The Allender Center

10/17/2025

In this week’s wise and profoundly human conversation of the Allender Center Podcast, Dr. Dan Allender sits down with longtime friend and former student Michael John Cusick, founder of Restoring the Soul and author of the new book "Sacred Attachment: Escaping Spiritual Exhaustion and Trusting in Divine Love."

Together, they explore the link between spiritual exhaustion and divine love, and how attachment, or the way we learn to connect and be connected, shapes our experience of God, ourselves, and one another.

Michael shares pieces of his remarkable story: from surviving profound childhood trauma and addiction to discovering the slow, sacred work of healing that unfolds over a lifetime. He reflects on the moments that first revealed divine love to him and later, the painful exposure that became the turning point of his adult life.

Dan and Michael talk about what it means to practice attachment—to be seen, soothed, safe, and secure—and how even our deepest wounds can become doorways into God’s relentless, restorative love.

🎧 Listen to "Sacred Attachment" with Michael John Cusick this week on the Allender Center Podcast, wherever you find your podcasts, or at:

In this week’s wise and profoundly human conversation, Dr. Dan Allender sits down with longtime friend and former student Michael John Cusick, founder of Restoring...

10/17/2025

This weekend, you can save 25% on the Healing the Wounded Heart Online Course with code HEART25.

Guided by Dr. Dan Allender, this self-paced course offers gentle reflection, survivor stories, and a journal to help face the harm of past sexual abuse with care and hope.

Whether you are a survivor, a caregiver, or supporting a loved one, this course provides gentle, compassionate guidance as you courageously engage your story.

Enter code HEART25 to save 25% at:
🔗 https://online.theallendercenter.org/courses/healing-the-wounded-heart?coupon=heart25

10/14/2025

Applications for Women's Recovery Week are now open! We invite you to join us May 31-June 5, 2026, in Colorado Springs. Learn more and apply:

A Healing Space for Women Who Have Survived Sexual Abuse Women’s Recovery Week is a focused, immersive experience designed to help survivors explore the ways...

10/10/2025

When you hear the words “surrendered sexuality,” what comes to mind—loss, shame, control? In this conversation, you’ll hear a different vision.

In this week’s Allender Center Podcast episode, Dr. Dan Allender is joined by clinical psychologist and author Dr. Juli Slattery. Together, they open up a vulnerable and hope-filled dialogue about sexuality—one that goes far beyond rules or “right answers.”

Drawing from her new book Surrendered Sexuality: How Knowing Jesus Changes Everything, Juli shares how her own journey, through disruption, prayer, and deepening intimacy with God, led her to recognize the unspoken pain so many of us carry around sexuality.
Rather than focusing on behaviors, Dan and Juli invite you to see sexuality as a core part of being human: your body, your emotions, your longing for connection, and ultimately, your intimacy with God.

They also reframe what it means to surrender. Instead of shame or control, surrender becomes a gentle, ongoing invitation into the goodness of God—an opening to more pleasure in life, meaningful healing, and deeper trust in Jesus.

This isn’t an episode with tidy conclusions or quick fixes. It’s an invitation to step into the mystery of sexuality as part of your discipleship journey, and to discover that in surrender, you don’t lose yourself. You find life: a life that is more whole, more connected, and more deeply rooted in the goodness of God.

You can listen to "Surrendered Sexuality" with Dr. Juli Slattery on the Allender Center Podcast at:

When you hear the words “surrendered sexuality,” what comes to mind—loss, shame, control? In this conversation, you’ll hear a different vision. In this week’s episode,...

10/08/2025

The holidays can be hard. Really hard.

Maybe you’re feeling the absence of loved ones, the distance from traditions that no longer fit, or the quiet ache of being out of step with family, church, or a faith you once held tightly. Maybe leaving fundamentalism has opened a space that feels lonely, uncertain, or even frightening.

If this feels familiar, you are not alone. This 2-hour, live webinar is for those who are stepping away from a fundamentalist worldview but still want to honor their faith and spirituality. Together, we’ll create a safe space to explore the grief, loss, and questions that often come with this transition, especially in the context of the holidays.

