Faith After Deconstruction
Finding both/and in a faith and culture of black and white
Hello, and thank you for being here! If you’re new to my work, welcome! It’s been one year of Walking the Middle Path, so I thought I’d share a re-introduction and refresher to celebrate! And we’ll introduce our new summer series, Faith After Deconstruction.
I started this Substack in June 2024 as a way to share more vulnerable, personal writing on faith and culture and to grow an authentic community beyond the boundaries of the social media algorithm.
Walking the Middle Path is where we search for both/and in a faith and culture of black and white.
The Middle Path is where we pursue curiosity over certainty, nuance over black and white, and dialectics (integration) over either/or.
We’re all about embracing complexity and critical thinking as we ask the question, “What is the Middle Path here?”
You can read more about the origins of Walking the Middle Path on my first post here.
And who is Dr. Camden?
Nice to meet you! I’m a licensed psychologist, writer, and speaker living with my husband and two children in Knoxville, TN. My main job is as a therapist in private practice working with women and couples. In 2020, I began writing regularly online, speaking on podcasts, and eventually coaching on Purity Culture Recovery and Faith Reconstruction.
In October of last year, my first book was published—a dream come true for me! Recovering from Purity Culture was written to help other purity culture survivors dismantle the myths, overcome shame, and rebuild their faith and sexuality.
Upcoming Series: Faith After Deconstruction
What does practicing your faith look like when you’re deconstructing? This summer (June through August), we’re introducing a new series called Faith After Deconstruction. We’ll talk about navigating church and faith practices when you’re questioning what you believe and why. I also plan to share a few vulnerable posts about my own faith deconstruction and experience leaving a church.
Here is this month’s schedule:
June 6: Faith After Deconstruction
June 13: The Middle Path Will Cost You (paid subscribers)
June 27: “You haven’t deconstructed enough.” (paid)
Every time I do a series on faith and deconstruction, you guys can’t get enough! I’m really excited about envisioning what faith looks like post-deconstruction with you this summer.
Become a Middle Path-er
It’s free to join us! Free subscribers get access to monthly posts on topics related to faith, purity culture, egalitarianism, mental health, and relationships. I include my favorite books, resources, and links, as well as Mind-Body Practices (exercises that integrate the mind, body, heart, and soul) and Middle Path Practices (exercises for dialectical, both/and thinking).
Check out these top free posts:
What Bridgerton Reveals About Purity Culture (my most read post of all time)
Paid subscribers get an additional two or three posts per month, as well as access to seasonal series, book club discussions, and quarterly live meetings. When you subscribe at the paid level, you also get access to all the past series.
Past Series:
Join us for these top paid posts:
“I upheld my end of the bargain, but God hasn’t upheld his.” (most read paid post)
A Surviving Purity Culture Interview on Divorce and Marital Rape
A Surviving Purity Culture Interview on Divorce, Dating, and Your Sexual Ethic After Divorce
A Surviving Purity Culture Interview on Dating and Sexuality After the Death of Your Spouse
I hope you’ll join me and other Middle Path-ers as we seek to heal our faith from toxic beliefs.
Why a Paid Option?
I made the decision to open paid subscriptions last fall. Because I imagine you, like me, have many writers and content creators you enjoy learning from, I keep the cost minimal and offer a free subscription to anyone who needs it! Substack is not my main source of income; my therapy practice supports my family. So why charge?
The paid option allows me more privacy to share personal stories like What Worked and What Didn’t 2024 or the women’s stories in the Surviving Purity Culture Mini-Series. Because you have invested in me, I feel more freedom to be open with you. And in the summer faith series, I’ll be sharing why and how we left our Evangelical church in 2021 and where I am now in regards to faith and church.
The paid option supports the work I put into Substack. This summer, I am mostly off social media (doing Lore Wilbert’s not-a-book club) so I can invest more into this faith series on Substack. I also started offering live quarterly meetings, which makes these topics more embodied and allows us greater community, but also takes more time and resources.
The income from Substack helps to cover some of the costs of running an online business. My Substack income pays for a Zoom subscription, online calendar, email service provider, and my website. I would love to invest more income into my continuing education and professional development. Last year I got EMDR trained and this year, I am pursuing EMDR Certification, as well as more training in religious trauma.
If you’re interested in the content we have here at Walking the Middle Path and want to support and encourage my work, I hope you’ll consider subscribing! And if you cannot afford a subscription, just email and let me know. And thanks to founding subscribers, who help cover the costs of scholarships for others.
Want More Resources?
If you’re looking for more help on your journey of purity culture recovery and faith de/reconstruction, here is some other free content:
My archived blog has over 60 articles on purity culture, egalitarianism, and faith.
I’ve given over 65 podcast interviews, most of them on purity culture.
My social media has tons of bite-size content to sift through! Find me on Instagram, Threads, and Facebook.
I have free downloads on my website, including my free quiz, “Which Purity Culture Myth Affects You?”, an enneagram and purity culture guide, and a webinar on toxic Christian cultures.
Want to work more closely with me? Here are some of my paid offerings:
I work one-on-one with women and couples for Purity Culture Recovery Coaching. Since 2021, I’ve worked with over 65 clients to help them overcome shame, increase intimacy, and find peace in their faith journeys.
I offer Therapy Intensives for trauma and purity culture recovery in my Knoxville, TN office, open to anyone willing to travel here to work with me for one to three days. Intensives can include EMDR to target the stuck beliefs and trauma of purity culture so you can make a remarkable amount of progress in a short amount of time.
For mental health professionals, coaches, ministry leaders, and educators, I offer Professional Consultations so you can learn more about how toxic teachings affect the people you work with and serve.
I am booking Speaking engagements for 2025-2026. I speak to conferences, colleges, non-profits, churches, and small groups both in person and virtually.
And of course, I can’t recommend my book, Recovering from Purity Culture, enough! For only $12.49 on Amazon, you get to benefit from my 15 years of knowledge, research, and clinical experience as I guide you through the process of deconstructing the myths of purity culture and rebuilding your faith and sexuality.
What do you hope to learn about Faith After Deconstruction? What does “walking the middle path” mean to you?
I hope you’ll join us here at Walking the Middle Path.
You can subscribe for free or be a paid subscriber at $5 per month or $50 for the year. You get access to the upcoming Mini-Series on Faith After Deconstruction, all the past paid posts, and quarterly live meetings. You can cancel any time (although I hope you love it!). And if you can’t afford a subscription, I’m happy to extend it to you for free. Just email or message me!
Know a friend who’d like to join us here on the Middle Path? Why don’t you share this post with them and invite them to our discussion!