Dr. Allender has pioneered a unique and innovative approach to trauma and abuse therapy over the past 30 years, which led to the creation of . He travels and speaks extensively to present his unique perspective on the impact of sexual abuse and trauma, the journey of recovery, and the art of knowing and telling our stories. Dan is the author of Healing the Wounded Heart and The Healing Path and has co-authored several books with Dr. Tremper Longman (Intimate Allies, The Cry of the Soul, Bold Love, and Bold Purpose).

Dr. Allender co-teaches an integrative class, Lost at Sea, with Dr. Chelle Stearns. He and his wife, Rebecca, live on Bainbridge Island. They have three adult children, Annie, Amanda, and Andrew, two son-in-laws Jeff and Driscoll, one daughter-in-law Elizabeth, and six beautiful grandchildren.

What are you currently reading?

Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross

What have you been listening to lately?

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard (My son鈥檚 favorite band)

What research do you find yourself drawn to at the moment?

I am involved in several research studies on the methodology of the Allender Center鈥檚 Narrative Focused Trauma Care experience.聽

Any exciting summer plans?

I am taking my 15-year-old grandson to camp in Montana and I get to fly fish with him for a week beforehand.聽聽

If you could have dinner with any person, dead or alive, who would they be?

My Mother: My mom and I had a difficult and contentious relationship. She is with Jesus and fully and completely mature. I鈥檇 love to meet her again.

If you weren鈥檛 in your current profession you鈥檇 be鈥�?

A trial attorney.

Who is your literary or living hero?

Soren Kierkegaard.

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Ron鈥檚 education is an eclectic blend of social work, counseling, and theological studies. Ron holds a Doctorate of Ministry in Complex Urban Settings from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston. His dissertation title, Welcoming Kids to the Table of Community: New Horizons Ministries as a Model of Service to Homeless Runaway Adolescents, addresses the psychosocial and spiritual issues surrounding homeless adolescents and describes a relationally based and theologically-supported delivery strategy to serve these marginalized young people.

Ron is a senior fellow with the Center for Transforming Mission, providing training and support for grassroots urban leaders serving youth and families in hard places around the world. Closer to home, Ron is on a regular preaching schedule at several local churches. He lives in the Rainier Valley, a multicultural neighborhood in the south end of Seattle with his wife, Linda, with whom he has served for nearly 30 years. Their two adult sons, Ben and Clayton, live close by.

Ron teaches courses focused on Biblical ethics, social justice and community development, such as 鈥淏eing the Word on the Street,鈥� 鈥淓ngaging Global Partnerships,鈥� and 鈥淐are of the Soul and the Call to Sacred Activism.鈥�

What are you currently reading?

Over the past six months with the political climate in the US conflates nationalism, and whiteness with Christianity, I have been drawn in two directions. First to understand this shift, both theologically and psycho-socially.聽 I have read The Flag and The Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy by Philip S Gorski and Samuel Perry American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens The Church聽by Andrew Whitehead and The Psychology of Christian 聽Nationalism: Why People Are Drawn In and How to Talk Across the Great Divide by Pamela Cooper-White. The second direction is a strategy and corrective action taken to counteract the theological misappropriation and social narcissism that has led to the myth of exceptionalism and its misguided mandate regarding the election, doctrines of discovery, and manifest destiny.聽 For this I have been reading Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party by Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martin, Jr. as well as other community organizing books. The best of which is Ben McBride’s Troubling the Water: The Urgent Call of Radical Belonging聽

What have you been listening to lately?

Sturgill Simpson, Yola Carter, Amythyst Kiah, Tyler Childers, Brandi Carlisle, and Marcus King are always on my playlist. I also just finished the Podcast The Walk Home, a public radio journalism project that tells the story of murdered Tacoma resident Emmanuel Ellis. For live music, you鈥檒l find me at the Tractor listening to alt-country and Americana music, or following my son’s band, Miss Prince. I love watching Clayton鈥檚 band play loud all over the city.

What research do you find yourself drawn to at the moment?

I鈥檝e been reflecting quite a bit on whiteness and identity. Dr Hoard and I are at the beginning stages of a project regarding the embodiment of Antiracist practice in contrast to ideological platitudes.

Any exciting summer plans?

I am always trying to be a more proficient motorcycle rider! Gardening with Linda. This July we hope to be on the Oregon Coast.

If you could have dinner with any person, dead or alive, who would they be?

No question: Johnny Cash.

If you weren鈥檛 in your current profession, you鈥檇 be鈥�?

