Rebekah J. Monroe, MA

Rebekah J. Monroe, MA is a Clinical Psychology PhD student, researcher, religious trauma scholar, and Registered Yoga Teacher based in Michigan. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies from Northeastern Illinois University, graduating Summa Cum Laude with Honors in 2021, before earning a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology from Bowling Green State University. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Bowling Green State University, where her academic work emphasizes religious trauma, religious disaffiliation, trauma, and intersectional approaches to mental health.

Monroe's scholarly interests center on the experiences of LGBTQIA2S+ individuals and communities, particularly the intersections of religious trauma, identity, mental health, social justice, and health equity. She is a co-founder of the North American Research Collective for Religious Trauma (NARC-RT) and serves in leadership with the Reclamation Collective, a nonprofit organization supporting survivors of religious trauma and spiritual abuse. Her research has been published on the relationship between religious trauma, sex, gender roles, and sexuality, and she has contributed to research initiatives involving the University of Michigan, the University of Notre Dame, and NIH-funded work. Her long-term goal is to develop evidence-informed trauma prevention and intervention programs that integrate psychological research, education, advocacy, and accessible care.

In addition to her academic and research work, Monroe is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200) and teaches yoga through her emerging venture, Beka's YoGaga, LLC, which is designed to bring accessible yoga into community, educational, workplace, and private settings. Her approach emphasizes inclusivity, accessibility, body acceptance, and trauma-informed practice, with sliding-scale options for historically disenfranchised communities. Through the intersection of clinical psychology, religious-trauma scholarship, advocacy, and mind-body practices, Monroe seeks to create more equitable spaces for healing while advancing research and professional practices that recognize the complex relationships among identity, spirituality, trauma, and psychological wellbeing.