S7E4 Sacred Wounds: Religious Trauma, Grief, and the Path to Resilience with Susan Reedy, MFT

Welcome back to today’s podcast, a place where we share stories of awakenings—those moments when life disrupts the script and invites us into deeper truth, healing, and courage.

Today’s conversation is especially timely and tender. My guest is Susan Reedy, a Marriage and Family Therapist who specializes in trauma recovery and resiliency. Susan works with people navigating grief and loss, traumatic experiences, life transitions, and anxiety—and she also trains other therapists in the skills of trauma-informed care, including the Trauma Resiliency Model.

Susan’s own story includes powerful awakenings: growing up in the Worldwide Church of God under Herbert W. Armstrong, the long work of de-programming from religious control, and her early work with traumatized children. We’ll talk openly about religious trauma, a theme that shows up often on this podcast, and connect it to broader cultural and political stress many of us are carrying right now.

We’ll also revisit the Altadena fires—how quickly they spread, the scope of destruction, and the deeply human stories of loss that followed. Along the way, Susan helps us understand what trauma is, why trauma therapy matters, and what healing and wellness can actually look like after everything falls apart.

SHOW NOTES