The Allender Center Podcast

How can the church support people and their mental health well? Can the church move beyond offering simple platitudes or just referring people to professionals and moving on? Can we better become a community that knows how to listen, stay present, and walk alongside people in their suffering?
In this conversation, Dr. Dan Allender and Rachael Clinton Chen welcome Daniel Whitehead, CEO of Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries, to explore the complicated intersection of faith, suffering, and mental wellbeing. 
Drawing from his own experience of pastoral burnout, Daniel challenges our tendencies to love a good testimony. We gravitate toward tidy stories of suffering overcome, where everything gets better in the end. But faith doesn't mean our struggles are always resolved—or that we have to stay in a place of victory.
Supporting mental health in the church isn't about replacing professional care. It's about asking what happens between therapy sessions, when someone is navigating the ordinary, difficult hours and days of life. 
Listen in for a conversation about honest stories, faithful friendship, and how the church can become a place where people don't have to be "better" to belong.
About the Allender Center Podcast:
For over a decade, the Allender Center Podcast has offered honest, thoughtful conversations about the deep work of healing and transformation. Hosted by Dr. Dan Allender and Rachael Clinton Chen, MDiv, this weekly podcast explores the complexities of trauma, abuse recovery, story, relationships, and spiritual formation. Through questions submitted by listeners, stories, interviews, and conversations, we engage the deep places of heartache and hope that are rarely addressed so candidly in our culture today. Join the Allender Center Podcast to uncover meaningful perspectives and support for your path to healing and growth.
At the Allender Center, we value thoughtful dialogue across a wide range of voices, stories, and lived experiences. In that spirit, our podcast features guests and hosts who may hold differing perspectives. The perspectives shared on this podcast by guests and hosts reflect their own experiences and viewpoints and do not necessarily represent the views, positions, or endorsements of the Allender Center and/or The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology.
Stream each episode, plus find transcripts, additional resources, and more at: theallendercenter.org/podcast
To become a supporter of the Allender Center Podcast, visit: https://theallendercenter.org/2025/11/podcast-support/
If you and your organization would like to partner with the Allender Center Podcast, please reach out to Clay Clayton at cclayton@theallendercenter.org

We have a very special invitation for you, listeners: For the first time ever, the Allender Center Podcast is going LIVE! 

Join the co-hosts of the Allender Center Podcast, Dr. Dan Allender and Rachael Clinton Chen, MDiv, in Nashville for an evening of conversation, story, music, and unexpected moments as they explore beauty, courage, hope, and what it means to live "on earth as it is."
Special guests include Charlie Peacock and Andi Ashworth, prolific artists, writers, and co-founders of Art House America, along with their son and daughter-in-law, Sam Ashworth and Ruby Amanfu, a Nashville-based musical power couple and acclaimed songwriting duo. 
Together, they'll explore the intersection of art, faith, culture, and human flourishing, bringing beauty and imagination to the questions that shape how we live. 
You'll be in the room for a live recording of the podcast, along with special performances and moments that you can only experience by being there.
Whether you're a longtime listener or completely new to the podcast, join us for an unforgettable evening at the historic Woolworth Theatre—and be part of the first-ever Allender Center Podcast Live!

Tickets are on sale now at:
https://theallendercenter.org/event/allender-center-podcast-live-nashville/

We hope we'll see you there!

What is the relationship between anxiety and grief?
For Sara Billups, that question became deeply personal during a season of significant loss. Her latest book, "Nervous Systems," was released while she was caring for both of her seriously ill parents. Her dad died that same month, followed by her mom just six weeks later.
In this conversation, Sara joins Dr. Dan Allender and Rachael Clinton Chen to explore the surprising ways anxiety and grief can interact—sometimes intensifying our distress, and sometimes shifting or even quieting as we face what we feared or cannot change. They also talk about why we often hesitate to bring up loss, how making space for grief can make room for love and joy, and what it means to receive care when you're the one who is used to caring for others.
Join us for a tender, honest conversation about sitting with grief, living with anxiety, and leaning into hope.
About the Allender Center Podcast:
For over a decade, the Allender Center Podcast has offered honest, thoughtful conversations about the deep work of healing and transformation. Hosted by Dr. Dan Allender and Rachael Clinton Chen, MDiv, this weekly podcast explores the complexities of trauma, abuse recovery, story, relationships, and spiritual formation. Through questions submitted by listeners, stories, interviews, and conversations, we engage the deep places of heartache and hope that are rarely addressed so candidly in our culture today. Join the Allender Center Podcast to uncover meaningful perspectives and support for your path to healing and growth.
At the Allender Center, we value thoughtful dialogue across a wide range of voices, stories, and lived experiences. In that spirit, our podcast features guests and hosts who may hold differing perspectives. The perspectives shared on this podcast by guests and hosts reflect their own experiences and viewpoints and do not necessarily represent the views, positions, or endorsements of the Allender Center and/or The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology.
Stream each episode, plus find transcripts, additional resources, and more at: theallendercenter.org/podcast
To become a supporter of the Allender Center Podcast, visit: https://theallendercenter.org/2025/11/podcast-support/
If you and your organization would like to partner with the Allender Center Podcast, please reach out to Clay Clayton at cclayton@theallendercenter.org

