For decades, many faith communities have pointed struggling families toward conversion therapy—programs promising to reconcile a child’s identity with religious teaching through counseling, prayer, or residential treatment. Conversion Truth for Families is a resource organization working to give those same communities access to information that those programs don’t want them to have.
The organization defines conversion therapy broadly: any effort to change who someone is attracted to or how they see themselves, delivered through counseling, spiritual programs, or residential centers. The names vary. “Reparative therapy,” “change efforts,” and “exploratory psychotherapy” have all been used to describe the same set of practices. Conversion Truth for Families identifies the latest label—exploratory psychotherapy—as a deliberate repackaging designed to slip past parents who are frightened and looking for help.
What parents deserve to know is what the research actually says. JAMA Psychiatry found that people who underwent conversion therapy were more than twice as likely to attempt suicide over their lifetime. Children under ten, when they first experienced these interventions, had four times the lifetime risk of a suicide attempt. Dr. Jack Turban of Harvard Medical School, who led that research, described it as the first study to definitively establish the connection between change efforts and serious mental health harm.
The Trevor Project’s research—peer-reviewed and published—found that youth who went through conversion therapy more than twice were more than twice as likely to report a suicide attempt in the previous year, and more than 2.5 times as likely to report multiple attempts. ScienceDirect analysis of the U.S. Transgender Survey found that conversion therapy exposure raised the risk of suicide attempts by 17 percentage points and more than doubled the likelihood of running away from home.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, and American Medical Association have all formally rejected conversion therapy. The AMA is explicit: these practices do not change who a person fundamentally is. A UK government evidence review reached the same conclusion, finding conversion therapy unlikely to be effective and associated with negative health outcomes.
Families who pursued these programs describe outcomes that mirror the research. Paulette Trimmer, a Pentecostal mother from Virginia, paid for multiple residential programs for her son Adam. When he returned from the first one, he barely wanted to speak to his parents. The programs had trained participants to blame their families—a tactic Conversion Truth for Families identifies as a common feature of these interventions. It took years and Adam’s own decision to leave conversion therapy before any real repair was possible.
Linda Robertson and Joyce Calvo, whose sworn statements were submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court, both describe how their children’s lives were lost after conversion therapy. Church counselors had told them that these programs would bring their kids back. That didn’t happen.
The financial burden is not trivial. Research published in JAMA Pediatrics puts the direct cost of conversion therapy to American families at $650 million annually, with the broader economic impact—accounting for substance abuse, suicidality, and related harms—reaching $9.23 billion per year.
The Christian Family Companion, offered free through Conversion Truth for Families, gives parents a day-by-day guide covering the first 24 hours through the first year after a disclosure. It was built on the experience of parents, grandparents, and guardians who navigated this without abandoning their faith. It includes practical emotional tools and strategies that do not require parents to give up their beliefs.
The Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University found that young people with accepting families were eight times less likely to attempt suicide than those facing high rejection. Dr. Caitlin Ryan, the project’s director, notes that parents often attempt to change their children out of love—but that the act of attempting change, regardless of motivation, harms a child’s sense of self.
Faith communities have resources available. PFLAG offers materials specifically for Christian families. Fortunate Families and FreedHearts provide a community for parents who want to stay tethered to both their beliefs and their kids. The Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists maintains a library of biblical, theological, and practical resources to help faith communities navigate these questions.
Healing, Conversion Truth for Families maintains, begins with the relationship—not with a program.
