Many of you know I work with a lot of people recovering from harm done in religious spaces. From high control groups to cults and rebuilding identity, it’s a big topic. I’ve spoken in many places about my own story too. I’m not anti-God, anti-church or anti-religion however these are
If you subscribe to my Freedom from Religious Trauma email, it’s now on Substack! If you’re on that list it will just appear in your inbox monthy-ish as usual – but if you’d like to subscribe, you can do that here. With every subscription there’s a code to download my eBook, The Sentimental Non-Believer, for
Religious Trauma and Perimenopause are probably not terms you thought you’d see in the same sentence. For me, they happened at the same time. Fair to say there were days I was not fun to be around. I was overwhelmed, bone tired and highly reactive. I was gaslighting myself, trying to think my
Trauma stewardship means tending to yourself so traumatic events happening to other people don’t leave an imprint of trauma in your body.
We cycle through phases of grief and healing when we’ve experienced religious trauma. Easter brings us face to face with where we are in that cycle and if we’re paying attention, our bodies will tell us what we need next. As I’ve healed from the pain of leaving church and
We so often believe and are taught that anger is unhealthy and needs to be managed and suppressed. But anger is human and is good information. If we’re not used to feeling it, we can mistake it for rage and think we’re going too far when really we’re testing out what it could feel like to express what we need and speak up when we’ve been hurt.
My humanity pulls me toward grief, I am heartbroken at the suffering I see and am forcing myself to witness. I tend to my own trauma stewardship so I can enlarge my capacity to feel it and bear it with the global community.
I’ve become a beauty chaser since leaving organised religion.
I’ve realised it’s where I feel God/god/the ground of all being/the energy of every living thing.
It makes me feel held.
Part of something bigger than me.
A sunset can hold my gratitude and joy, the ocean the waves of my pain, the grass beneath my feet makes me feel grounded.
Beautiful music, gorgeous fresh produce, flowers and colour all make feel centred, rested, peaceful.
They make me smile.
Like all trauma, religious trauma lives in our bodies. And like all trauma, we need bodily ways to process it. When you graze your knee, your body knows how to heal. When you’ve experienced trauma, your body knows how to heal. But for anyone who has spent time in spaces
Map Your Freedom is a series of narrative exercises and thought prompts that support the beginnings of being free of the impact of harm experienced in faith spaces.
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