Leaving religion can come at a high personal cost – not only socially or culturally, but mentally and emotionally. Yet the psychological impact of religious trauma and deconversion remains one of the most overlooked issues in mainstream mental health discourse.

This year’s Faith to Faithless Apostasy Conference will bring together therapists, academics, and lived-experience voices to explore the mental health impacts of religious exit, with a focus on high-commitment religious groups and coercive faith-based environments.

From identity loss to family shunning, internalised fear to isolation, this one-day event will offer deep insight into what it means to leave faith behind — and what support looks like in the aftermath.

Whether you’re a mental health professional, a frontline worker, a researcher, or someone with lived experience of religious trauma, this conference offers space to listen, learn, and connect.

The Hope Valley Counselling Certificate in The Walking Free Model: Counselling for Coercive, Cultic and Spiritual Abuse (C-WFM) was formerly known as the Certificate in Post-Cult Counselling (C-PCC). It is designed to equip therapists and other professionals to work with survivors of coercive, cultic and/or spiritually abusive groups and relationships using the Walking Free Model. The training takes place online over 14 days, divided into three sessions. It is next planned for delivery in 2025-26.