Spiritual thriving after a big faith change is possible

Introducing the Spiritual First Responders Project: a research study for understanding the efficacy of processing groups for faith changes led by licensed mental health professionals.

Faith change is hard. Spiritual First Responders is here to study how you navigate it.

Our program attempts to study how to cultivates healthy spirituality and healing for people who have left a religious community, using methods supported by psychology.

Religious “deconstruction” is a worldwide social experience being studied by experts in both psychology and religion.

Our project is devoted to studying mental health care for those leaving religion, and spiritual health is a big part of that. We’re studying how to create spaces where meaningful spiritual work can be done, tailor-made for those who feel done with religion.

We believe those experiencing deconstruction can access healthy spiritual meaning they desire and want to study effective pathways for it in group contexts.

Getting Started

Join a group to process your experience of faith-change

We have a few ways to get started, but we understand you might still have questions. Check out the FAQ page to see all the ins and outs of how the project works.

Feeling ready to take the next step? Sign up with your interest and we’ll get back to you soon!

Who you’ll be working with

Preston McDaniel Hill, PhD
(Theologian/Therapist, Project Leader)

Assistant Professor, Richmont Graduate University

Hillary McBride, PhD
(Psychologist, Project Facilitator)

Therapist, Author, Speaker

Sara Showalter Van Tongeren, LCSW
(Project Facilitator)

Therapist, Author

Mentally-healthy spirituality is possible after religious deconstruction.

Stay in touch.

We take pride in helping people from all walks of life achieve peace.