Latter Day Struggles

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Psychological Health Check on LDS Theology of Marriage & Family [Part VIII of XII] Join Valerie and her special guest Lark, a single woman who candidly shares her painful journey beginning in the youth program aspiring to check every single box on the Mormon woman spectrum that was practically guaranteed to bring her all of the love, fulfillment, and sa...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Psychological Health Check on LDS Theology of Marriage & Family [Part VII of XII] In this final autobiographical portion of this series focusing on the complexities of the LDS eternal marriage doctrine, Valerie and Nathan reflect on their own relationships with fear and shame as driving forces in their own formative years. This conversation spans severa...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Psychological Health Check on LDS Theology of Marriage & Family [Part VI of XII] In this very personal episode, Val and Nathan talk about their own lived experiences around the LDS eternal marriage doctrine and specifically how they have navigated concepts of patriarchy and eternal polygamy.  Valerie expands the concepts of masculinity and femininity an...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Psychological Health Check on LDS Theology of Marriage & Family [Part V of XII] In this very personal next several episodes in this series on the LDS theology of eternal marriage and its implications, Val and Nathan talk about their own marriage and how both individually and as a couple they have experienced plenty of soul-struggle in an effort to find...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Psychological Health Check on LDS Theology of Marriage & Family [Part IV of XII] In this fourth part of their ongoing series on the complexities of the LDS doctrine of eternal marriage, Val and Brannon tackle yet another tough but important facet of this subject: the possible engines that drive us all too often…Here are just a few of the many examples t...

Send us a Positive Review! Join Valerie in her analysis of the recent breaking news regarding the financial settlement between the LDS church and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission regarding tithing holdings.  In this episode Valerie breaks down the following: An analysis of why, in a healthy relationship between ANY two parties [including between an individual and their church],...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Psychological Health Check on LDS Theology of Marriage & Family [Part III of XII] In this third of a multi-part series, Valerie and therapist colleague Brannon Patrick continue to unpack the very multifaceted doctrine of eternal marriage. In this episode Val and Brannon address the twin evils that profoundly impact every level of identity within the LDS...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Psychological Health Check on LDS Theology of Marriage & Family [Part II of XII] In this second of a multi-part series, Valerie and therapist colleague Brannon Patrick continue to unpack the very multifaceted doctrine of eternal marriage and all of its complex  implications in the real lives of real people, often finding the “plan of happiness” feeling...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Psychological Health Check on LDS Theology of Marriage & Family [Part I of XII] In this multi-part series, Valerie and therapist colleague Brannon Patrick begin to unpack the very multifaceted doctrine of eternal marriage and all of its complex  implications in the real lives of real people, often finding the “plan of happiness” feeling more like the “p...

