Faith Expansion Growth & Processing Support Groups
Upcoming Growth & Processing Group
October 2025
Wednesdays: 7:00 – 8:50 pm CT
Investment: $150/month
What does a Growth & Processing Group include?
- Virtual group meetings
- Small group breakout sessions
- Dedicated private Facebook group page
- Dedicated private Marco Polo group
- Podcast guest opportunities
6 months
- Frequent Live Support from Valerie
- 4-hours a month (18 sessions total per 6-month semester)
- Three monthly 80-minute sessions of synchronous time with Valerie. Each session typically includes a mini-master class, Q&A, individual mini-coachings, and group processing of a variety of faith-expansion related topics.
- Optional Small Breakout Support Groups after each 80-minute session
- Post-session virtual breakout sessions after group meetings for those who prefer smaller, more intimate settings.
- A great opportunity to process some of the most important faith expansion work with a small group of open hearted, open-minded members.
- Between-Session Group Connection
- Connect throughout the week with your group via a private Facebook page, where current group members find more connection, and expand on content connected to the group’s work and interests.
- Connect throughout the week privately via Marco Polo with fellow group members.
- Historically, several support groups have arranged their own in-person gatherings, lunches, weekend retreats, etc., where members can further connect and lengthen their relationships both during and after the group finishes.
- Podcast Guest Opportunities
- Occasionally, group members are invited to come on the podcast as guests to share their own experiences in faith expansion. Val prefers interviewing group members over others, as she limits guest appearances to those whom she personally knows and loves.
BEGINNING GROUP CURRICULUM
(Semester I: Months 1-6)
Section I:
- Introductions to help support groups begin to feel safe with one another in their unique but related LDS faith journeys
- MASTERCLASS: Stages of community development and setting group intention to form safe, healthy community
Section II:
True Self & Internal Family Introduction
- Introduce Valerie’s Spiritual Growth Cycle Graphic as a map for the work of curriculum for the whole year
- Focus on Spiritual Growth Cycle Section I: REMEMBER
- MASTERCLASS: True Self & its connection to faith expansion
- True Self identity statement group sharing
- Introduction of False Self identities (shadow parts, protector part, wounded part)
- Group processing of *WHY* focus on true self development and internal family work is fundamental to the faith expansion healing journey
- MASTERCLASS: Meditation as fundamental to the strengthening of true self development
Section III:
Universal Cycles of Growth
- Introduction to universal life cycles: birth/death/rebirth (order/disorder/reorder)
- Group processing of life cycles within each members lives connected to larger life and specific to LDS faith expansion journey
Section IV:
Early Life Integration Work
- MASTERCLASS: How the human identity is formed
- “I Am From” Group activity & sharing
- Early unconscious/present patterning group exploration & sharing
- Present conscious corrective identity formation group exploration & sharing activity
- Integration of True Self development and its impact on healing early False Self ideas, beliefs, etc.
