The Desert Sanctuary

My deconstruction began when I started asking questions. The questions weren’t the regular softball questions we asked Sunday school teachers which propped up what the teacher was already trying to assert. These questions caused the rest of the class to groan, mumble, and most likely, talk about me behind my back.

I continue to ask the questions in this series. Many would believe that these questions make us bitter or that we’re just causing problems by asking them. I hope the questions help us evolve into a better state of being. Being outside of organized religion, I can finally hear the whispers and observe the drumbeat of the universe and the peace and comfort that I find. I find my comfort not in a finalized belief statement, but a way of being that continues to question everything.

Travel Tips for the Desert – Part 3

Travel Tips for the Desert – Part 2

Travel Tips for the Desert – Part 1

A Stroke and a Song

Our New Course is ready to review for FREE! Start Here 

YouTube Playlist – click here

Religious Trauma Resources

The Desert Sanctuary Podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-desert-sanctuary/id1345562241

Karl Forehand is a former pastor, podcaster, and award-winning author. His books include Out into the Desert, Leaning Forward,  Apparent Faith: What Fatherhood Taught Me About the Father’s Heart, The Tea Shop and Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authenticity.  He is the creator of The Desert Sanctuary podcast and community.  He is married to his wife Laura of 35 years and has one

My deconstruction began when I started asking questions. The questions weren’t the regular softball questions we asked Sunday school teachers which propped up what the teacher was already trying to assert. These questions caused the rest of the class to groan, mumble, and most likely, talk about me behind my back.

I tried asking the questions to mentors and those higher up in our denominational structures. Although the answers from these leaders were more polished like they had quoted them a few times, they didn’t really strike at the heart of the problem or answer the question. Most leaders weren’t very patient with people asking questions, and they usually found a way to mock me.

In a way, asking the questions was liberating, almost like I was speaking for generations of people who asked the same question and got the same non-answers. Most of the beliefs in question were holes in the doctrinal assumptions that had existed for centuries if not millennia. I could almost hear Sunday school teachers, former pastors, and lifelong church members whispering to me from the grave to please continue to ask these questions.

To be honest, sometimes questions do not have obvious answers and may never be answered sufficiently, but I still believe we have to keep asking the question if we really want answers. Doubling down on our ignorance is no way to make progress before long.

I continue to ask the questions in this series. Many would believe that these questions make us bitter or that we’re just causing problems by asking them. I hope the questions help us evolve into a better state of being. Being outside of organized religion, I can finally hear the whispers and observe the drumbeat of the universe and the peace and comfort that I find. I find my comfort not in a finalized belief statement, but a way of being that continues to question everything.

Travel Tips for the Desert – Part 3

Travel Tips for the Desert – Part 2

Travel Tips for the Desert – Part 1

A Stroke and a Song

Our New Course is ready to review for FREE! Start Here 

YouTube Playlist – click here

Religious Trauma Resources

The Desert Sanctuary Podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-desert-sanctuary/id1345562241

Karl Forehand is a former pastor, podcaster, and award-winning author. His books include Out into the Desert, Leaning Forward,  Apparent Faith: What Fatherhood Taught Me About the Father’s Heart, The Tea Shop and Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authenticity.  He is the creator of The Desert Sanctuary podcast and community.  He is married to his wife Laura of 35 years and has one dog named Winston.  His three children are grown and are beginning to multiply! You can read more about the author here.

Our New Course is ready to review for FREE! Start Here

YouTube Playlist – click here

Religious Trauma Resources

The Desert Sanctuary Podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-desert-sanctuary/id1345562241

Karl Forehand is a former pastor, podcaster, and award-winning author. His books include Out into the Desert, Leaning Forward,  Apparent Faith: What Fatherhood Taught Me About the Father’s Heart, The Tea Shop and Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authenticity.  He is the creator of The Desert Sanctuary podcast and community.  He is married to his wife Laura of 35 years and has one dog named Winston.  His three children are grown and are beginning to multiply! You can read more about the author here.

Ginger Healy MSW, LCSW is a clinical social worker with almost 30 years of experience in the field. Ginger has worked as a child abuse investigator, hospital social worker, and school therapist. She spent 15 years as the social service supervisor at an international adoption agency and was able to travel to provide support for orphanages all over the world.

This job continues to inform her work on attachment and trauma needs in children. She is currently the director of programs for the Attachment & Trauma Network where she co-anchors the podcast “Regulated and Relational” and speaks across the nation on trauma-informed schools, therapeutic parenting, and community engagement.

