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  • Release & Reclaim recovery group membership open
    Jul 24 2010 - 5:41pm

    A virtual support group for recovering from repressive religion

  • Fun Activities for Couples
    Jun 23 2010 - 7:24pm
    Important to every relationship is time together just relaxing and having fun. Here are some ideas for things to do.   Feel free to come up with your own of course. 
    • Buy bottles of soap bubbles and go to a nice place with a view and a breeze – a beach, hillside, top of a building, etc. Get comfortable, close your eyes, and imagine you are both about four years old.   O
  • New therapy GROUP starting Thursday, May 20
    May 13 2010 - 2:15pm

    Yay!   I now have a good time available to start the group I've been promising:  Thursdays from 7-8:30 PM.  This will be at my office in Berkeley at 1918 Bonita Way.  The group will last for 10 weeks with the option of continuing. 

  • The megachurch of Dallas
    May 1 2010 - 12:09pm

    Prestonwood Baptist Church

  • Learnings that Last
    Jan 26 2010 - 6:05am

    I’d like to think that the work I do has lasting effect, so I was thrilled to hear from a client after many years who told me she was still using life skills from a workshop I taught a long time ago.  It confirmed for me that crucial concepts and skills – the ones they never cover in school  – can indeed be learned with ease and efficiency. 

  • “Release and Reclaim” virtual support/therapy group
    Dec 12 2009 - 1:10pm
    Recovering from religious indoctrination can be difficult but it doesn't have to be lonely.  You can take part in a very supportive "Release and Reclaim" virtual group.
  • Sarah Palin, Warrior Princess for God
    Nov 23 2009 - 10:10pm

    Sarah Palin, Warrior Princess for God
     
    by Marlene Winell, Ph.D.
     
    (written mid-August, 2008, in the lead-up to the presidential election)
     

  • Reclaiming Gratitude
    Nov 23 2009 - 3:47pm

    Recently I had a very short, but encouraging little dream right before waking up. I had been feeling burdened by all the problems in the world. In my dream I got the message that “the butterflies are working to lift our spirits.” I woke up surprised and delighted. Later I shared it with a couple friends who also liked it, amused by the image. 

  • How Finding Jesus Helped Me Deconvert
    Nov 4 2009 - 2:28am

            If you come to San Francisco
            Be sure to wear flowers in your hair
            If you’re going to San Francisco
            You’re gonna meet some gentle people there

                                                                        Scott McKenzie

    I met Jesus in Golden Gate Park many years ago and he helped change my life. He sent me in a new direction – away from Christianity.

    I was reminded of it on Sunday, October 25, because it was the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, celebrated with enthusiasm at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. I wandered through the crowd with my grown son, Ryan, as we pushed our bicycles, enjoying the sights and sounds – 60’s music coming from the bands,tie-dyed banners, the smell of incense and herb, and booths selling candles, New Age books and music, psychedelic art, and healthy food. The event was free, and so was the painting – on your face, cloth banners, or sheets of paper on the ground. Peace signs were all around. The folks with gray hair and fond memories were well represented, but so were young people who missed the Summer of Love. Young girls had long hair and headbands, flowers, and even wings.

  • Rediscover Sensuality
    Jun 16 2009 - 1:05pm

    Techniques in Touching to Revitalize Relationships


         The skin is the most overlooked and underemployed sex organ of the human body. There are many areas of the body that you may consider nonsexual that respond pleasurably to stroking and caressing. To start developing comfort with touching and being touched, a simple massage of the skin is a good place to begin. A massage of the neck, the face, the temples, the eyes, the back, the buttocks, the legs, and even the feet may be pleasurable and nonthreatening. You may want to soak your feet in a container of soapy water while your partner massages them.

  • How do you deal with family?
    Dec 14 2008 - 4:56pm

    This is an invitation for contributions. It seems that many people who have recovered from religious indoctrination and feel rather healed in their personal lives still have a great challenge when it comes to relating to family members who are still "in the fold." What have you found works for you? Please write and I will post your insights for the benefit of others, as well as share some thoughts of my own. marlene

  • So Do You Believe in God?
    Dec 23 2008 - 9:34pm
    I get this question so frequently, I’ve decided to make a better effort to reply.  To be honest, I don’t like the question because it presumes we know what those words mean.  Here are some responses, touching on more or less serious aspects of the topic.  

    1.  Which god?  Do you mean Zeus, Baal, Athena, Shiva, Allah, Jehovah, or some other?  If you mean one of those, then no.   I am not a theist.  I don’t believe in an individual being that created and now controls the world.    

