Elisha's Space: Counseling and Authentic Conversations on Healing

You left that small group feeling more alone than when you arrived. That's a trauma literacy failure — not yours. Counselor and host Elisha Lee breaks down what trauma-informed care should look like in pastoral care, small groups, and counseling ministry, and why most churches aren't there yet. Clinical. Biblical. Practical. Elisha's Space.

Is self-compassion biblical? For Christian trauma survivors, the tension between self-denial and self-compassion is real — and it keeps healing frozen. Today Elisha unpacks the theology, the neuroscience, and the somatic practice that make recovery from shame possible. With a guided breathing practice and 7-day challenge. elishas-space.onpodium.com

Can your brain actually change after trauma? Science says yes — and Scripture has been saying it for two thousand years. In this episode of Elisha's Space, counselor and author Elisha Lee bridges the science of neuroplasticity and faith — showing how Paul's words in Romans 12:2 are not just theology. They're neurobiology. And how the faith practices you already know literally rewire your trauma re...

When God feels silent in your darkest season, it doesn't mean He's abandoned you. In this powerful interview, Elisha sits down with Rebel Heasley — nurse leader, survivor, and thriver — to talk about what happens when an abusive relationship isolates you from everyone, including God. Rebel shares her journey through coercive control, the isolation from family, friends, and her Lutheran church comm...

When setting a boundary feels like betrayal — a Christian counselor's guide to boundaries in faith and relationships. Why your body treats "no" as danger, the theology of boundaries as stewardship, and the S.A.F.E. Framework for setting boundaries without guilt. Includes a guided somatic breath practice and prayer. Download the S.T.A.R.T. Guide → https://elishas-space.onpodium.com

If someone you love has died by suicide, your grief is not just emotional — it's neurological. In this episode, I explain why suicide loss activates a fundamentally different response in your nervous system than other types of grief, and what you can do to find safety inside the unimaginable. IN THIS EPISODE: • Why suicide loss triggers a threat response, not just a grief response, in the amygdala...

When your body won't calm down — when you've tried every breathing technique and your nervous system is still stuck — you need tools that go deeper. In this episode, I'm giving you five faith-based nervous system regulation tools that most therapists don't teach and most pastors don't know. These aren't top-down tools that require your mind to be calm before your body follows. These are bottom-up...

Are you in your 40s or 50s, navigating a midlife faith crisis — and wondering if your body is making it worse? You're not imagining it. And you're not losing your faith. In this episode of Elisha's Space, counselor and author Elisha explores the rarely-discussed intersection of perimenopause nervous system dysregulation and faith deconstruction — and why these two experiences don't just happen at...

Is seeking therapy a lack of faith? Elisha names the theological distortion keeping Christians from teletherapy, dismantles it with scripture and neuroscience, and walks you through the F.A.I.T.H. Framework for finding a faith-integrated telehealth provider. Includes a somatic breath prayer and 7-day challenge. You are not too far gone.

Are you tired in a way that sleep doesn't fix? Going through the motions of faith with nothing left inside? What if that isn't a spiritual problem — what if it's a nervous system problem? In this episode of Elisha's Space, counselor and author Elisha takes three ancient spiritual disciplines — Sabbath, prayer, and community — and reframes them as what they have always been: clinical tools for nerv...

Your body remembers what your mind has tried to move past. In this episode, Elisha unpacks somatic therapy through a clinical and scriptural lens, addresses skepticism head-on, and walks you through three body-based nervous system tools — with a guided practice and prayer close. This is physiology rooted in faith.

Healing from religious trauma requires more than individual therapy. In this episode, counselor Elisha explores the neuroscience and theology of collective healing — why your nervous system needs safe community to fully recover from church hurt and spiritual abuse, and how the Sanctuary Style Method applies to building one. Includes a guided somatic practice. elishas-space.onpodium.com

He was sick at 5 in a narcissistic home — and no one helped. Today, Dr. Brad Montagne is a Functional Medicine clinician whose healing practice was built from his own wound. We cover medical gaslighting, childhood trauma recovery, and the biology of chronic illness rooted in adverse childhood experiences. Includes guided breathing + prayer. Your body has been telling the truth. It's time to hear i...

