Natasha Helfer - Post Disciplinary Council Debrief

Natasha Helfer stood on a street corner in downtown Wichita rather than inside a chapel to tell her story. The licensed therapist and former BYU graduate had just emerged from a Natasha Helfer disciplinary council that she refused to record, choosing instead to document the proceedings through handwritten notes and memory. Her decision to debrief the public outside church property, literally steps away from the building where fifteen leaders had just weighed her membership, captures the central tension of modern Mormon faith transitions. The church calls these proceedings courts of love. Helfer's account, delivered to a live audience and captured by Mormon Stories Podcast, suggests something closer to institutional theater designed to manage dissent rather than heal wounds.

Background and Professional Context

Helfer built her reputation over twenty-five years as a clinical social worker specializing in mixed-faith marriages and sexual health within Mormon communities. She holds credentials from BYU's competitive social work program, where admission accepts only forty students from hundreds of applicants. Her professional practice included offering free consultations to bishops and stake presidents seeking guidance on supporting LGBTQ youth or navigating sexual trauma.

This background makes her disciplinary council notable not for scandalous behavior, but for applied expertise. The church targeted her for providing resources to families in faith transition, specifically her work with the organization Thrive After Mormonism and her public statements criticizing the "lazy learner" rhetoric recently