Workshop – Working with Religious Trauma in Controlling Faith Contexts

This workshop is practical, clinically focused, and designed for practitioners seeking to better understand and support individuals impacted by high-control religious environments.

Drawing on Transactional Analysis, this training equips participants to recognise the psychological effects of controlling faith systems, identify common trauma presentations, and apply trauma-informed interventions that prioritise client safety and autonomy. Through case studies, reflection, and applied skills, clinicians will deepen their capacity to work ethically and effectively with complex faith-based material while remaining attuned to their own therapeutic stance. By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Identify key characteristics of controlling faith environments and their impact on psychological functioning
2. Recognise presentations of religious trauma in clinical settings
3. Apply core Transactional Analysis concepts (e.g. ego states, injunctions, drivers) to case formulation in religious trauma
4. Differentiate between adaptive faith, spiritual struggle, and coercive or controlling dynamics
5. Utilise trauma-informed interventions to support clients with religious trauma while maintaining psychological safety
6. Reflect on therapist countertransference, bias, and ethical considerations when working with faith-based material

Speaker: Anu Matara
Anu is a clinical counsellor specialising in religious trauma. She works with people navigating the emotional and psychological effects of controlling religious environments and writes about faith, recovery, and healing.

Cost: $250 (includes a copy of Anu’s book “Bruised by Belief”). The workshop is a registered professional development event for the Australian Counselling Association and the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia.