BONUS EPISODE: Why the LDS Church is Vulnerable to Underreporting of Child S*x Abuse & What to Do

Latter Day Struggles

Valerie Hamaker

Spirituality, Health & Fitness, Religion & Spirituality, Religion, Mental Health

4.5 • 859 Ratings

🗓️ 5 December 2025

⏱️ 92 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Send us a Positive Review! In today's BONUS EPISODE Val breaks down some ideas around why the LDS Church is uniquely vulnerable to the underreporting of child sex abuse. While some of its issues will be vulnerabilities of all patriarchal systems, there are others that might be unique to the LDS church due to its history, doctrine, practices, and culture. Listen in as Val walks through her own process of understanding this devastating phenomenon in hopes to evoke more dialo...

Transcript

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0:00.0	As we move into this season of giving, we invite you to support the healing work happening here at
0:04.9	Latter-day Struggles. Our podcast is a proud partner of the Faith Journey Foundation, a 501
0:10.1	C3 nonprofit, meaning every contribution you make is fully tax deductible. Your gift goes entirely
0:16.5	towards scholarships that open full access to our premium content, helping us expand the reach
0:22.0	of this healing work.
0:23.6	This is your opportunity to invest in integrity-based, psychologically informed spiritual care
0:28.6	and to stand with both the providers and the recipients of this work within the LDS faith
0:33.5	expansion community.
0:35.2	Give today at latterday struggles.com.
0:49.7	Hey everybody, welcome to Latterday Struggles. You might be listening to this on an Instagram live.
0:55.0	You might be listening to this on the podcast itself. For those of you who are listening live,
0:59.9	I have to thank you because even if there's just like one of you, you're my accountability people.
1:05.5	You're the reason why I'm here. This topic, it's a big one.
1:11.5	I'm going to be spending some time today talking about why I think the LDS Church is vulnerable to the underreporting of sex abuse in children.
1:20.2	And this is near and dear to my heart, this topic, because I, oh gosh, all the reasons.
1:32.0	I, as a therapist, I've spent a lot of time more than I wish working with victims of sexual abuse. And also, I guess, as a heritage member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I care a lot about you.
1:52.1	If you're listening, you're probably in some way, shape, or form connected to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterty Saints.
1:59.2	It's part of your identity development. It's
2:01.4	certainly part of your culture, family, and who you are. And this is a big, big, big issue.
2:11.0	A few months ago, dropped a couple of series on the issues of surrounding patriarchy. And I remember, I'm going to be a little
2:20.5	feel a little sheepish here, be a little bit vulnerable here. I got a bit of feedback toward the end of
2:26.3	the second series of someone who said, you know, I used to like your podcast, but, you know,
	...

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