- MASTERCLASS: Section III—REVISIT (True Self development makes possible the growing connection between present True Self & earlier moments in life that need care, attention, nurture)
- Valerie will facilitate “Revisit” meditations throughout the course work in weekly meditations that occur at the beginning of each group
INTERMEDIATE GROUP CURRICULUM
(Semester II: Months 7-12)
Section I:
Claiming Personal Authority in Spiritual Belief & Practice
- Introductions (if applicable)
- MASTERCLASS: Session I Review & group reflection activity
- MASTERCLASS: Focus on Spiritual Growth Cycle Section IV, V, VI: Spiritual Growth Cycle—REJECT, RECONCILE, RECLAIM
- Focused activities for “Reject” and “Reclaim”: Group present their ongoing personal work regarding personal experiences “rejecting” that which does not serve and “reclaiming” (or “claiming” for the first time) what they believe
- Focused activities on “Reconcile”—Val facilities an open forum on a topic chosen by the group that is complex, overwhelming, and undecided (& to model openness in people being in different places in their faith journey, acquiring openness to mystery)
Section II:
LDS Faith Expansion & Relationship Complications
- Focus on Spiritual Growth Cycle Section VII: RENEGOTIATE
- MASTERCLASS: Empathy building as foundation of relationship work in LDS faith expansion work
- MASTERCLASS & group reflection and activities processing Human Attachment Model
- MASTERCLASS & group reflection and activities processing Narrative Making and its impact on relationship in the LDS faith journey
- MASTERCLASS & group reflection and activities processing False Self strategies (protector parts, wounded parts, shadow parts) that emerge within relationships due to LDS faith expansion journey
- MASTERCLASS & group reflection and activities processing human differentiation & its correlation to recovering from relationship difficulties due to LDS faith journey
- MASTERCLASS & group reflection and activities processing managing the tension between belonging to Self and belonging to community
- Renegotiate Part II—Faith Crisis/Expansion and human attachment (your attachment styles with self, others, church, and higher power)
- Renegotiate Part III—Faith expansion and narrative making in close relationships
Section III:
Consolidation Phase
Closing ceremony—personal I statement sharing, sharing of learnings, growth, group experience, etc.
Year in Review and Q&R
Many people feel immediately bonded to their group due to the intense isolation they have felt leading up to the discovery of the Latter Day Struggles Podcast and this group experience.
However, it is entirely common for the group experience to be intimidating early on and it can take a few months to truly warm up to your cohort and get comfortable with the beauty of this process. Therefore, Valerie does not offer refunds for those unsatisfied with their group experience but invites people to see the process through and give the experience a full six months.
As you all likely know, this is a group for those trying to have a healthy relationship with the LDS church in any capacity that feels healthy to you.
It is not about “in” or “out”…it is only about working to heal and become healthy in the context of our relationship with the LDS church. How you choose to relate to the church as you become healthy is completely up to you, as you exercise your agency and embrace your ability to discern for yourself what is best for you.
As a therapist, Valerie wants to form the expectation that we strive to be as psychologically healthy, open to truth, and respectful of the lived experiences of one another. We commit to approaching the complexity of our mutual concerns with love, openness, and dignity.
Valerie looks forward to meeting you!
- How often does Valerie run support groups?
- Group offerings vary each year. Keep checking this page, email us at admin@latterdaystruggles.com , or follow us on Instagram: @latterdaystrugglespodcast for more information.
- Does Valerie facilitate the support groups herself:
- Yes!
- What happens if not enough people sign up for a support group? Will it still run?
- Starting date may change if interest is slower. However, groups have never started more than one month after the initially designated start date.
- If I miss a group, are they recorded?
- The are not, and this is because of the sensitive nature of group experiences. Currently, however, we are working on recordings of each meditation and mini-masterclass portions. Soon, when group members enroll, they will be able to purchase the recordings as an add-on at checkout.
- Though we do not record the sessions, an email is sent out each week following the session, giving a summary of what was discussed. Group members who miss will be able to keep up by reviewing these summaries, and ongoing discussion of what was covered is available using the Facebook and Marco Polo groups.
- Can my partner join the group with me?
- Couples sharing a screen can join a Latter Day Struggles group for one tuition fee.
- When I enroll in the first semester beginning group, am I automatically enrolled in the second semester?
- No. Group members will be notified at month 5 of the first semester inviting them to enroll for the second semester intermediate group. Those who wish to continue will be given instructions on how to enroll. Valerie strongly encourages students to stay involved in the group for the entire year to maximize growth and solidify the material taught.
- Can I get a refund if I do not like the group?
- No, unfortunately. Group experiences are successful when people commit to staying involved and work through any discomfort, vulnerability, or other challenges that can arise at the beginning of the group process. For special circumstances, however, Valerie will consider a partial refund, or transfer the tuition to a future session, due to unavoidable schedule changes or hardships, and evaluated on a case-by-case basis.