Latter Day Struggles

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: The 21st Century LDS Church's Ongoing Struggle to Respond to the Realities of Faith & Trust Crisis [Part I of II] Join Val and friend, colleague and returned guest, Dr. Greg Prince as they talk about Greg's involvement in the profoundly important document "The Official Faith Crisis Report". A document that was the first of its kind, it compiled data about struggles in faith and trust that was sweeping the LDS church just after the turn of the centu...

Transcribed - Published: 12 May 2025

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Transcending Church Rules on the PathTowards Genuine Christlike Discipleship w/Russ Hinckley Part III of IV What do you think Jesus would desire that we focus on in our worship services and within our larger lives? In these last two episodes of this series Val invites Russ to share his thoughts on his "Christ Creed", or his "rewrite" of what he thinks Jesus would want his followers to focus on. In this episode they focus their conversation on Jes...

Transcribed - Published: 5 May 2025

Subscriber-only episode Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Transcending Church Rules on the Path Towards Genuine Christlike Discipleship w/Russ Hinckley Part II of IV People are leaving religion in higher numbers than ever before, especially following the Covid pandemic. Although there are many factors involved in this phenomenon, Russ and Valerie explore the possibility that people are not feeling that church invites or encourages deep inner transformation--and this is what they ...

Transcribed - Published: 2 May 2025

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Transcending Church Rules on the Path Towards Genuine Christlike Discipleship w/Russ Hinckley Part I of IV Welcome to a beautiful series featuring guest author Russ Hinckley (who doesn't mind being referred to as Mr. Susan Hinckley of the "At Last She Said It" podcast) where Val and Russ explore his book "Beyond Belief" a radical reinterpretation of what Jesus likely would have those who gathered in his name focus on. In this episode Russ ...

Transcribed - Published: 28 April 2025

Subscriber-only episode Send us a Positive Review! In this timely conversation Valerie tackles Elder Anderson's recent general conference talk on abortion. In one hour she goes from the macro issue of abortion itself and offers some thought-provoking concepts about NOT focusing on abortion and instead focusing on how abortion is the prevailing solution to unwanted pregnancy only because we live in a patriarchal society. She also proposes that LDS women have valid reason to feel unique a...

Transcribed - Published: 25 April 2025

Send us a Positive Review! In this episode Valerie is invited to be a guest on "Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt," a podcast where she shares many experiences leading to her choice to commit her career to the psychological and spiritual healing of those connected to her own Latter-day Saint faith tradition. Val shares some personal experiences, some of her reasons for beginning and staying in this nerve wracking space, about the ups and downs of the work she does. Mostly she shares her conviction t...

Transcribed - Published: 21 April 2025

Subscriber-only episode Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: A Look into the Minds of Creators of The Mother Tree & Queering Kinship in the Mormon Cosmos [Part II of II] In this continuation of our conversation about modern Mormon feminist scholarship, Taylor and Kathryn riff about various schools of thought regarding the heavenly roll of a feminine divine in historical and contemporary Mormon scholarship and complicate these ideas with their own, connected to a potential heaven...

Transcribed - Published: 18 April 2025

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: A Look into the Minds of Creators of The Mother Tree & Queering Kinship in the Mormon Cosmos [Part I of II] Why is my job the very best? Because I get to sit down with two of the kindest, more brilliant and beautiful souls out there--Kathryn Sonntag and Taylor Petrey-- to facilitate a conversation about all things modern Mormon feminism, scripture, symbology, and the feminine divine. The Mother Tree: Discovering the Love and Wisd...

Transcribed - Published: 14 April 2025

Subscriber-only episode Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: A Deep Dive into the Fascinating Cosmos Found in Taylor Petrey's Queering Kinship in the Mormon Cosmos [Part IV of IV] Here's one final mindblowing conversation that will definitely leave you thinking "I never thought of the garden narrative THAT way! In this episode Taylor and Val peruse the various and sundry ways that the Garden Narrative has been used to justify all manner of unhelpful theology and social and political...

Transcribed - Published: 11 April 2025

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: A Deep Dive into the Fascinating Cosmos Found in Taylor Petrey's Queering Kinship in the Mormon Cosmos [Part III of IV] One definition of "queering" that Taylor uses in his book is to complicate or expand--and this episode does just that in the realm of the feminine divine. Buckle up as Taylor and Val walk through his fascinating ideas regarding what Latter Day Saints call Heavenly Mother. This episode addresses historical and current...

