After spending years understanding, developing and beginning to live my own faith, I realized my passion was to help people better develop theirs. Through work that impacts mind, body and spirit, my aim is to understand how spiritual life develops and help individuals and organizations embrace faith in a way that empowers.

I’m a media psychologist who is passionate about helping people lead their best spiritual lives. Whether that’s documenting how people evolve their spiritual identities, helping people to navigate their own faith paths using digital tools, or helping organizations to spread messages of love, compassion and grace, my aim is to equip people with the knowledge they need to understand their faith and express it in ways that’s authentic to them.
I work in three distinct areas:

researcher and writer
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I have a Ph.D. in media psychology, where I’ve focused on understanding how media and technology affect the faith development of people under 25. Other interests include the development and resolution of religious trauma and religious deconstruction, primarily among BIPOC and other marginalized groups.

Communications Consultant
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I’m a career communicator with more than 17 years experience in journalism and corporate/nonprofit communications. I specialize in helping spiritual and mission-oriented entities shape their stories and deliver them to the world. I also train communicators to do the same.

spiritual coach and faciliTator
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Exploring spirituality can be an arduous and sometimes lonely process. I offer 1:1 coaching and group sessions to women and BIPOC to help process certain elements of the spiritual journey.

About Dr. Patterson

Dr. Angela Patterson is a writer and communicator with more than 15 years of experience in journalism, marketing, public relations and corporate communications. A former newspaper reporter, Angela transitioned into corporate communications, working at Fortune 500 companies in the automotive space before moving into the nonprofit world as the director of communications for First United Methodist Church Dallas. Currently, she serves as the head writer and editor at Springtide Research Institute, where they conduct studies on the inner and outer lives of people under 25. Using her communications background, she also serves as adjunct faculty in the master’s program for Organization Development and Leadership at Fielding Graduate University.

Angela earned a doctorate in media psychology from Fielding, where she studied how media and technology affect cultural institutions. Specifically, her research focuses on how digital media impacts the religious and spiritual development of adolescents and young adults. Angela also holds a master’s degree in media psychology from Fielding, a master’s degree in journalism from Indiana University Bloomington, and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Southern Mississippi. Angela lives in Dallas, Texas and is a proud plant mom of two.