399: This Classic Episode Put Latter Day Struggles on the Map of Faith Crisis Healing

With well over a million downloads since its first drop in March of 2022, the Latter Day Struggles podcast has established itself the place to find peace, healing, community, and words to describe your Latter-day Saint faith and trust crisis.  

It is where thousands have come to realize that deep within themselves is a True Self capable of mapping out their own spiritual journey and integrating their Latter-day Saint background into this journey on their own terms.  

In this "Best of Latter Day Struggles" episode, Valerie establishes herself as a Latter-day Saint mental health professional with a unique capacity to love her LDS faith enough talk about the beliefs and practices that are causing harm to members of the church worldwide.    

The bottom line?   Healthy spiritual wellbeing is correlated with healthy mental health.  If my church beliefs and practices are making me sick in any way--these beliefs need to be courageously examined.    

To those of you who have been on this journey since Valerie started the podcast (the "OGs") and to those who just learned about it last week and do not know where to start--pleasea enjoy this classic episode that got Latter Day Struggles on the map and has led to the healing of thousands of people in LDS faith crisis in the past 3 years. 

Timestamps:

00:00 – Introduction and Overview
02:06 – Four Stages of Faith Development

04:28 – Moving Beyond Stage 1

08:06 – Limitations of Stage 2

12:02 – Moving Toward Stage 4

14:43 – Contextualizing Faith Traditions

15:28 – Stages in World Religions

16:01 – Institutional Roles in Faith Development

16:32 – Supporting Complexity and Skepticism

18:00 – Therapist’s Perspective

19:02 – Healthy Family Systems and Faith Development

20:48 – The Role of Adolescence

22:01 – Ownership of Belief

24:43 – The Dangers of Over-Resistance

26:37 – Richard Rohr's Perspective on Faith Development

28:34 – Transitioning to Complexity

31:49 – Hope Beyond Skepticism

34:07 – Institutional Challenges

36:58 – Misconceptions About Atonement

38:44 – Institutional Self-Reflection

40:09 – Marginalization and Fear-Based Narratives

43:00 – Letters from Listeners: Shock and Isolation

46:59 – Ambivalence and Hope in Skepticism

50:03 – Understanding Faith Development Stages

53:45 – Creating True Community

56:00 – Transitioning Through Chaos

57:30 – The Emptiness Stage

59:00 – Achieving True Community

01:01:00 – Maintaining True Community

01:03:00 – Conclusion and Call to Action