Therapy for Religious Trauma & Recovery from Conversion Therapy
You grew up in a religion based in shame, fear, and you still struggle from the impacts of religion or conversion therapy.
You are not alone.
In Fort Lauderdale And Virtual Throughout Florida, Vermont, And Delaware
You were told who you should be. And learned who you are is wrong.
Told what you should feel and how to act.
What parts of you were acceptable and what parts weren’t.
And now, the shame still lingers.
Why this still affect you?
Even if you’ve left that environment, logically know you’re safe now, but the impact doesn’t just disappear.
Religious trauma and conversion therapy can leave behind internalized shame, self-doubt, and a lingering sense that you are “wrong”.
This often shows up in subtle but persistent ways: overthinking, second-guessing yourself, holding back in relationships, or struggling to feel fully at ease in your own skin. You find it difficult to trust yourself, your body, or your relationships. Your desires and wants still feel wrong and you worry about being selfish or a bad person.
From the outside, you may look fine, but internally, it can still feel like something is off or like you’re not fully free to be yourself.
These are strategies you learned to stay safe and in connection with others. They’re adaptations that once helped you cope in environments where being yourself didn’t feel safe, and they can continue to impact you.
You don’t have to continue living in shame.
Common Ways Religious Trauma Is Still Impacting You:
Anxiety, guilt, or shame around identity, sex, or relationships
Struggling to follow own desires and wants
Barriers with intimacy or feeling emotionally shut down
Overthinking, people-pleasing, or trying to “get it right”
Feeling disconnected from your body and sexuality
Difficulty trusting partners or fearing rejection
A lingering sense of “something is wrong with me”
This work isn’t about changing who you are, or trying to “fix” you.
We also don’t spend therapy rehashing the past. Instead, we focus on what’s happening in the moment, how you relate to yourself, how you show up in relationships, and what’s happening in your thoughts, emotions, and body.
From a NARM perspective, many of the struggles you’re dealing with are patterns that developed over time as ways to cope, stay safe, and maintain connection. Even if they no longer serve you, they once made sense.
In therapy, we begin to notice and understand these patterns without judgment, to help you see what’s underneath them, how they serve you, and how you can do something different moving forward.
As that happens, things often start to shift: less shame, more self-trust, and a more grounded sense of who you are.
This work is about reconnecting with yourself in a way that feels real and sustainable, not who you were told to be, but who you are and want to be.
This Is A Good Fit If…
You identify as a gay or queer and have a religious background that still impacts you
You’ve experienced conversion therapy or pressure to change who you are or who you love
You’re successful in other areas of life but struggle in relationships due to shame and fear
You are ready to redefine and explore your spirituality, and find what aligns to you
You want therapy that’s deeper than just coping, you want to actually feel different
Have questions? Here are a few things people often wonder before reaching out:
Still have a question? Ask me through my contact page.
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Because leaving the environment doesn't automatically undo what got wired inside of you. Shame, self-monitoring, the sense that certain parts of you are wrong or bad, those patterns formed over years, often starting in childhood, when you had no choice in your environment and adapted to it. They don't disappear just because you've logically moved on. That's not weakness; it's just how this works. The good news is that can shift, even the beliefs and feelings that have been there for a long time.
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Religious trauma doesn't have to look like dramatic abuse to leave a real impact. It can show up from environments that were simply rigid, shame-based, or that taught you that parts of who you are, your sexuality, your emotions, your desires, were unacceptable. If you grew up walking on eggshells around your own identity, or still carry guilt and self-doubt about who you are, that matters and it's worth exploring. You don't need a specific story to deserve support.
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Not at all! This isn't about leaving what you believe or pushing you toward any particular way of faith or spirituality. Some people I work with have walked away completely. Others are still sorting out what they believe, what they want to keep, change, and what they need to let go of. That's your process to navigate. My job isn't to tell you what to think about religion or what to believe, it's to help you figure out who you are underneath what you were told to be.
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First, let me say I am so sorry. Conversion therapy is so harmful and leaves lasting wounds: to your sense of self, your body, your sexuality, and your ability to trust. If you've been through it, you may carry layers of shame, confusion, and even grief that don't have obvious names.But to answer your question, yes. This is exactly the kind of work I do, and it's a space where you won't have to explain or justify why it affected you. We can work through it at whatever pace makes sense for you.
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That's a really honest concern. This isn't therapy where we spend every session excavating painful memories with nowhere to go. NARM is a present-focused approach. We pay attention to what's happening right now, in how you relate to yourself and others, not just what happened back then. The past informs the work, but we're not just reopening wounds. The goal is to actually shift things, not just process them endlessly.