Resources

Local to Northern Utah:

Mental/emotional: 


The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint's new website for Betrayal Trauma: This is a phenomenal resource!!! The site splits into three options: 1. Those struggling with addiction 2. Those struggling with betrayal trauma from a spouse's addiction 3. Parents by addresses both how to prevent addiction and also how to support a child with addiction. There is also info for leaders. It combines those who have personal experience with professionals and church leaders (including women leaders)

Also, check out the Gospel Library App for some new resources:
Go to Life Helps--->Pornography Use--->Help for Spouses (so much info including a large list of resources outside of the Church to help support your healing process)!

https://www.connexionsclassroom.com/ : Also check out episode #105 of her podcast. Jodi, the course creator, is a life coach (retired therapist) who has put together three courses. I cannot speak highly enough about my experience with her first course!!! (I will come back after future courses). These are the same principles that Mark and I discovered to be at the roots of our addiction and trauma. Powerful, powerful stuff!!! It's a 6-week course with a workbook, master classes, and weekly group interaction with Jodi.

Group Counseling Programs:
*Addo (in Logan)
Address: 40 West Cache Valley Blvd, Suite 3C Logan, UT 84341
Phone: (855) 229-2336

*Lifestar (Brigham City, Ogden)
Address: 120 N Main St, Brigham City, UT 84302
Phone: (801) 814-6561

CSAT (Certified Sex Addiction Therapists):

HERE is a great list of questions from the S.A. Lifeline website to help you decide if the therapist you may be considering is qualified to help you.

12-step Groups:

*LDS supporting an addict: 1. current schedule (there are phone-in options!) 2. manual
*LDS addiction: 1. current schedule (there are phone-in options!) 2. manual
*Healing Through Christ: 1. No current local meetings 2. manual ($3.99 digital copy; $15 printed)
*S.A. Lifeline: 1. current schedule (there are online options) 2. Manual

*Please note that I have been told that the meetings in Brigham City aren't as safe or healthy as other groups in our area. My personal favorite when I was regularly attending is the one at Pleasant View (Weber High Seminary BLDG). I have continued to hear positive things about that group as well as the Logan group (the meetings for spouses). Regardless, I would encourage individuals to try more than one group. Every group has a different dynamic, even within the same program. Try different groups until you find one where you feel comfortable attending, then I would suggest considering 6 weeks before deciding whether or not you will continue (but go with what feels right for you).

Physical: (trauma can be stored in the body)

*Corey Sondrup:
Chiropractor.  He is trained and certified in an entire slew of healing techniques, such as EMDR, a technique proven to help with PTSD.  Since he is a chiropractor, these visits can be run through insurance!
Address: 1117 Country Hills Dr, Ogden, UT 84403
Phone: (801) 476-1752

*Emily Christensen:
Massage Therapist/Energy Kinesiologist LMT
Address: 9 W Forest St Brigham City, Utah
Phone: (435) 279-6906

*Katy Willis
Quantum Neuro Reset Therapy (QNRT)
Address: 9 W Forset St. Brigham City, Utah
Phone: (435) 339-3274

Although I feel a bit awkward to include myself on this list, I am only one of two QNRT practitioners in the state of Utah and QNRT is a powerful tools for the aftermath of trauma!

*Yoga classes:

Almost 70% of individuals with a partner/spouse with a pornography or sex addiction experience most of the symptoms of PTSD (see Kevin Skinner, Treating Trauma from Sexual Betrayal, page 7). Check out the link to understand how yoga can help you if you struggle with symptoms of PTSD or Post-Traumatic Stress. Yoga has been proven to be a more effective treatment for PTSD than any medication currently on the market. 

You can also check out the podcast where I was interviewed by Geoff Steurer. We talked about the brain, trauma, and yoga from an Anatomy & Physiology standpoint.

Be Still Services yoga classes:
Again, I feel awkward including myself on this list; however, my training, experience, and expertise are unique for Northern Utah. I teach yoga therapy courses to adults and kids.  I am going on for additional training to support those struggling with addiction through yoga and diet. Classes are currently held in Brigham City, UT with kids yoga in Tremonton. Details for adults: here. Details for kids: here. I am also currently building an online school with pre-recorded classes coming asap.

