Hannah Sutton-Adams

Hannah Sutton-Adams began her journey with the Godly Play Foundation as an intern after her first year of doctoral work. Hannah then became the Assistant for Research and Projects at The Center. In 2025, Hannah was named the Assistant Director of The Center and Spiritual Care for the Godly Play Foundation. Hannah holds a Ph.D. from Boston College. Her dissertation, “Adult Christian Formation After Religious Trauma,” contextualizes elements of Godly Play as a chaplaincy intervention to facilitate healing from religious trauma and abuse.  Hannah attended seminary at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist, earning an M.Div. She also holds a certificate in Traumatic Stress Studies from the Trauma Research Foundation.

Hannah is a board-certified chaplain through the Association of Professional Chaplains. She has served in various healthcare contexts with a special interest in pediatrics and behavioral health. She draws on her academic research and chaplaincy experience to serve as a licensed Godly Play Trainer and Storyteller. Hannah considers it her mission to ensure all children have access to safe and healthy spiritual nurture.

She also loves experimenting with Godly Play as a spiritual practice with people of all ages and in unusual spaces. Hannah has practiced Godly Play under a tree, in a pediatric psychiatric hospital, in a home-based church plant, in college ministries, at retreats, and in higher education.

When Hannah is not working for The Center, you can find her providing spiritual care, reading, writing, and enjoying nature with her husband, Logan, and their dog, Charo.

Contact Dr. Sutton-Adams: hannah@godlyplayfoundation.org

 

Publications

Cheryl Minor & Hannah Sutton-Adams (2022), Does Godly Play “Work?”: A Qualitative Study Examining the Impact of Godly Play on the Spiritual Lives of Adolescents and Young Adults Who Participated in Godly Play in Early, Middle, and Late Childhood. Christian Education Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/07398913251358612

Minor, Cheryl, Hannah Sutton-Adams, and Heather Ingersoll. “Crossed Wires: The Disconnect Between Christian Leaders’ Perceptions of Parents and the Lived Experiences of Contemporary Families.” Religious Education 118, no. 5 (October 20, 2023): 430–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/00344087.2023.2269342.

Minor, Cheryl V., and Hannah Sutton-Adams. “Godly Play Went Home: An Exploratory Study of the Experience of Godly Play in Homes during the Covid-19 Pandemic through the Lens of Caregivers.” Religious Education 117, no. 4 (August 8, 2022): 313–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/00344087.2022.2101814.

Sutton-Adams, Hannah. “Book Review: Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation.” Anglican Theological Review 104, no. 2 (May 1, 2022): 234–35. https://doi.org/10.1177/00033286211061499.

———. “Book Review: Margaret Benefiel and Bo Karen Lee, The Soul of Higher Education: Contemplative Pedagogy, Research, and Institutional Life for the Twenty-First Century.” Anglican Theological Review 103, no. 2 (May 1, 2021): 246–47. https://doi.org/10.1177/00033286211008113.

———. “Recognizing Stones and Snakes in Children’s Christian Formation: An Introduction to Religious Trauma and Abuse.” Religious Education 118, no. 4 (2023): 356–68. https://doi.org/10.1080/00344087.2023.2227816.

———. “Trauma-Informed Children’s Ministry: A Practical Guide to Reaching Hurting Kids: By Robert G., Crosby and Lori A. Crosby, Eugene, OR, Cascade Books, 2022, 200 Pp., $43.00 (Hardcover), ISBN 9781666715750; $28.00 (e-Book), ISBN 9781666715767.” International Journal of Children’s Spirituality 29, no. 3–4 (October 1, 2024): 159–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2024.2319635.