Who We Are
Reclamation Collective is committed to holding space for folks navigating Religious Trauma and Adverse Religious Experiences. We hope to support you as you reclaim, or claim for the very first time, your identity, pleasure, and autonomy.
What We Do
Our Values
Meet the RC Team
Reclamation Collective honors the diversity of thought and validate the countless paths that lead to healing, inner peace, and relational harmony.
What We Do:
The work of Reclamation Collective is informed by our many partnerships and collaborations with trauma-informed clinicians, community leaders, and activists who validate the wide spectrum of experiences and symptoms that may present following an Adverse Religious Experience.
We aspire to honor diversity of thought and validate the countless paths that lead to healing, inner peace, and relational harmony through deconstruction and reclamation. Whether you are experiencing a wave of anger or resentment towards your faith of origin or you are in the process of trying to reclaim or reconstruct within a faith context, your voice matters and your experience is valid.
As a community advocacy organization, Reclamation Collective offers a wide variety of support groups, workshops, online resources and support for people along the wide spectrum of deconstruction and reclamation.
Our Values:
Value Statement:
Reclamation Collective is committed to holding space for folks navigating Religious Trauma and Adverse Religious Experiences. This work is informed by our many partnerships and collaborations with trauma-informed clinicians, community leaders, and activists who validate the wide spectrum of experiences and symptoms that may present following an Adverse Religious Experience. We aspire to honor diversity of thought and validate the countless paths that lead to healing, inner peace, and relational harmony through deconstruction and reclamation. Please explore our eight values below which direct and guide all of our efforts.
We value diversity of thought, expression, and spiritual practice, and intend to validate all who identify with religious trauma regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, faith identity, mental health, physical or cognitive ability, or any other marginalized identity.
Religious Trauma is real, as are the negative outcomes that often result from Adverse Religious Experiences. Regardless of clinical distress, diagnosis, or treatment of symptoms, everyone’s experience of religious trauma is valid.
We honor the many paths to inner peace and relational harmony, which may or may not include a reclaimed spiritual practice or community. We value holding space in which all participants are safe from personal attack and proselytization.
We value honest conversation surrounding colonization, homophobia, patriarchy, and white supremacy. We aspire to boldly name connections between these oppressive themes within the church.
We value freedom from shame and believe that shame is never a healthy or ethical tactic to inspire change.
We value mental health and prioritize self-love and self-care in the daily maintenance of all brains and bodies. We celebrate when people are able to access mental health treatment and professional support to seek healing and relief.
We value sex-positive language that both celebrates
and mandates enthusiastic consent.
We value lifelong learning and openness as we continue to expand on our understanding of trauma-informed care for the wide spectrum of Adverse Religious Experiences.
Meet the Co-Founders of Reclamation Collective:
Kayla Felten, MSW, LICSW
She/Her
Kayla grew up in Chicagoland suburbs in a faith context called the Plymouth Brethren. While childhood was peaceful and she had a strong sense of safety and security, Kayla felt entirely unprepared for the mental, relational, and spiritual pain that her deconstruction journey inspired in young adulthood. From identifying that her body belongs to her, to grieving the loss of ‘beloved community,’ Kayla found her greatest supports on her Reclamation journey to be travel, dance, and therapy.
Kayla’s focus within the Collective is developing support group curriculum, facilitating retreats, and collaborating with community leaders and activists to offer psychoeducation workshops.
Kendra Snyder, MA, LMFT, NCC
She/Her
Kendra is a North Dakota native who grew up in the conservative Evangelical Free Church. In high school she was deeply involved in her local church and attended bible college to pursue full-time ministry. While pursuing her graduate degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Kendra endured a very painful, shaming, and isolating season within her religious community. It was these experiences that were the catalyst for deconstructing dogmatic beliefs and reclaiming her voice, intuition, and whole self. It has been through Kendra’s own therapeutic journey, authentic friendships, and creative expression through music and pottery, that she has found the support needed for grief and healing.
Kendra’s focus within the Collective is clinician training and support, literature development, resource referral, and expansion of our clinician database. She also offers psychotherapy through her private practice, specializing in religious trauma, spiritual abuse, and supporting those impacted by adverse religious experiences. To find out more, please visit www.kendrasnydertherapy.com.
Kendra Snyder (Left) and Kayla Felten (Right)