Religious Trauma Therapy | Cult Abuse Recovery

There is a particular kind of exhaustion that can come from questioning what once shaped your sense of safety, goodness, belonging, or truth. You may have left a harmful religious environment, or you may still be untangling what you were taught from what you now feel, know, and need. Even when your beliefs begin to change, your body may still carry fear, guilt, shame, vigilance, or the pressure to be good, certain, obedient, or controlled.

I’m Danielle Wiggins, a somatic psychotherapist and the founder of Space Takes Practice. I created this practice to offer a careful, embodied space where you do not have to rush into a new identity or explain your experience perfectly. Through somatic psychotherapy, trauma-informed care, and relational support, I help you listen to what your body has been carrying and begin rebuilding self-trust, agency, expression, and belonging at your own pace. This work creates space for what feels true now, allowing your own voice, values, and inner knowing to emerge in their own time. On this page, you’ll explore what religious trauma therapy is, whether it may be right for you, how you can begin, and a little more about me and the way I work.

Religious trauma therapy offers space to untangle the fear, shame, guilt, and control that harmful religious experiences can leave behind. When belonging, safety, love, or worth become tied to obedience, certainty, purity, punishment, or silence, those experiences don't simply disappear when your beliefs begin to change. They often continue living in the body, shaping how you relate to yourself, your relationships, your spirituality, and the world around you.

Many people find themselves asking: What do I actually believe? What do I want? Can I trust what feels true to me? Together, we move slowly enough to notice what your system learned, what no longer belongs to you, and what it feels like to rebuild trust in your own voice, values, and inner knowing.

• Fear or guilt around making your own choices: You may second-guess decisions, desires, boundaries, or pleasure. Inside, old rules may still feel active, making autonomy feel risky even when you know you want more freedom.
• Hypervigilance around being “good” or “wrong”: You may monitor your thoughts, language, body, sexuality, anger, or needs. This can make daily life feel like a quiet performance, where part of you is always checking whether you are acceptable.
• Difficulty trusting yourself: You may look outside yourself for permission, certainty, or authority before acting. Internally, your own knowing may feel distant, which can affect relationships, creativity, identity, and spiritual exploration
•  Shame connected to the body or desire: You may feel discomfort around pleasure, expression, sexuality, rest, or being seen. Inside, your body may carry messages that taught you to disconnect from what felt alive or true.
• Fear of rejection or belonging loss: You may avoid sharing what you believe, need, or question because a connection has felt conditional before. This can make relationships feel tense, even with people who are safe now.

• Do I feel guilt, fear, or shame when I make choices for myself? Old religious messages may still live in the body, especially around autonomy, pleasure, boundaries, anger, desire, or rest.
• Do I monitor whether I am being good, wrong, pure, selfish, or safe? This can suggest that your nervous system learned to organize around approval, punishment, certainty, or belonging.
• Do I struggle to trust my own inner knowing? If authority was placed outside of you for a long time, your own needs, instincts, and desires may feel unfamiliar or difficult to believe.
• Do relationships feel connected to fear of rejection, judgment, or abandonment? When belonging has felt conditional, honesty and self-expression can feel risky even with people who are safe now
•  Do I want to explore who I am without rushing into a new belief system or identity? Religious trauma therapy can support you in making space for complexity, grief, anger, agency, and what feels true now.

Many of the people who find their way to my practice are untangling what they were taught from what now feels true. They're not looking to rush into a new belief system or identity. They're longing for space to question, grieve, reclaim, and discover what genuinely belongs to them.

This work honors complexity. You don't have to defend your past, explain your experience perfectly, or arrive with certainty about what you believe. Together, we move slowly, rebuilding trust in your own voice, values, and inner knowing while making room for the parts of you that may never have had permission before.

This approach may not be the best fit if you're looking for faith direction, religious debate, or someone to tell you what to believe next.

In the first few sessions, we may begin by identifying what feels most present now: fear, shame, anger, grief, confusion, family pressure, body disconnection, spiritual loss, or uncertainty about what you believe. You do not need to have a clear position on religion or spirituality before beginning. We can start with what your body and daily life are showing you.

Sessions may include conversation, somatic awareness, nervous system tracking, parts work, grief work, boundary support, identity exploration, and practices that help rebuild self-trust. We may explore topics like purity culture, fear of punishment, difficulty setting boundaries with family or community, shame around sexuality or desire, anger that was not allowed, loss of belonging, people-pleasing, or the pressure to be good, certain, or obedient. I will not tell you what to believe or where you should land.

Weekly sessions are often helpful when you are untangling old rules and rebuilding agency. Progress may look like noticing when an old belief is living in your body, making choices with less fear, setting a boundary without collapsing, feeling more connected to desire or anger, or allowing complexity without rushing into certainty. Religious trauma therapy can help you separate what was inherited from what is true for you now, at a pace your body can follow.