Faith Expansion Support Groups

Healing. Clarity. Community.

October Group is FULL

Next beginner group starts in April 2026.

$150/month (6 month commitment)

Check back in February 2026 to enroll!

What Are Latter Day Struggles Support Groups?

These live, therapist-led groups are designed to help you process the complexities of faith expansion within and around Mormonism — with guidance, community, and emotional safety.

Each semester includes:

3 live 80-minute group sessions/month with Valerie
Optional small breakout groups after each session
Access to a private Facebook group
Private Marco Polo group
Option to be a podcast guest (for those interested)
Total: 18 sessions over 6 months

What You’ll Receive

Live Support from Valerie

-4 hours of live monthly coaching
-Masterclasses, mini-coaching, Q&As, and rich group processing
-Grounded in clinical insight and lived experience

Optional Breakout Groups

-After each session, join a smaller group for deeper, more personal discussion
-Many participants say this is where their real breakthroughs happened

Between-Session Community Connection

–Facebook group for shared resources, questions, and ongoing support
–Marco Polo group for deeper connection through video chat

image is Latter Day Struggles podcast image with Nathan and Valerie Hamaker

Podcast Guest Opportunities

Valerie often invites group members to appear on the podcast and share their stories. Guest spots are offered only to those she knows personally — and she starts with you.

The Full Faith Expansion Journey: A Two-Year Healing Path

Many group members who begin with Semester One go on to complete the entire two-year curriculum — a rich, layered experience of spiritual and psychological healing. This journey is designed in four semesters:

Year One: Faith Expansion Introduction

These first six months build safety, language, and self-trust. The second semester deepens the work by exploring differentiation, relational healing, and the renegotiation of meaning within and beyond Mormonism.

Year Two: Faith Expansion Patriarchy and Healing

This advanced year-long experience is only open to those who have completed Semester 1. It is an integrative deep dive into the personal, relational, and systemic wounds that faith expansion often surfaces — particularly those tied to patriarchy, internalized gender roles, identity fragmentation, and institutional harm.

Curriculum Overview Semester 1:

Foundations of LDS Faith Crisis Healing (Months 1-6)

-Masterclass: Stages of community development

-Establishing group intentions

-Introducing Valerie’s Spiritual Growth Cycle
-Exploring True vs. False Self
-I-statement sharing
-Shadow work, protector parts, meditation practices

-“I Am From” identity activity
-Reconnecting your present True Self with earlier life experiences
-Weekly group meditation to support integration

-Understanding patterns of birth/death/rebirth
-Processing life cycles inside and outside LDS frameworks

Curriculum Overview Semester 2:

Redefining Belief & Relationship in LDS Faith Expansion (Months 7-12)

-Spiritual Growth Cycle (Reject, Reconcile, Reclaim)
-Group-led topics around ambiguity, mystery, and sovereignty

-LDS faith expansion and human attachment
-Narrative-making and its impact on connection
-Plato’s allegory of the cave
-Stages of faith and empathy building

-Differentiation and belonging
-Year-in-review
-Celebrating transformation and closure
-Transcending and including integration activity

Curriculum Overview Semester 3:

Fundamentals of Patriarchy Healing (Months 13-18)

-Examine and discuss the roots of Mormon patriarchy from the Jesus movement through the late 1980’s.

–Explore the difference between ascending and descending religions.Follow the arc of Mormon patriarchy as an early deviation from Protestantism and then its collision with the political Christian religious Right.

-Examine and explore the roles of patriarchy in Christianity’s/Mormonism’s fraught relationship with gender, power, sexuality, & purity.

