Beyond Religious Trauma
Remapping Meaning, Identity, and Relationships
4-part workshop series | Online
Upcoming Session (#1 of 4): Tuesday, August 11, 2026
10am-11:30am PST / 1pm-2:30pm EST
All registrants will receive the recording
1.5 CEUs available per session, 6 CEUs total
CEUs Approved by NBCC in partnership with Cascadia Training
This workshop is the first of a four-part series exploring the landscape of religious trauma and the path toward reclaiming personal autonomy. Designed for mental health clinicians and students, this foundational session establishes core definitions and frameworks necessary for navigating religious trauma through an intersectional lens.
Participants will examine the role of religion as an orienting system for human wellbeing and clarify the therapist's role when clients navigate these systems. From there, the workshop dives into the mechanics of high-control groups and cults, focusing on behavioral conditioning and the forced shift from internal to external authority, as well as the impacts of religious trauma on relational templates, intergenerational identity, gender roles, and developmental progression.
Throughout the workshop, participants will use an intersectional lens to analyze how power dynamics (including race, sexuality, neurotype, and socioeconomic status) interact with religious conditioning.
Belief systems shape how people understand who we are, why we exist, and how we belong.
When those systems are nurturing, they can anchor resilience. When wielded to control, they can create deep fractures in personal and interpersonal trust.
In this course, participants will investigate how power operates through meaning systems, exploring how intersecting identities affect one’s relationship to belief, authority, and belonging.
Course Objectives
This course equips clinicians with the knowledge and skills to recognize, assess, and support clients experiencing religious or spiritual trauma through a nuanced and intersectional lens.
Participants will explore how high-control religions and ideologies can shape identity development, attachment styles and relationships, and psychological wellbeing.
Through clinical frameworks, case examples, and discussion, clinicians will learn how to differentiate religious trauma from other trauma presentations, integrate trauma-informed and culturally sensitive approaches, and navigate faith crises and transitions with respect and nuance.
Gain the knowledge and skills to recognize, assess, and support clients experiencing religious or spiritual trauma through a nuanced and intersectional lens.
Meet Your Teacher
Dr. Tanya Johnson, PhD, LMHC-QS (FL), LMHC (WA), NCC (she/her/ella)
Dr. Tanya is the co-founder and CEO of Colorful Minds Psychotherapy Collective, a neurodivergent, queer, Cuban-American counselor educator, clinical supervisor, and licensed mental health counselor in Florida and Washington. She provides virtual supervision, consultation, and psychotherapy through her practice, Evolve Counseling Center, and teaches as adjunct faculty at Antioch University Seattle.
With extensive experience in religious and spiritual trauma, Dr. Tanya helps adults recovering from high-control faith communities, coercive belief systems, and the loss or reconstruction of faith. Her work integrates trauma-informed care, neurodiversity-affirming practice, and meaning-making frameworks to help clients rebuild trust in themselves and their worldview.
A national presenter and curriculum developer in distance counseling and supervision, Dr. Tanya has trained and mentored hundreds of emerging clinicians. Through Colorful Minds, she advocates for sustainable, accessible private practice models that empower both clinicians and clients to thrive.
Frequently Asked Questions
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This course is intended for licensed and pre-licensed mental health professionals, counselors, and clinical trainees seeking to deepen their understanding of religion’s psychological impacts and improve competency in working with survivors of religious or spiritual trauma.
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Each session in this 4 part series will be 1.5 hours long.
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The first session of this series will start on August 11th, 2026. It will be at 10am-11:30am PST / 1pm-2:30pm EST (check your time zone here).
We will share the following series dates as each session concludes.
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The general track price for this course if $50 and does not include CEs.
The CE track for this course is $60 and 1.5 CEs are available upon successful completion of the post-test.
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Our sponsor, Cascadia Training, is an approved provider for NBCC and NASW-WA. Counselors and social workers can receive CEs in most states.
Enroll Now
This workshop is the first of a four-part series exploring the landscape of religious trauma and the path toward reclaiming personal autonomy. Designed for mental health clinicians and students, this foundational session establishes core definitions and frameworks necessary for navigating religious trauma through an intersectional lens.
Participants will examine the role of religion as an orienting system for human wellbeing and clarify the therapist's role when clients navigate these systems. From there, the workshop dives into the mechanics of high-control groups and cults, focusing on behavioral conditioning and the forced shift from internal to external authority, as well as the impacts of religious trauma on relational templates, intergenerational identity, gender roles, and developmental progression.
Throughout the workshop, participants will use an intersectional lens to analyze how power dynamics (including race, sexuality, neurotype, and socioeconomic status) interact with religious conditioning.
Develop nuanced definitions of religion and spirituality, understand the psychological mechanisms that make belief systems powerful, and identify how coercive structures exploit them.
Learn to help clients disentangle intuition from indoctrination, rebuild trust in their inner authority, and form healthy spiritual or secular identities grounded in autonomy, curiosity, and connection.