Specialty
Religious Trauma and Deconstruction Therapy in Oklahoma City
Secular, affirming therapy for people leaving, questioning, or rebuilding after high-control religion.
Religious trauma therapy Oklahoma City: if you grew up in a high-control or high-demand religious environment, a homeschool or purity culture setting, or a community where leaving or questioning felt dangerous, you know that walking away is not a simple intellectual event. It touches everything. Your relationships, your sense of self, your body, your ability to trust your own judgment. This page is for you.
What religious trauma can look like
Religious trauma doesn't always look like a dramatic break. Sometimes it's quieter than that. You might still go to church. You might not believe anymore but feel too guilty to say it. You might have left years ago and still feel the weight of it in ways you can't fully explain.
- Chronic guilt or shame that doesn't seem connected to anything specific
- Difficulty trusting your own judgment or instincts
- Fear of punishment, even when you no longer believe in the theology
- Grief for a community, an identity, or a certainty you've lost
- Anger that feels too big, or that you feel you're not allowed to have
- Anxiety, hypervigilance, or a body that stays braced for something
- Difficulty with intimacy, sexuality, or your own body
- A harsh inner critic that sounds a lot like a sermon
Who I work with
I work with adults who grew up in high-control or high-demand religious environments: fundamentalist and charismatic communities, homeschool networks, purity culture environments, and institutions where questioning was treated as betrayal or sin. I also work with people who grew up in more moderate religious settings but still carry the weight of conditional worth, shame, or fear. You don't have to have been in a cult to have been harmed by religion.
Spiritual abuse and high-control religion
Spiritual abuse is the use of religious authority, doctrine, or community to control, manipulate, or harm. It can come from a pastor, a parent, a school, or an entire institution. It doesn't require physical violence to leave lasting damage. If you were taught that your worth was conditional on belief or behavior, that questioning was dangerous, that leaving would cost you your family or your eternal soul, that's spiritual abuse. And it has real, lasting effects on the nervous system, on relationships, and on the ability to trust.
Purity culture and your body
Purity culture taught a generation that their bodies were dangerous, that desire was shameful, that their worth was tied to sexual behavior. For many people, especially women and LGBTQ people, this created a relationship with their own body that is still playing out decades later. Difficulty with intimacy, shame around sexuality, a body that feels like a problem to manage rather than a home to live in. This is work I do, carefully and without judgment.
Leaving, staying, or somewhere in between
I don't have an agenda for where you land. Some of my clients are done with religion entirely and need help grieving what they've lost and building a life that makes sense without it. Some are still in their faith community and trying to figure out what they actually believe. Some are rebuilding a faith that works for them, one that doesn't require them to check their intelligence or their conscience at the door. All of that is welcome here. Secular means I keep my own beliefs out of the room. It doesn't mean I think yours don't matter.
How I work
I work with the whole picture: what happened, how it lives in your body, how it shaped the way you think about yourself and other people, and what you want your life to look like now. I'm not going to give you a framework or a model. I'm going to listen carefully, ask good questions, and help you figure out what's actually true for you. The work is collaborative. You set the pace. I'm trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), which I use when it fits, particularly for trauma that has lodged itself in the body and doesn't respond to talking alone.
Common Questions
No. I work with people across the full spectrum, from people who have left religion entirely to people who are still practicing and trying to figure out what they believe. My job is not to tell you what to think. It's to help you figure out what you actually think.
No. Secular means I keep my own beliefs out of the room. It doesn't mean I'm anti-religious or that I think faith is a problem. If you're rebuilding a faith that works for you, that's the work. If you're done with religion, that's the work too. I follow your lead.
That's fine. Many of my clients are still attending church, still connected to their faith community, and still figuring out what they believe. You don't have to have left to need this kind of support.
Yes. What you say in session stays between us, with the standard legal exceptions (imminent danger to yourself or others, child abuse, court orders). I don't share information with your family, your employer, or your religious community.
Yes. I offer secure video sessions for clients anywhere in Oklahoma. Many of my clients prefer telehealth because it's more private and more convenient. In-person sessions are available at my office in Midtown Oklahoma City.
Ready to start?
The first step is a free 15-minute phone consultation. No commitment, no pressure.
Also in this practice: