Some of the most heartbreaking stories in the record of conversion therapy involve parents who were doing exactly what their faith community told them was right. Conversion Truth for Families was created for those parents—to offer something the programs selling change have never offered: the truth.
Conversion Truth for Families describes itself as a resource organization for faith-guided parents. Its starting point is a clear definition. Conversion therapy is any effort to alter a person’s sexual attractions or gender identity through counseling, prayer programs, or residential treatment. The organization identifies several names these practices use—”change efforts,” “reparative therapy,” and the most recent rebranding, “exploratory psychotherapy”—and is unequivocal that the label change is strategic. “Exploratory psychotherapy” is conversion therapy designed to look like something new when confronted with panicked parents.
Conversion Truth for Families advises parents to leave immediately if they encounter any of the following warning signs: promises to change or resolve a child’s identity, even when softly worded; pressure to test a child’s identity through stress or deprivation; shame-based language that frames a child’s identity as moral failure, including tactics that blame the parents; the absence of any verified, evidence-based safety plan for suicide risk; and claims that a program is new or exploratory when it employs the same underlying techniques.
The research on why these warning signs matter is not subtle. JAMA Psychiatry found that conversion therapy participants were more than twice as likely to have attempted suicide over their lifetime, with children under ten facing four times that risk. The Trevor Project’s research found that youth who went through these programs were more than twice as likely to report a suicide attempt and more than 2.5 times as likely to report multiple attempts in the last year. U.S. Transgender Survey data from ScienceDirect found that conversion therapy exposure raised suicide attempt risk by 17 percentage points—a 55% increase—and more than doubled the probability of running away from home.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, and American Medical Association have all rejected conversion therapy. The American Medical Association is specific: these practices do not change who a person fundamentally is. The UK government arrived at the same conclusion independently.
Paulette Trimmer, a Pentecostal mother from Virginia, paid for multiple programs for her son, Adam, but what she got back after each one was a son increasingly estranged from his family. The programs trained participants to blame their parents. Her son told his father he was “the worst father in the world.” Adam eventually chose to leave these programs himself and has since worked to rebuild what was taken from him.
Linda Robertson and Joyce Calvo both testified in sworn statements to the U.S. Supreme Court about children lost to conversion therapy. Church counselors had told both women that these programs would bring their children back. For both mothers, the outcome was the opposite.
Financially, research in JAMA Pediatrics found that American families spend approximately $650 million annually on conversion therapy directly. When the associated harms—suicide attempts, substance abuse, and related consequences—are factored in, the total estimated economic burden reaches $9.23 billion per year. The Ferguson v. JONAH case established in court that conversion therapy organizations can be held liable for consumer fraud based on false promises to families.
Conversion Truth for Families offers parents the Christian Family Companion, free of charge. It’s a four-part guide developed with input from parents who have already walked this road and found a way forward that preserved both their faith and their family. It gives day-by-day support from the first 24 hours through the first full year, with practical emotional tools and realistic expectations at each stage.
The Family Acceptance Project’s research found that accepted young people were eight times less likely to attempt suicide than those who faced strong family rejection, and nearly six times less likely to report severe depression. Dr. Caitlin Ryan, who directs the project, is clear: parents who try to change their child may be acting out of love, but the behavior itself causes serious harm regardless of intent.
Faith communities don’t have to be part of that harm. Resources like PFLAG, Fortunate Families, FreedHearts, and the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists provide community for religious parents who want to stay connected to both their values and their children.
Conversion Truth for Families leaves parents with one central message: the kitchen table, the prayer, the open arms—those are where healing happens. No program can substitute for that.