Ginger is also the author of Regulation and Co-Regulation: Accessible Neuroscience that Brings Calm into the Classroom. Ginger is married and has four children who have been her greatest teachers about developmental trauma and neurodiversity. She loves to travel and read.

https://thedesertsanctuary.org/

Religious Trauma Resources

The Desert Sanctuary Podcast

Karl Forehand is a former pastor, podcaster, and award-winning author. His books include Out into the Desert, Leaning Forward,  Apparent Faith: What Fatherhood Taught Me About the Father’s Heart, The Tea Shop and Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authenticity.  He is the creator of The Desert Sanctuary podcast and community.  He is married to his wife Laura of 35 years and has one dog named Winston.  His three children are grown and are beginning to multiply! You can read more about the author here. 

Talk therapies engage only the mind, which helps with the awareness that hopefully leads to changes in behavior. Somatic Therapy cultivates body awareness so that people can explore thoughts, emotions, and memories together to enable change, increase resilience, and improve symptoms of PTSD, depression, and anxiety. Then, we are not just aware but more able to respond to the demands and triggers of life and improve our overall well-being.

Evolving From Religious Trauma is a book created by Karl and Laura Forehand © 2024

Images are courtesy of Filmora®

https://thedesertsanctuary.org/

Religious Trauma Resources

The Desert Sanctuary Podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-desert-sanctuary/id1345562241

Karl Forehand is a former pastor, podcaster, and award-winning author. His books include Out into the Desert, Leaning Forward,  Apparent Faith: What Fatherhood Taught Me About the Father’s Heart, The Tea Shop and Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authenticity.  He is the creator of The Desert Sanctuary podcast and community.  He is married to his wife Laura of 35 years and has one dog named Winston.  His three children are grown and are beginning to multiply! You can read more about the author here. 

Guy Stephens is a passionate advocate and a nationally recognized expert on restraint and seclusion. In 2019, Guy founded the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint (AASR), a highly respected national nonprofit organization. AASR’s mission is to inform changes in policy and practice to reduce and eliminate the use of punitive and
exclusionary discipline and outdated behavioral management approaches and end the school-to-prison pipeline. Guy promotes trauma-informed, neuroscience-aligned, neurodiversity-arming, relationship-driven, and collaborative approaches to working with children. He has presented at conferences and events across North
America and regularly speaks as a guest lecturer for undergraduate and graduate courses. Guy currently serves on the board of directors for The Arc of Maryland and PDA North America. Guy believes that we can do better for all children and adults; if we can, we must. Guy understands that we must embrace neurodiversity and neuroscience to create safe and inclusive environments and ensure equal rights and opportunities for all.

Karl Forehand is a former pastor, podcaster, and award-winning author. His books include Out into the Desert, Leaning Forward,  Apparent Faith: What Fatherhood Taught Me About the Father’s Heart, The Tea Shop and Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authenticity.  He is the creator of The Desert Sanctuary podcast and community.  He is married to his wife Laura of 35 years and has one dog named Winston.  His three children are grown and are beginning to multiply! You can read more about the author here. 

Parenting is a daunting endeavor. I always felt like it was the most monumental task I ever attempted, yet I had the least training of anything else. There were classes and books available, but they were all over the place regarding theories and practices. My parents got some interesting advice from their religious peers, which only caused me more confusion when considering how I would tackle this challenging road ahead.

As I experimented with different approaches, I found something that worked with the firstborn but could have done better with the strong-willed middle child. My third child was magnificently different from either of them, and then religion and being a pastor muddied the water even further. It was like an excursion with no map and bad travel guides. Everyone had a theory, but no coherent way forward emerged.

To add to the mix, I entered parenthood with a reasonable amount of unaddressed trauma that I did not even realize I had. During the early years of parenthood, there was not enough time to breathe, much less address shadow material or consider such things. Their lives depended on us, and we did our best to keep our heads above water.

Evolving From Religious Trauma is a book created by Karl and Laura Forehand © 2024

Images are courtesy of Filmora®

https://thedesertsanctuary.org/

Religious Trauma Resources

The Desert Sanctuary Podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-desert-sanctuary/id1345562241

Karl Forehand is a former pastor, podcaster, and award-winning author. His books include Out into the Desert, Leaning Forward,  Apparent Faith: What Fatherhood Taught Me About the Father’s Heart, The Tea Shop and Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authenticity.  He is the creator of The Desert Sanctuary podcast and community.  He is married to his wife Laura of 35 years and has one dog named Winston.  His three children are grown and are beginning to multiply! You can read more about the author here. 

