
Latter Day Struggles
The Latter Day Struggles Podcast addresses beliefs and issues within the LDS faith that are challenging to talk about but vital to discuss for those trying to navigate their relationship in or around the church. Valerie and her guests invite psychological maturity, theological health, and institutional integrity.
Latest episodes

Oct 25, 2024 • 1h 28min
🔒 272: More Temple Garment Changes & More Concerns about Healthy Autonomy w/ Jody Hansen & Maxine Hanks
Subscriber-only episodeSend us a Positive Review!In this exclusive episode, Valerie is joined by Jody England Hansen and Maxine Hanks where they delve into the recent changes in the style of the temple garment for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They explore the psychological, theological, and historical implications of these updates, discussing the complexities around personal revelation, institutional control, and the evolution of the garment policy over time. The conversation includes an analysis of how religious garments have shifted from mystical symbols to objects of control, where many (especially women) feel micromanaged and mistrusted and the call for members to reclaim their personal spiritual journeys. This episode is intended to help people connected in some way to the LDS church make sense of their complex feelings about the recent temple garment style changes in the context of their faith expansion journey. More information on this topic can be found in Episode 222 of the Latter Day Struggles podcast. https://valeriehamaker.com/one-one-consultations/Want to support Valerie & Nathan?Share this episode Become a Monday & Friday Listener: Limited-time Sale on Annual Subscription $69: app.helloaudio.fm/feed/455929cb-0267-4c17-aa18-9469c4003feb/signup Monthly Subscription: $9.99. app.helloaudio.fm/feed/45de445a-7109-4ad4-a670-231a20dc02d9/signup Make a donation: Venmo or Patreon Join a group: https://valeriehamaker.com/support-groups/ Visit our website: https://valeriehamaker.com/

Oct 21, 2024 • 19min
271: Introducing a NEW GROUP: Growing up in a Patriarchy!
Send us a Positive Review!Hello everyone! Here is a quick introduction to NEW curriculum that I am putting together (by popular demand!) helping our Latter-day Saint and surrounding community better understand our complicated relationship with what healthy masculinity and femininity looks like in all human beings and how this concept has been warped by being socialized in multiple layers of patriarchy. This group beginning on November 7th at 10:30a Central is for those who have already been in at least 6 months of group work with me. There are only 5 SEATS LEFT!! Email admin@latterdaystruggles.com if interested and if eligible, you will receive a registration link via email. First come first served! Women AND men invited! See you there! https://valeriehamaker.com/one-one-consultations/Support the showWant to support Valerie & Nathan?Share this episode Become a Monday & Friday Listener: Limited-time Sale on Annual Subscription $69: app.helloaudio.fm/feed/455929cb-0267-4c17-aa18-9469c4003feb/signup Monthly Subscription: $9.99. app.helloaudio.fm/feed/45de445a-7109-4ad4-a670-231a20dc02d9/signup Make a donation: Venmo or Patreon Join a group: https://valeriehamaker.com/support-groups/ Visit our website: https://valeriehamaker.com/

Oct 18, 2024 • 37min
🔒 270: On Becoming a Safer Place for LDS Families to Grow and Thrive
Subscriber-only episodeSend us a Positive Review!Series Title: Faith Journeying Parents of Adult Children [Part IV of IV]In this episode Val recommends six fundamental adjustments to LDS thought that might heal families who are spread across the spectrum of faith. https://valeriehamaker.com/one-one-consultations/Want to support Valerie & Nathan?Share this episode Become a Monday & Friday Listener: Limited-time Sale on Annual Subscription $69: app.helloaudio.fm/feed/455929cb-0267-4c17-aa18-9469c4003feb/signup Monthly Subscription: $9.99. app.helloaudio.fm/feed/45de445a-7109-4ad4-a670-231a20dc02d9/signup Make a donation: Venmo or Patreon Join a group: https://valeriehamaker.com/support-groups/ Visit our website: https://valeriehamaker.com/

