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Does past heartache seem to dictate your present life? This week, Steve and the gang sit down with authors Dan Allender and Cathy Loerzel to discuss a new path toward healing.

Season 3 concludes with the final episode on Warfare. I am joined again by Cathy Loerzel to talk about soul ties—what they are and how they are formed. In the previous episode we looked at how curses lead to agreements which lead to vows. Today, we look at how this progression can result in a soul tie with the person who has harmed us. In today’s episode, we also address how to break curses, agreements, vows, and soul ties.

I am joined by Cathy Loerzel to talk about curses, agreements, and vows—what they are, how they come to be, and where to find them in our stories. Cathy articulates the difference between a curse, an agreement, and a vow. She also explains how it is the design of evil for a curse to lead to an agreement, which then leads to a vow.

Part of what it means to be human is to suffer, but there’s a way to move through it that brings joy and goodness to both you and the world around you.

This week, Karrie talks with renowned Psychologist, Dr. Dan Allender, and trauma expert, Cathy Loerzel, MA about their new co-authored book, Redeeming Heartache. This book will help you recognize what trauma has formed your strengths, heal from trauma you have forgotten, and identify how your stories of suffering have set the trajectory of your calling. Throughout the book, Dan and Cathy walk you through the six types of harm and how they play out in your life and affect you and your relationships. This is an incredible book that takes you past heartache and allows you to see the goodness that can come from it!

Many of us have been told, "Don't dwell in the past." But the truth about trauma is that if we don't acknowledge, name, and honor our past pain, it will negatively impact our emotional, mental, and even physical health.

Dan and Cathy continue their conversation about the realities and complexities of being a leader. In this episode, questions about the particularities of being a woman in leadership are posed and thoughtfully addressed.

Cathy Loerzel and Dan Allender join me today to talk about their newly published book Redeeming Heartache: How Past Suffering Reveals Our True Calling. Cathy and Dan reflect on what redemption actually means in the context of our stories, why they believe redemption is possible, and how our experiences of being an orphan, a stranger, and a widow can shape our sense of personal calling.

These past 18 months have been hard. Hard on a personal level, hard on a professional level, and hard on a collective level. The pandemic has disconnected so many of us from the embodied wisdom of community, friendships, and relationships. We have needed to be physically removed for safety, but also we have been separated based on ideologies and deep skisms that have life and death seemingly attached to them.

What goes into the creation of a book? In this special episode, we take a deep dive into the making of Dr. Dan Allender and Cathy Loerzel’s new release, Redeeming Heartache: How Past Suffering Reveals True Calling.

Have you ever found yourself asking, “Why did this happen to me?”

Effective story engagement is not a magical skill that some people have and some people don’t. It can be learned. Today we give a preview of some of the principles and tactics of effective story engagement.

Picking up their conversation from last week, Dan and Cathy turn their attention to uncovering the roots of conflict in relationships and how we can move towards true connection.

There is no doubt that we are living in a time that heightens levels of conflict and contention in our relationships. Having just finished a one-day conference on this topic, Dr. Dan Allender and Cathy Loerzel talk today on the podcast about their recent, personal experiences with conflict, particularly in this pandemic era. In this season, the ways we engage and relate to conflict look different. You’ll hear Dan and Cathy talk about the reality of this conflict, what we can learn from our styles of relating in conflict, and how, underneath it all, is a deep-seated war with desire.

In their final conversation about archetypes within the kingdom of God, Dan, Cathy, and Rachael unpack what it means to be a widow or widower, and how one can become a thriving king or queen. What are the wounds that impact a king or queen, what does true leadership look like, and how does a king or queen bring order to God’s kingdom?

Today we talk about Story Work from her upcoming book release with renowned psychologist Dr. Dan Allender called Redeeming Heartache: How Past Suffering Reveals Our True Calling. In my opinion, Cathy and Dr. Allender–along with The Allender Center colleagues–are the foremost thinkers regarding how your storied history ends up revealing the mysteries of undesirable emotional experiencing and behavior in the present.

Continuing a conversation about what it means to live out the character of God in the context of the kingdom of God, Dan, Cathy, and Rachael engage the archetypes of stranger and prophet. You’ll hear more about what it means to be a stranger who, in the redemptive process, can begin to use their sense of alienation and isolation on behalf of the kingdom as a prophet. As Dan notes, in our world today we desperately need to listen to prophets who tell the truth, and open the door to imagination and redemptive hope.

This week, Dan, Rachael, and Cathy take a deep dive into and further reflect on the archetype of priest. What is required for a priest to grow in their ability to do what priests are meant to do? In this episode, you’ll hear our hosts and Cathy talk about the importance of archetypal thinking, how the archetype of an “orphan” relates to the calling of a priest archetype, and the process by which an orphan is transformed.

In this episode of the podcast, Dan and Rachael are joined by Cathy Loerzel, Executive Vice President of The Allender Center, to begin a conversation about a particular aspect of The Allender Theory: prophet, priest, and king/queen. During the conversation, they invite you into each of these three categories and to consider what it means to have been given a kingdom in which you are a priest, prophet, and king/queen.

