Mixed Faith Marriage Counseling

Yes. Many marriages do.

When one partner’s beliefs shift, it can feel destabilizing at first. Questions about shared values, children, church participation, and long-term compatibility often surface quickly. The goal of therapy is not to convince either partner to change spiritually. It is to help you build the emotional skills needed to stay connected even when beliefs differ.

Mixed faith marriages are not broken. They simply require new tools.

When one spouse steps away from the LDS Church, couples often experience grief, fear, relief, or even identity confusion — sometimes all at once.

Therapy focuses on helping both partners understand their emotional responses without framing one as right and the other as wrong. We work on differentiation, emotional responsibility, and communication so conversations about faith feel manageable rather than threatening.

The work is about protecting the relationship while honoring individual growth.

Yes.

When one partner leaves the LDS Church, it can feel like more than a change in belief. It can feel like a shift in identity, shared meaning, and even the future you thought you were building together.

It is common for the believing partner to experience grief, fear, or uncertainty. It is also common for the partner who has stepped away to experience relief, growth, confusion, or even guilt. These emotional timelines rarely move at the same pace.

Mixed faith marriage therapy focuses on helping both partners understand those emotional responses without framing one as right and the other as wrong.

The work centers on:

• Reducing reactivity and defensiveness

• Strengthening differentiation so neither partner has to abandon themselves

• Rebuilding trust and emotional safety

• Clarifying shared values that still anchor the relationship

• Navigating practical decisions around church participation and family life

Leaving the LDS Church does not automatically end a marriage. But it does require new relational skills, clearer communication, and emotional maturity on both sides.

Therapy provides a structured, thoughtful space to build those skills while honoring individual growth and the integrity of the relationship.

Mixed faith marriage counseling often addresses the relational strain that can develop when one partner experiences a faith crisis, leaves the LDS Church, or begins questioning long-held beliefs.

Couples commonly work on:

• Navigating different levels of church participation

• Deciding how to approach children’s religious upbringing

• Managing extended family expectations

• Rebuilding trust after secrecy or resentment

• Processing grief, fear, or relief related to a faith transition

• Addressing shifts in sexual expectations or intimacy

• Reducing conflict around values, morality, or long-term life direction

Sometimes one partner feels destabilized while the other feels growth or expansion. Therapy helps couples understand those different emotional timelines so conversations feel less threatening and more productive.

The goal is not to eliminate differences. It is to strengthen emotional maturity, differentiation, and connection so the relationship can remain steady even when beliefs evolve.

It is common for one partner to feel grief or fear while the other feels relief or growth. These different emotional timelines can create distance.

Mixed faith counseling helps you understand those timelines without escalating conflict. Instead of trying to solve the belief gap, we strengthen the relational foundation so differences feel less destabilizing.

No.

Mixed faith counseling here is not about pushing someone further away from belief or encouraging someone to return to it. It is not about taking sides.

Spiritual conviction and spiritual questioning are both treated as meaningful human experiences. The focus stays on how you relate to each other.

Both partners are welcome. Neither partner needs to defend their position in order to be respected.

Yes. Sexuality is often an important part of mixed faith relationship work.

When religious beliefs shift, couples may experience changes in sexual expectations, desire, boundaries, or emotional safety around intimacy. Topics like modesty, sexual scripts learned in faith culture, pornography beliefs, desire discrepancies, or changing values around sexuality can quietly impact connection.

In therapy, sexuality is approached with respect, emotional maturity, and without shame.

The goal is not to push couples toward any specific sexual framework. Instead, we help partners develop communication, clarity, and mutual understanding so intimacy can feel safe, authentic, and connected for both people.

As an AASECT-certified sex therapist, this work integrates relational skills, emotional differentiation, and a nuanced understanding of how faith and culture shape intimacy.

Many couples are surprised when intimacy changes during or after a faith transition. This is incredibly common and does not mean your relationship is broken.

For many people raised in LDS or religious cultures, sexuality was shaped by strong messages about purity, roles, or expectations about marriage. When beliefs begin to shift, those internal frameworks can change too.

Some partners may feel:

• New freedom alongside uncertainty or anxiety

• Grief around lost meaning or identity connected to sexuality

• Mismatched desire or shifting sexual values

• Increased self-awareness that brings previously hidden concerns into the open

• Fear of hurting their partner or being misunderstood

Sexual connection is deeply tied to emotional safety and identity. When identity is evolving, intimacy often needs new language, new understanding, and new relational skills.

In therapy, we focus on helping couples:

• Separate cultural messages from personal desire

• Rebuild emotional safety and communication

• Develop differentiation so partners can stay connected without needing to agree on everything

• Create a sexual relationship that reflects who you are now, not just who you were taught to be

This work is not about abandoning values. It is about building intimacy that feels authentic, respectful, and emotionally secure for both partners.

Many couples experience intimacy changes during faith transitions. You can learn more on our Sex Therapy page.

Yes. Faith crises often activate deeper fears about stability, safety, and the future of the relationship.

Therapy helps couples slow down reactive conversations and build clarity. When you can stay emotionally regulated and differentiated, decisions feel less urgent and less threatening. That creates space for honest conversations about belief, identity, and shared direction.

Yes.

Some couples navigating mixed faith dynamics are also processing religious trauma, shame, or identity shifts connected to leaving Mormonism. Therapy provides space to explore those experiences thoughtfully, without pathologizing belief or doubt.

When individual healing intersects with relationship stress, we integrate both into the work.

That is welcome here.

Therapy does not assume either partner needs to change spiritually. Many couples we work with include one deeply practicing partner and one questioning or post-faith partner.

The goal is emotional maturity and relational clarity, not spiritual conformity.

If you are looking for broader LDS-informed relationship counseling, you can read more here.

There is not a single right answer. It depends on what is happening.

If the primary distress is between you: communication breakdown, escalating conflict, emotional disconnection, or tension around belief differences, then couples therapy is usually the best starting point. Mixed faith dynamics are relational. They unfold between two people.

If one partner is actively processing a faith crisis, grief, trauma, or identity shifts that feel overwhelming, individual therapy can be helpful alongside relationship work. Some people need space to clarify their own beliefs and emotions before they can engage relationally with steadiness.

In many cases, couples therapy remains the foundation, with individual therapy used as support rather than a replacement.