Latter Day Struggles

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Valerie & Nathan Hamaker Forced Resignation from the LDS Church [Part I of III]  Please join Valerie & Nathan in this tough 3-part conversation sharing the events that led to what felt to them like their forced resignation from LDS Church this past week.  In today’s episode Val and Nathan walk through a timeline of a lot of painful experiences in th...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Community Healing: How our Greatest Wounds & our Greatest Healing Happens through Human Relationship [Part VIII of VIII] Join Valerie in the final episode of a series exploring the beauty of community healing in the context of an LDS faith crisis. In this episode you will meet two current members of Valerie's brand new advanced content group, proce...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Community Healing: How our Greatest Wounds & our Greatest Healing Happens through Human Relationship [Part VII of VIII] Join Valerie and four amazing guests who get really brave speaking about their LDS faith journey as they become acquainted with the concept of true community.  In this episode Val invites two women and two men to talk about the fear of...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Community Healing: How our Greatest Wounds & our Greatest Healing Happens through Human Relationship [Part VI of VIII] In this Friday episode you will meet Leo, another fellow listener to the Latter Day Struggles podcast and an ongoing participant in Valerie's healing communities.   Leo and Val talk about Leo's true self journey and how he has...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Community Healing: How our Greatest Wounds & our Greatest Healing Happens through Human Relationship [Part IV of VIII] Join Val in this beautiful episode with guest Joy, who shares some tender elements of her faith journey which began long before joining one of the growth & processing communities. Val and Joy talk about Joy's journey finding he...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Community Healing: How our Greatest Wounds & our Greatest Healing Happens through Human Relationship [Part III of VIII] In this episode, Valerie and Nathan set the stage for why those who commit themselves to Val's healing groups say that what they learn about the concept of the "true self" can be life changing. Val and Nathan talk about...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Community Healing: How our Greatest Wounds & our Greatest Healing Happens through Human Relationship [Part II of VIII] In today's episode Val and Nathan go deeper into what they have learned about the unique healing process of faith and trust crisis connected to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  You'll learn how our faith crisi...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title:  Community Healing: How our Greatest Wounds & our Greatest Healing Happens through Human Relationship [Part I of VIII] The LDS faith journey is not an 'individual sport' and although some of us try, we realize that it can't really be done alone.   In this episode Val and Nathan walk you through why so many of us try to walk through this &...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: The Profound Impact of Feminine Suppression on Men & their Churches [Part VII of VIII] In this episode Valerie and Nathan get personal as they share their marriage journey awakening to the impact that patriarchal influences had on their ability to connect and really grow closer as a couple and family. They candidly share VERY REAL moments of early distr...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: The Profound Impact of Feminine Suppression on Men & their Churches [Part V of VIII].  In this compelling episode Valerie and Nathan delve deep into the subtleties of benevolent patriarchy and how it places harmful pressures on men. They explore the unrealistic expectations for men to always be strong, the emotional and psychological costs of these soci...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: The Profound Impact of Feminine Suppression on Men & their Churches [Part III of VIII] Glad you're back! In this episode Valerie and Nathan delve into the impact that the overemphasis on masculine energy has on the ideas and practices within the LDS church because it is an institutional patriarchy.  Today they focus on the masculine trait of compet...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: The Profound Impact of Feminine Suppression on Men and their Churches [Part I of VIII] Val and Nathan's series tackling the common traits connecting psychologically/spiritually underdeveloped people with men strongly socialized in a patriarchy went NUTS in response, shares, and downloads (episodes 283-288) as expected.   Why?  Because our LDS faith exp...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Cutting Edge Research on the LDS Faith Journey Experience [Part I of II] You're in for a wonderful two episodes here as Valerie welcomes researcher and author Jana Reiss for a conversation brimming with details about Jana's current project (a forthcoming book!) centered around the diverse personal experiences of hundreds of people on the LDS faith...

Send us a Positive Review! When someone starts a podcast in the LDS faith journey space, one question that is often asked is this: "Have You ALWAYS had this much courage?" Join Valerie in this episode as she asks this question to friends and colleagues Susan and Cynthia of "At Last She Said It".  In this episode Susan & Cynthia share very different stories about their journ...

Send us a Positive Review! Happy holidays Latter Day Struggles listeners!  For the next four episodes you will enjoy a few "Classic" episodes that have received some of the highest number of downloads and waves of feedback that these are among some of the most impactful episodes for many listeners. Also, as a way to share my love and gratitude for all of you during this holiday season, t...

Send us a Positive Review! Happy holidays Latter Day Struggles listeners!  For the next four episodes you will enjoy a few "Classic" episodes that have received some of the highest number of downloads and waves of feedback that these are among some of the most impactful episodes for many listeners. Also, as a way to share my love and gratitude for all of you during this holiday season, t...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: The Shocking Correlation Between Men Socialized in Patriarchies & Psychological/Spiritual Underdevelopment [Part V of VI]  In this episode, Valerie and Nathan continue to discuss how being spiritually formed in a patriarchy negatively affects men. This episode highlights how being raised in this "power-over model" hampers male emotional maturi...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: The Shocking Correlation Between Men Socialized in Patriarchies & Psychological/Spiritual Underdevelopment  [Part III of VI] In this episode Valerie and Nathan continue to explore how patriarchal systems can negatively impact the spiritual and psychological development of men.  They discuss why patriarchal men learn to see the world transactionally, why...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title:  The Shocking Correlation Between Men Socialized in Patriarchies & Psychological/Spiritual Underdevelopment [Part I of VI] Join Valerie and Nathan as they kick off a new DEEP DIVE series exploring how patriarchy affects men in the LDS Church. This series compares the attributes that emotionally underdeveloped people have in common with men socialized in...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Celebrating 50 Years Exponent II & Mormon Feminist Voices [Part I of II] In this episode, Valerie speaks with Katie Ludlow Rich and Heather Sundahl, the co-authors of newly  published book '50 Years of Exponent II'. They discuss the fascinating history of the original “Woman's Exponent” magazine in the late 1800s and its  revival magazine...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: A Story of LDS Faith Expansion & Marital Resilience [Part V of V] In this episode Valerie answers a variety of audience questions regarding the complexities of the LDS faith journey when a married couple finds themselves in different places on the LDS faith spectrum.   Valerie provides resources, insights, and tools around topics that range from how to...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: A Story of LDS Faith Expansion & Marital Resilience [Part III of V] In this episode, Valerie is joined again by Katie and Jeremy as they share their journey from early religious alignment, through painful confusion and isolation, and then profound personal and relational growth and intimacy as a couple and family.  Emphasizing the importance of emotiona...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: A Story of LDS Faith Expansion & Marital Resilience [Part I of V] In this episode, Valerie hosts a heartfelt and raw discussion with Katie and Jeremy about the complexities of navigating a mixed-faith marriage. They share personal stories, fears, challenges, and the journey they've taken to find common ground and love despite differing faith paths....

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Navigating Information Quality in the Latter Days  [Part I of II] Join Val and Nathan in this two-part series walking you through six questions that you can tape on your fridge and bathroom mirror to help you become a super savvy discerner of information quality.   In an age where we are inundated with information and people from all quarters of our lives w...

Send us a Positive Review! Hello everyone! Here is a quick introduction to NEW curriculum that I am putting together (by popular demand!) helping our Latter-day Saint and surrounding community better understand our complicated relationship with what healthy masculinity and femininity looks like in all human beings and how this concept has been warped by being socialized in multiple layers of patri...