Sunday School Dropouts

We are excited to be talking today with April Ajoy and Beecher Reuning! They are sharing with the Sunday School Dropouts crew their story of growing up in fundamentalism and purity culture, meeting and getting married under those systems and then navigating their way through discarding those doctrines and theology to find their way into the relationship they have today. It’s an episode you won’t w...

Today we are excited to have the Sexvangelicals, that is Julia Postema and Jeremiah Gibson, on our podcast! Julia and Jeremiah are licensed and AASECT certified psychotherapists who use their personal and professional lives and experience to work with relationships where at least one partner has been a part of high control religion, fundamentalism or purity culture.  Resources Developmental Model...

We are thrilled today to be talking with Rachel Overvoll! Rachel herself grew up in purity culture and high control religion. We discuss her experiences inside purity culture, the impact of it and her healing journey. We then get into how Rachel has used her personal story to inspire her professional life as a Somatic Sex Coach who works with clients focusing on finding sexual freedom after purity...

We are thrilled to have with us today Dr. Tina Schermer Seller who is an author, researcher, professor, and psychotherapist specializing in the impacts of purity culture, shame resilience, gender, and sexuality. In this episode, Dr. Tina shares her research and how she came to realize the psychological and physiological impact of purity culture and how that shaped the direction of her work with cl...

We’re back with another episode from our purity culture mini-series! This week’s guest is RC Curtwright (@deconstructing_exjw on Instagram) who grew up in the Jehovah’s Witness organization and was a poster child of purity culture. In our conversation RC shares some of the long term impacts, mental health issues and shame that he and  many other men experienced as a result of purity culture. Befor...

The holidays are over and we are back into our purity culture mini-series! This month we are talking about purity culture and it’s impact on individuals who grew up male in this system. We are thrilled to have Dr. Bradley Onishi on the podcast today as our professional who has done research and client-facing work in this area as well as being a purity culture poster boy himself. Join Brad and Laur...

You better watch out…you better not cry… Celebrating the holidays can be difficult when you’re deconstructing from your faith or healing from religious trauma. That’s why we’re using today’s episode to take your questions about various aspects of religious trauma and the holidays! Today Laura is joined by guest-host, Cindy Wang Brandt, to answer the questions you’ve submitted about parenting, fami...

We have a special episode for you today! Throughout our podcast episodes we’ve talked about various forms of trauma resolution but today we want to let you peek into what a trauma resolution session actually is! Laura is joined with her friends and colleagues, Jeremy Lehmann (who’s been on our podcast before!) and Jessica Hyne. The three of them have all gone through the Somatic Experiencing Pract...

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…or is it? Celebrating the holidays can be difficult when you’re deconstructing from your faith or healing from religious trauma. That’s why we’re using today’s episode to take your questions about various aspects of religious trauma and the holidays! Today Laura is joined by guest-host, Matthias Roberts, to answer the questions you’ve submitted!  Matthias R...

Let’s talk about sex, baby! Today sex educator and creator of the Purity Culture Dropout brand and services, Erica Smith, joins us to talk about sex, comprehensive sex education and resources if you’re needing some remedial sex education after abstinence only or purity culture “sex education”. We’ll also be sharing some prayer requests, answering listener questions and generally having a holy time...

It’s time to talk about purity culture! Join Andrew and Laura as they begin a mini-series on all things purity culture. In today’s episode we discuss the history of purity culture, our own experiences in it, the long term impacts it’s had on their clients and some of the ways they work with clients when it comes to recovering from purity culture. This is the first episode in a 6-episode series whe...

We are thrilled this week to be talking to Dr. Roberto Che Espinoza about their work in embodiment! Dr. Roberto is passionate about the politics of radical difference and the ways that our collective differences might shed light on how we become a better body together. This ‘better body together’ concept is something our conversation focuses on, as well as some meaningful and tangible ways that we...

Today’s guest is Tara Teng. Tara is an Embodiment Coach who works in the intersections of spirituality and sexuality. She helps people find their way back to their bodies, overcome shame, heal trauma and dismantle purity culture in a way that is in alignment with their values and beliefs so that they can build a healthy, sexual ethic and thrive in freedom and wholeness. But before we get to the in...

On today’s episode of Sunday School Dropouts we will be talking to Cody Harman, a certified fitness coach and nutritionist! Cody shares his story of growing up within evangelicalism and purity culture being socialized female, coming out and transitioning. Cody’s lets us in on his process of healing from the shame and harm that was caused by high control religion and offers encouragement and hope o...

Today we are excited to be joined by Jeremy Lehmann–Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Trauma Coach and Assistant Director for the Center for Trauma Resolution and Recovery. Jeremy joins us today to talk about some of the aspects of working with queer folks coming out of high control religion, fundamentalism, and cults–sharing the unique pieces of religious...

It’s time to go to school! Pull out your paper and pencil because today we’re going to have a vocabulary lesson! Join Laura and Andrew on today’s episode where they discuss some of the most commonly misunderstood and mis-defined words that people throw around conversationally and in social media spaces! Trauma bonding is when you bond over shared traumatic experiences…right? Doesn’t persistent sel...

Nowadays there are more resources available than ever before if you’re looking for support on your healing journey–but which type of person is the best fit for you? A therapist? Coach? Psychiatrist? Join Andrew and Laura to discuss the differences and similarities between these professionals, why they practice as coaches (even though they have academic backgrounds as therapists), and help you figu...

Many people in deconstruction and post-religious communities use the term ‘deconstruction’ to describe their experience coming out of high control religion as well as the religious trauma that may have resulted. But are deconstruction and religious trauma the same? On today’s episode of Sunday School Dropouts we will be talking about deconstruction vs. deconversion vs. dechurched–how they are diff...

What are Adverse Religious Experiences (AREs) and spiritual abuse? Aren’t they the same thing as religious trauma? Join Andrew and Laura on this week’s episode to discuss AREs, spiritual abuse, dynamics of power and control, how this relates to fundamentalism and how all of this…isn’t religious trauma? You heard us correctly!  Andrew and Laura discuss all of this AND how these things can result in...

On this episode of Sunday School Dropouts, Laura and Andrew discuss the nervous system–what is it and how it is essential in healing trauma, including religious trauma. They discuss why you can’t think trauma away as well as how high control religions, cults, and fundamentalist systems encourage us to bypass the nervous system as a way of gaining additional control over people. This podcast is bro...

For our first episode we will be discussing one of the questions we get asked the most: what is religious trauma? But before that, we’ll be taking “prayer requests”, have flannelgraph storytime and Andrew and Laura will share a bit of their own story!  Sunday School Dropouts is brought to you by the Center for Trauma Resolution and Recovery.  Music is by Benjamin Faye and you can find him on Insta...

There are many podcasts that focus on deconstructing from religion, cults, and fundamentalism–and podcasts that focus on mental health and trauma. But there aren’t any podcasts that focus specifically on resolving and recovering from trauma and other adverse impacts that may result from these settings.  That’s where Sunday School Dropouts comes in!  Hosts Dr. Laura Anderson and Andrew Kerbs are us...