👣A Path to Spiritual Healing🏳️‍🌈 The Role of Affirming Spiritual Direction for the LGBTQIA+ Community | Season 6 Episode 8

👣A Path to Spiritual Healing🏳️‍🌈 The Role of Affirming Spiritual Direction for the LGBTQIA+ Community | Season 6 Episode 8

Author: Anne-Marie Zanzal 1ac1f670-c17c-11f0-806a-ef1502adef07 February 21, 2025 Duration: 50:35

👣A Path to Spiritual Healing🏳️‍🌈 The Role of Affirming Spiritual Direction for the LGBTQIA+ Community | Season 6 Episode 8

🌈 This week on "Coming Out & Beyond: LGBTQIA+ Stories" host Anne-Marie Zanzal spends some time in conversation with Canadian spiritual director, Joan Alexander. Joan serves on the faculty of several formation programs teaching and supervising students in ministry. She facilitates workshops and webinars on topics such as spiritual accompaniment to the LGBTQIA+ community, spiritual trauma, hurting and healing. Joan currently serves on the board of directors of Spiritual Directors International.

What to Expect in This Episode:

🌈 Understanding the nature of professional spiritual direction.

🪞 Reflecting on the impact of coming out on spirituality.

❤️‍🩹Working with trauma in spiritual direction.

📋Using the Enneagram assessment tool and much more!

Real Stories, Real Advice: This episode is a must listen for anyone is LGBTQIA+ and has spiritual wounds from faith communities. Joan reviews her spiritual direction tools – conversation, prayer, community, Enneagram assessments, dream work and symbolism – and gives us a mini-demonstration of how they are used in spiritual direction.

Why This Matters:

This episode shows us how spiritual direction can help LGBTQIA+ individuals reclaim their spirituality.

📌🎙️About Joan Alexander: You can find Joan online at https://www.joanalexanderspiritualdirector.com/Joan offers spiritual directions sessions on a sliding scale. If you use Joan's Calendly to book a session, please put a note in at the time of booking that you found her through the Coming Out & Beyond: LGBTQIA+ Stories podcast!

💬 Join the Conversation:

Are you a member of the LGBTQIA+ community who has a complicated relationship with spirituality and faith? Share your thoughts, experiences, and questions in the comments below. Let’s foster a supportive community where we can learn from each other.

🔗 Visit our website:

Anne-Marie's : [ annemariezanzal.com]

🌟 Why Watch This Episode? Many in the LGBTQIA+ community experience religious trauma and become disconnected from their spiritual lives. Anne-Marie and Joan, both lesbians in LGBTQIA+ ministries, illuminate a path for wounded individuals to find a way back to their spiritual side, in a way that respects individual dignity and acknowledges trauma.

🔗 Follow us on social media:

💠 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amzanzal

💠 Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/annemariezanzalcoaching/

💠 Twitter: twitter.com/annemariezanzal

💠LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/annemariezanzalpurposefulempowerment/

👉 Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe for more inspiring stories and advice on navigating life, love, and everything in between!


It can feel incredibly isolating to question your sexuality after years of living a different story. Coming Out & Beyond Support for Women Questioning Their Sexuality Later in Life is a companion for that specific journey, created for those who find themselves navigating these waters from a place of established life-perhaps within a marriage, after a divorce, or while building a family. Host Anne-Marie Zanzal brings her perspective as an ordained minister and hospice chaplain to conversations that gently unravel complex layers of identity, faith, and fear. This podcast delves into the real, often unspoken challenges: confronting compulsory heterosexuality, processing religious or spiritual conditioning, and managing the anxiety of how a personal revelation might ripple through your closest relationships. Episodes offer a blend of personal reflection, insightful interviews, and practical support, focusing on emotional and mental well-being without offering simplistic answers. It’s a space where you can hear stories that resonate with your own, fostering a sense of clarity and community. Tuning in, you’ll find a resource that honors the full spectrum of this experience-the confusion, the liberation, and everything in between-always grounded in compassion and deep understanding.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Coming Out & Beyond  Support for Women Questioning Their Sexuality Later in Life
Podcast Episodes
🎄Holiday Survival When Coming Out 101! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:00
Navigating the holiday season can prove to be an arduous endeavor, particularly for those who are in the process of coming out. In this discussion, we, Anne-Marie Zanzal and Barbara Rowlandson, share our personal experie…
📣Dakarai Larriett's Fight for Fairness in Alabama! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:11
Wing Women Weekend | Annual Conference in Provincetown, MA, during Women's Week | https://wingwomenweekend.com/"Strengthening Love: Building Secure Bonds for Lesbian Couples" https://healthylesbianrelationships.com/📣Daka…
🫣OK, I'm Gay, Now What? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:56
Reclaiming Your Sexual Self Workshop | with Mallory Hanfling, LCSW | Friday, Oct. 17th, 2025 | The Provincetown Inn, Provincetown, Massachusetts during Women's Week | 9:30 a.m.- 12:30 p.m. | Reclaiming Your Sexual Self T…
🌈#WLW: How to float - not sink - in the dating pool! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:21
"Strengthening Love: Building Secure Bonds for Lesbian Couples" is a comprehensive course for lesbian couples who are seeking to build a better relationship. Designed by lesbian psychologist and couples therapist, Dr. Ro…
🌈 Understanding Coming Out in Adulthood [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:35
"Strengthening Love: Building Secure Bonds for Lesbian Couples" is a comprehensive course for lesbian couples who are seeking to build a better relationship. Designed by lesbian psychologist and couples therapist, Dr. Ro…
🤔How Can Lesbian Couples Build Secure Bonds? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:06:23
"Strengthening Love: Building Secure Bonds for Lesbian Couples" is a comprehensive course for lesbian couples who are seeking to build a better relationship. Designed by lesbian psychologist and couples therapist, Dr. Ro…
🏳️‍⚧️One Person, Two Coming Out Stories! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:40
Wing Women Weekend, October 15-18, 2025, Provincetown, MA - a conference for women/non-binary persons who are new to the LGBTQIA+ community! This conference is all about connection, finding queer community, and having a…