Janice Selbie

I have been a professional counsellor since 2015 and an RPC since 2020. As a former religious fundamentalist, my area of special interest is helping clients recover from religious trauma and Religious Trauma Syndrome (RTS). I am the founder of the Conference on Religious Trauma (CORT) and the Shameless Sexuality: Life After Purity Culture conference, and host of the Divorcing Religion Podcast. My book is called Divorcing Religion: A Memoir and Survival Handbook (2024 Prominence Publishing). My clients come from diverse religious backgrounds including Christian (Evangelical, Baptist, Mormon, JW, etc), Muslim, Jewish (reform, Orthodox, ultra-Orthodox, Hassidic), Catholic, Hindu, and many other high-demand groups and cults varying in size and type, from family cults to Scientology. I understand the unique pressures of growing up PK/MK (pastor's kid/missionary kid), the harms of Purity Culture indoctrination, and the deprivations that often accompany religious schooling and fundamentalist homeschooling. My style is person-centered and existential, and my approach draws from feminist, CBT, DBT, IFS, and more. Clients recovering from RTS have typically suffered multiple significant losses of identity, community, and worldview. Grief work plays a big role in what I do, as well as helping clients clarify post-religious values and building a healthy secular identity. I am sex-positive and 2SLGBTQIA+ affirming.