163: Healing Spiritual Wounds – Understanding Abuse in Faith Spaces with Rachael Clinton Chen

Jun 19, 2025

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What do you do when the very place that was supposed to nourish your soul becomes a source of deep harm?

In this deeply moving and necessary conversation, therapist, pastor, and trauma specialist Rachael Clinton Chen joins Dr. Alison Cook to talk about the pain of spiritual abuse—and what it looks like to begin healing from it.

Whether you’ve experienced overt harm in a religious setting or carry subtle wounds from spiritual messaging that shaped your identity in unhealthy ways, this episode offers a gentle, powerful invitation toward healing, dignity, and reclaiming your voice.

Rachael shares:

Her own story of healing from spiritual abuse
Why spiritual pain is often so hard to name
How systems of control in churches and families silence women and survivors
The importance of embodiment and “coming home to yourself” in healing
A theological lens for honoring your anger, grief, and truth

If you've ever questioned your worth because of how faith was used against you—or wondered how to hold onto your spirituality while confronting the harm—you’re not alone. This episode is full of insight, validation, and hope for your journey.

📋Spiritual abuse can be hard to recognize, because it’s often the water we’re swimming in. That’s why The Allender Center put together a self-guided checklist designed to help identify signs of spiritual abuse in your own life or the lives of others. You can download it here.

🖥Take a healing step and start The Spiritual Abuse & Healing Online Course and use code COOK20 for 20% at checkout.

If this episode speaks to you, you’ll also love:

⁠Episode 67⁠ — The Inextricable Link Between Faith & Emotional Healing—Gen Z & A Hidden Search for Meaning with Cindy Gao
Episode 153 — Embodied Healing, Spiritual Trauma, and the Journey Home to Your Body with Dr. Hillary McBride
⁠Episode 17⁠ — What Is Church Hurt and How Do I Heal?

📖 Find a full transcript and list of resources from this episode here

💬 Got a question? Call 307-429-2525 and leave a message for a future episode.

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