In Session with Ashley B.

What happens when an LDS content creator and an ex-Mormon trauma therapist take their conversation beyond social media?

This month, I’m joined by Ryan Sanford, who converted to the LDS Church at 22 and has responded to several of my videos online. We sit down to explore where we agree, and where our perspectives diverge on sexuality, shame, religious trauma, and church accountability.

We discuss the difference between choosing a religion as an adult and growing up inside it, whether harmful experiences can be separated from the teachings themselves, and what meaningful accountability could look like.

There’s room for connection and disagreement in the same conversation. There’s also room to ask difficult questions.

SUBMIT A QUESTION OR STORY
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1dXCjsH8gf8O4NvmcTvNnFeKQm7NgE5uwm1vqqKdjHSs/viewform

FINDING MEANING
Explore Ashley’s live 10-week course on regulating your nervous system after religion:
https://ashleyb.circle.so/finding-meaning

Content note: Includes discussion of sexuality, pornography, sexual abuse, and religious trauma.

In Session with Ashley B is reflective and educational and is not a substitute for therapy.

What happens when someone sends an explicit photo that doesn’t match what arrives in person? What do you do when a roommate reports your sexual experience to your bishop? And how can you respect a believing spouse when your own wounds from religion are still wide open?

In this listener-submission episode, Ashley discusses “dickfishing,” honesty and sexual boundaries, traumatic bishop interviews, mixed-faith marriage, fear-based religious conditioning, and the fear of hell that can remain long after someone begins questioning their beliefs.

She also shares an encouraging update from a listener learning to love herself, reflects on her dream of writing a memoir, and explores why mistakes, accountability, and repair can be some of our greatest opportunities for healing.

Content note: This episode contains explicit sexual discussion and conversations about consent, boundary violations, religious trauma, fear of hell, and childhood sexual abuse.

SUBMIT A QUESTION OR STORY
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1dXCjsH8gf8O4NvmcTvNnFeKQm7NgE5uwm1vqqKdjHSs/viewform

FINDING MEANING
Explore Ashley’s live 10-week course on regulating your nervous system after religion:
https://ashleyb.circle.so/finding-meaning

GOOD INSIDE
Ashley recommends Dr. Becky Kennedy’s Good Inside parenting app:
https://www.goodinside.com/

Use promo code ASHLEY10. It should give you 10% off!

This podcast is offered for education and reflection. It is not therapy or a substitute for professional mental-health care.

This is the explicit sex episode.

Ashley responds to listener submissions about sexual shame and explores what happens to desire, pleasure and intimacy after growing up in purity culture.

In one of her most vulnerable conversations yet, Ashley discusses masturbation, sexual fantasies, same-sex attraction, bisexuality and intimacy within marriage. She also explores the fear or panic that can arise during sex, sexual double standards, consent, nervous-system responses and learning to experience desire without automatically treating it as sinful.

This episode contains explicit sexual discussion and conversations about childhood sexual abuse and sexual assault. Please listen with care.

SUBMIT A QUESTION OR STORY

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1dXCjsH8gf8O4NvmcTvNnFeKQm7NgE5uwm1vqqKdjHSs/viewform

FINDING MEANING

Explore Ashley’s live 10-week course on regulating your nervous system after religion:

https://ashleyb.circle.so/finding-meaning

This podcast is offered for education and reflection. It is not therapy or a substitute for professional mental-health care.

In this listener-submission episode, Ashley explores the discomfort that often comes with leaving Mormonism, creating boundaries, embracing your sexuality, and learning to trust your own instincts.

She responds to questions about finding a therapist who understands LDS culture without allowing personal beliefs to interfere with treatment, setting boundaries with parents who repeatedly push church attendance, and deciding whether it is emotionally safe to come out to religious family members.

Ashley also discusses why you are not responsible for managing a parent’s disappointment, how boundaries teach others what kind of relationship they can have with you, and why discomfort can sometimes be evidence that you are growing rather than making the wrong decision.

Plus, Ashley announces an upcoming course about finding meaning and regulating your nervous system after religion.

In this month’s listener Q&A, Ashley responds to questions about mixed-faith marriage, relationship betrayal, confusing mental health diagnoses, career uncertainty, and the hidden pressures many people carry after growing up in high-demand religious environments.

Topics discussed include:

• Navigating a mixed-faith marriage while raising children

• Processing betrayal and rebuilding trust after discovering secret online behavior

• Why trauma can sometimes be mistaken for multiple different diagnoses

• The pressure to endlessly serve, sacrifice, and “endure” in Mormon culture

• Learning to tolerate uncertainty when the future feels overwhelming

• Finding compassion for yourself when life isn’t unfolding according to plan

As always, this podcast is intended for education and reflection and is not a substitute for therapy. Take what resonates, leave what doesn’t, and remember that healing rarely requires having all the answers.