Friends, there's something we want to share with you about the Allender Center Podcast:
For more than a decade, we've released a new episode nearly every week. That's 650+ episodes in 10 years. All free. We're immensely proud of what we've created together. And we're deeply grateful for the people who have listened, written to us, and made these conversations part of their lives.
Now, we've decided to slow our pace for a season. For the next few months, the podcast will be released twice a month.
To be clear, we're not going anywhere. We're simply making a little more room to pay attention to what's next. 
After ten years of doing this every week, we need time to plan, listen, get creative, and try some things we haven't had the space to try. We want to bring you more guests. More opportunities to hear from you. And we want to begin bringing these conversations to you in video format, inviting you into the room with us.
And we want to be honest about something else: this decision is also about finances.
We're doing our best to steward what we have, care well for our people, and still create the quality of work we believe in. We don't want the answer to be asking our team to simply do more, faster, for less. 
It's important to us that you are part of this conversation, and a part of what comes next, too. There are two ways you can join us in this season: 
1. Tell us what you think.
You'll hear in today's episode that this decision wasn't made lightly. There's grief and frustration in it. There's also hope, possibility, and a lot of imagination about what could come next.
We want to hear from you, too. What has the podcast meant to you? What would you love to hear more of? What would you dream about for its future? Our team will read every response.
Share Your Thoughts:
https://forms.gle/c3icYo4aSNiE8NuV9   
We'd genuinely love to hear from you.
2. Support the podcast.
Your monthly financial support helps us continue creating new episodes, continue to host our library of 650+ episodes, invest in the technology and resources we need, compensate the people behind the podcast well, and even move into a new video format.
If you'd like to partner with us in what comes next, we'd be deeply grateful. You can become a monthly supporter at whatever amount feels right for you, starting at just $5 a month.
Become a Monthly Supporter:
https://theallendercenter.org/2025/11/podcast-support/   
Whether you share your thoughts, support the podcast, keep listening, or simply tell someone about an episode that meant something to you, thank you for being part of this.
We're paying attention. We're listening. And we're excited to see what comes next.
With deep gratitude,
- The Allender Center Podcast Team
(Dan, Rachael, Jeanette, Andrew, Christena, Christina, Melissa, Lauren, Beth, Kelsey)
P.S. And one more way to be part of what's next: We're bringing the Allender Center Podcast LIVE to Nashville! If you're nearby, come join us. We'd love to have you in the room for an evening of conversation and connection—and, of course, a live podcast experience. 
You can find out more and get tickets on our website:
theallendercenter.org/events

If you've heard us talk about Recovery Weeks, or you've been thinking about joining us, you might be wondering: What exactly happens during those six days?
Recovery Week is a focused, immersive experience designed to help survivors explore the ways their stories of past sexual abuse have shaped their lives.
In this episode, Dr. Dan Allender is joined by longtime Recovery Week facilitators Wendell Moss, LMHC, and Sue Cunningham, MA, MS, LPC, to offer you a glimpse into the experience.
They describe what to expect, particularly in the Story Groups. The work invites us to consider the difference between conviction and condemnation, and what it might mean to receive the truth of our stories without contempt. 
They also explore some of the surprises of Recovery Week: the laughter that emerges alongside grief, the friendships and camaraderie that grow, and the relief of discovering that you are not alone. Together, they discuss how compassionate witness can loosen the grip of shame and create space to encounter God as one who sees, grieves, and cares.
Listen in for a glimpse of what to expect, and why this experience can be both more difficult and more joyful than many participants anticipate.
To learn more about Recovery Weeks with the Allender Center, please visit:
https://theallendercenter.org/workshops 
This episode is centered around recovery from sexual abuse. It also contains explicit language. Listener discretion is advised.
About the Allender Center Podcast:
For over a decade, the Allender Center Podcast has offered honest, thoughtful conversations about the deep work of healing and transformation. Hosted by Dr. Dan Allender and Rachael Clinton Chen, MDiv, this weekly podcast explores the complexities of trauma, abuse recovery, story, relationships, and spiritual formation. Through questions submitted by listeners, stories, interviews, and conversations, we engage the deep places of heartache and hope that are rarely addressed so candidly in our culture today. Join the Allender Center Podcast to uncover meaningful perspectives and support for your path to healing and growth.
At the Allender Center, we value thoughtful dialogue across a wide range of voices, stories, and lived experiences. In that spirit, our podcast features guests and hosts who may hold differing perspectives. The perspectives shared on this podcast by guests and hosts reflect their own experiences and viewpoints and do not necessarily represent the views, positions, or endorsements of the Allender Center and/or The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology.
Stream each episode, plus find transcripts, additional resources, and more at: theallendercenter.org/podcast
To become a supporter of the Allender Center Podcast, visit: https://theallendercenter.org/2025/11/podcast-support/
If you and your organization would like to partner with the Allender Center Podcast, please reach out to Clay Clayton at cclayton@theallendercenter.org