The  Blog

He didn’t disappear because he doesn’t care…
He disappeared because he didn’t know how to stay.
For a lot of post-Mormon men, emotional conversations don’t feel like connection…
They feel like something to get right.
And when there’s no clear answer… the nervous system taps out.
That’s not indifference.
That’s overwhelm.

I thought I was a bad person, not a kid who made a mistake I remember a moment from my childhood that, on the surface, does not seem like a big deal.My parents were out of town and I had double-booked myself. I had planned to stay the night ata friend’s house and completely forgot […]

For many women, self-sacrifice becomes muscle memory. This story about Saturday morning pancakes explores how deeply ingrained patterns of putting ourselves last can quietly shape our lives.

Emotional Overwhelm After Leaving Church: Anxiety, Depression, and Mental Health Effects Leaving a high-control religion or belief system changes more than your beliefs. It changes your entire life, your social world, your identity, your relationships, and how you see yourself. For many people, leaving means starting over in every area of life at once. And […]

Written by: Ashley Kirkpatrick, LAC Understanding Gender Roles in Religion and Breaking Gender Roles For many men raised in high-control religious environments, the messages about “being a man” are rarely explicit, they’re taught through patterns, expectations, and unspoken rules. These lessons often center around performing for others, particularly women, and can quietly shape how men […]

Codependent Marriage: The Real Cost of Getting Married Too Young in Religious Culture How Codependent Marriage Develops in Religious Culture In many religious and high-control spaces, young women are encouraged to marry early, often in their late teens or early twenties. This is usually framed as protective or spiritually wise. But when marriage happens before […]

Leaving the Mormon Church: Community Loss and Friendship Gaps After Faith Transition The Hidden Cost of Leaving the Mormon Church Leaving the Mormon church often means losing more than a belief system. For many people, the hardest part of a faith transition isn’t the shift in beliefs, it’s losing the social structure that came with […]

When Political Violence Becomes Collective Trauma Why So Many Nervous Systems Are on Edge Right Now Another politically driven murder doesn’t land as “just news.” It lands in the body. Even for people who aren’t watching closely. Even for people who don’t want to engage. Even for people who are tired of caring. When violence […]

I’ve been watching The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, and a lot of it feels familiar to me. I’ve spent years working with people who grew up in Mormon culture, and many of the relationship patterns on the show mirror what clients describe in real life. Mormon culture puts a strong focus on roles, image, […]

Body Shame: A Therapist’s Reflection on Modesty and Purity Culture I’m a trauma therapist in Gilbert, Arizona, and much of my work focuses on religious trauma, particularly within the LDS church culture. Over the years, I’ve worked with many women who struggle with body shame, even when they can’t immediately point to where it started. […]