In this episode, Ashley explores the complex intersection of personal grief and major life transitions, starting with the passing of her grandmother and the unique challenges of navigating a traditional Mormon funeral after leaving the faith. She shares an update on her move into a new home, reflecting on the process of finally feeling grounded in Utah and the importance of finding community. These personal stories set the stage for a deeper look at how we hold space for ourselves when life feels dysregulating and how we can offer ourselves grace during seasons of significant change.The rest of the conversation focuses on listener submissions regarding the intense pressure surrounding childhood baptism and mixed faith parenting. Ashley discusses how to handle family expectations when choosing not to follow traditional milestones and offers clinical perspective on what is developmentally appropriate for children. She addresses the nuances of raising kids with a partner who has different beliefs and emphasizes that the goal of parenting is not perfection but the ability to repair and connect. The episode concludes with a look at the long term effects of marrying young and a reminder that you are not alone in navigating these complicated dynamics.

Follow me on Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/ashleyb_therapy⁠Link for submissions: ⁠https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1dXCjsH8gf8O4NvmcTvNnFeKQm7NgE5uwm1vqqKdjHSs/edit

In this episode of In Session, Ashley Buckner, LCSW, dives deep into the neurophysiological impact of LDS missions and the long-term effects of religious conditioning. Ashley explores the developmental vulnerability of eighteen-year-olds entering high-pressure missionary environments, highlighting how strict power dynamics and rigid rules can foster lasting trauma. Beyond systemic critiques, the conversation offers a supportive space for those navigating the "post-Mormon" landscape, including reflections on the psychological weight of General Conference and the curious fascination apologists hold for ex-member narratives.

The heart of the episode centers on real-life listener submissions, ranging from the anxiety of a sibling’s mission call to the lingering regret over career paths sacrificed for religious service. Ashley introduces vital therapeutic concepts like flashback states and body-based healing, explaining that because trauma lives in the nervous system, talking about it isn’t always the best path to recovery. Listeners will walk away with practical grounding techniques—such as color walks and the five-senses exercise—and a reinforced sense of permission to set firm boundaries with religious figures as they reclaim their intuition from years of conditioning.

Follow me on Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/ashleyb_therapy⁠Link for submissions: ⁠https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1dXCjsH8gf8O4NvmcTvNnFeKQm7NgE5uwm1vqqKdjHSs/edit

In this episode of In Session with Ashley B, Ashley Buckner returns with a candid reflection on perfectionism, religious trauma, and what it means to show up authentically even when it feels messy. She opens up about the anxiety that resurfaced after launching the podcast again and how old patterns rooted in Mormonism and religious trauma can quietly reappear. From there, the episode moves into powerful listener submissions, including questions about anger after faith deconstruction, navigating a parent’s cancer diagnosis while building your own life, divorce and betrayal after leaving the church, feeling triggered by active members, fear around group therapy, and the grief of losing a belief system once held with your whole heart.Throughout the episode, Ashley invites listeners to get curious rather than judgmental about their emotions. She reframes anger as something to be befriended rather than eliminated, explores how trauma responses can show up after leaving high control religion, and validates the deep grief and integrity struggles that often accompany faith transitions.With compassion and nuance, she reminds listeners that healing is rarely black and white. Whether wrestling with guilt, resentment, betrayal, or activation around believing family members, Ashley encourages intentional inner work, self-trust, and giving yourself permission to live authentically, even when it feels uncomfortable.

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashleyb_therapyLink for submissions: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1dXCjsH8gf8O4NvmcTvNnFeKQm7NgE5uwm1vqqKdjHSs/edit

Welcome to the relaunch of my podcast, formerly known as Sunflower Movement. In this first episode of In Session with Ashley B, I introduce the new format for the show and what I’m creating moving forward a listener-driven space for honest conversations about trauma, healing, faith, and the nervous system. This episode is part personal update, part reflection, and part response to anonymous listener submissions that dive into some deeply vulnerable and important topics.

I share why I decided to rebrand the podcast, what the new monthly rhythm will look like, and a few personal updates, including my recent reconciliation with my father after a period of estrangement and the impact brain spotting therapy has had on healing generational trauma. From there, I respond to listener questions and stories that explore female rage and bodily autonomy after purity culture, navigating mixed-faith marriages, and having hard conversations about belief without conflict. I also reflect on unlearning the idea that obedience equals love, processing different views of eternal families outside of LDS temple doctrine, learning self-differentiation after religious conditioning, and gently reconnecting with sexuality and sensuality after years of suppression.

My hope with this episode and this new season of the podcast is to offer a space where complexity is welcome, curiosity is encouraged, and healing feels possible.Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashleyb_therapyLink for submissions: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1dXCjsH8gf8O4NvmcTvNnFeKQm7NgE5uwm1vqqKdjHSs/edit

This season has been a practice in holding space—for others, for healing, for truth. I started this with a hope: that these conversations might offer light in places we don’t always look. Whether this is the last episode or just a pause in the journey, I want to say thank you. For showing up. For listening. For sitting with the nuance, the discomfort, and the beauty. No matter where this path leads next, may we keep turning toward what matters. May we keep becoming.