The Allender Center

03/20/2026

Many of our podcast listeners have asked us to explore neurodivergence, especially what it means to parent neurodivergent children or to make sense of a diagnosis in adulthood.

We’re pleased to welcome therapist Stephanie Isbell, a Narrative Focused Trauma Care®–trained clinician who works with neurodivergent adults and families. In conversation with Dan and Rachael, she leads us through the complex intersection of neurodivergence, trauma, identity, and story.

Neurodivergence—which can include autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and more—points to the many ways human brains process the world differently. For many people, these differences have been misunderstood or pathologized, often leading to experiences of shame, isolation, and relational misunderstanding from early childhood.

Throughout the conversation, we are invited to cultivate deeper curiosity—about ourselves and about the people we love. For parents, partners, and communities, this means moving beyond forcing conformity and instead learning to ask better questions, listen more carefully, and honor the unique ways each person experiences the world.

🎧 You can listen to this week's episode of the Allender Center Podcast wherever you find your podcasts, or stream it at:

Therapist Stephanie Isbell leads us through the complex intersection of neurodivergence, trauma, identity, and story. Listen to the full episode:

03/18/2026

“I am afraid of the past and what I don’t know. I am afraid of what’s going to happen as I engage that... It’s a huge risk. But I think the real issue is: Do I really want the stories I’m engaging to break my heart, to make my heart more tender, to receive from the Lord God more comfort, therefore, more confidence, therefore more freedom—to be free not from, but far more free for the sake of bringing goodness to others?”

-Dr. Dan Allender

03/16/2026

Heartache and trauma are inevitable parts of life, yet we believe redemption is possible. ⁠
⁠
The Narrative Focused Trauma Care® (NFTC) training program is designed to equip you to support others by first exploring your own story, grounded in the belief that we cannot guide others beyond where we’ve been ourselves. ⁠
⁠
Becoming Level I trained marks the start of a transformative journey, where you’ll uncover the profound narrative of God and gain essential psychological and theological frameworks for personal and collective trauma recovery.⁠
⁠
☕ Curious to learn more? ⁠
Join us for a free informational Coffee Hour Tuesday, March 17, or Thursday, April 16. RSVP at: ⁠
🔗 theallendercenter.org/events⁠
⁠
📅 Already planning to apply?⁠
Submit your application by March 31 to be considered during Application Round 1. Learn more and apply at:⁠
🔗 https://theallendercenter.org/offerings/trainings/nftc-level-one/
⁠
⁠Now more than ever, the world needs people who are grounded in truth, shaped by healing, and ready to walk with others in the darkest places.⁠
⁠
If that’s you, we’d love to walk with you.

03/13/2026

Have you been living within a role for years—only to wonder if there is more of you still waiting to be known?

For decades, Becky Allender stood faithfully behind the scenes, supporting Dan’s work, praying as an intercessor, helping build what would become the Allender Center. Yet she also carried the ache of being “in the room” without fully feeling she had a seat at the table. In today’s conversation, she names the cost of that tension, and the courage it took to step forward.

When Becky chose to participate in Narrative Focused Trauma Care® training—the very framework her husband helped create—something began to shift. Through the steady presence of skilled facilitators and courageous companions, she encountered grief she hadn’t fully named and discovered a growing kindness toward parts of herself long defended or hidden.

What followed was not only personal healing, but relational transformation. Through the language she gained and interactions she experienced, her relationship with Dan deepened. Repair with her daughters became possible. Her love for her parents softened and expanded. And from that engagement with her story emerged a clearer sense of calling—expressed in her teaching, leadership, and her memoir, "Hidden in Plain Sight."

Perhaps most compelling is this: Becky began this work after decades of marriage, motherhood, and ministry. It was not too late. And it is not too late for you.

What might you be missing by staying in the role you’ve always carried? And what new life could unfold if you trusted that your story is still being written?

🎧 You can find today's episode of the Allender Center Podcast wherever you get your podcasts, or stream it at:

Have you been living within a role for years—only to wonder if there is more of you still waiting to be known? For decades, Becky...