I would love to own a tavern/BBQ joint that played blues and Americana music. I would also love to be a prison chaplain.

Who is your literary or living hero?

Arnold Spirit in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Also, my sons: My oldest is an elementary school teacher. His way of teaching and connecting with kids, being attentive to social/emotional learning, and actively working to address the opportunity gap is inspiring. My youngest is an artist and musician. His art is filled with complexity, and his music is loud and truth-filled.

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聽Doug previously worked as adjunct faculty at 天美视频, having taught Practicum I and II, Interpersonal Foundations, and History and Therapeutic Perspectives before becoming core faculty in the Counseling Psychology program in 2016. Doug now serves as Listening Lab and Pre-internship director. Content courses he is currently teaching include History & Systems (CSL 502), Family Systems (CSL 517), Group Therapy (CSL 518) and Professional Ethics & Law (CSL 503).聽

After earning a Master鈥檚 degree in Counseling Psychology from Temple University in Philadelphia, Doug moved west to attend Mars Hill Graduate School (now 天美视频), where he met his wife, Laura Wade Shirley. Laura Wade earned her MA in Counseling Psychology from Western Seminary (through Mars Hill Graduate School) in 2002. Doug earned a Master of Divinity from Mars Hill Graduate School in 2006. Doug and Laura Wade are both therapists in private practice, and together they are working to be raised by their three boys: Noah, Luke, and Eli.聽 They live in Woodinville, WA, surrounded by bidden and unbidden messengers from the more than human world.

What are you currently reading?

I am a member of Division 51 of the American Psychological Association: the Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinities.聽 I have been actively researching and practicing clinically in the arena(s) of the lived experience(s) of men for over two decades. But I haven鈥檛 been taken by a text bell hook鈥檚 The Will to Change (audiobook, 2020) in quite some time.聽 hooks talks very pointedly about how patriarchy has plagued all genders, including those that identify as male or masculine.聽 Much has been said about what patriarchy has done to those who identify as female.聽 More needs to follow there.聽 And, there is also an anti-male bias in the field of counseling, which can be difficult to navigate at times. I鈥檓 deeply appreciative of hook鈥檚 window into how this bias could be addressed by movements towards the 鈥渕utuality of interbeings.鈥澛� To create a society of loving men, hooks argues we must love men.聽 This includes the men that show up to counseling, on both sides of the proverbial couch.聽 May it be so!

I am also currently reading Johann Hari鈥檚 Stolen Focus (2023), which is helping to put words to my lived experiences as an educator (and a learner) in relation to how and why academic/educational/learning spaces are so difficult to navigate these days.聽 We鈥檙e all being taught (by the business that drives the internet and social media platforms) to distract ourselves and to disengage from what鈥檚 (and who鈥檚) in front of and before us.聽 Our attention is drawn to somewhere we are not, and we鈥檙e being primed to not register (or even to mistrust) our own lived experience.聽 My mind is quite active with imagination for how my reading here might shape my teaching in the coming academic year(s).聽聽聽聽聽

What have you been listening to lately?

鈥淒ear Evan Hansen鈥� is a soundtrack from a Broadway musical I often turn to when I鈥檓 driving or working out.聽 So, too, are Celtic ballads or instrumentals, or some form of drum circle movement.聽 Much of the time what I鈥檓 listening to are audiobooks.聽 Recent favorites there include Come Together (Nagoski, 2024), Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents (Gibson, 2016), What My Bones Know (Foo, 2022), Gathering Moss (Kimmerer, 2018), and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Safran Foer, 2005).

What research do you find yourself drawn to at the moment?

My research team has an open study paying attention to the impacts of the structural changes associated with the counseling field鈥檚 movement(s) towards telehealth on counselor鈥檚 own sense of wellness.聽 Our study is picking up traction.聽 As a team we have presented at the American Mental Health Counseling Association鈥檚 (AMHCA) annual conference (2023), and at a workshop for the Washington Mental Health Counseling Association in Spring 0f 2024. We were then asked to write a follow-up article for The Advocate (AMHCA鈥檚 trade publication) which should come out in Summer 2024.聽 We鈥檙e currently coding our data, and we look forward to continuing the conversation in the days ahead.

Any exciting summer plans?

I am typing up this blog post on the day my family and I will head east to spend time with family.聽 Both my wife and I are East Coast transplants, so we鈥檙e going back east to spend time with loved ones and also to find time together on a warm, sandy beach with waves that we can bodysurf.聽 After that, most of our travel will be soccer tournament related.聽 Two of our three sons play competitive soccer, and summer is a time when we travel for such tournaments.聽聽

If you could have dinner with any person, dead or alive, who would they be?

