Born & Raised: Treating Developmental Trauma from High-Control Groups

About this training

Survivors who experience the trauma of high-control groups during their crucial developmental years often present to therapy with distinct needs and challenges that require a tailored approach. Unlike adults who "opt-in" to high-control environments with an established pre-group identity, individuals born or raised in these settings experience pervasive control over their identity formation with far-reaching impacts. This presentation explores how authoritarian structure, coercive control, fear-based ideologies, and dysfunctional group norms shape a survivor's sense of self, cognitive development, attachment styles, and sense of autonomy. Facilitated by Anna Clark Miller, LPC-S and Michelle F. Moseley, LCMHC, this course equips clinicians to recognize the nuances of developmental religious/spiritual trauma in born-in survivors. Participants will examine clinical considerations related to family dynamics, purity culture, scrupulosity, multi-generational pressure, and more. The course provides actionable, trauma-informed therapeutic frameworks to navigate power dynamics in therapy, reframe shame-based narratives, establish client autonomy, and foster healthy identity exploration. LEARNING OBJECTIVES: 1) Differentiate between the impacts of high-control groups on those involved during childhood vs. those who opt-in as adults. 2) Identify the unique signs and symptoms of developmental trauma from high-control settings. 3) Incorporate trauma-informed therapeutic approaches tailored to this population into clinical work.