11 Trauma-safe Practices

Following up on my last post outlining core principles of trauma-informed practice, I wanted to share some more practical ideas for what it might look like to embody these principles Christian contexts. I should acknowledge that my own lived experiences of religious trauma relate to two specific subcultures—Independent Fundamentalist Baptist and White Evangelicalism—so my suggestions … Continue reading 11 Trauma-safe Practices →

Creating Safe Churches

After the last few posts exploring the harm trauma survivors experience in the church, I wanted to start painting a positive vision for what cultivating trauma-safe churches might look like. This is likely to be one of those topics that perpetually has more to be said about it, so I suspect it’ll be a topic … Continue reading Creating Safe Churches →

Revoice Debrief

I'm finally getting around to sharing some VERY belated reflections on the Revoice conference I went to in the USA a few months ago! I had the immense privilege of attending this year's conference as conference staff/worship leader, and if you’ve had a real-life conversation with me at any point this year, you’ll know how … Continue reading Revoice Debrief →

Survivorship Bias

One of the common responses to my last few posts on trauma topics is the shock of well-meaning people when they learn the extent of harm caused in the church. Sometimes it looks like denial (the people whose response to hearing stories of harm is ‘that’s not how I remember it’), but for the most … Continue reading Survivorship Bias →

Presumption of Safety

In my last post I used the phrase ‘presumption of safety’ and promised to say more about it soon. This is a phrase that (to my knowledge) I’ve coined in order to finally put into words an experience that has caused me such extensive isolation and pain. The phenomenon it describes came to my awareness … Continue reading Presumption of Safety →

Making the gospel [in]accessible

Evangelicals love to talk about how the good news of reconciliation to God through Jesus is life-saving good news for people "from every nation, people group, tribe, and language." (Revelation 7:9). But at the same time, our actions undermine our words when we treat trauma-informed practices as if they are an optional extra for a … Continue reading Making the gospel [in]accessible →

When Trauma Protects

Often we treat trauma responses as though they are the problem, and we overlook the actual problem behind them which is the threat to safety that warranted that bodily alertness to danger. My body intuitively being on high alert is not the problem. My bodily tension and my nervous system's alertness to danger are good and healthy instincts that ensure our safety.

Sanctuary

A few months ago, I got to see the Australian premiere of one of my favourite musicals: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (the musical). Now there’s so much I could say about why I love this narrative and the depth of insights it offers into so many dimensions of the human experience, from exploring the social model of disability, to the relationship of church and state, to critiquing purity culture (quite literally!), but perhaps the most prevalent theme that stood out to me that night was the concept of sanctuary. This theme of sanctuary runs throughout the entire show and carries a number of meanings, including both the Medieval practice of fugitives claiming ‘sanctuary’ in the Catholic church and also the broader meaning of ‘sanctuary’ as a safe space to be protected from the world’s harms.

Emotional Labour Part 2

In a short elaboration of my last post, I thought I'd share another example of the kind of emotional labour queer people (and others!) have to do to exist in the church. At the end of the last post I mentioned that emotional labour still happens even when we aren't directly participating in a conversation: … Continue reading Emotional Labour Part 2 →

Emotional Labour

Picking up where I left off in this series of 4 Ways Christians Burden Queer People, I wanted to talk about another burden queer people disproportionately carry in the church: emotional labour. If the first burden was "1. Telling us how to speak instead of listening to what we say," the second burden Christians place … Continue reading Emotional Labour →