Religious Trauma & Deconstruction Therapy

In person in Alpharetta, GA and online throughout Georgia

Maybe you left years ago and still hear the voice in your head. Maybe you're in the middle of leaving, or deciding whether to. Maybe you're still in, quietly questioning, and terrified of what that means.

However you got here, you might be wondering whether what happened to you "counts." Whether it was really that bad. Whether other people had it worse.

If you're asking that question, it probably counts.

Request a 15-min Consultation

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What is Religious Trauma?

Religious trauma is the lasting impact of a belief system, community, or upbringing that taught you to fear yourself. Often it was a high-control religious environment that set the rules for how you thought, felt, dressed, loved, and lived.

It doesn't always look dramatic from the outside. It can look like:

Shame that shows up even when you've done nothing wrong
Anxiety about hell, punishment, or "getting it wrong," long after you stopped believing
Not knowing what you want, because you were never allowed to ask
Grief over lost community, family relationships, or the future you were promised
Disconnection from your body, your sexuality, or your own instincts
Feeling like an outsider in your own family
Exhaustion from holding a version of yourself together for everyone else

Deconstruction is lonely. It doesn't have to be.

Leaving or questioning your faith can cost you a lot: relationships, marriages, community, certainty, sometimes your whole sense of who you are. People who haven't been through it often don't get it. People still inside often can't.

I get it, and not just from a textbook. I know what it's like to build a life on beliefs that stop holding, and to rebuild from the ground up. That doesn't make your story the same as mine. It does mean you won't have to explain why it's so hard.

Katie Barillas, LPC, religious trauma therapist in Alpharetta.

Request a 15-min Consultation

How I work with Religious Trauma

Therapy here isn't about telling you what to believe. Whether you land on a reshaped faith, no faith, or "I honestly don't know yet," the goal is that you get to decide, maybe for the first time.

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EMDR therapy helps process the experiences, messages, and fears that are stored deeper than logic can reach. You can know something isn't true and still feel it in your body. EMDR helps close that gap.

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Person-centered, trauma-informed care means we go at your pace. No pushing, no agenda, no one telling you what's right for you. You've had enough of that.

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Parts work (IFS-informed) makes room for every part of you: the part that still prays out of habit, the part that's furious, the part that misses it, and the part that's just tired. None of them are bad. All of them are trying to help.

I also work with people in mixed-faith relationships and families navigating the space between belief and unbelief, and I'm LGBTQ+ affirming. Many of my clients are untangling faith and identity at the same time.

Request a 15-min Consultation

Who I work with

Adults across Georgia, including people who:

Grew up in high-control or fundamentalist religious environments
Are deconstructing, deconverting, or reconstructing their faith
Are navigating family conflict or estrangement after leaving
Are LGBTQ+ and healing from religious rejection
Are in relationships where one partner believes and the other doesn't

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Frequently Asked Questions

No. Some clients are leaving, some are reshaping their faith, and some are still inside and trying to figure out what's true for them. I don't have a destination in mind for you.
Religious trauma isn't measured by how dramatic it looks from the outside. If it's still affecting how you feel about yourself, your body, or your relationships, it's worth working on.
Religious trauma isn't a formal diagnosis on its own, but its effects are real and treatable. They often overlap with anxiety, depression, complex trauma, and PTSD.
Yes. I see clients in person at my office in Alpharetta, GA and by telehealth anywhere in Georgia.
Often, yes. EMDR can help with fear-based beliefs, shame, and specific memories that still carry a strong emotional charge, even when you no longer believe what you were taught.