I Belong to Me: A Survivor’s Guide to Recovery and Hope after Religious Trauma
What does it mean to heal from trauma caused by the people, beliefs, and practices of your faith? And to rebuild a sense of self, when high-control religion said you shouldn’t have one?
Indoctrinated from early childhood to obey, conform, and want what others wanted for her, Tia Levings learned love and acceptance meant being someone other than herself.
After years of abuse in a violent marriage and high-control religion, Tia Levings escaped with her children (a story told in her memoir, A Well-Trained Wife) and thought the hardest was behind her.
But leaving was just the beginning.
With an audacious persistence to reclaim her life, Tia set off on a 15-year quest to psychological peace. The result is an emotionally regulated, actualized, self-aware woman who is able to tell her harrowing story without retraumatizing herself —a woman who can reach back to help others claim what’s theirs. If trauma took your past, it shouldn't get your present and future too.
Through a series of personal stories, therapeutic stages, and resources, Tia Levings guides readers through the journey that helped her leave abuse, rediscover selfhood, and heal her mind, soul, and body after religious trauma —so that you can too.
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Community Reviews
This book would make for an interesting discussion on trauma and recovery. It focuses on religious trauma, but those who read Tia Leving’s memoir know there is more to it. The role of doctrine in her life did many things to stifle her growth as a human, female, and Christian, but it’s most damaging role was giving license to her husband’s merciless abuse. This book chronicles her new chapter, an inspiring one wherein she has faced the demon, conquered it, and now has supportive input for those who have experienced trauma. I can’t imagine what she has been through and don’t know what professionals might think of her advice, but this book presents a woman with empathy and strength who might be the voice of courage for others.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing this e-galley.
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