Apostasy Conference 2025 | The effect of apostasy on mental health

Name: Apostasy Conference 2025 | The effect of apostasy on mental health
Start: 2025-10-01T09:15:00+01:00
End: 2025-10-01T16:30:00+01:00
Location: Covent Garden Community Centre

Hosted By

Faith to Faithless S.

Apostasy Conference 2025 | The effect of apostasy on mental health

Details

Book tickets: https://humanists.uk/events/apostasyconference2025/

Leaving religion can come at a high personal cost – not only socially or culturally, but mentally and emotionally. Yet the psychological impact of religious trauma and deconversion remains one of the most overlooked issues in mainstream mental health discourse.

This year’s Faith to Faithless Apostasy Conference will bring together therapists, academics, and lived-experience voices to explore the mental health impacts of religious exit, with a focus on high-commitment religious groups and coercive faith-based environments.
From identity loss to family shunning, internalised fear to isolation, this one-day event will offer deep insight into what it means to leave faith behind — and what support looks like in the aftermath.
Whether you’re a mental health professional, a frontline worker, a researcher, or someone with lived experience of religious trauma, this conference offers space to listen, learn, and connect.

Book tickets: https://humanists.uk/events/apostasyconference2025/

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### Confirmed Speakers

#### Dr Savin Bapir-Tardy

#### The Cost of Belief: Trauma, Loss and Liberation After Leaving Faith

Leaving a religion, especially one that shapes your identity, relationships, and sense of right and wrong, can be emotionally overwhelming. This talk explores what it’s like to leave high-control religions, or to be shunned for no longer believing or for questioning religious teachings. There will be a strong focus on the experiences of ex-Muslims, whose stories are often underrepresented and misunderstood. Drawing on real-life experiences and insights from psychological therapy, the talk will explore common challenges such as shame, fear, loss of community, family rejection, and the difficult process of rebuilding a sense of self. It will also highlight the unique pressures faced by ex-Muslims, including social isolation and internalised fear, and offer reflections on what healing, hope, and personal freedom can look like after religious exit.

Dr Savin  Bapir‑Tardy is a Chartered Counselling Psychologist, Senior Lecturer, and trauma specialist with over 17 years of clinical and research experience. Based in London, she has worked with clients affected by anxiety, depression, betrayal trauma, ‘honour’-based violence, forced marriage, FGM, and religious trauma. Since 2020, she has facilitated monthly support groups for the Council of Ex‑Muslims of Britain.
Dr Bapir‑Tardy’s research focuses on the psychological impacts of shunning and coercive control within high-control groups. She has co-authored qualitative studies on religious exit and shunning and co-leads a five-year Roehampton University project aimed at informing policy and legal frameworks around mandated shunning.

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#### Dr Travis McKie-Voerste

#### Sanctified Harm: The Costs of Religious Assumptions in Therapy

Dr. Travis McKie-Voerste is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Dalton State College in Georgia, USA, where he teaches clinically focused courses in counselling, psychological adjustment, and the psychology of religion. He is also Director of the Secular Therapy Project, an international network connecting clients with evidence-based, non-religious therapists — a platform particularly vital for individuals recovering from religious trauma or navigating life after deconversion.
His research and clinical work focus on how religiosity and counsellor belief systems influence therapeutic outcomes. His doctoral dissertation explored the experiences of atheists receiving counselling in the conservative US South, and he now specialises in training culturally competent clinicians to serve secular and ex-religious clients with care and ethical clarity.

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#### Dr Darrel Ray (Keynote Speaker)

#### Recovering from Religion: Reclaiming Identity and Building a Secular Life

Dr Ray is a psychologist, consultant and lifelong student of religion and sexuality. He holds a BA in Sociology/Anthropology and an MA in Religion, and completed his doctorate in counselling psychology at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. In 2009, he founded Recovering from Religion, and in 2012 launched the Secular Therapy Project, which connects thousands of people worldwide to evidence-based, non-religious counselling.

He has spoken at conferences across the world and appeared on major platforms including The Atheist Experience, The Thinking Atheist, ABC News (US and Australia), and more. His research on sex and secularism has been featured in Playboy Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and the Daily Mail.

Dr Ray brings both clinical understanding and warm, lived insight into what helps people recover emotionally, sexually, and socially after religious exit.

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### What to expect

✔️ Insightful talks from psychologists, researchers, and practitioners
✔️ Panel discussions with therapists working directly with the ex-religious
✔️ Lived experience stories, reflections, and real-world strategies
✔️ Opportunities to connect with others in this vital and growing field
✔️ Professional learning for those in health, social care, and education

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Book tickets: https://humanists.uk/events/apostasyconference2025/

### Venue & accessibility

📍 Covent Garden, London
🕘 Doors open at 09:15 | Event ends by 16:45
☕ Refreshments and lunch included
🪑 Step-free access via a lift, accessible toilets, well-being room available

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### Who should attend?