Transcribed - Published: 7 April 2025

Subscriber-only episode Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: A Deep Dive into the Fascinating Cosmos Found in Taylor Petrey's Queering Kinship in the Mormon Cosmos [Part II of IV] Get ready to have your mind blown just a little more as Taylor walks Val through more expansive ideas around a heaven that privileges "kinship" over all other types of covenant bonds and uses the deep and loving relationship within the Godhead as a model, opening doors of eternal connection that transcend ...

Transcribed - Published: 4 April 2025

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: A Deep Dive into the Fascinating Cosmos Found in Taylor Petrey's Queering Kinship in the Mormon Cosmos [Part I of IV] In this episode Val and guest scholar and author Taylor Petrey set this series up by walking through the focus of Taylor's phenomenal new book, Queering Kinship in the Mormon Cosmos. They set the stage to blow your mind in the many ways that an open-minded and close reading of scripture makes all kinds of space for a h...

Transcribed - Published: 31 March 2025

Send us a Positive Review! In this Office Hours live session, members of the Latter Day Struggles community are asking their questions and Valerie brings her encouraging responses. Since February is the month where love is celebrated, this conversation centers around marriage, partnership and navigating the sometimes tumultuous waters of maintaining close relationships during a faith expansion journey. Don’t lose heart! It really is possible to maintain love, patience and mutual respect...

Transcribed - Published: 28 March 2025

Subscriber-only episode Send us a Positive Review! In this Office Hours live session, members of the Latter Day Struggles community are asking their questions and Valerie brings her encouraging responses. Since February is the month where love is celebrated, this conversation centers around marriage, partnership and navigating the sometimes tumultuous waters of maintaining close relationships during a faith expansion journey. Don’t lose heart! It really is possible to maintain love, pat...

Transcribed - Published: 28 March 2025

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Valerie & Nathan Hamaker Forced Resignation from the LDS Church [Part III of III] In this final episode detailing the tough events of Val and Nathan's last year trying to collaborate with their local priesthood leaders, they share why they chose to resign their membership instead of experiencing a disciplinary counsel. They also explore the fear that some LDS leadership experiences with mental health workers and conclude with their proc...

Transcribed - Published: 24 March 2025

Subscriber-only episode Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Valerie & Nathan Hamaker Forced Resignation from the LDS Church [Part II of III] Join Val & Nathan in this episode answering questions that came in from listeners following their public announcement regarding their forced resignation from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints due to local priesthood leaders' inability to understand the nature of their work and the healing intent of their hearts. Thank you...

Transcribed - Published: 21 March 2025

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Valerie & Nathan Hamaker Forced Resignation from the LDS Church [Part I of III] Please join Valerie & Nathan in this tough 3-part conversation sharing the events that led to what felt to them like their forced resignation from LDS Church this past week. In today’s episode Val and Nathan walk through a timeline of a lot of painful experiences in the past eighteen months with multiple well-meaning local priesthood leaders who ulti...

Transcribed - Published: 17 March 2025

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Community Healing: How our Greatest Wounds & our Greatest Healing Happens through Human Relationship [Part VIII of VIII] Join Valerie in the final episode of a series exploring the beauty of community healing in the context of an LDS faith crisis. In this episode you will meet two current members of Valerie's brand new advanced content group, processing the impact of growing up in a patriarchal world and church. This group dives deeply into h...

Transcribed - Published: 14 March 2025

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Community Healing: How our Greatest Wounds & our Greatest Healing Happens through Human Relationship [Part VII of VIII] Join Valerie and four amazing guests who get really brave speaking about their LDS faith journey as they become acquainted with the concept of true community. In this episode Val invites two women and two men to talk about the fear of joining a healing group, especially in light of negative experiences, too common in their l...

Transcribed - Published: 10 March 2025

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Community Healing: How our Greatest Wounds & our Greatest Healing Happens through Human Relationship [Part VI of VIII] In this Friday episode you will meet Leo, another fellow listener to the Latter Day Struggles podcast and an ongoing participant in Valerie's healing communities. Leo and Val talk about Leo's true self journey and how he has realized his estrangement from his true self and how that was closely connected to burying mult...

