Faith, Therapy, and Healing Trauma: A Conversation with Dr. Khaalida Forbes
“Crying is a shower for your soul.” – Dr. Khaalida Forbes
For many of us, faith alone was supposed to be enough to heal our deepest wounds. We were taught to pray harder, trust God more, and ignore the feelings that weighed us down. But what happens when that isn’t enough?
In this episode of Bonnerfide Conversations, Dr. Khaalida Forbes joins Gerard Bonner to discuss the intersection of faith, therapy, and emotional healing. As both a licensed therapist and pastor, she understands how spirituality and psychology work together—and why so many believers struggle to accept both.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
- Why emotional trauma keeps believers spiritually stuck
- How faith-based therapy helps break generational cycles
- The real impact of religious guilt on mental health
- Why crying is necessary for emotional and spiritual healing
- Where the church has failed in addressing mental health struggles
Faith and Therapy: Why Christians Need Both
“Not every breakthrough happens at the altar—some of them happen in therapy.”
For years, therapy has been dismissed in Christian spaces. Many believers feel guilt and shame for seeking professional help, fearing it’s a sign of weak faith. Dr. Forbes challenges that idea, showing how deliverance and therapy work together for real emotional freedom.
“God cares about your soul, not just your spirit. He’s not afraid of your healing process.”
Many of us were raised to believe that if we just prayed harder, our pain would go away. But what about the wounds that can’t be left at the altar?
Dr. Forbes explains how therapy is not the enemy of faith—it’s a tool for true healing.
The Church and Mental Health: Where We Got It Wrong
“You can tell your wife, ‘Baby, you mean everything to me.’ But the moment you sing it, now it’s ‘secular’? Make it make sense.”
For many believers, the church has become a place of suppression rather than healing. Instead of creating a space for people to process their pain, the church has often:
- Over-spiritualized mental health struggles
- Taught people to suppress emotions rather than address them
- Condemned therapy as worldly instead of seeing it as a tool for healing
Dr. Forbes believes this mindset needs to change. Anxiety, trauma, and emotional wounds are real, and ignoring them won’t make them disappear. Healing requires work, and for many, that work includes therapy.
Listen to the Full Conversation
This episode is for anyone who has ever felt torn between faith and mental health, has been told therapy isn’t for believers, or is ready to break free from emotional and generational trauma.
Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major platforms.
Do you think the church has done enough to support mental health? Join the conversation in the comments.
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