Date: Thursday, December 11, 2025
Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM PT
Access: Live stream with live Q&A, plus lifetime access to the full webinar recording

If you’ve recognized spiritual abuse in your past or present, feel caught between your faith and the ways you’ve grown, and want guidance on moving forward in this particular season without abandoning your spirituality, this webinar is for you. We hope you’ll join us.

Visit theallendercenter.org/events to register.

10/08/2025

So many men carry stories of harm, heartache, and shame—yet struggle to know how to name or engage them. The result is often silence, anger, or a pull toward addiction, achievement, or escape. But there is a deeper story waiting to be understood, and a path toward redemption and hope.

In this two-hour live webinar, Dr. Dan Allender and Wendell Moss, LMHC, invite you to explore what makes engaging men’s stories both uniquely challenging and profoundly necessary.

Drawing from the Genesis account of the fall of man—where Adam is told that the ground will yield “thorns and thistles” and that he will return to “dust”—this conversation will explore how futility, shame, and fear shape men’s lives and how these themes echo in the stories they carry.

Date: Tuesday, October 28, 2025
Time: 2:00 –4:00 PM PT
Access: Live stream with live Q&A, plus lifetime access to the full webinar recording

Join us for this powerful conversation and discover what it means to engage men’s stories of pain—and to glimpse the redemption that can rise from the ashes.

Visit theallendercenter.org/events to register.

10/03/2025

What does it look like for the Church to become a true place of hope, healing, and care when it comes to mental health? In this week’s conversation, Dan Allender and Rachael Clinton Chen are joined by Laura Howe, a clinical social worker and founder of Hope Made Strong and the Global Church Mental Health Summit, a free online event coming up on October 10, 2025.

Laura shares her journey into bridging faith and mental health—born out of frustration and a longing to see the Church rise to its calling as a safe, caring community. Together, they explore the unique role the Church can play in mental health support: not as a replacement for clinical care, but as a vital presence of peer support, belonging, and discipleship that helps people feel seen and held.

Whether you’re a pastor, ministry leader, caregiver, or someone longing to see your church embody greater compassion, our conversation with Laura offers both hope and practical wisdom for building communities where people can truly experience the canopy of care we all need.

🎧 Listen to "Church and Mental Health" this week on the Allender Center Podcast at:
https://theallendercenter.org/2025/10/church-mental-health-with-laura-howe/

🔗 We also invite you to check out this free online summit happening next Friday, October 10th. You can learn more, see the speaker lineup, and register here:
https://www.churchmentalhealthsummit.com/cmhs-2025?ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.churchmentalhealthsummit.com%2Fa%2F2148114765%2Fpo8pP3ro

Join thousands of pastors, counselors, and ministry leaders at the 2025 Church Mental Health Summit on October 10. Learn practical tools to support mental health in your church. Free registration includes one-day access to 40+ sessions on trauma, burnout, caregiving, and more.

10/02/2025

Sexual abuse leaves deep and lasting impact—on our bodies, relationships, and sense of self. Too often, it leaves us feeling alone in our story.
We believe healing begins by telling the truth.

That’s why we’ve created a free 3-part audio series with Dr. Dan Allender, Linda Royster, LCMHC, and Wendell Moss, LMHC. Together, they explore:

- What sexual abuse is—and why naming it matters
- How abuse distorts our desire and identity
- The possibility of healing and hope

If you’ve experienced harm, or you walk alongside someone who has, this series offers a gentle invitation to begin (or continue) the journey of healing.

🎧 Access the new Healing From Sexual Abuse Audio Series for free at:
https://online.theallendercenter.org/courses/sexual-abuse-audio-series

09/26/2025

For many, theology brings to mind dusty bookshelves, abstract arguments, and rigid dogmas. But what if theology wasn’t static? What if it could move, breathe, and shape the way we live, love, and lead in the world?

In this episode of the Allender Center Podcast, Dan and Rachael are joined by Dr. Lauren D. Sawyer to talk about living theology—a way of engaging God and Scripture that doesn’t stay confined to the context of books, a classroom, or even church, but instead has “feet” that walk into our everyday lives.