Transcribed - Published: 7 March 2025

Send us a Positive Review! Community Healing: How our Greatest Wounds & our Greatest Healing Happens through Human Relationship [Part V of VIII] In this beautiful episode Valerie welcomes Devin (another graduate of Valerie's faith expansion growth and processing groups) who was willing to share his experiences coming into deep connection with his true self as the most fundamental part of his faith journey. Val and Devin talk about his wrestle with feeling "good enough" to even imag...

Transcribed - Published: 3 March 2025

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Community Healing: How our Greatest Wounds & our Greatest Healing Happens through Human Relationship [Part IV of VIII] Join Val in this beautiful episode with guest Joy, who shares some tender elements of her faith journey which began long before joining one of the growth & processing communities. Val and Joy talk about Joy's journey finding her "true self" after realizing that the core of her selfhood could *not* be her ability to have the lar...

Transcribed - Published: 28 February 2025

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Community Healing: How our Greatest Wounds & our Greatest Healing Happens through Human Relationship [Part III of VIII] In this episode, Valerie and Nathan set the stage for why those who commit themselves to Val's healing groups say that what they learn about the concept of the "true self" can be life changing. Val and Nathan talk about why this idea not only gives us access to full healing from LDS faith and trust crisis, it also offers a path to...

Transcribed - Published: 24 February 2025

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Community Healing: How our Greatest Wounds & our Greatest Healing Happens through Human Relationship [Part II of VIII] In today's episode Val and Nathan go deeper into what they have learned about the unique healing process of faith and trust crisis connected to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You'll learn how our faith crisis journey might be a bit different from other religion's faith journeys and why being in a non-judgmen...

Transcribed - Published: 21 February 2025

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Community Healing: How our Greatest Wounds & our Greatest Healing Happens through Human Relationship [Part I of VIII] The LDS faith journey is not an 'individual sport' and although some of us try, we realize that it can't really be done alone. In this episode Val and Nathan walk you through why so many of us try to walk through this "valley of the shadow" alone. We try to hide what’s happening to us due to w...

Transcribed - Published: 17 February 2025

Subscriber-only episode Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: The Profound Impact of Feminine Suppression on Men & their Churches [Part VIII of VIII] This is the final episode in a groundbreaking series diving deeply into what a lack of the feminine looks like in both LDS men and the LDS church itself. This episode explores the profound ways in which patriarchal systems affect men's ability to discover and develop their true selves because patriarchies encourage the over-cultivat...

Transcribed - Published: 14 February 2025

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: The Profound Impact of Feminine Suppression on Men & their Churches [Part VII of VIII] In this episode Valerie and Nathan get personal as they share their marriage journey awakening to the impact that patriarchal influences had on their ability to connect and really grow closer as a couple and family. They candidly share VERY REAL moments of early distress and disconnection, especially the struggles that occurred before they realized the core of th...

Transcribed - Published: 10 February 2025

Subscriber-only episode Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: The Profound Impact of Feminine Suppression on Men & Their Churches [Part VI of VIII]] In this heart-to-heart episode of Latter Day Struggles, Val and Nathan delve into the profound effects of patriarchal conditioning and its impact on men's abilities to become relationally and emotionally mature. Val and Nathan explore how little boys (raised in patriarchal cultures and churches) are often discouraged from cultivatin...

Transcribed - Published: 7 February 2025

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: The Profound Impact of Feminine Suppression on Men & their Churches [Part V of VIII]. In this compelling episode Valerie and Nathan delve deep into the subtleties of benevolent patriarchy and how it places harmful pressures on men. They explore the unrealistic expectations for men to always be strong, the emotional and psychological costs of these societal norms, and how these pressures can lead to personal and relational breakdowns. On...

Transcribed - Published: 3 February 2025

Subscriber-only episode Send us a Positive Review! In this enlightening episode, Valerie and Nathan tackle another tough but important topic: the insidious issue of the male superiority complex fostered by systemic patriarchy. They discuss how patriarchal structures teach boys and men, both subtly and explicitly, that they are superior to women, impacting the emotional and psychological development of all genders. Nathan shares personal reflections on how he now sees that what he was ta...

