Send us a Positive Review! In honor of our very beloved Carol Lynn Pearson (a bold, sassy woman and the dearest of mentors to me) I wanted to share this beautiful two-part conversation that we had early in the podcast. Listen in and take in what true wit, wisdom, courage, healthy personal authority and value of one's community looks like all wrapped up in one glorious woman. Timestamps: 00:00 Intro and Re-Release 03:29 Meet Carolyn Pearson 10:38 Writing as Calling 15:37 Goodbye I Love ...

Send us a Positive Review! Join Val as her audience while she does a final run through on a topic that has come to be a passion project for her on Latter Day Struggles. In short, what can we do as faith-expanding people in and around the LDS church to ease the polarization between the fiery fundamentalist Mormon and the fiery Ex-Mormon? Oddly enough, these two "poles" exist as counterpoints to one another on the opposite extreme. If one pole chooses a "third way" balance is...

Send us a Positive Review! Have you ever done something for the first time and feel that pit in your stomach as it approaches? Well, here at Latter Day Struggles, pretty much EVERYTHING that we do is a first! And it always brings that insecure "what have I gotten myself into?" sensation! This episode is Val's candid reflections about an evening shared with over a hundred "in person" and "streaming" loved ones who have experienced growth and healing with her. A ...

Send us a Positive Review! Lately there has been a lot of talk about the LDS disaffiliation crisis in the 21st century. Here at Latter Day Struggles we support open dialogue about what happening in our LDS homes and congregations. Please enjoy this special "audiobook" addition of a Latter Day Struggles series unpacking some groundbreaking research done by therapist Liz Macdonald exploring common LDS family dynamics shared by young adults whose disaffiliation experiences were the most c...

Send us a Positive Review! In this episode Val digs into the concept of prophet worship [or any time humans hand over their discerning power to a formal authority figure] from the context of psychology and the “shadow”. While we tend to talk about our “shadows” from the context of that which we are ashamed of, sometimes we actually disown our greatest divine attributes. Tune in to this episode to learn why this happens and how to reintegrate our “golden shadows” back into our core...

Send us a Positive Review! In this episode Valerie tackles a seemingly contradictory pair of claims: The LDS church is experiencing record-breaking growth! The LDS church is experiencing record-breaking defection! Is one narrative simply not true? Interestingly, the answer is no, both narratives are true. Join Val as she unpacks these seemingly contradictory claims & breaks down how these claims reflect specific kinds of data collection. She also explores how...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Torn: Why People We Love are Leaving the Church & What We Can Learn from Them [Part III of III] In this final episode of this beautiful series featuring guest author Jeff Strong & his bestselling book Torn: Why People We Love are Leaving the Church & What We Can Learn from Them, Val & Jeff cover four "culture imbalances" that thousands of disaffiliated LDS offered as reasons they could not grow in the context of the LDS church. Listen i...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Torn: Why People We Love are Leaving the Church & What We Can Learn from Them [Part II of III] In this fascinating episode, guest author Jeff Strong & Valerie tackle several key points that Jeff courageously and gently addresses in his bestselling book Torn: Why People We Love are Leaving the Church & What We can Learn from Them. Today, Jeff & Val lay out several culture issues that are pressuring the need for churches to adapt-not beca...

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Torn: Why People We Love are Leaving the Church & What We Can Learn from Them [Part 1 of 3] In this three part series, Valerie is joined by Jeff Strong- friend, colleague, and author of the best-selling book Torn: Why People We Love are Leaving the Church & What We Can Learn from Them. In this opening episode, Jeff shares his personal experience as an LDS bishop and father at a crisis point in time when his missionary son disclosed that he was ...

Send us a Positive Review! In this episode, Valerie & colleague Jana Spangler are guests on Dan Wotherspoon's Latter Day Faith podcast where they talk about a little known version of the human shadow. Many of us know about the 'classic shadow'...you know...parts of ourselves that we are ashamed of and seek to hide. What about parts of ourselves that we also hide...even though they are our our strengths, our superpowers and even manifestations of our unique spiritual gifts &am...