Send us a Positive Review! This episode was recorded for "The Sisterhood Podcast" recently and takes a deep dive into issues of womanhood, LDS culture, and the vital importance of women learning how to truly be active agents of their own lives. Valerie addresses several topics including the following: the influence that the church's gendered teachings have had on some women who fore...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Analysis of E. Hamilton “Why a Church? [Part II of II] In this episode, Valerie looks a psychological lens to explain some of the dynamics at play between some current spokespeople for the LDS church and those who are asking for dialogue and change in a variety of areas.   As an intimate relationship therapist, Valerie frequently works with couples and help...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Analysis of E. Hamilton “Why a Church? [Part I of II] In this special episode Valerie and Nathan respond to the recent address given by Elder Hamilton titled "Why a Church".  This episode attempts to acknowledge many potentially hurtful or harmful "take aways" that many might have experienced who are deeply committed to following Jesus C...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: An Exploration of Queer Mormon Theology [Part III of III] In this final episode in this series honoring Blaire Ostler [scholar, author, and warrior at the complex intersection of the Mormon and Queer worlds], Val and Nathan walk through 15 suggestions given by Blaire on how we can do a better job educating ourselves and those around us on queer issues so th...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: An Exploration of Queer Mormon Theology [Part II of III] Join Valerie and author, theologian, and scholar Blaire Ostler as they tackle the beauty of speculative theology through their analysis of Blaire’s book “Queer Mormon Theology”.  In this bold and beautiful book, Blaire invites her readers to consider multiple traditional Mormon-specific beliefs throug...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: An Exploration of Queer Mormon Theology [Part I of III] In this beautiful episode, Blaire Ostler joins Valerie in an autobiographical conversation about her painful and dynamic hero’s journey reconciling within herself her queerness and her Mormon-ness, finding for herself that she could not shun either.  This conversation covers the gradual unfolding of he...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Do I Stay Christian? Book Analysis [Part V of V] In each of these episodes, Val and Nathan go through McLaren’s 10 compelling reasons to LEAVE institutionalized Christianity and 10 compelling reasons to STAY.  In this episode the two reasons discussed to LEAVE are as follows:     9) Because of its tendency to constrict intellectualism [please jump over to e...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Do I Stay Christian? Book Analysis [Part VI of V] Welcome to part IV of our exploration of Brian McLaren’s book “Do I Stay Christian”. In each of these episodes, Val and Nathan go through McLaren’s 10 compelling reasons to LEAVE institutionalized Christianity and 10 compelling reasons to STAY. In this episode the two reasons discussed to LEAVE are as follow...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Do I Stay Christian? Book Analysis [Part III of V] In each of these episodes, Val and Nathan go through McLaren’s 10 compelling reasons to LEAVE institutionalized Christianity and 10 compelling reasons to STAY. In this episode the two reasons discussed to LEAVE are as follows:  5) Because of Christianity's "real" master...MONEY.  In this sect...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Do I Stay Christian? Book Analysis [Part II of V] In each of these episodes, Val and Nathan go through McLaren’s 10 compelling reasons to LEAVE institutionalized Christianity and 10 compelling reasons to STAY. In this episode the two reasons discussed to LEAVE are as follows:  3) Because of the huge world-wide death toll and life toll due to Christian imper...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Do I Stay Christian? Book Analysis [Part I of V] This is part one of a five part series analyzing Brian McLaren’s book "Do I Stay Christian”. In each of the next 5 episodes, Val and Nathan go through McLaren’s 10 compelling reasons to LEAVE institutionalized Christianity and 10 compelling reasons to STAY. In this episode the first two reasons to LEAVE...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Journey Out of Orthodoxy [Part II of II] This episode is part II of Valerie and Nathan’s reflections on their journey out of orthodoxy. In this episode they respond to the large amount of feedback that the previous episode received by those listening to Valerie’s former podcast “Generation Xhausted” and address several questions, including their thoughts on...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Journey Out of Orthodoxy [Part I of II] In this episode, Val and Nathan share a recording from Valerie's first podcast titled "Generation Xhausted", which is a podcast where Valerie delved into issues of soul crisis, something that many people simply call "burnout", ranging from crisis in marriage, aging, parenting, work, body image...

Send us a Positive Review! Join Val in this beautiful conversation with Jody England Hansen as together they explore the complexities of membership in the human race (oh, and also in the LDS church) as well as other beautiful ideas about making meaning of struggle and becoming the makers of meaning in our own spiritual lives.   This conversation focuses on these two main topics: The power and impo...

Send us a Positive Review! In this episode Val and Nathan open up with a refresher courses on the theories of faith development that have impacted their growth the most and break down a theory that is less about stages of faith and more cyclical in nature.  This stage theory breaks down  Order  Disorder  Reorder.  They give many examples in pop culture, nature, theology, and myth that illustrates...

Send us a Positive Review! In this episode Val and Nathan review several common cognitive biases that many Christians worldwide struggle with due to their leadership’s tendency to constrict intellectualism [because broad and open inquiry may challenge their denomination’s particular ideologies].  When intellectualism is stifled, we do not become complex thinkers and we tend to overlook these biase...