03/12/2026

Join us April 10-12 for the Story Workshop for Racial Trauma & Healing—an immersive, online experience for Black, Indigenous, Latino/a, and Asian/Pacific Islander participants seeking a sacred space to engage stories of identity, harm, and resilience through the lens of racial trauma.⁠
⁠
The wounds of racism are real—woven into our bodies, our families, and our stories. Healing begins when we tell the truth. When we name our experiences. When we share our stories in community.⁠
⁠
Over three days, you’ll experience:⁠
✨ Live teaching from Linda Royster, Wendell Moss, and the Allender Center team⁠
✨ Small story groups led by facilitators trained in Narrative Focused Trauma Care®⁠
✨ Guided reflection to help you connect, grieve, and move toward healing⁠
⁠
We want this workshop to be accessible to all who’d like to participate. Need-based scholarships are available to self-select at registration and payment plans are available.⁠
⁠
🔗 To register, visit: theallendercenter.org/workshops⁠
or visit the link in our bio.

03/11/2026

Registration is open for the Story Workshop for Spiritual Abuse & Healing, happening May 1-3, 2026!
⁠
This immersive, online weekend workshop is designed to guide you through the complex process of healing from spiritual harm and religious trauma. It’s more than an event—it’s a compassionate space to be seen, known, and supported as you reclaim your story.⁠
⁠
At this Story Workshop, you’ll explore how spiritual abuse has shaped your relationships, calling, and sense of self. Together, we’ll engage your story with care, honesty, and hope, creating space for clarity, restoration, and renewal.⁠

We want this workshop to be accessible to all who’d like to participate. Need-based scholarships are available to self-select at registration and payment plans are available.
⁠
Learn more and reserve your spot at:⁠
🔗 https://theallendercenter.org/offerings/workshops/story-workshop-spiritual-abuse-healing/

03/06/2026

What if healing from purity culture requires more than naming how you were hurt? What if it also means asking how you participated?

In this week's episode of the Allender Center Podcast, Dr. Dan Allender and Rachael Clinton Chen sit down with their colleague Dr. Lauren Sawyer, to explore her new book, "Growing Up Pure."

Lauren names something many haven’t had language for: as teens, we weren’t only victims of purity culture; we were also moral agents within it. We made choices. We found belonging. We sometimes resisted in small ways. And at times, we participated in systems that harmed others and ourselves.

That tension between vulnerability and agency, harm and complicity can feel destabilizing. Yet Lauren invites us to see accountability not as punishment, but as a sacred, even hopeful, practice.

What if repentance wasn’t shame-driven, but a pathway toward integration? What if healing meant not only tending to the wounds purity culture caused, but also examining how we were formed by—and sometimes upheld—it?

This episode is honest, nuanced, and tender. It creates space to grieve the damage of purity culture while also imagining a different story. One rooted in the belief that we are made in the image of God as embodied, relational, sexual beings… and that restoration is possible.

🎧 You can find this week's episode of the Allender Center Podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts, or stream it on our website at:

What if healing from purity culture requires more than naming how you were hurt? What if it also means asking how you participated? In this...

02/27/2026

How often do we think about disgust? Yet it shapes our choices, relationships, and even our faith every day in ways we rarely notice.

In this week's episode of the Allender Center Podcast, Dr. Paul Hoard and Billie Hoard discuss their new book, “Eucontamination: Disgust Theory and the Christian Life,” exploring how this powerful, often overlooked force influences us.

Drawing from theology and psychology, they examine how disgust—originally designed to protect us—can become a tool for exclusion when applied to people rather than pathogens. From purity culture to nationalism to everyday relational divides, they consider how “contamination logic” forms the world around us.

But the heart of their work is hopeful: Jesus doesn’t abolish disgust—he inverts it. In Christ, holiness is not fragile. Love is stronger than sin. What looks contaminating does not defile him; instead, his presence transforms from within.

This conversation invites us to reflect on where disgust may be shaping our reactions, relationships, and theology—and to imagine a discipleship formed by more courageous, more transformative love.

