in terms of my own faith deconstruction.
Hillary was generous with her own story on the podcast and her approach as a kind therapist who knew how hard it was to face and recover from religious and spiritual trauma. I learnt a lot from her as a person and as a psychologist. So I’m thrilled to be on the launch team for Holy Hurt. (No kickbacks for me just the joy of being connected to a virtual team having this important conversation for a few weeks).
Hillary writes:
“Spiritual trauma didn’t emerge when white evangelical Christians started talking about it. It has always been here. Spiritual trauma is the result of conversion therapy and what the queer community has faced in faith communities.
Spiritual trauma was the outcome when parents of children with disabilities were told the disability existed because they sinned; when Indigenous children were taken from their families and placed in church-run residential schools; …when clergy sexually abused children and the people in power hid it; when Christians owned slaves and used biblical proof texts to justify their tyranny; and when white Europeans, bolstered by colonization and the Doctrine of Discovery, stripped untold numbers of communities of their ancestral knowledge and spiritual traditions in the name of evangelism.
Spiritual trauma has been with us for as long as religion has existed. Spiritual trauma has been with us for as long as people have used power to exert control. Spiritual trauma has been with us for as long as anyone has been told they were broken from the start.”
Ooft, that doctrine or original sin can stay with you. It influences our thoughts and behaviour until we can find language for it and notice how it shows up in our bodies.
Our bodies always tell the truth about our experiences. Our stories and pain have a way of coming to the surface.
Holy Hurt is going to become a go-to text for understanding and recovering from religious and spiritual trauma. Highly recommended.
*I was also pretty chuffed when she replied to my Insta story. Don’t you love a therapist love in??!! : )
If you’d like to connect with me in counselling, you can get in touch here.
Warmly,
Jane
You can find me on Instagram, Substack and at The Religious Trauma Collective.