Oct 14, 2024 • 57min
269: When a Family Trusts Their Mom's Faith Journey
Send us a Positive Review!Series Title: Faith Journeying Parents of Adult Children [Part III of IV]In this tender episode Valerie has a conversation with special guest, Kim, who shares the intense emotional experience of entering into her own faith journey in the face of terror that she might lose the love and trust of her children and grandchildren. This episode walks us through the steps she took to meet each of her adult children where they were while also standing in her own sacred truths. https://valeriehamaker.com/one-one-consultations/Support the showWant to support Valerie & Nathan?Share this episode Become a Monday & Friday Listener: Limited-time Sale on Annual Subscription $69: app.helloaudio.fm/feed/455929cb-0267-4c17-aa18-9469c4003feb/signup Monthly Subscription: $9.99. app.helloaudio.fm/feed/45de445a-7109-4ad4-a670-231a20dc02d9/signup Make a donation: Venmo or Patreon Join a group: https://valeriehamaker.com/support-groups/ Visit our website: https://valeriehamaker.com/

Oct 11, 2024 • 42min
🔒 268: My Adult Child's Fear of Losing Me for Eternity
Subscriber-only episodeSend us a Positive Review!Series Title: Faith Journeying Parents of Adult Children [Part II of IV]Join Val along with therapist and colleague Liz Macdonald as they explore the experience of a more traditionally believing LDS individual, whose parent is going through a faith expansion journey. This episode empathetically shines a light on the very real existential crisis, concerns, and attachment fears evoked when one's caregiver grows in unexpected ways. This episode is intended to offer both the courage to carry on our sacred growth journeys while also holding space for its impact on those nearest and dearest to us whom we raised in the faith. https://valeriehamaker.com/one-one-consultations/Want to support Valerie & Nathan?Share this episode Become a Monday & Friday Listener: Limited-time Sale on Annual Subscription $69: app.helloaudio.fm/feed/455929cb-0267-4c17-aa18-9469c4003feb/signup Monthly Subscription: $9.99. app.helloaudio.fm/feed/45de445a-7109-4ad4-a670-231a20dc02d9/signup Make a donation: Venmo or Patreon Join a group: https://valeriehamaker.com/support-groups/ Visit our website: https://valeriehamaker.com/

Oct 7, 2024 • 54min
267: Will My Adult Children Reject Me as I Grow?
Send us a Positive Review!Series Title: Faith Journeying Parents of Adult Children [Part I of IV]In this series Val is joined by therapist, colleague and friend Liz MacDonald to dive deeply into the world of the faith expanding Latter-day Saint with more traditionally believing adult children. They explore the unique stressors of this parent/child dynamic when the parent “goes first” on a faith journey, their fears, and some of their strategies intended to differentiate while staying in connection with their most important relationships. https://valeriehamaker.com/one-one-consultations/Support the showWant to support Valerie & Nathan?Share this episode Become a Monday & Friday Listener: Limited-time Sale on Annual Subscription $69: app.helloaudio.fm/feed/455929cb-0267-4c17-aa18-9469c4003feb/signup Monthly Subscription: $9.99. app.helloaudio.fm/feed/45de445a-7109-4ad4-a670-231a20dc02d9/signup Make a donation: Venmo or Patreon Join a group: https://valeriehamaker.com/support-groups/ Visit our website: https://valeriehamaker.com/

Oct 4, 2024 • 37min
🔒 266: Spiritual Maturity: Striving for Wholeness rather than Goodness
Subscriber-only episodeSend us a Positive Review!Series Title: Embracing Anxiety, Ambiguity & Ambivalence as a Grown-A** Adults [Part IV of IV]In this final episode of a four-part series, Val and Nathan focus on how embracing AMBIVALENCE is evidence of radical, spiritual growth. In the context of this conversation, ambivalence is less about indecision and more about embracing paradox--the dark and the light--within each soul, each idea, each collective. This begins with ourselves. As we embrace our spiritual journey more and more deeply, we see that "wholeness" is more noble than "goodness" and a more noble goal for the spiritually mature life. Get ready to have your brain stretched and challenged a little more as you listen! And thank you so much for subscribing! Books referenced in this episode:All Things New - Fiona and Terrell GivensLiving on the Inside of the Edge- Christian Kimballhttps://valeriehamaker.com/one-one-consultations/Want to support Valerie & Nathan?Share this episode Become a Monday & Friday Listener: Limited-time Sale on Annual Subscription $69: app.helloaudio.fm/feed/455929cb-0267-4c17-aa18-9469c4003feb/signup Monthly Subscription: $9.99. app.helloaudio.fm/feed/45de445a-7109-4ad4-a670-231a20dc02d9/signup Make a donation: Venmo or Patreon Join a group: https://valeriehamaker.com/support-groups/ Visit our website: https://valeriehamaker.com/