Backpocket yoga classes:
Sariah is an amazing, amazing teacher with experience in yoga therapy and working with women experiencing betrayal trauma! You can subscribe for access to her pre-recorded yoga classes. You can choose to pay a small monthly fee ($12) or be billed yearly instead or a one-time fee for unlimited life time access. Some of my training has been with Sariah and I cannot speak highly enough of her! Check out her classes HERE.

Tree of Life yoga classes:
Nam Joti (Felice) teaches Kundalini yoga and meditation as taught by Yogi Bhajan. She has pre-recorded classes that you can purchase and join online. Kundalini yoga is the first style of yoga I found and have had a daily practice ever since. It is powerful, powerful stuff and all other types of yoga stem from it. Nam Joti was my first teacher (where I don't count my experience with the DVD's in my basement as my teacher with no personal interactions). :) Check out her classes HERE.

Creativity:


Jeff Brown Soul Shaping writing course: this is such a therapeutic 6-week course! There is healing in writing even if you don't consider yourself a writer. Jeff encourages you to find your unique voice by guiding you to "Write Your Way Home---" home to yourself. Participating in the FB group is optional. Class participants were extremely open in sharing their writing project (Be warned that it may be uncomfortable or triggering for some. I personally was grateful for the rawness).

Nam Joti's The Artist's Way + Kundalini Yoga course: Fabulous 12-week course to uncover your creativity. When did you stop dancing, writing, drawing? Even if you don't consider yourself an artist, creative recovery work can literally help move the trauma in from being lodged in your brain to another place in your brain that you can actually process it.

Online Resources:

*Trauma Assessment:
You can take a free trauma assessment put together by Dr. Kevin Skinner (and others?) HERE.  This assessment will generate a result of low, low-moderate, moderate, moderate-high, elevated for each one of the 5 areas of PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder). About 70% of those who are sexually betrayed by a partner experience most of the symptoms of PTSD.  A moderate result simply reflects that a person is experiencing the common symptoms of trauma whereas lower or higher than moderate demonstrates experiencing fewer or more symptoms than the other participants.  Consider seeing a qualified therapist who understands trauma with scoring “moderate-high” in two or more areas. One area of “elevated” means a person should seek out qualified and specialized professional help (CSAT---Certified Sex Addiction Therapist).

*Podcasts:
Illuminate Podcast with Geoff Steurer Geoff is a therapist with LifeStar in St. George


*Betrayal Trauma Recovery (Pay with your HSA---Health Savings Account--- for these services!)
Interactive webinars, topic based groups, coach led Facebook groups, and individual sessions with trained and certified betrayal trauma coaches. I have mixed feelings about this resource. They believe in a different model of care than most. They believe that pornography use = abuse. Although I agree with some of their principles, I believe that addicts can change and recover (I watched my own husband transform and change) and I the ways I interact or approach him can shut him down if I am insensitive. However, on the other hand, I believe it's a great resource for women who truly are facing an abusive relationship and/or have a narcissist husband.

*Bloom For Women ($10/month)
Monthly subscription gives access to: educational videos; live classes; blog posts, articles, ebooks, videos, chat sessions, and podcasts designed by professionals and enhanced by community members. It also offers yoga and connection to other women within the Bloom community.

*Satisfied Course ($29 for this 8 week online course)
I cannot speak highly enough about this course!!!  If you want to understand how to make the Atonement personal, then this course will give you a huge step in that direction.  These are pre-recorded classes, so go at your own pace. 77% of those who have been through the sexual infidelity of a partner admit they turn to avoidance activities such as over-eating, over-sleeping, drinking, internet surfing, etc. at least half of the time in order to stop thinking about what the spouse did (Kevin Skinner, Treating Trauma from Sexual Betrayal, 31).  Jaci masterfully teaches how to abide in Christ instead of turning to those things that will only temporarily fill us. She focuses on food as the "distraction of choice;" however, the same patterns apply to whatever we are turning to.

*Mindweather 101 Course (free)
I just started this course, so I will come back and fill in more info/update once I have completed it.  This course was put together by 35 individuals, both professionals and those with personal experience.  It was created to educate individuals about the newest information available on mental health relating to the emerging research about the neuroplasticity (molding or changing) of the brain. It also about teaching mindfulness, or being more aware of self, others, and our surroundings in this moment.

