Therapists Hillary McBride and Preston Hill joined me discussing their Spiritual First Responders Project and the complexities of religious trauma. We explored how religious trauma uniquely impacts one's sense of meaning and community, often occurring over extended periods and becoming deeply ingrained in a person's worldview. Hillary highlighted how religious environments can inadvertently reinforce traumatic experiences, while Preston offered theological insights on how certain concepts can create conditions for spiritual abuse. We delved into their innovative project, which provides support groups for individuals renegotiating their spiritual identities. As a fellow practitioner in this field, I'm excited about their work and its potential impact.

Highlights

12:56 Understanding Complex Religious Trauma

24:08 Moral Gaslighting and Spiritual Helplessness

30:16 Cognitive vs. Embodied Therapy

34:35 Spiritual First Responders Project Overview

43:33 Creating Healing Spaces

Spiritual First Responder's Project | sfrproject.org

Hillary's Website | hillarylmcbride.com

Hillary's New Book | Practices for Embodied Living

Preston's Website | drprestonhill.com

Dan's New Substack | Religion on the Mind

The Spiritual First Responders Project is a research initiative on mental health and spiritual meaning-making for those experiencing faith deconstruction. We offer spiritual process groups led by licensed mental health professionals for those who are deconstructing or have experienced church hurt. The project is not religiously affiliated or sponsored by any church. Our only goal is to support you in your mental and spiritual health. For more information and to get involved, visit sfrproject.org or email us directly at sfrproject@richmont.edu.

**This is a research study and participants will be asked to complete surveys before and after the process group experience.

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Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/

Edited by Josh Gilbert (joshgilbertmedia.com -- he is accepting more work!)

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