The Allender Center Podcast

Today Dan and Rachael revisit one of the most listened-to topics on the podcast: spiritual abuse. However, before we dive into the conversation, we recognize that we cannot address the reality of spiritual abuse without taking into account that many, many people have encountered violations of various kinds within spiritual contexts. Over the course of their conversation today, the first of two on this topic, you’ll hear more about how to define spiritual abuse in Christian contexts, tools used by spiritually abusive leaders to maintain power and control, and the insidious nature of spiritual abuse.

Listener Resources:

Register to attend Confronting Spiritual Abuse on June 5

Listen to a podcast episode, “Narcissism and the Church with Chuck DeGroat”

Listen to our very first, three-part podcast series on Spiritual Abuse

Listen to a podcast episode about the particulars of “Mind Control and Dogmatism in Spiritual Abuse”

Direct download: TAC376-SpiritualAbuse-v1.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am PDT

Over the past few weeks on the podcast we’ve talked about grief on a more personal level in our lives, but we also recognize we’re in the midst of an unrelenting season of trauma and grief on a collective scale. So today, Dan and Rachael invite guests Danielle Castillejo, Rebecca Wheeler Walston, and Rev. Michael S. Chen to the podcast to continue a conversation about the nature and impact of collective grief. As you’ll hear Dan say, you may not see how your story fits into this conversation, but “part of the development of wisdom is to enter a world we may not be familiar with” and we encourage you to be open to hearing the wise words these guests have to share.

Listener Resources:

Read a blog post by Danielle Castillejo “Emergency Mental Health Care: How Therapists of Color Contend with Racial Trauma”

Direct download: TAC377-Grief3-v1.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am PDT

Dan and Rachael continue a conversation about grief on the podcast, this week engaging Jeanette White, Interim Senior Director of The Allender Center. Jeanette, a dear friend and colleague of our hosts, graduated from The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology with an MA in Christian Studies in 2007 and has been an essential member of The Allender Center since its founding in 2011. As you listen to their conversation, you’ll hear them discuss in more depth Jeanette’s story and the two sides of grief—one that is messy and hard, and the other that opens your heart and eyes to the realities that we cannot engage without walking through the valley of the shadow of death. As we are in a season of collective loss, trauma, and grief, it is our hope that grief would move us to a deeper understanding of the suffering of others and ways we can come alongside and be a catalyst for care.

Listener Resources

Listen to a podcast series about “The Grief of Miscarriage

Direct download: TAC376-Grief2_v1.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am PDT

This week on the podcast, Dan and Rachael begin a new series that takes a deeper look into the topic of grief. In this particular episode they engage in conversation with special guest Mary Ellen Owen, who is a core member of The Allender Center team as well as a mental health therapist with over 20 years of experience. Rachael describes her as a woman with wild depth and someone well acquainted with grief, both in her own life and the lives of those she serves. 

So, what are we talking about when we talk about grief? Over the course of their conversation, you’ll hear more about the necessity of and different kinds of grief, what boundaries we put up to avoid engaging grief, and how grief connects us to the work of Jesus and the tenderness of God.

Listener Resources

Direct download: TAC375-Grief1-v3.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:30am PDT

In these days of what feels like endless ache and wave after wave of trauma and demand for resilience, we have the opportunity to develop a greater capacity to know who we are and who God is in the midst of this season. Today we’re re-sharing the second part of a series on qualities of a well-lived story, and we’re excited for you to revisit these conversations with our friends and partners in this work. You’ll hear from one of the most courageous people we know, Danielle Castillejo, who is a therapist, writer, activist, and podcast host, and Jimmy McGee, President and CEO of The Impact Movement, who is someone who exhibits Gospel curiosity in his life and ministry.

Direct download: TAC374-WellLivedStoryReshare2-v1.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:07pm PDT