*LDS Hope & Healing: (free)
Blog, forum, and other information for LDS women.

*Body Image Breakthrough Course  (free)
Jaci Wightman's created this course off of her book, Body Image Breakthrough. Many, many women inaccurately connect their husband's addiction with their physical appearance and/or sexual performance. Although Body Image Breakthrough wasn't written from a betrayal trauma specific perspective, I read it as I was in my beginning stage of healing. I believe it stemmed the tide on body image issues for me from my husband's infidelity/addiciton.

*Tell your bishop and/or stake president about Light Boxes.
This is a non-profit organization that can help you bring free care packages to women battling betrayal trauma (or facing other types of traumatic events) to your congregation or community.

My Top Reads for Wives of Sex Addicts:




*What can I Do About Me? Rhyll Croshaw: I have mixed feelings about this book. I believe it was a really great step in the right direction, where at the time it was published, there wasn't anything like it yet. I feel like it is based on the old model of care, though (co-dependency rather than betrayal trauma). This was published before much information was available on betrayal trauma. I include it on this list because although it isn't as up-to-date as other information, co-dependency can still be an important topic to understand.




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Resources for bishops or clergy:

*The LDS Church has a beta website for betrayal trauma! There is even a separate page for those who just found out. It is extremely well done!

*Counseling Resources. My Stake President says this isn't a new website; however it is only available to Ward and Stake Council Members, so it's new to me with now having access. :) It gives a good overview and hopefully creates compassion and awareness for leaders. You have to login into lds.org in order to access it.

*Bishops' Resource This is what I put together for our stake fall 2017. It has the best and most up-to-date information I am aware of from both leading professionals in harmony with the gospel and also what I have learned from my own personal experience from betrayal trauma and working with other women in their own healing processes. The original document was almost 50 pages of information and resources; some information has been removed from the original document in this copy (I had permission to use copyrighted info in our local copies, but haven't heard back about keeping the info in a viral copy). The purpose of the document is for clergy to be aware enough of betrayal trauma to create safety for the women, empower the women by connecting them with resources, and understand the potential role they can play as a member of their long-term support team---especially for their spiritual healing needs.

*Be sure to check out THIS beautiful non-profit to bring Light Boxes (care packages) to your congregation and area. HERE is our stake's Christ-centered spin-off for $9.24/box.

The following resources are not in the Bishops' Resource document yet:

*In terms of helping you understand as much as possible about pornography and betrayal trauma all in one place, I recommend the recent Liberating Saints Virtual Summit from LeadingSaints. It has interviews with over 20+ top therapists, professionals, and doctors with information that is helpful to individuals serving as leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The all Access Pass is around a $50 donation to the non-profit. It gives you unlimited access to all the interviews so you can review them as many times as you want/need. HERE Specifically, I highly recommend Geoff Stuerer's interview and also Adam Moore if you work with YSA in any capacity. Again, a bit awkward for me share my own resources; however, I was interviewed about spiritual healing for betrayal trauma. So worth the investment!!!

*Jodi at ConneXions has a version of her course that is free to interested clergy. Email: support@connexionsclassroom.com. This course is phenomenal!!!! It teaches you have to work at the root level for those struggling with addiction, mental health, and trauma. 

*Read the First Presidency's letter and the policies on how to respond and prevent abuse HERE. 


*Do's and Dont's for Bishops counseling with a betrayed spouse from LDS Family Services HERE. 


*Dr. Kevin Skinner's TedeX talk; a basic overview in understanding betrayal trauma HERE. I believe it goes hand-in-hand with ministering efforts. We have to learn how to sit with others in their pain rather than reacting to what they share in ways that can create secondary trauma.


*And THIS Ensign article, "When Pornography Hits Home---Wives and Husbands Both Need to Heal."

*Episodes 7 & 8 of the Illuminate Podcast would be extremely helpful to understand betrayal trauma.

*Episodes 9 & 10, also of the Illuminate Podcast, discuss full disclosure. Couples who intend to stay married benefit from seriously considering a full disclosure and clergy can at least encourage it or even be involved in the process as they are prepared to successfully support it.


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