Sep 30, 2024 • 43min
265: Leaning into the Messy of Uncertainty in Actual Life
Send us a Positive Review!Series Title: Embracing Anxiety, Ambiguity & Ambivalence as a Grown-A** Adults [Part III of IV]Remember when things were so simple? Back in the day when we were experts on pretty much everything related to life and eternity? Well, if you’re listening to Latter Day Struggles, you’ve likely let that go and are learning to embrace ambiguity. This episode tackles why certainty is so compelling but actually an illusion. The good news? Our growth turns mystery from terrifying to a beautiful adventure. Listen in and celebrate your progress!https://valeriehamaker.com/one-one-consultations/Support the showWant to support Valerie & Nathan?Share this episode Become a Monday & Friday Listener: Limited-time Sale on Annual Subscription $69: app.helloaudio.fm/feed/455929cb-0267-4c17-aa18-9469c4003feb/signup Monthly Subscription: $9.99. app.helloaudio.fm/feed/45de445a-7109-4ad4-a670-231a20dc02d9/signup Make a donation: Venmo or Patreon Join a group: https://valeriehamaker.com/support-groups/ Visit our website: https://valeriehamaker.com/

Sep 27, 2024 • 36min
🔒 264: Embracing Growth-Oriented Anxiety!
Subscriber-only episodeSend us a Positive Review!Series Title: Embracing Anxiety, Ambiguity & Ambivalence as a Grown-A** Adults [Part II of IV]In this episode Val and Nathan unpack the difference between the anxiety that makes us sick and the anxiety that comes as we move deeper into our faith journeys. They explore how detecting and letting go of fear-oriented theology, practicing mindfulness, and personally differentiating, helps us manage that super scary experience of becoming who we are here to become--deeply spiritual, unique selves--sometimes pushing up against ideas and people that do not validate us. Anxiety can be all about embracing growth. Listen and see where you are in this process! https://valeriehamaker.com/one-one-consultations/Want to support Valerie & Nathan?Share this episode Become a Monday & Friday Listener: Limited-time Sale on Annual Subscription $69: app.helloaudio.fm/feed/455929cb-0267-4c17-aa18-9469c4003feb/signup Monthly Subscription: $9.99. app.helloaudio.fm/feed/45de445a-7109-4ad4-a670-231a20dc02d9/signup Make a donation: Venmo or Patreon Join a group: https://valeriehamaker.com/support-groups/ Visit our website: https://valeriehamaker.com/

Sep 23, 2024 • 35min
263: How you Know You ARE Spiritually Growing Up!
Send us a Positive Review!Series Title: Embracing Anxiety, Ambiguity & Ambivalence as a Grown-A** Adults [Part I of IV]Join Val and Nathan in this fast-paced 4-part conversation walking you through some hard evidence that you ARE, in fact, growing up! This series tackles why humans long for certainty, and how early life is mainly focused on avoiding anxiety. It goes on to help you see that the faith journey offers you all of the ingredients for growth in ways that you could not have imagined possible. If you LOVE the psychology of the faith journey explained—here’s another series for you! https://valeriehamaker.com/one-one-consultations/Support the showWant to support Valerie & Nathan?Share this episode Become a Monday & Friday Listener: Limited-time Sale on Annual Subscription $69: app.helloaudio.fm/feed/455929cb-0267-4c17-aa18-9469c4003feb/signup Monthly Subscription: $9.99. app.helloaudio.fm/feed/45de445a-7109-4ad4-a670-231a20dc02d9/signup Make a donation: Venmo or Patreon Join a group: https://valeriehamaker.com/support-groups/ Visit our website: https://valeriehamaker.com/
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