Jana Sundin, LMSW

Being human can be difficult, beautiful, and sometimes both at once.

You may be here because life currently feels more difficult than meaningful.

Perhaps you are struggling to manage your emotions, navigate a transition, understand who you are, or resolve conflict within an important relationship. You may be questioning beliefs that once shaped your life or trying to separate your own voice from the expectations of others.
 

I’m Jana Sundin, a Licensed Master Social Worker with 20 years of experience in social work and ministry.
 

I provide a warm, compassionate, and collaborative space where you can explore your story without pressure to arrive at a predetermined answer. You know more about your life than I do. My role is to listen carefully, help you see patterns and possibilities with fresh eyes, and support you in discovering what you need to flourish.

 

Healing from religious trauma

Faith communities can offer belonging, meaning, and support. They can also become sources of fear, shame, control, rejection, or emotional harm.

Religious trauma may affect how you see yourself, relate to others, make decisions, understand your body, or experience trust and belonging. You may feel anxious about questioning what you were taught, grieve the loss of a community, or feel uncertain about what you believe now.

Therapy gives you space to examine these experiences without being told what you should believe.

Our work can help you recognize the effects of harmful religious experiences, process grief and anger, rebuild trust in yourself, and determine what spirituality, faith, or life outside of religion means to you now.
 

Making room for spirituality, when you want it included
 

For some people, religion or spirituality is central to how they understand healing, identity, relationships, and purpose. For others, it is a complicated subject or something they no longer want to be part of their lives.

Both experiences are welcome.
 

As a therapist, spiritual director, and priest, I can incorporate religion or spirituality into therapy when you want it included. I will not impose a particular belief system or assume that spiritual practice is the answer to every concern.

This is your therapy. Together, we can determine what role- if any, faith or spirituality should have in our work.
 

Finding yourself within change
 

Transitions can unsettle the stories we have carried about who we are and where we belong. A change in work, family, relationships, health, faith, or community may leave you feeling unfamiliar to yourself. Even a transition you chose can bring grief, uncertainty, and questions about what comes next. Therapy can help you slow down, understand what is changing, and reconnect with the values and strengths you want to carry forward. You do not need to become a completely different person. You may need space to hear
yourself more clearly.

Understanding patterns with compassion
 

Many people enter therapy because they are frustrated with how they feel or behave. They may repeatedly criticize themselves, avoid difficult emotions, struggle to express their needs, or become caught in familiar relationship patterns. Judgment rarely creates meaningful change. I help clients approach these patterns with curiosity and compassion. We work to understand how they developed, what purpose they may have served, and whether they still fit the life and relationships you want now.

My approach draws from cognitive behavioral, strengths-based, attachment-informed, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and mindfulness practices