With your co-hostesses:

Pam Blizzard from RecoveredPeace.com Lyschel Burket from HopeRedefined.org Bonny Burns from StrongWives.com

Help Us Help Others Listen now:

Lyschel and Pam had other obligations, so I, Bonny will be speaking with a special guest today –  Dr. Barb Steffens!

Barb is the retired founder of the association of partners of sex addicts trauma specialists, or APSATS. APSATS was a response to her empirically supported work that betrayed partners are traumatized by the discovery of their spouses problematic sexual behavior and should be supported through the lens of trauma, not co-dependence. Barb now focuses on helping better equip religious leaders to care for marriages that are struggling through the discovery of problematic sexual behavior.

Today, our topic is “How Religious Leaders Can Serve Betrayed Couples Well.”

We Will be Discussing:

1. What is institutional trauma or institutional betrayal?
2. What are some things that religious leaders could do to minimize spiritual trauma when they are working with a marriage that has deceptive sexuality?
3. What are some obstacles that keep religious leaders from following up with a couple where the wife has newly discovered sexually problematic behavior?
4. What are some resources that religious leaders could tap into to learn more?
5. What hope can we leave our listeners?

Resources mentioned in this show:

• “Your Sexually Addicted Spouse: How Partners Can Cope and Heal,” by Dr. Barb Steffens and Marsha Means.

• Why did God let this Happen? Assessing the Spiritual Impacts of Sexual Addiction on Intimate Female Partners: A Qualitative Investigation

• Betrayal Trauma Religious Leader Training Information (July, 2024, dates)

• “The Healing Church: What Churches Get Wrong about Pornography and How to Fix It,” By Sam Black.

• “Suffering and the Heart of God: How Trauma Destroys and Christ Restores,” by Dr. Diane Langberg.

  Coming November, 2024 – “When the Church Harms God’s People: Becoming Faith Communities That Resist Abuse, Pursue Truth, and Care for the Wounded,” by Dr. Diane Langberg.