Services

Religious Trauma

Religious trauma occurs more often than one may think, and it’s after-effects may leave you feeling disoriented. You may have been impacted by religious trauma if you’ve experienced the following:

  • You were kicked out of or left a church community

  • You experienced a highly controlling religious environment where you had to contort yourself into someone they approved of

  • You struggle with your sense of identity outside of a religious environment

  • You may have been impacted by purity culture in which you were held to the ideal of “saving yourself for marriage” with rules about what you were allowed (or not allowed) to do with your body

  • You may have had rigid rules that were expressly stated… or maybe not stated at all leaving you feeling confused, hurt, misunderstood, angry, or rejected

  • You may have had your time and resources exploited leaving you feeling used and undervalued

I want to help you work through those disorienting and disillusioning effects of religious trauma and to help you find your way back to yourself.

Childhood Trauma or Wounding

Trauma or wounding can happen in a million subtle ways that our little child selves interpret to mean a lot of different things. Some of the things that may have led to your own childhood trauma or wounding may include:

  • Not having enough food available

  • Being emotionally punished

  • Sexual abuse

  • Being talked down to or humiliated

  • Having a parent who is an alcoholic or uses other substances

  • Being bullied in school

  • Witnessing a parent or sibling being abused

  • Going thorough a parent’s divorce

  • Feeling as though you had to fix everything

  • Being told that you were “mature” so your needs were often overlooked

  • Having high achieving expectations from your parents

Childhood trauma or wounding can have profound and damaging effects and your experience is worth talking about. You may think, “It wasn’t that bad…” or “Others have experienced more difficult things than I have.” Either way, you may find that those experiences linger with you, and its effects will show up in your adult life until you process through those events.

Attachment-Related Family of Origin Issues

Every family has it’s own dynamics which creates a map for how you will engage the world. You may struggle with attachment if you experience the following:

  • People-Pleasing tendencies

  • Avoid conflict

  • Hyper-independence

  • Feelings of helplessness

  • You parent your parent

  • Your needs and emotions were dismissed as a kid

  • You get anxious when you sense emotional distancing from someone

  • You shut off your emotions when things feel hard

  • You cut people out easily

  • You have a hard time getting over things

  • You ruminate over everything you may have done wrong

As an adult, you may have some relational patterns stemming from these internal maps that make it hard to make and keep friends, to engage in conflict in healthy ways, or to have a long term partner.

Two mustard-colored armchairs face each other with a potted monstera plant between them, in a bright living room with white curtains, two tall lamps, a white side table, and a film clapboard resting on one of the chairs.

Other Services Include:

Anxiety, Life Transitions, Grief, Sexual Trauma, Unhealthy Relationship Patterns, and Dissociation.

We may be a good fit to work together if you…

Open to the Process of Change

I love working with folks who are open to the process of change. Change is not an event, but a process that occurs over time. I’m a believer that lasting change demands that we slow down a bit and get clear about what’s happening.

I’m interested in working with people who can invest in themselves by being willing to take a longer-term approach to change, to get curious, dig deep, and find what we need to find. The process of change will not always be linear or fully clear. It requires you to show up with your whole self for this to work well.

Curious About Yourself

Curiosity is what leads us to those moments of recognition about what is truly happening in your life. The “Aha!” moments come only when we sit with something you’re feeling or thinking and allow them room to speak to us. In that space of getting curious, we can find out what’s hidden below the surface and move towards what may be stuck or has been avoided that needs to be seen.

Interested in Entering Your Story

Coming to therapy is like exploring a story and also like creating it as we go. Your story is essential to the work we will do because it will tell us so much about who you are, what makes you tick, where you have incurred harm, and what your needs are. Your story will inform us about what’s not working and how we can journey together to create a new narrative along the way.

I love working with people who come prepared to offer their story because it’s in this space that the work comes alive.

Side Note:

I prioritize my efforts towards creating an inclusive environment that is anti-racist, LGBTQIA+ affirming, weight inclusive, sex-positive, feminist, pro-immigrant, neurodiversity-affirming, and disability justice-oriented. I aim to welcome all who enter my office as a safe space where you can be who you are fully. I know I won’t always get it right and when I don’t, I invite you to help me better understand how I can grow in creating a more equitable and inclusive space.

I cannot offer 24/7 intervention crisis and am therefore unsuitable to assist with active suicidality, serious mental illness, active addiction, or active eating disorder intervention. If you are a resident of Spokane, WA please call 211 or 988 for assistance finding the right care if any of the aforementioned applies to you.

Contact Me

Interested in working together? Fill out some info and we will be in touch shortly. We can’t wait to hear from you!