Creating an Expansive Path: Exploring the Impact of High Control Religion on the Story of Self (2 CEU - Cultural Competency)

Religious harm has far-reaching relational impacts. To better meet our clients where they are, it is vital to understand the unhelpful side of religious experiences. It comes in many forms and can be experienced in many different contexts. Many folks report feeling lost, even years after de-identifying with religion, and can struggle to imagine a way forward. They sometimes have great difficulty navigating the world without religion. They often describe difficulties around knowing who they are, how to make choices, how to relate to others, and feeling a sense of autonomy. For those raised in those settings, the impact on identity development can be difficult to painful. This workshop will offer you ways to work with your client to explore the layers of their religious experience and create an expansive path of relational healing. This workshop will offer language to better understand our client and help them name their experiences. We will explore the ways that narratives formed in the context of high control religion or associated with fundamentalist religious beliefs impact clients’ ways of existing in this world. The impact of religious harm on relationship to self and other will be presented from an attachment perspective. We will also begin to explore how the self of the therapist can impact clients in helpful and unhelpful ways around this issue. The presenter's experience is in a fundamentalist christian cult and the workshop will primarily focus on high control experiences in the christian church. However, the idea of working with your client to create new and empowering narratives as an expansive path to healing may be helpful to explore within other contexts of religious harm.