I鈥檓 partial to dinner at home with my family.聽 I like to cook, and to hear complaints from my kids about the 鈥渇ancy stuff鈥� I put on their plates.聽 I recently turned 50, and my family鈥檚 gift to me was a Traegar smoker. It鈥檚 been oh-so-fun to engage the steep learning curve I face there by way of flavor profiles, wood types, and such.

If you weren’t in your current profession, you’d be…

Our counseling office in Woodinville is right next door to a 7-11 convenience store.聽 Sometimes during or after difficult days of counseling, I fantasize about walking next door and asking for a job serving Slurpees.

Who is your literary or living hero?

Per the above, bell hooks is speaking to and healing some deep places in me these days.

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Dr. Friesen is passionate about reimagining how people imagine and practice following in the way of Jesus the Christ, personally and collectively. His scholarly work centers on how people convene together in local communities which fosters greater imagination, practices, postures, and narratives for experiencing G-d鈥檚 Shalom; the centering of G-d鈥檚 Shalom within real places with real neighbors subverts the values, practices, and narratives of classism, sexism, racism, naturism, and all systems that seek to oppress. Dwight describes his professional calling as: 鈥渟earching for, learning with, and training leaders for the 鈥榗hurch鈥� emerging after Western whiteness Christianity.鈥�

Known for beginning his classes by sounding a singing bowl and lighting a peace candle, Dwight brings many years of contextual pastoral leadership experience to 天美视频. Recently, he served as the part-time Pastor of Bellevue’s St Luke’s Lutheran Church. He was the community-curate of an Eastside emerging simple church for more than 11 years; he was ordained by the Christian & Missionary Alliance until surrendering those credentials in solidarity with women seeking ordination. He is a liturgical Anabaptist with progressive and emergent sensibilities, actively seeking to root his faith practice within place while linking globally with others who are seeking to live into their contexts. Dwight aims to free the apophatic and cataphatic theologies to dance together.

Dr. Friesen earned his Doctor of Ministry degree at George Fox University, where his dissertation research focused on the development of a relational hermeneutic toward connective leadership and ecclesial structures. He earned his master鈥檚 degree from Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois where his thesis explored biblical images and metaphors of community, and his undergraduate degree from Ambrose University College in Calgary, Alberta.

In addition to his leadership development work at our seminary, Dwight is a consultant for local faith communities and missional organizations seeking an even more faithful presence within their contexts, and has a focus on helping neighborhood churches 鈥� from a wide array of traditions 鈥� flip the script on funding ministry through reimagining asset management. He is a co-founder of the Inhabit Conference, a founding board member of Parish Collective, and engages internationally with the Urban Shalom Society in service of United Nations-Habitat. His personal calling & realms of professional expertise make meaningful contact in the UN鈥檚 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) eleven & sixteen…Cities & Peace. Dwight will be participating in UN-Habitat鈥檚 World Urban Forum 12 (WUF12) later this year in Egypt. He has served on the National Council of Churches鈥� 鈥淔aith & Order Commission,鈥� and has served as an adjunct professor at the undergraduate, masters, and doctoral levels at seminaries and Bible colleges in both Canada and the USA, and regularly speaks at conferences both nationally and internationally.

Dwight and his partner Lynette live in the Lake Hills neighborhood of Bellevue, Washington where they are adjusting to life as empty nesters. His personal blog is: .

What are you currently reading?

Rest is Resistance, by Tricia Hersey
The Amen Effect, by Sharon Brous
Who Do We Choose to Be, by Meg Wheatley
Slow Productivity, Cal Newport

What have you been listening to lately?

An audio journal on faith and culture (audio journal)
Insight Timer (app)
The Witness (podcast)
Queerology (podcast)
Tara Brach (podcast)
Thelonious Monk (Jazz pianist)
Middle Kids (Band)

What research do you find yourself drawn to at the moment?

Two realms currently:

• Learning from church expressions who are finding new life by listening to, joining with, and reimagining their assets for the flourishing of their neighbors and their neighborhoods.
• How to better prepare leaders to convene local communities of faith to foster expansive imaginations for G-d鈥檚 Shalom.

If you could have dinner with any person, dead or alive, who would they be?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer; Rosa Parks; Michael Polanyi; Dirk Willems … Jesus would be great, but I think we already have a dinner on the books.