Lauren shares about The Seattle School’s new Certificate in Living Theology, a one-year online program designed to bring theology into conversation with psychology, culture, story, and community.

Together, they explore why theology is never neutral, how our contexts shape what we believe, and why listening and dialogue are as essential as doctrine. You’ll hear how living theology is less about arriving at final answers and more about cultivating a faith that is reflective, embodied, and responsive to the complexities of our time.

If you’ve ever longed for a way of doing theology that feels deeply connected to life, justice, and relational depth, this conversation is an invitation to consider what it means for theology to truly come alive.

🔗 Learn more about the Certificate in Living Theology: theseattleschool.edu/programs/living-theology-certificate

🎧 You can listen to "Living Theology" with Dr. Lauren D. Sawyer this week on the Allender Center Podcast at: https://theallendercenter.org/2025/09/living-theology/

For many, theology brings to mind dusty bookshelves, abstract arguments, and rigid dogmas. But what if theology wasn’t static? What if it could move, breathe,...

09/19/2025

In this episode of the Allender Center Podcast, Dr. Dan Allender and Linda Royster, LCMHC—two of the leaders of our Recovery Week experiences—come together to reflect on the heart and history of this sacred work.

Dan shares about the origins of Recovery Week in 1988, a gathering that began with a bold hope: that healing is possible for those carrying the wounds of childhood sexual abuse. Linda offers her own story of first encountering "The Wounded Heart" and the ways it opened her to the possibility of transformation.

Together, they invite us into a deeper understanding of what it means to hold both the personal and the collective—acknowledging that no one suffers in isolation, but always within systems and contexts that shape our stories. Linda speaks to the profound intersections of racial trauma and sexual abuse, and the complex layers of shame that can silence and fragment survivors.

Recovery Weeks create a space to move toward those particularities of the harm you’ve experienced—where you may want to freeze, minimize, or look away—and to take the courageous step of naming what is true. The goal is not to erase or resolve shame, but to walk through it, opening the way for transformation.

This conversation is an honoring of the decades of work poured into Recovery Weeks, and a heartfelt invitation: to those who come, your presence is already a profound act of courage. Our hope is that you might encounter a deeper healing that makes way for new life.

** Listener discretion is advised. This episode engages the topic of abuse, particularly sexual abuse. **

🎧 Listen to "Recovery Week Reflections" with Dan and Linda this week on the Allender Center Podcast:

Dr. Dan Allender and Linda Royster, LCMHC—two of the leaders of our Recovery Week experiences—come together to reflect on the heart and history of this...

09/15/2025

We are made in the image of a wildly creative God—and that means creativity lives in each of us. Yet, while it flows freely in childhood, many of us lose touch with it as adults, buried under busyness and productivity. What would it look like to recover creativity—not just for ourselves, but within our closest relationships?

This week, Dan and Becky Allender sit down with longtime friends John and Sue Cunningham, who are both creative in their own right. John is a potter, Sue is a poet, and together they’ve discovered both the beauty and the challenges of nurturing creativity in their marriage.

Whether you write, paint, play music, garden, or simply long to bring more beauty into your life, this episode will encourage you to see creativity not only as a personal practice—but as a vital part of your relationship.

🎧 Check out "The Cost and Gift of Creativity in Relationships" with John and Sue Cunningham this week on the Allender Center Podcast, available wherever you listen to your podcasts, and at:

We are made in the image of a wildly creative God—and that means creativity lives in each of us. Yet, while it flows freely in...

09/05/2025

This weekend only (September 5–8), save 25% on the Marriage Online Course with code SAVE25.

With 8 sessions, 25 videos, and a downloadable journal, these self-paced courses will help you and your partner discover how your personal stories shape your marriage story—and find hopeful pathways forward together. 💛

Sign up this weekend and take the next step toward a deeper, more connected marriage:
👉 https://online.theallendercenter.org/courses/marriage-online-course?coupon=SAVE25