Identity and values
Separate inherited expectations from the values you want to carry forward. Explore identity, meaning, spirituality, and purpose without pressure to reach a particular conclusion.
Affirming therapy • California & Utah
Faith Deconstruction & Religious Trauma Therapy in California and Utah
Questioning, leaving, or rebuilding after a high-demand religion can affect your identity, relationships, family, sexuality, values, and sense of belonging. George Alexander, LPCC, is a religious trauma therapist serving adults throughout California and Utah. He offers agenda-free therapy for people navigating Mormon/LDS faith transitions, identity changes, and life after religion.
Virtual throughout California and Utah • In person in Los Angeles • $200 per 50-minute session
Your beliefs, your pace, no agenda
Therapy for Faith Deconstruction, Faith Crisis and Religious Trauma
A faith transition is rarely only an intellectual change. It can bring grief and relief at the same time: grief for a community, identity, or future you expected to have, and relief as you begin listening to your own values. You may feel guilt, anger, fear, loneliness, betrayal, or uncertainty about what comes next.
Therapy can give you a private, nonjudgmental place to understand what happened, care for the parts of you that learned to survive through obedience or perfectionism, and build a life that feels genuinely yours. You do not need to use the words “religious trauma,” know whether you will stay or leave, or have your beliefs figured out before beginning.
Questioning, leaving or rebuilding
Mormon and LDS Faith Transition Support
George provides culturally informed support for people navigating a Mormon faith transition, LDS faith crisis, or life after Mormonism. His role is not to direct your beliefs. It is to help you understand your experience, strengthen trust in yourself, and choose what matters to you.
Family and belonging
Navigate mixed-faith relationships, boundaries, disclosure decisions, family conflict, and the loss or reshaping of community.
Shame and self-trust
Understand fear, guilt, scrupulosity, perfectionism, and the internalized rules that may continue long after beliefs begin to change.
Healing without erasing complexity
Religious Trauma Recovery
Religious trauma can develop when spiritual authority, doctrine, or community is experienced through fear, shame, coercion, exclusion, or loss of personal agency. Some people identify a clear harmful event. For others, the impact appears gradually in the nervous system, relationships, sexuality, self-worth, or difficulty trusting their own judgment.
Working with a religious trauma therapist can provide a structured, nonjudgmental space to understand these experiences without pressure toward belief or disbelief.
George uses a trauma-informed, collaborative approach that can include Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), and Internal Family Systems (IFS). Treatment is shaped around your needs rather than a predetermined belief outcome.
You may be experiencing:
- Fear or guilt connected to questioning beliefs
- Grief after losing community or certainty
- Shame involving identity, gender, or sexuality
- Anxiety about disappointing family
- Difficulty setting boundaries with believing loved ones
- Confusion about values, meaning, or belonging
Client experience
A Client’s Experience With George
Book a Free 15-Minute Consultation with GeorgeI was seeking someone specialized in religious trauma from high-demand, high-control religious environments. Initially, I was highly skeptical of just about any mental health professional in this space, having had some pretty poor experiences with therapists when I was younger. George changed all of that. He brought some really effective tools, including IFS, to help solve and manage my specific issues and concerns. George is professional, responsive and shows a genuine dedication to healing both mentally and spiritually.
No belief test required
You Do Not Have to Decide Whether to Stay or Leave
Therapy is not a debate about religion. You are welcome whether you still attend, are privately questioning, have left, identify as spiritual, are secular, or are unsure what language fits. George will not push you toward belief or disbelief. The goal is to help you feel safer in your own mind and body, relate to others with greater choice, and build a life aligned with values you have examined for yourself.
Meet your therapist
George Alexander, LPCC
George is a religious trauma therapist licensed as a Professional Clinical Counselor in California and a Clinical Mental Health Counselor in Utah. He specializes in faith deconstruction, identity, shame, and values-based work.
- California LPCC #15644
- Utah CMHC #14219568-6004
- Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Johns Hopkins University
- ACT, CPT, and Internal Family Systems-informed care
Care where you are
Online Therapy Throughout California and Utah
George can provide therapy when you are physically located in a state where he is licensed at the time of your session.
California
Secure virtual therapy for adults located anywhere in California, including Los Angeles and the South Bay.
Utah
If you are looking for a religious trauma therapist in Utah, George provides secure virtual therapy for adults throughout the state, including Salt Lake County, Utah County, and Southern Utah.
Los Angeles
In-person appointments are available at Shakti Therapy’s Los Angeles office in the South Bay.
Clear, private-pay care
Cost and Out-of-Network Benefits
Individual therapy is $200 per 50-minute session. Shakti Therapy is a private-pay, out-of-network practice and does not bill insurance directly.
We can provide a superbill that you may submit to your PPO plan for possible reimbursement. Reimbursement depends on your individual benefits and deductible, so please confirm coverage with your insurance company. HSA and FSA cards are accepted.
$200
per 50-minute session
Free 15-minute consultation Superbills available
Free 15-minute consultation Superbills available
Common questions
Faith Deconstruction and Religious Trauma FAQs
Is faith deconstruction the same as religious trauma?
No. Faith deconstruction is the process of examining and reconsidering beliefs, values, and religious identity. Religious trauma describes psychological or emotional harm connected to religious experiences. They can overlap, but a person can experience one without identifying with the other.
Do you work with former or questioning Mormons?
Yes. George works with current, questioning, transitioning, and former Mormon/LDS clients. Therapy can address faith crisis, grief, family relationships, shame, identity, sexuality, values, and life after Mormonism without imposing a belief outcome.
Do I have to leave my religion to begin therapy?
No. You do not need to decide whether you will stay, leave, or change how you participate. Therapy supports your autonomy and helps you make sense of your experience at your own pace.
Can therapy help with mixed-faith family or relationship conflict?
Yes. Individual therapy can help you clarify boundaries, prepare for difficult conversations, manage grief and anxiety, and decide how you want to relate to loved ones whose beliefs differ from yours.
Do you provide online therapy throughout Utah?
Yes. George is licensed in Utah and provides virtual individual therapy to clients who are physically located in Utah at the time of the session.
Do you provide online therapy throughout California?
Yes. George is licensed in California and provides virtual individual therapy throughout the state. He also offers in-person sessions in Los Angeles.
Is your approach LGBTQIA+ affirming?
Yes. George offers LGBTQIA+ affirming care and welcomes exploration of identity, sexuality, relationships, faith, and belonging without judgment or pressure.
What does therapy cost?
Individual therapy with George is $200 per 50-minute session. A free 15-minute consultation is available before scheduling a full session.
Can I use PPO out-of-network benefits?
Shakti Therapy does not bill insurance directly, but we can provide a superbill that you may submit to a PPO plan for possible out-of-network reimbursement. Coverage is determined by your plan.
Take the next step at your own pace
You Don’t Have to Rebuild Alone
Start with a complimentary 15-minute conversation to ask questions and see whether George may be a good fit.
Book a Free 15-Minute Consultation with GeorgePlease do not include sensitive clinical information in your initial request.
