Religious Trauma Foundations: An Introduction to Treatment

Friday, January 15, 2027 - 2-4pm ET | 12-2pm CT | 11am-1pm PT 

Length: 2 hours

Facilitator: Anna Clark Miller, LPC-S, LMHC-S

Intended Audience: Helping professionals including counselors, psychologists, and social workers.

DESCRIPTION

Despite the increasing demand for religious trauma treatment, few professionals receive adequate training to address these nuanced issues with cultural competency. This two-hour clinical training will equip mental health professionals with an ethical foundation for treating survivors of religious and spiritual harm. Participants will explore the cognitive, emotional, relational, and somatic symptoms that clients often experience in the aftermath of spiritual abuse and high-control group dynamics.

This training will examine the ways the fear-based doctrine, purity culture, and coercive control affect a survivor's sense of self, autonomy, and connectedness in community. Participants will learn crucial considerations for the therapeutic relationship so they can identify biases that may inadvertently impact client recovery. Facilitator, Anna Clark Miller, takes a religiously neutral approach that prioritizes client autonomy so they can seek healing on their own terms.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Participants will define key concepts of religious trauma and spiritual abuse relevant to the therapeutic setting.

2. Participants will be equipped to assess the common signs and symptoms of religious and spiritual trauma.

3. Participants will examine crucial ethical considerations for the therapeutic relationship when treating survivors of religious trauma.

SOURCES 

Research sources for this presentation can be found here: www.empathyparadigm.com/sources. Specific citations will be included in the slides.

PRESENTER QUALIFICATIONS

Anna Clark Miller, LPC-S, LMHC-S, NCC, is a licensed counselor and clinical supervisor practicing in Texas, Washington, and Oregon. She has a masters degree in counseling psychology and has worked in the counseling field since 2015. As a counseling graduate student, she learned about religious trauma and its impacts on people from high-control religious communities, igniting her interest in this specialty. Today she specializes in treating survivors of religious and spiritual trauma and training the mental health professionals who work with them. She is the author of For God's Sake: Recovering From Religious Trauma, which offers a path to healing from high-control religious experiences. Through her company, Empathy Paradigm, Anna manages the Religious Trauma Therapist Directory and a library of other practical resources for religious trauma survivors and mental health professionals. Licensing: LPC Texas #75728, LPC Oregon #C8578, LMHC Washington #LH61328702, NCC #718936.

CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDITS

This program offers 2.0 continuing education hours for attendees who register with CEUs included.

Empathy Paradigm has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7921. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Empathy Paradigm is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

QUESTIONS

Please send questions or accommodation requests to info@empathyparadigm.com.