-Deconstruct the myth that the nuclear heterosexual two-generation family has always been the Christian “norm” or ordained by God as the only/superior way to define family

-Discuss the insidiousness of patriarchy; break down how it is discovered, how its language is learned/unlearned, and how awareness/noncompliance can be converted into personal empowerment

-Discuss the snake as symbolic of wisdom, power, feminine energy/feminine divine

-Discuss and compare how the shedding of patriarchy is like the shedding of a snake’s outgrown skin

-Group Share/processing of personal “Molting Statements”

-Process the correlation between right/left brain attributes and their respective relationship with masculine/feminine energies

-Examine and explore dominant, recessive, co-dominance, mixed dominant brain types and how these correlate to masculine/feminine perception/cognition before environmental formation complicates identity formation

-Examine environmental factors involved in the development of masculine and feminine energies

-Explore personal masculine and feminine imbalances based on family/church/cultural influences

-Explore and process how feminine/masculine energies can be rebalanced to align with true self wisdom

Curriculum Overview Semester 4:

Reclaiming My Inner Balance (Months 19-24)

-Explore attributes of a healthily integrated vs. dysregulated brain using right/left and feminine/masculine language.

-Learn how to build regulation by strengthening underdeveloped feminine or masculine energies.

-Dive into inner child work using your increasingly integrated “true self” brain.

-Reflect and share real-life experiences of integration.

-Examine the impact of living in a left-brain dominant world (church, culture, family, etc.).

-Trace the rise of human consciousness and its evolution to the present day

-Explore how human consciousness development connects to both the emergence of rational masculine wisdom and the repression of the contemplative feminine

-Study the poetry and writings of Carol Lynn Pearson’s ‘Mother Wove the Morning’ and ‘Finding Mother God’

Possible Guest Speakers: Fiona Givens and/or Carol Lynn Pearson

-Study the evolution of the brain and accompanying “meaning-making systems” that lead to more empowerment

-Creative writing activity channeling your emerging “Fourth Order Consciousness” to respond to Ezra Taft Benson’s “To the Mothers in Zion” or “To the Fathers in Israel” text or ideas, embracing of your empowered life choices moving forward

-Share your personal re-authored statements as expressions of your integrated masculine/feminine self

-Revisit and reflect on messages from childhood/adolescent spiritual formation (Primary songs, YW/YM themes, the Proclamation on the Family, etc.)

-Identify what was helpful vs. harmful in shaping your integrated self using the emerging Fourth Order Consciousness meaning-making system

-Rewrite value statements for your younger self, children, or future generations

-Recap the journey, revisit key themes, and reflect on transformation

-Celebrate our collective growth and healing

Why So Many Continue for the Full Two Years

Most group members come in unsure what to expect — and many stay because of what they find.

The shared language, emotional safety, and spiritual honesty built in the first few months often create a bond between members that is rare and sacred. Many cohorts choose to continue their healing journey together, semester after semester, valuing both the structured content and the soul-level trust they’ve formed.

If you’re looking not just for insight but for transformation, this full two-year path offers the support, community, and guidance to get there — one season at a time.

Close-up of diverse hands shaking, symbolizing unity and cooperation.

Is This Group a Good Fit for Me?

This space is for anyone navigating a changing relationship with the LDS Church — regardless of whether you’re “in” or “out.”

Our focus is on:
✔ Healing spiritual trauma
✔ Processing ambiguity and grief
✔ Developing inner authority and discernment
✔ Building community with open-minded, open-hearted peers

If you’re seeking clarity, connection, and psychological growth, you’re in the right place.

Enroll Today

Hear from People Like You

These heartfelt testimonials illuminate how our support groups foster clarity, healing, and community. Listen to members share their honest journeys—from finding safety in shared stories to deep personal breakthroughs.

FAQs

Each semester runs for 6 months.

No. You’ll be invited to continue at month 5 and can opt into semester II if desired. Many groups find value in continuing on together through the full curriculum.

Yes! Couples sharing a screen pay a single tuition fee.

Live sessions are not recorded to preserve privacy. However: – Meditation & masterclass portions will soon be available as add-ons – Session summaries are emailed weekly – Facebook & Marco Polo discussions allow for asynchronous connection

Yes. Every session is taught and guided by Valerie.

No. This is deep and vulnerable work. It often takes a few months to settle in. For special circumstances, we may offer a partial refund or apply your tuition toward a future session.

Valerie’s Note to You

“These groups are not about convincing anyone to stay or go. They’re about helping you get honest, healthy, and grounded — no matter where your journey leads. I’m here to help you become who you truly are, and to walk with others doing the same.”

👉 Enroll Today