190: Healing Money Shame After High-Control Religion

Have you ever noticed old messages about money, morality, or success still lingering—long after you’ve left a faith community or belief system that once shaped your world? In this episode, I sit down with licensed marriage and family therapist Emily Maynard to explore how growing up in or leaving a high-control religious environment can deeply influence your relationship with money. 

We talk about how these systems teach people—often from childhood—to view money through a moral lens: poverty as virtue, wealth as greed, or sacrifice as proof of goodness. For therapists who grew up in these spaces, those lessons can make it especially difficult to set boundaries, charge appropriately, or believe that rest and success are safe. 

Emily brings such grounded insight to this conversation. Together, we unpack what defines a high-control religion—not as a specific theology, but as a structure of control, shame, and rigidity that can leave lasting marks on how we see ourselves, our worth, and what we deserve. 

Healing Money Shame for Therapists with Religious Trauma Histories 

This episode is for you if you’ve ever wrestled with feeling selfish for wanting more stability, questioned your right to rest, or found yourself hustling to “earn” worthiness. 

(00:06:17) Religion Shapes Early Views on Money 

(00:09:31) Subtle Conditioning in Belief Systems 

(00:10:37) Healing After Leaving a Group 

(00:15:41) Sustainability in Healthcare Messaging 

(00:17:18) Money, Morality, and Control 

(00:23:16) Building a Sustainable Healing Practice 

(00:27:03) Money, Religion, and Belonging 

Breaking Free from Money Shame Rooted in High Control Religious Backgrounds 

Emily shares what she sees in her work with clients recovering from religious trauma: the body’s lingering responses to old patterns, even years after intellectually moving on. We also explore how healing involves learning to make your own choices, rewriting your “job description” in private practice, and creating boundaries that allow sustainability without guilt. 

Here are a few action steps you can take toward breaking free: 

• Notice the messages you absorbed early on. What stories about money, morality, or sacrifice still influence your financial decisions today? 
• Practice autonomy with compassion. Try writing your own “job description” for private practice. What would feel fair, sustainable, and ethical for you? 
• Challenge inherited shame. When guilt or fear shows up around charging for your work or taking rest, remind yourself: You are allowed to be well. 
• Build new financial safety. Explore ways to connect money with care, not control—so your business can reflect your current values, not your old programming. 

If you’ve ever questioned your relationship with money after growing up in faith-based or high-control environments, this episode will help you begin healing the shame, rebuilding trust in yourself, and crafting a business that feels both grounded and free. 

Get to Know Emily Maynard:  

Emily Maynard is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California. She works with adults with trauma, particularly religious trauma and high control religion backgrounds. Emily has a small private practice and is certified in EMDR. She loves Jeopardy and talking about things that make other people uncomfortable, like money! 

Follow Emily Maynard: 

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