Your Therapist
Meet Jennifer Bartley, LMFT
“I genuinely love this work.”
I'm a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist specializing in religious trauma, faith deconstruction, and recovery from high-control religion.
Jennifer Bartley
LMFT
TN License #1668
How I Work
Questioning, deconstructing, or leaving a high-control faith is one of the most disorienting experiences a person can go through. It can shake your identity, your relationships, your sense of safety, and your understanding of who you are. A season like that deserves a therapist who genuinely understands it — not one learning alongside you.
My work is trauma-informed and grounded in respect for your autonomy. It is not my role to push you toward or away from any belief or conclusion— it's to offer tools, safety, and steady presence while you do your own work. I draw on several evidence-based approaches and tailor them to you:
- EMDR — Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
- IFS — Internal Family Systems
- ACT — Acceptance & Commitment Therapy
- DBT — Dialectical Behavior Therapy
I don't believe in one-size-fits-all therapy. I believe in listening carefully, following your pace, and trusting that you are the expert on your own experience.
A Personal Connection
This work is personal for me. I spent more than three decades fully immersed in a high-control religious group. When my faith collapsed, I lost my identity, my community, and my sense of self — and I spent years sorting through it, often feeling completely alone. Finding others who were walking the same path was a turning point in my own healing.
That experience is part of why I became a therapist, and part of why this work matters so much to me. I know the disorientation, the grief, and the slow, real process of rebuilding from the inside out. If you're recovering from religious harm, I understand it not only as a clinician, but as someone who has lived it.
Outside of session, you'll often find me outdoors — hiking and camping are where I reconnect with myself. I also offer walk-and-talk sessions on local trails when it's a fit, because movement and nature can be part of the healing, too.
Education & Licensure
- Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist — Tennessee (LMFT #1668), South Carolina, and Florida
- M.A. Marriage & Family Therapy (2003)
- B.A. Psychology (2002)
- Member — American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT)
Specialized Training
- Religious Trauma RecoveryTrained with Marlene Winell, PhD — author of Leaving the Fold — and led her recovery support groups
- Trauma & EMDRThe Creative Mindfulness Institute
- Internal Family Systems (IFS)IFS Institute
- Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)Russ Harris
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)Skills-informed practice
What Therapy With Me Looks Like
I work with adults navigating the many shapes religious harm can take, including:
- Religious trauma and the long aftermath of high-control religion
- Faith deconstruction, doubt, and changing or leaving your beliefs
- Spiritual and religious abuse
- Shame, fear, and the wounds of fear-based theology
- Religious intrusive thoughts and scrupulosity
- Grief over lost community, identity, and certainty
- Rebuilding identity, values, and meaning after religion
- Strain with family or partners as your beliefs change
- Trauma, anxiety, and life transitions across the lifespan
Sessions are held via secure telehealth for residents of Tennessee, South Carolina, and Florida. Therapy is provided through Daybreak Therapy, LLC, my private practice.
I'd love to meet you.
A free 15-minute consultation is the simplest first step. We'll talk about what you're carrying and whether working together feels like a fit.
Therapy consultations for TN · SC · FL residents · No commitment · Confidential