Becoming Me: Unraveling and Healing the Sacred Wounds of Religious Trauma in Women

by Cassidy Duhadway

What if the very faith that shaped you is also the source of your deepest wounds?



Becoming Me is a powerful and heartfelt invitation to name what was never allowed to be spoken. Rooted in both lived experience and clinical expertise, this book explores the invisible wounds carried by women shaped in systems where faith, identity, and survival are deeply intertwined.



Blending memoir, client stories, and therapeutic insight, DuHadway exposes the generational beliefs, cultural expectations, and internalized messages that have gone unnamed for too long-revealing how religious teachings shape your worth, your body, your relationships, and the choices you never thought you were allowed to make.



This is for the woman who did everything "right" and still felt not enough. For the one unraveling. For the therapist wanting to understand. For anyone questioning the cost of belief and carrying the grief of what was lost.

235 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 24, 2025

Reviews

[Aubri Cebollero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cassidy is an expert therapist, writer, and trainer who has taught me so much in my own work as a therapist. This book deeply resonated with many of my personal experiences within the LDS faith and helped me better understand my own journey of deconstruction.

As a therapist, I especially appreciated the chapter on working with clients navigating religious trauma, particularly along the spectrum of belief within the LDS community. Cassidy beautifully captures the inner experiences I so often witness in my work with women in Utah—trauma, core beliefs, and the lasting impact of religion.

I found myself highlighting passage after passage to return to later. This book will be an invaluable resource for both women and therapists alike. I highly recommend it to anyone seeking to better understand their own religious trauma, and to all healers who walk alongside others in the process of healing.

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

My never-Mormon therapist read this book and then encouraged me, a post-Mormon, to read it as well. It’s wonderful and puts much of my Mormon experience into words I didn’t know I had. When reading it, take care and take time. I will be referencing my copy and recommending it to those hurt by Mormonism for a long time.

[Whitney Therrien · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would recommend this to anyone in the early stages of faith crisis, deconstruction, or just struggling with the complexities of being in the LDS church, and who haven’t gone to therapy before. But for most people I would recommend When Religion Hurts, because it presents research and in-depth analysis of what religious trauma is, along with concrete examples of the symptoms and what to do next.

Becoming Me is a quick read that will validate any Mormon woman who’s starting to wake up to her true self and the cracks in her belief system, but this book could have gone much deeper. The writing is repetitive and choppy, which can be affirming to hear in a therapist’s room, but doesn’t make for great reading. Anecdotes were simplified, and outside sources of evidence-based therapy practices or studies on trauma were completely missing. But I think the purpose of this book is to be approachable, and to teach basic grounding principles when processing internal upheaval. The author covers a lot about the LDS experience for women, and because I know this book will be a helpful tool for many, I’m reluctant to rate it under 4 stars. The positive impact it has already had for others negates my personal criticism, and this book provides a soft starting point for those who need it.

[Krista Duarte · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a therapist, this book highlights the importance of truly doing your own work to show up for your clients, especially when helping them navigate religious trauma. Cassidy beautifully tells her own story while weaving the stories of others into the way religion and trauma shapes beliefs, relationships, and strategies that can suppress who we really are. As someone who grew up in Utah, but not Mormon, I didn’t realize how much of the culture shaped my own belief system. I didn’t realize how I fell into the same traps to belong and be seen, but not be too much. There were moments in reading that I was able to see myself. I saw my clients, the ones that are trying to navigate religious trauma. Cassidy highlights the healing and challenges for those who are navigating high demand religions. While the book is focused on the Mormon religion, there were parallels that made the material relatable. A must read for those who are navigating high demand religions.

[Amanda Degler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a heavy read in the beginning as it opens your eyes to all the small moments that can have a lasting impact on you, but it also feels deeply validating to have these things named and brought to light. As a therapist and a precious member of a high control religious organization, this book spoke to me and to the work I do with my clients. I'm so thankful for this resource and plan to pass it on to many as they are ready. I really loved how Cassidy wove important concepts of Internal Family Systems/Parts work into this book and for those looking to continue this work with a therapist, I highly recommend seeking someone trained in IFS, Somatic Work, and EMDR. I have found all of these to bring huge breakthroughs in healing for survivors of religious or other trauma.

Thank you Cassidy for this book. It's a gift and will help many feel supported as they navigate the way back to themselves.

[Holly Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for anyone who grew up in a high demand religion - whether you’ve left or still remain.
It is also well worth the read for anyone who had a friend, spouse, or client (therapists) who has left a high demand religion.
The book isn’t going to tell you to leave, so if you’re still in don’t worry about that. It simply helps us understand how we react to the system in which we were raised and how that manifests in our lives. It gives us tools to help us (and others) thrive - whether you’ve left or chosen to stay.

[Christopher DuHadway]

This book an excellent dive into religious trauma and the experience of being raised in a coercive religion. I'd recommend it to anyone looking to gain insight into their own religious baggage, whether large or small.