Transcribed - Published: 31 January 2025

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: The Profound Impact of Feminine Suppression on Men & their Churches [Part III of VIII] Glad you're back! In this episode Valerie and Nathan delve into the impact that the overemphasis on masculine energy has on the ideas and practices within the LDS church because it is an institutional patriarchy. Today they focus on the masculine trait of competitiveness and explore how this plays out in unhealthy ways when not balanced with collaboration, ...

Transcribed - Published: 27 January 2025

Subscriber-only episode Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: The Profound Impact of Feminine Suppression on Men and their Churches [Part II of VIII] In this episode Val and Nathan move from the theoretical to the practical and talk about what it actually looks like on the ground when divine masculine and feminine energies are not appreciated, balanced, and celebrated. They use a handful of specific masculine attributes that are prominent within LDS culture and practice to demonstra...

Transcribed - Published: 24 January 2025

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: The Profound Impact of Feminine Suppression on Men and their Churches [Part I of VIII] Val and Nathan's series tackling the common traits connecting psychologically/spiritually underdeveloped people with men strongly socialized in a patriarchy went NUTS in response, shares, and downloads (episodes 283-288) as expected. Why? Because our LDS faith expanding community seems to be STARVING to learn more about what health and wholeness looks l...

Transcribed - Published: 20 January 2025

Subscriber-only episode Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Cutting Edge Research on the LDS Faith Journey Experience [Part II of II] In this series' second half with the amazing author and researcher Jana Riess, you won't be disappointed in an abundance of aha moments and things to ponder after the closing music. Val and Jana delve deeply into several aspects of Jana's current research (yes...new book forthcoming and you're hearing about it HERE before anyone else!) and dive deep ...

Transcribed - Published: 17 January 2025

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Cutting Edge Research on the LDS Faith Journey Experience [Part I of II] You're in for a wonderful two episodes here as Valerie welcomes researcher and author Jana Reiss for a conversation brimming with details about Jana's current project (a forthcoming book!) centered around the diverse personal experiences of hundreds of people on the LDS faith spectrum. In order to not give too many spoilers for the next two episodes, you'll need to tune in t...

Transcribed - Published: 13 January 2025

Subscriber-only episode Send us a Positive Review! In this recording of the December's Office Hours special event offered to all of our "Full Content" Family of Listeners, Valerie answers a variety of questions from several listeners anxious about holiday events in the throes of the LDS faith journey. During the holidays (or any family event surrounded by more traditionally believing family and friends) do you find yourself worried about how to talk to people whom you've never ha...

Transcribed - Published: 10 January 2025

Send us a Positive Review! When someone starts a podcast in the LDS faith journey space, one question that is often asked is this: "Have You ALWAYS had this much courage?" Join Valerie in this episode as she asks this question to friends and colleagues Susan and Cynthia of "At Last She Said It". In this episode Susan & Cynthia share very different stories about their journeys that led them to the airwaves. Their stories are each unique in part because their temperaments are totally ...

Transcribed - Published: 6 January 2025

Subscriber-only episode Send us a Positive Review! Happy holidays Latter Day Struggles listeners! For the next four episodes you will enjoy a few "Classic" episodes that have received some of the highest number of downloads and waves of feedback that these are among some of the most impactful episodes for many listeners. Also, as a way to share my love and gratitude for all of you during this holiday season, the classic episodes dropped on Friday 12/27/24 and Monday 1/3/25 will be open...

Transcribed - Published: 3 January 2025

Send us a Positive Review! Happy holidays Latter Day Struggles listeners! For the next four episodes you will enjoy a few "Classic" episodes that have received some of the highest number of downloads and waves of feedback that these are among some of the most impactful episodes for many listeners. Also, as a way to share my love and gratitude for all of you during this holiday season, the classic episodes dropped on Friday 12/27/24 and Monday 1/3/25 will be open to ALL listeners! ...

Transcribed - Published: 3 January 2025

Send us a Positive Review! Happy holidays Latter Day Struggles listeners! For the next four episodes you will enjoy a few "Classic" episodes that have received some of the highest number of downloads and waves of feedback that these are among some of the most impactful episodes for many listeners. Also, as a way to share my love and gratitude for all of you during this holiday season, the classic episodes dropped on Friday 12/27/24 and Monday 1/3/25 will be open to ALL listeners! ...

