This podcast has been so incredibly healing, helpful, and even hopeful after leaving an abusive church and leaders. Words can’t express my gratitude or appreciation for resources like this. Thank you.

This podcast is a landmark in education about spiritual and religious trauma. The content could easily be incorporated in higher education settings. I came away with theoretical frameworks, practices, and pathways for more study in my own personal journey and clinical work. May this be the beginning of many fruitful efforts to bring healing to this site of devastation. Thank you Dr. McBride and Sanctuary Mental Health.

This is so helpful, it puts the words and healing practices to what I’ve been feeling and struggling with for over a decade. Thank you Hillary for your wisdom and experience and for sharing it with us ❤️

I spent this summer looking forward to Wednesdays, when new episodes of this eight-part podcast released. The time I spent listening and reflecting have been precious and healing parts of my summer. There are so many people I’ve wanted to recommend this podcast to. It is thoughtful, informative, filled with wisdom, and - above all - gentle. I’ve already printed the transcripts so I can go back and read the episodes like chapters in a book. If the topic of spiritual trauma resonates with you in any way, I commend this dear resource to you.

I’ve followed Hillary for years from podcasts, social media, and reading her books and could not contain my excitement learning about this podcast project. I was not disappointed! As a former evangelical with 25+ years of experience in “full-time” ministry, I’ve both witnessed and experienced my own religious trauma, to the point I walked away from it all after a long, slow deconstruction. But worse, I’ve been a part of the problem. Now, as a Spiritual Director and Life Coach about to start my Masters to finally become an LMFT and focus on helping people navigate religious trauma, I was so deeply grateful for the careful wisdom and education I received in listening to this series. Not only did I learn new things and receive confirmation that serving folks wrestling with these issues is what I want to do with the rest of my life as a “second career,” I was also able to continue some of my own processing and healing with the skillful and masterful guidance of Doc McBride! This project was so deeply needed and I hope will be a catalyst to a watershed moment of greater exploration into this vital and under-explored area of care. So many different types of people can benefit from this work, and it is not lost in me that white, American, Christian males with all the power and privilege those demographics bring are among them. To any brothers becoming aware of the depth and impact of religious trauma that we have been a part of: Listen to this podcast with an open heart and mind and may it lead to our own repentance, healing, transformation, and commitment to do the much needed work of creating a new wholesome and expansive spiritual experience for all who desire it! Thank you once again to Hillary and everyone else who has been a part of making this project happen!

Hillary keeps putting out resources that are exactly what I need. How?! I’m sad that so many people need resources on spiritual/religious trauma and it’s also nice to know I’m not alone. I’m listening to this podcast having “aha” moments, feeing seen, feeling a knowing deep inside my body, and feeling hope. It has been so helpful as a way to discuss my experience with others (after we both listen), and I have already shared with lots of friends! I highly recommend!

So grateful for this podcast—I’ve done a lot of therapy around spiritual trauma, and still, every episode has led to a realization that is meaningful, eye-opening, and deeply validating. Highly recommend!

This podcast is fabulous! It has explained so much about my childhood and experience with religion that always felt off, but I couldn’t explain why. Each episode gets better and better. Listening has been a healing experience.

I love this podcast so far. It’s a topic I haven’t found many resources for and feel it’s so needed that people talk about spiritual or religious trauma. This podcast is giving me words to express why I have such a hard time with Christianity and the ways I’ve been harmed by the church. I also adore her guided meditations at the end of each episode. Thank you for this amazing podcast!

Dr. McBride offers relief through the spoken truths of the experiences of so many of us who were wounded in faith communities. She speaks expertly to the complexity surrounding the wounds as well as describing how the wounds look, sound, and feel. She offers a hopeful message of healing from trauma grounded in science that is not only possible but probable when we notice and honor what our bodies are telling us and tell our stories.

Dr. Hillary draws from a deep well of collective knowledge and research, offering us an artful, accessible entry point into a topic that can be both confusing and activating, with what seems like ease. Hillary shines a light on how devastating and common spiritual trauma is and her presence exudes a hopefulness that’s grounded in science, compassion, lovingkindness, and embodied wisdom. There’s spaciousness here, and I’ll be spreading the word.