Darls Centola is a Los Angeles-based trauma therapist, author, and educator with over 25 years of experience helping individuals heal from the lasting effects of high-control religion, spiritual abuse, and adverse religious experiences (AREs).

A former Jehovah’s Witness who walked away to reclaim her autonomy, she brings both lived experience and clinical expertise to her work—specializing in EMDR, Internal Family Systems, and trauma-informed care.

Her debut memoir blends personal narrative with cultural insight, chronicling Darls’ coming-of-age inside a restrictive belief system as a Jehovah’s Witness.

And documents her tender friendship with Michael Jackson, forged during high school, where they spent time together and studied as teenage Witnesses.