Transcribed - Published: 30 December 2024

Subscriber-only episode Send us a Positive Review! Happy holidays Latter Day Struggles listeners! For the next four episodes you will enjoy a few "Classic" episodes that have received some of the highest number of downloads and waves of feedback that these are among some of the most impactful episodes for many listeners. Also, as a way to share my love and gratitude for all of you during this holiday season, the classic episodes dropped on Friday 12/27/24 and Monday 1/3/25 will be open ...

Transcribed - Published: 27 December 2024

Send us a Positive Review! Happy holidays Latter Day Struggles listeners! For the next four episodes you will enjoy a few "Classic" episodes that have received some of the highest number of downloads and waves of feedback that these are among some of the most impactful episodes for many listeners. Also, as a way to share my love and gratitude for all of you during this holiday season, the classic episodes dropped on Friday 12/27/24 and Monday 1/3/25 will be open to ALL listeners! ...

Transcribed - Published: 27 December 2024

Send us a Positive Review! Happy holidays Latter Day Struggles listeners! For the next four episodes you will enjoy a few "Classic" episodes that have received some of the highest number of downloads and waves of feedback that these are among some of the most impactful episodes for many listeners. Also, as a way to share my love and gratitude for all of you during this holiday season, the classic episodes dropped on Fridays 12/27/24 and 1/3/25 will be open to ALL listeners! ...

Transcribed - Published: 23 December 2024

Subscriber-only episode Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: The Shocking Correlation Between Men Socialized in Patriarchies & Emotional Underdevelopment [Part VI of VI] In this final episode of this incredibly important six-part series, Valerie and Nathan focus on why an education on patriarchy's impact on the spiritual and psychological souls of boys and men can be a catalyst for individual, family, and systemic healing in our faith tradition. If we as a spiritual community do not s...

Transcribed - Published: 19 December 2024

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: The Shocking Correlation Between Men Socialized in Patriarchies & Psychological/Spiritual Underdevelopment [Part V of VI] In this episode, Valerie and Nathan continue to discuss how being spiritually formed in a patriarchy negatively affects men. This episode highlights how being raised in this "power-over model" hampers male emotional maturity, leading to issues like lack of empathy, rigid black-and-white thinking, and minimal self-reflectio...

Transcribed - Published: 16 December 2024

Subscriber-only episode Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: The Shocking Correlation Between Men Socialized in Patriarchies & Psychological/Spiritual Underdevelopment [Part IV of VI] In this episode, Valerie and Nathan continue their exploration of how patriarchy harms men by discussing the overlap between emotional underdevelopment and patriarchal socialization. They highlight how deeply socialized masculine norms restrict male emotional development beginning in boyhood, leadi...

Transcribed - Published: 13 December 2024

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: The Shocking Correlation Between Men Socialized in Patriarchies & Psychological/Spiritual Underdevelopment [Part III of VI] In this episode Valerie and Nathan continue to explore how patriarchal systems can negatively impact the spiritual and psychological development of men. They discuss why patriarchal men learn to see the world transactionally, why they might struggle with listening skills, and how this all impacts their capacity to...

Transcribed - Published: 9 December 2024

Subscriber-only episode Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: The Shocking Correlation Between Men Socialized in Patriarchies & Psychological/Spiritual Underdevelopment [Part II of VI] In this episode, Valerie and Nathan delve deeper into the effects of patriarchy on men, making sense of why some of our men struggle to look squarely at historical realities and struggle with seeing another’s viewpoint or self-reflection. In this series Nathan is incredibly vulnerabl...

Transcribed - Published: 6 December 2024

Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: The Shocking Correlation Between Men Socialized in Patriarchies & Psychological/Spiritual Underdevelopment [Part I of VI] Join Valerie and Nathan as they kick off a new DEEP DIVE series exploring how patriarchy affects men in the LDS Church. This series compares the attributes that emotionally underdeveloped people have in common with men socialized in an institutional patriarchy. In each episode Nathan candidly shares how he is s...

Transcribed - Published: 2 December 2024

Subscriber-only episode Send us a Positive Review! Series Title: Celebrating 50 Years Exponent II & Mormon Feminist Voices [Part II of II] In this episode Valerie continues to visit with Heather Sundahl and Katie Rich about how the Exponent II community provided the LDS patriarchal structure with a model of how organizations look when run by women and for women and gender minorities. What does this look like? • Rotating leadership structure that allows many voices, ideas, and opinions...

Transcribed - Published: 29 November 2024