I had to reconstruct my own reality

By Dr. Marlene Winell ~

Leaving my faith was a very slow process.

I was raised by missionary parents and was devoutly religious for my entire childhood. Journal entries from my college years reveal swings between anguished frustration and renewed faith. I heaped blame for the problems on myself, looked to God for help, and thanked him for any improvements in my life.

In my everyday life, I lived with enormous guilt and frustration over not being the person I thought I should be. Good things were always due to God, and failures were always mine.

Looking back, I can see that self-respect was a near impossibility.

Like a lost child, when I left I had to reconstruct reality. I had to examine and recreate so many assumptions: about the meaning of life, the world, myself, others, the past, present, and future.

I eventually became a therapist, and it has been my great joy to help others to recover from the harm they experienced as a result of religious upbringing.

After years of my own private therapy practice, I created the Religious Recovery Retreats to give others a more immediate way to experience healing and recovery, and to help you move through this often painful, difficult process.




The loss of an all-encompassing belief system has profound consequences, including ambiguity and responsibility. In my own recovery, I had to deal with all of the same the issues I address in my book, counseling sessions, and retreats. 

I’ve found the retreats in particular to be a truly incredible time of connection, discovery, and profound healing.