Keynote Speaker, Trauma Responsive Education, Restorative Justice, Poverty Resolution, Reimagining At-Risk Learners as At-Promise, Building Educational and Community Systems for Better Outcomes

“I see you, I hear you, I am with you” – is a phrase Rebecca coined to help people understand the foundational approach for building resilience in kids and staff.

Rebecca is a dedicated advocate working tirelessly with both communities and schools across the United States to tackle poverty and heal trauma. Her journey began in 2011 when, as a single mother of three, she fought her way out of poverty and a trailer park. Discovered by a local poverty resolution project, Rebecca’s transformative journey led her to ESSDACK. She later went on to establish multiple projects aimed at assisting families across the country. 

After earning her college degree with an emphasis on education, Rebecca turned her attention to public schools, sparking a trauma-informed schools movement in her state and beyond. Widely recognized in Kansas and throughout the United States for her groundbreaking work in building trauma-informed schools, Rebecca is a captivating presenter. Her lived experience invites audiences into a powerful narrative of healing, hope, and restoration.

Rebecca is a master facilitator, a generous storyteller, and possesses a unique talent for distilling and conveying complex concepts around the brain, behavior, and healing. Her carefully crafted work has illuminated the path for hundreds of schools and thousands of teachers on their journey to creating trauma-informed cultures and frameworks. More importantly, she guides participants in identifying their current position, their goals, and the path forward as a system.

Currently, Rebecca is the Director of Student Services/Resilience at ESSDACK, a school board member, and an active collaborator with Youth Core Ministries in expanding poverty resolution projects in Kansas and beyond. She is a wife to her soul mate, a mother to three incredible sons, and she treasures mentoring women in her hometown.

Karl Forehand is a former pastor, podcaster, and award-winning author. His books include Out into the Desert, Leaning Forward,  Apparent Faith: What Fatherhood Taught Me About the Father’s Heart, The Tea Shop and Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authenticity.  He is the creator of The Desert Sanctuary podcast and community.  He is married to his wife Laura of 35 years and has one dog named Winston.  His three children are grown and are beginning to multiply! You can read more about the author here. 

I went to church for most of my life. Much of that was in conservative, evangelical congregations. There were some positive aspects of being in a community with loving people. But I also understand that there are deep, systemic problems with religious organizations. In addition to trauma-related issues, organizations struggle with exclusion, othering, fear, and control. The trouble with reform is that organizations prefer to stay the same.

It is impossible to change them in any significant way once they have any level of success. However, surviving spiritually and even thriving outside the organization is also possible. We meet new people each day who are surviving and thriving and have been doing so for years. They still have their spirituality even though they might have given up their religion. I think it is because they realize that much of what they were searching for is inside them.

Religious Trauma Resources 

https://thedesertsanctuary.org/treasure-trove/

The Desert Sanctuary

Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-desert-sanctuary/id1345562241

Joe Brummer is a trauma survivor. Having lived through early exposure to violence, child abuse and neglect, and two violent anti-LGBTQ hate crimes, he turned his healing journey into a career in peacebuilding, restorative justice, and consulting in trauma-informed education. He supports schools and youth justice institutions internationally using a trauma-informed restorative lens to create supportive human-centered environments. Joe is a member of the adjunct faculty at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace, teaching the Peacebuilding Skills: Dialogue, Trauma & Restorative Justice course.

Joe has appeared on dozens of podcasts and webinars and presented at national and international conferences. Joe has completed the certification course in Dr. Bruce Perry’s Neurosequential Model in Education and is a member of the Attachment and Trauma Network’s Training Collaborative. After years of working in the mental health training field, he was the associate director of a community mediation center, where he ran criminal mediation programs, community dialogue initiatives, and school-based peer mediation programs, training hundreds of people to become mediators.

He served seven years on the board of directors for the National Association for Community Mediation. His book, Building a Trauma-informed Restorative School: Skills and Approaches for Improving Culture and Behavior (2020) is used by schools across the globe. His next book, Becoming a Trauma-Informed Restorative Educator: Practical Skills to Change Culture and Behavior, co-authored with RJ pioneer Margaret Thorsborne, will be released in mid-2024.

Karl Forehand is a former pastor, podcaster, and award-winning author. His books include Out into the Desert, Leaning Forward,  Apparent Faith: What Fatherhood Taught Me About the Father’s Heart, The Tea Shop and Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authenticity.  He is the creator of The Desert Sanctuary podcast and community.  He is married to his wife Laura of 35 years and has one dog named Winston.  His three children are grown and are beginning to multiply! You can read more about the author here.