🎧 You can find this week's episode of the Allender Center Podcast wherever you get your podcasts, or stream it at:

“Eucontamination: Disgust Theology and the Christian Life” with Paul Hoard, PhD, and Billie Hoard by The Allender Center on February 27, 2026 https://traffic.libsyn.com/theallendercenter/TAC624-Exportb.mp3 iTunes Spotify RSS Download How often do we think about disgust? Yet it shapes our choices...

02/20/2026

Who gets to tell the story? This week, Pastor James A. White returns to the Allender Center Podcast to explore why that question sits at the heart of Black History Month.

Marking 100 years since Carter G. Woodson launched Negro History Week in February 1926, this episode examines how history has long been shaped by those in power — and how it remains at risk of erasure when we refuse to name the truth. From the creation of racial categories to modern claims of “colorblindness,” division has been strategically constructed to preserve power, while silence continues to support a distorted narrative.

But this conversation isn’t only about what has been. It’s about what is unfolding now. The same grasping for power, the same fear-based narratives, the same temptation to flatten difference are still at work today.

Black history reveals both the cost of erasure and the brilliance of resilience. And it invites us to ask: What story are we participating in now?

🎧 Listen wherever you find your podcasts or stream this episode at:

Who gets to tell the story? This week, Pastor James A. White returns to the Allender Center Podcast to explore why that question sits at...

02/19/2026

What if growing in your marriage wasn’t about trying harder—but slowing down and putting words to what matters most?⁠
⁠
Join Dan & Becky Allender for "Growing in Marriage: A Guided Journey," a new, 3-part online series designed to help couples take practical steps toward deeper intimacy through guided letter-writing, reflection, and shared practice.⁠
⁠
✨ Go deeper into how your stories shape the way you relate⁠
✨ Understand self-protection and conflict patterns⁠
✨ Practice new ways of engaging one another with humility, courage, and care⁠
⁠
You’ll also have access to session recordings for 6 months, so you can watch on your schedule or revisit meaningful moments. ⁠
⁠
If you’ve been longing for more than good advice... this is a space for real, steady movement toward deeper connection.⁠
⁠
We're getting started with the first live session on Tuesday, February 24, at 2 PM PT. Reserve your spot now at: ⁠
⁠
🔗 https://online.theallendercenter.org/courses/growing-in-marriage-series
⁠
⁠
Know another couple who might want to grow in this kind of intentional way? Please share this with them!

- with Dan Allender & Becky Allender

02/13/2026

What if the freedom you long for is hidden in that final 3% of the truth you’re afraid to share? This week on the Allender Center Podcast, Dan and Rachael are joined by therapists Blake Roberts and Jamie Haigh of the Three Percent Podcast for a thoughtful conversation about holistic masculinity, loneliness, and the risk of real vulnerability.

Blake and Jamie share the meaning behind the “three percent”, which references the small but powerful parts of our story we hide in shame, and how naming them opens the door to deeper connection and freedom. Together, they explore why so many men feel alone, the difference between conquering and connecting, and how redemptive risk invites us into a fuller, more honest life.

🎧 You can find the Allender Center Podcast on your favorite streaming platform, or listen at:

What if the freedom you long for is hidden in the 3% you’re afraid to share? This week, Dan and Rachael are joined by therapists...

02/11/2026

What if growing in your marriage wasn’t about trying harder—but slowing down and putting words to what matters most?

Join Dan & Becky Allender for "Growing in Marriage: A Guided Journey," a new, 3-part online series designed to help couples take practical steps toward deeper intimacy through guided letter-writing, reflection, and shared practice.

✨ Go deeper into how your stories shape the way you relate
✨ Understand self-protection and conflict patterns
✨ Practice new ways of engaging one another with humility, courage, and care

You’ll also have access to session recordings for 6 months, so you can watch on your schedule or revisit meaningful moments.

If you’ve been longing for more than good advice... this is a space for real, steady movement toward deeper connection.

We're getting started with the first live session on Tuesday, February 24, at 2 PM PT. Reserve your spot now at:

🔗 https://online.theallendercenter.org/courses/growing-in-marriage-series

Know another couple who might want to grow in this kind of intentional way? Feel free to share this with them!