Why is your teenager confessing to chatbots instead of to God? This episode reframes AI dependency as a shame problem with a nervous-system solution. Counselor Elisha explores the neuroscience of confession, what AI provides that faith households often don't, and how Psalm 46:10 is actually a vagal toning instruction. Includes a guided breathing exercise and pastoral prayer.

What does it look like to spend nine years inside a cult — and not realize it until a decade after you leave? Today's guest, Paul Cooke — a former member of the Children of God and Harvard PhD — joins Elisha for an intimate conversation about spiritual deception, cult recovery, and what it actually takes to trust yourself again. Paul left Brown University in 1967, searching for truth. By December...

Is somatic therapy biblical — or is it New Age? In this episode, Elisha — a licensed counselor, author, and follower of Christ — walks through what somatic therapy actually is, what it isn't, and what Scripture says about the body you've been told to distrust. If you've ever been warned that breathwork, nervous system regulation, or body-based healing conflicts with your faith, this conversation i...

When your anxiety was called a lack of faith, when your boundaries were called rebellion, when your body's signals were labeled sin — you weren't experiencing a crisis of faith. You were experiencing CPTSD inside a theological system. In this episode, counselor and author Elisha walks through the neuropsychology of how CPTSD and religious identity get fused — and how to untangle them without losin...

Nervous system dysregulation and chronic fatigue in midlife aren't spiritual failures — they're biological realities your church never taught you to name. In this episode, counselor and author Elisha breaks down why midlife exhaustion hits women 45-60 so hard, how unprocessed trauma compounds with hormonal shifts to collapse your nervous system, and why the silence from the Church isn't just unhel...

You're not lazy. You're not spiritually failing. You're burned out — and burnout has a neurological address . In this episode, Elisha — counselor, author, and founder of Restoring You Christian Counseling — breaks down what's actually happening in your nervous system during burnout, why it feels different from anxiety, and what real burnout recovery looks like when it holds both science and Script...

Are you a new mother who loves God — but feels like she's falling apart? In this episode of Elisha's Space, we break the silence on postpartum mental health inside faith communities — where the pressure to "just pray through it" can delay healing and deepen shame. If you've experienced postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, intrusive thoughts, rage, emotional numbness, or disconnection after b...

It's Mental Health Awareness Month — and this year, we're not stopping at awareness. We're talking about treatment : what keeps women of faith from getting the mental health care they need, and what to do about it. In this episode, counselor and author Elisha breaks down the three most common lies that keep Christian women from seeking mental health treatment — and walks through the R.E.S.T. Frame...

Nearly 1 in 3 teenagers has tried an AI companion — and research shows these apps handle mental health crises correctly only 22% of the time. In this episode, Elisha, a licensed counselor and author, breaks down what's happening in your teenager's nervous system when they turn to AI for emotional support, why they're going there, and what you can do as a parent, counselor, or caregiver to bridge t...

Have you been told you "just have church hurt" — but something inside you knows it goes deeper than that? In this episode, counselor and author Elisha walks through the clinical and biblical distinction between church hurt and spiritual abuse — and gives you a framework to finally know which one you're actually carrying. What you'll learn in this episode: ✦ The clinical definition of church hurt v...

What if the reason prayer doesn't work during a panic attack isn't a faith problem — it's a physiology problem? In this episode, Elisha — counselor, author, and host of Elisha's Space — breaks down the neuroscience of panic, names the danger of spiritual bypassing, and gives you a clinical and scriptural framework for praying with your nervous system, not against it. Using the R.E.S.T. Framework (...

Your body didn't fail you. It froze — and there's a difference. In this episode, counselor and author Elisha walks you through the science of the freeze response: what happens in your nervous system during dorsal vagal shutdown, why somatic healing requires body-first tools, and how nervous system regulation can help you come back to yourself. If you carry CPTSD, complex trauma, or have spent year...