Ann Russo LCSW

Ann Russo LCSW Founder and Director of AMR Therapy. Creator of the Religious Trauma Treatment Model. Together, we can reimagine what mental health care can be.

Specializing in religious trauma and sexuality, Ann Russo works at the intersection of faith, queerness, and power, developing structured pathways toward autonomy and r I’m a queer entrepreneur, author, and educator dedicated to transforming mental health care through compassion, inclusivity, and empowerment. As the Founder and Clinical Director of AMR Therapy, I’ve led a thriving practice that ha

s served over 2,000 clients, creating a space where marginalized communities feel seen and supported. Currently, my focus is on training mental health professionals and organizations to embrace culturally affirming, sex-positive practices. Through workshops, consulting, and my forthcoming book, [Working Title: Beyond Belief: Healing Religious Trauma and Reclaiming Identity], I equip providers to navigate complex trauma, religious shame, and identity-based challenges with confidence and care. Whether you’re a mental health provider seeking to grow or someone curious about the intersection of trauma, sexuality, and inclusivity, I invite you to connect with me here.

04/23/2026

I believe in specialization. I believe in clinicians who commit years to study, practice, and refinement. I believe in depth of experience.

But when expertise loses humility, it becomes rigidity.

And rigidity has no place in mental health work.

What it means to practice in q***r-affirming ways today is not what it meant twenty years ago. Language has shifted. Lived experience has shifted. Power dynamics are more visible. Our clinical frameworks have to evolve accordingly.

In this clip, I talk about why staying “certain” is often the fastest way to become clinically ineffective.

Growth requires ongoing recalibration. Not just of skills, but of assumptions.

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One of the most human things we do is feel responsible for losses that were never ours to prevent. I wrote about this re...
04/23/2026

One of the most human things we do is feel responsible for losses that were never ours to prevent. I wrote about this recently after losing someone I loved to the long, quiet damage that religious shame can do to a life. Guilt lives in the body long after the mind has let go. If you are carrying that today, for a client, a loved one, anyone you could not save, I want you to know this: feeling responsible is human. Being responsible is something else entirely. There are losses no one person can prevent.

04/22/2026

Queerness and faith can coexist. The clinical task is not resolution through erasure. It is integration without harm.

Clients presenting with identity conflict shaped by religious doctrine require more than affirmation alone. They require a framework that addresses internalized theology, moral injury, and the somatic imprint of shame while preserving agency in belief.

Ann Russo provides LGBTQ+ affirming therapy, consultation, and clinician training grounded in religious trauma treatment.

Inclusive care is not optional. It is a clinical standard.

04/21/2026

A new clinical framework is on its way.

Ann Russo’s Religious Trauma Treatment model is designed for clinicians working at the intersection of faith, trauma, sexuality, and identity. It provides a clear structure for addressing religious shame and restoring connection to the body without requiring clients to abandon belief.

Early access, trainings, and consultation opportunities will be announced soon.

Join the mailing list at annrusso.org.

I joined The P***y Centered Living Podcast for a conversation that goes where most clinical spaces still hesitate.We get...
04/19/2026

I joined The P***y Centered Living Podcast for a conversation that goes where most clinical spaces still hesitate.

We get into purity culture, the Madonna–whore complex, sexual obligation, and the long tail of religious conditioning in women’s relationships to their bodies, desire, and consent.

This is not surface-level. And it is not sanitized.

Because the reality is this: many clients are not just working through “sexual shame.” They are working through entire belief systems that taught them their bodies were dangerous, their desire was suspect, and their role was compliance.

If you are a clinician, this is the work.

Reclaiming your sexual voice is not about confidence. It is about autonomy. It is about restructuring the internal framework that governs how someone relates to pleasure, agency, and self-trust.

This episode speaks directly to that process.

Listen here:
https://buff.ly/uycKJa7

04/16/2026

They called it protection. It was actually control.

This clip from the More Human, More Kind podcast names what many women already feel but have not been given language for. Religious systems that claim to safeguard sexuality often do so by policing it. Shame becomes the mechanism. Silence becomes the expectation.

This is not just personal. It is structural.

In my work, including my Religious Trauma Treatment model, I focus on helping people identify how these belief systems shaped their relationship to desire, pleasure, and self-trust. Healing is not about becoming “acceptable.” It is about becoming fully self-directed.

If this resonates, start here:
https://buff.ly/aFtaE1h
https://buff.ly/HTDJzL9

04/14/2026

Your desire is not a defect. Your body is not dangerous. And you don't have to choose between your faith and your pleasure.

Ann Russo, LCSW & Theologian, helps individuals reclaim their sexuality from the grip of religious shame — through therapy, consulting, and education.

Healing is possible. You deserve it.

04/12/2026

I believe in specialization. I believe in clinicians who commit years to study, practice, and refinement. I believe in depth of experience.

But when expertise loses humility, it becomes rigidity.

And rigidity has no place in mental health work.

What it means to practice in q***r-affirming ways today is not what it meant twenty years ago. Language has shifted. Lived experience has shifted. Power dynamics are more visible. Our clinical frameworks have to evolve accordingly.

In this clip, I talk about why staying “certain” is often the fastest way to become clinically ineffective.

Growth requires ongoing recalibration. Not just of skills, but of assumptions.

If you are doing this work well, you are still learning.
annrusso.org

04/08/2026

If your image of God requires fear, something in the framework needs to be questioned.

In this clip from the Mind Elevation podcast, I explore how rigid theology does more than shape belief. It shapes nervous system responses, self-perception, and a person’s capacity for autonomy.

When God is framed as surveilling, punitive, or easily disappointed, people do not just “believe differently.” They learn to monitor themselves. They second-guess their instincts. They disconnect from their own internal authority.

This is not just spiritual. It is clinical.

In my work, including my Religious Trauma Treatment model, we examine how these theological structures become internalized and how they impact self-trust, identity, and psychological flexibility.

Because a framework that produces chronic fear and self-doubt is not neutral. It is formative.

annrusso.org

04/07/2026

If a U.S. president threatens to destroy an entire civilian population, that crosses a line no matter your politics.

This is not about left or right. This is about whether we accept threats against civilians as normal.

Call your representatives. Demand congressional oversight. Pay attention to what is being said in your name. REPOST MAKE THE MESSAGE STRONG

If you believe in this country, you don’t stay quiet when that line gets crossed.

This isn't a drill, it's actually happening. Do your part! He straight up said he's gonna destroy a whole civilization. ...
04/07/2026

This isn't a drill, it's actually happening. Do your part! He straight up said he's gonna destroy a whole civilization.

04/07/2026

Navigating faith and identity is not a linear process. It is shaped by contradiction, tension, and the pressure to reconcile who you are with what you were taught to believe.

In my work, I see this often. People trying to make themselves smaller to fit a framework that was never built to hold their full humanity.

Healing does not come from simplifying that experience. It comes from working directly with the complexity. From questioning the systems that shaped you. From rebuilding a relationship to yourself that is grounded in autonomy rather than compliance.

If you are a clinician or someone doing this work personally, this is the terrain.

You can explore more of my work, including podcast conversations on religious trauma, sexuality, and identity here:
https://annrusso.org

Address

Unit 201
Long Beach, CA
90803

Telephone

+13232075901

Website

http://www.amrtherapy.com/, https://bellarmine.lmu.edu/theologicalstudies/, https://www.csulb.

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