5 Stages in Healing from Betrayal Trauma

Guest Heidi Hastings is a sex and marriage researcher, educator, and advocate. She details the 5 stages women go through in trying to heal from a betrayal:

1. Innocence/naivete
2. Crisis
3. Aftermath
4. Healing
5. Transformation 

"Women need women for healing," she says. Her research found that support groups were very helpful, not only in the crisis stage, but all the way through transformation, when they're creating authentic relationships with people who help them feel healthy.

Heid received her Master's and PhD degrees in Human Development and Family Studies from Texas Woman's University. Her research interests include betrayal trauma, healthy sexuality, pornography and religion, and transformational growth. She is an adjunct professor, teaching Family Stress and Coping for BYU-Idaho and is currently working on a book for women who have experienced sexual betrayal. Heidi and her husband Scott are co-owners of a medical clinic in Frisco, Texas, and have worked together to create a 10-week marriage course. She keeps trying to get him to give up his daytime job as a doctor to join her in helping couples create great marriages! They have four amazing and unique children who have deeply challenged and changed who they are for the better!  

She can be reached at  dr.heidihastings@gmail.com.