Leadership

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.

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?

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.