  • Is it Ok to Celebrate Christmas, Even if You're Not a Christian?
    Dec 23 2008 - 11:55am

    by Valerie Tarico

    I just love Christmas!" my friend Hannah confessed recently, "even though I'm appalled by Christianity." She sounded sheepish, as if loving Christmas somehow made her bad.

    Poor Hannah. I understand her tone of apology. What Hannah is appalled by isn't the broad range of kind, thoughtful Christians in her community . . .   

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/valerie-tarico/is-it-ok-to-celebrate-chr_b...

  • Mastering Your Monster (aka your "inner critic")
    Dec 22 2008 - 8:33pm

     A 10-session biweekly group

    This group is not currently scheduled; to express interest and receive an update when the group is organized, please write to mwinell [at] gmail [dot] com)

    Description:

  • What Child is This?
    Dec 22 2008 - 12:21am

    By Marlene Winell

    We can probably agree we don’t like the commercialism of Christmas, the stress, or the holiday angst.  Yet at the center of it all there is a powerful image that speaks to all of us – the Child.  It’s fascinating to me that once a year so many people stop everything, or at least pause, to acknowledge a Child.      

    But who is this Child of Christmas and why does the image have such power?  We have religious and secular interpretations, and  I would like to suggest a third – a soulful interpretation.  

  • Personal Goals: The Key to Self-Direction in Adulthood
    Dec 14 2008 - 5:44pm

    This is a chapter in the edited volume, Humans as Self-Constructing Living Systems: Putting the Framework to Work, Edited by M.E. Ford and D.H. Ford. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum, 1987.

    INTRODUCTION

  • Assessment of Personal Goal Hierarchies
    Dec 14 2008 - 5:44pm

    This article, published under Winell's previous name, Wadsworth, with Donald Ford, appeared in the Journal of Counseling Psychology, Vol. 30, Pp. 514-526, 1983. It includes findings from her doctoral research.

    Marlene Winell (Wadsworth) and Donald H. Ford
    Pennsylvania State University

  • Personal Goal Inventory
    Dec 14 2008 - 5:43pm

    An instrument for a self-guided assessment of one's personal goals.

    A self-administered instrument for assessing personal goals.

    (c) 1984 Marlene Winell

    PART 1. The AIMS Chart: Adult intentional & Motivational Systems

  • Fear of Hell
    Dec 14 2008 - 5:40pm

    Saturday, April 30, 2005

    Occasionally, there is an issue that seems to come up regularly with clients. Recently the topic has been a lingering fear of hell. I invited one client to comment on the way he was dealt with this, and he was kind enough to share with you these thoughts. I invite you to also email me with the methods you have developed to deal with this fear. Marlene

  • Religious Recovery Links
    Dec 14 2008 - 5:40pm

    These links are to websites relevant to religious recovery.

  • Annotated Bibliography of Resources for Recovery from Religion
    Dec 14 2008 - 5:24pm

    Categories:

  • From Holy to Whole: Reclaiming Spirituality
    Dec 14 2008 - 5:16pm

    This is a transcript of the keynote address at the annual meetings of the Eremos Institute of Australian Spirituality in Sydney, 1996. In the talk, Winell addressed the need to understand spirituality more broadly and to find ways to experience spirituality in daily life. The monopoly claimed by fundamentalists is rejected in favor of personal responsibility and creativity when defining what is spiritual.

  • Here and Now
    Dec 14 2008 - 5:16pm

    A one-act play inspired by a real event, this dramatic story takes on the hurt and frustration created by deep religious differences in a family. A minister father debates with his grown daughter until both are shouting and then crying. Through the conflict they finally reach other, relieved to find a very human connection.

    A man in his 70's and a woman in her early 30's walk along a beach. We hear sounds of surf, gulls, children.

    MOLLY: Are you alright to walk? You feel okay ?

  • Dear Born-again Christian,
    Dec 14 2008 - 5:13pm

    I know what you’re going through. Really I do. Partly because I’ve been there and partly because you are facing the same things that all of us face.

    There are several things that are incredibly uncomfortable about being human.

    First of all, we’re all going to die. This is the big kicker, actually. We can’t seem to avoid it, although people use many ingenious methods to fight it. Yet death is there and it throws our lives into relief.

  • How to speak with former friends from church
    Dec 14 2008 - 5:13pm

    Many of the people I work with in recovering from fundamentalism dread meeting up with contacts from their previous life because it can be so disturbing to be treated as "fallen." After working on this issue, one woman happily described finally being able to hold such a conversation and "come away intact," which I thought was an apt description. Here is a story I just received today from another woman who had an empowering experience and wanted to share it with others. I hope it will inspire you.