In this episode of Faith Rehab Podcast we get to interview Ruth. Ruth is a mother of four and has been helping people in her community for decades. She is a therapist; she has worked in community mental health, she has worked a myriad of clients, including foster kids. She teaches parenting skills for really tough, dysfunctional families; she gives them a lot of tools and helps them to grow so that they can deal with difficult life situations, or high-needs kids, or both. She is a swim mom. She is an advocate for women’s sports, especially Water Polo. She has been coaching youth sports for 18 years.

Ruth grew up going to Synagogue and was told that the Rabbi goes and visits the sick, comforts the hurting, prays for people in need. When Ruth’s twins had medical issues and her family had financial issues, her hope was waning, and her Rabbi was nowhere to be found. She was hurt by being ignored by the Rabbi and many in her Synagogue community. She loves her faith, and her faith tradition, but was feeling alone.

She has great advice for Rabbis, Pastors, and Christian friends on how to interact with your Jewish friends. We think you will love Ruth and learn a lot in this episode.

Thank you for listening to Faith Rehab Podcast.

Real healing can come when we go from seeing the hurts of our past as the whole story of our lives and identity, to seeing that hurt as just a chapter in the story of our lives.

Faith Rehab is a podcast about church hurt, healing, and rebuilding faith.

We create a safe space for honest conversations about spiritual disappointment, doubt, and the process of finding hope again—without pretending or having all the answers.

Co-hosts: Steve McNitt, Heidi Brandt & CJ Mateo
Produced by: CJ Mateo

Contact us at Faithrehabpodcast@gmail.com
— we’d love to hear your story.

In this episode of Faith Rehab Podcast we get to interview Deana Herd. She is an executive coach and trainer who lives in Texas. She has trained Fortune 500 companies, municipalities, and individual executives. She confirms that people in Texas are different from everyone else, and they know it.

She is a former elementary school teacher, a pastor’s kid, a former church staff member, and has a mother who was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. Deana had a role in the church to protect the family image, and a role at home to compensate for what mom could not do. Her mom, dad, and the family coped with her mother’s bipolar, and mom had to be institutionalized 5 times; but the church family never knew.

When the church found out about her mother’s bipolar, her father (the Pastor) was dismissed from his role at the church. From that, Deana learned that “God doesn't have a rule book on who belongs in the church.”

Deana has spent her life trying to connect with her own feelings and helping others connect with theirs and transform into a healthier version of themselves. She knows her family had put her in certain roles, and has learned that we are more than the role we get from our family of origin, but that we have to it's move it from understanding in your head to really understanding that in your heart.

She spent her childhood doing the things she thought she should. She is now learning and teaching to change that thinking. “I learned to stop shoulding on myself”

Thank you for listening to this deeply rich conversation with our guest Deana Herd.

Thank you for listening to Faith Rehab Podcast.

Real healing can come when we go from seeing the hurts of our past as the whole story of our lives and identity, to seeing that hurt as just a chapter in the story of our lives.

Faith Rehab is a podcast about church hurt, healing, and rebuilding faith.

We create a safe space for honest conversations about spiritual disappointment, doubt, and the process of finding hope again—without pretending or having all the answers.

Co-hosts: Steve McNitt, Heidi Brandt & CJ Mateo
Produced by: CJ Mateo

Contact us at Faithrehabpodcast@gmail.com
— we’d love to hear your story.

In this episode of Faith Rehab Podcast we talk about the topic of boundaries in relationships, and in church. We talk about why it is so difficult to have boundaries in a faith space that reminds us to give our all to God. To paraphrase Dr Henry Cloud: Just like a fence around your yard shows your property, where your property starts and stops, personal boundaries clarify ownership of your feelings, thoughts, behaviors, and choices. It's an interesting topic because so much of church hurt comes from people being asked to do things that they're not comfortable with or pressured to do things. We work through enmeshment, cultural pressures, and people-pleasing.

We discuss having boundaries in areas of: the time and energy commitments, authority of church leaders and scripture, with information vs gossip, attendance at services and events, as well as financial giving. These topics come with high expectations, but we can have boundaries in those areas. We are all trying to be good stewards of our resources, but pressure can come on too strong.

We get to hear about CJ’s quest to become a chess master, and we also learn about Heidi’s songwriting and she even sings a few bars.

Tune in for all of this, and some practical tips on how to have better boundaries.

Real healing can come when we go from seeing the hurts of our past as the whole story of our lives and identity, to seeing that hurt as just a chapter in the story of our lives.

Faith Rehab is a podcast about church hurt, healing, and rebuilding faith.

We create a safe space for honest conversations about spiritual disappointment, doubt, and the process of finding hope again—without pretending or having all the answers.

Co-hosts: Steve McNitt, Heidi Brandt & CJ Mateo
Produced by: CJ Mateo

Contact us at Faithrehabpodcast@gmail.com
— we’d love to hear your story.