Rachael Clinton Chen leads an open and honest conversation with Cathy Loerzel and Christy Bauman about what they wish other women knew about women’s sexuality.

Dr. Dan Allender and Rachael Clinton Chen are joined by guests Cathy Loerzel, Executive VP of The Allender Center and Christy Bauman, author of Theology of the Womb, to have a vulnerable discussion about what women wish men knew about women’s sexuality.

A few years ago on New Year’s Eve I sat around a room with friends and we began to talk about our hopes for the new year. As we talked, I began to ponder the idea of change. Can we really change after a certain point or are we stuck in time, having lost our capacity to bend and mold as we could when we were younger?

In this episode of the podcast, Dan is joined by Cathy Loerzel, Executive Vice President of The Allender Center, to talk about the realities and complexities of being a leader. Dan believes that people who are good leaders are also reluctant leaders, a theme you will hear throughout their conversation.

Do you approach your friendships, your work, or the pain in your life more as the orphan, the stranger, or the widow?

This week, Dan continues his conversation with Cathy Loerzel, Executive Vice President, about The Tale, Jennifer Fox’s powerful, devastating film that is available to stream on HBO or Amazon.

This week, Dan is joined by Cathy Loerzel, Executive Vice President, for a conversation about The Tale—a beautiful, harrowing new film by Jennifer Fox about childhood sexual abuse.

This week on the podcast, Dan continues his conversation with Cathy Loerzel, Executive Director, and Rachael Clinton, Assistant Director of Program Development and Admissions, continue their conversation about what it means to enter the stories of others with curiosity, attunement, and care.

This week on the podcast, Dan is joined by Cathy Loerzel, Executive Director, and Rachael Clinton, Assistant Director of Program Development and Admissions, to explore the art of having deep, meaningful conversations about stories. This discussion comes as we prepare to launch a brand new online course, Story Sage, all about developing the capacity and skill to enter stories of harm with curiosity and care. Click here to be the first to know when we launch this new online course.

This week, Dan is joined again by Cathy Loerzel and Rachael Clinton to further discuss our Healing the Wounded Heart online course. They particularly review the benefit of a closed Facebook group created for tribe members. The ultimate goal in creating the tribe option was to ensure that participants would not have to move through the course alone and would benefit from processing with others along the way. This added option has truly brought increased engagement with the material, and we hope very much that you can join us for our upcoming semester tribe!

This week, Dan is joined by Cathy Loerzel and Rachael Clinton. The three discuss the importance of community in the healing process and reflect upon ways in which community has benefited past “semester tribe” participants in our Healing the Wounded Heart online course. They take time to review three specific groups of people who would benefit from this kind of collective experience and outline what participants gain as a result of hearing others’ stories and letting their own stories be known.

This week on The Allender Center Podcast, Dan continues the “Training Wounded Healers” series all about our signature Training Certificate, a year-long program that guides individuals through engagement with their own stories of harm and trauma for the sake of learning to offer healing and restoration in the stories of others. Here, Dan is joined by Cathy Loerzel, MA, co-founder and Executive Director of The Allender Center, and Rachael Clinton, MDiv, a pastor, certificate facilitator, and member of our Teaching Staff. Cathy and Rachael are also graduates of The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology.

Last week on The Allender Center Podcast, Dan launched a new series exploring our signature Training Certificate, a year-long program that guides individuals through engagement with their own stories of harm and trauma for the sake of learning to offer healing and restoration in the stories of others.

This week on The Allender Center Podcast, Dan launches a new series exploring the heart and vision behind our unique Training Certificate, a year-long program that guides individuals through engagement with their own stories of harm and trauma for the sake of learning to offer healing and restoration in the stories of others.

In the chaos and urgency of tragedy, it is difficult to slow down and allow ourselves to grieve. As our adult self makes decisions and takes action, can we still let ourselves feel the sadness, fear, and loneliness of our inner child? That was the gut-wrenching challenge faced by Cathy Loerzel, after a personal tragedy struck in the summer of 2015.

Last week, Cathy Loerzel, Executive Director of The Allender Center, wrote about the before and after of childbirth, reflecting on the emotional impact her newborn son has had on her heart. Here, Cathy shares about the nature of that impact—one that has made her more tender to both the pain of abuse and the beauty of goodness.

For the next two weeks, Cathy Loerzel, Executive Director of The Allender Center, will write about the before and after of childbirth—a difficult, life-changing process that has increased both her capacity for love and her tenderness to pain.

I am in the middle of moving, over Christmas, with a one-year-old baby, and I don’t wanna. I mean, I do—it is an amazing gift to our family to be able to move from our cramped townhouse into a beautiful house with a huge yard for our very active son to play in. We are thrilled and I want to cry. There are many reasons for this. First, moving is just hard—regardless of your circumstances. It is laborious, tedious, expensive, and fraught with details that would drive anyone mad. Second, it means change—deep change. And for those of us who like comfort and routine, this change can be undoing to the core.