If you weren鈥檛 in your current profession you鈥檇 be鈥�?

A designer, interior or landscape; maybe a poet.

Who is your literary or living hero?

Currently, Greta Thunburg.

Learn More about Dr. Dwight Friesen:

Through his work with 天美视频, Parish Collective, the Urban Shalom Society, and UN-Habitat, Dwight has had opportunity to visit hundreds of parish expressions around the world and is especially attentive to groups who are seeking to form communities of whole-life disciples of Jesus by operationalizing the love of God as the love of neighbor through faithful presence.

Dwight listens for challenges facing institutional systems, local church economic realities, quests for liberation and equity, pandemic challenges, etc., curious to discover how emerging challenges might be a kind of invitation from the Spirit to discover new ways to love God by loving our neighbors and ourselves. Dwight鈥檚 personal and mystical encounter and ongoing relationship with the Triune G-d as seen in Jesus of Nazareth compels his service of Christ鈥檚 church in all its forms.

Dwight has authored, co-authored, or contributed to numerous books including:

• .

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She is a licensed Mental Health Counselor and licensed Clinical Psychologist, currently in private practice in Kirkland, and previous Director of Clinical Training at Fairfax Psychiatric Hospital, where she provided supervision for doctoral practicum students and interns. She has extensive experience with acute, long-term inpatient and outpatient clinical populations.

Some of her clinical interests are in the areas of 鈥渘o emotional mother (Jim Oakland),鈥� and the impacts of this on self-esteem, shame, and primitive emotional states. Also, she is interested in the growth of our minds (different than our brain), narcissism at the heart of all dis-orders, characterological unconscious defensive structures, how these defensive patterns also drive clinical syndromes, sufferings due to our condemning superego, and unconscious processes which lead to a personal theology.

What are you currently reading?

The Seattle Times
The New York Times
On Learning from the Patient, Patrick Casement.
Internal Racism by M. Fakhry Davids.
Racist States of Mind by Narendra Keval.
Thinking Space by Frank Lowe.
Coming to Life in the Consulting Room by Thomas Ogden.

What have you been listening to lately?

NPR, daily
The NewsHour
Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley
Tennis
The birds in my backyard.
My patients.
My own mind鈥�

What research do you find yourself drawn to at the moment?

An ongoing deepening of my relationship to my experiences in growing up in the South.

Any summer plans?

Gardening.
Staying at home.

If you could have dinner with any person, dead or alive, who would they be?

My mom.

If you weren鈥檛 in your current profession you鈥檇 be鈥�?

I love my work and therefore don’t want to be doing anything different, however if I had to choose, perhaps working with a dual MDiv degree and a P.A. overseas with an organization such as Doctors Without Borders.

Who is your literary or living hero?

People who are honest, and work with their emotional experiences, honestly so.

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Dr. Paul Hoard is a licensed counselor, clinical supervisor, and psychoanalytic psychotherapist who holds a doctoral degree in Counselor Education and Supervision from Regent University. A 鈥渢hird culture kid,鈥� he was raised in Ankara, Turkey and has provided mental health counseling and clinical supervision in the United States, Ukraine, and Turkey. His research and scholarly work primarily focuses on the intersection of perpetration trauma, Lacanian psychoanalytic theory, eucontamination, white-body supremacy, and board games. Links to his work can be found on his substack at

Dr. Hoard teaches courses focused on Lacanian psychoanalytic theory, play, helping relationships, and social and cultural diversities.

What are you currently reading?

Conversations with Lacan by Sergio Benvenuto
Christian Atheism by Slavoj Zizek
Who鈥檚 Afraid of Gender by Judith Bulter
Disorganisation and Sex by Jamieson Webster

What have you been listening to lately?

Not much. I have a few random playlists that I cycle through depending on my mood. Most recently I鈥檝e been enjoying Frank Turner鈥檚 latest album.

What research do you find yourself drawn to at the moment?

I am currently writing a book with my sister, Willa (Billie) on our concept of eucontamination (contamination for good) for Cascade Books. We are looking at Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life through a eucontamination lens wherein each of those (way, truth, and life) are seen as contaminating vectors for good. I am also working on projects around the nature of play and board games in particular through the lens of Lacanian psychoanalytic theory as well as a project on the nature of discourse and identification in the Academy today.

Any exciting summer plans?

I will be presenting at Wild Goose with my sister this summer on eucontamination.

If you could have dinner with any person, dead or alive, who would they be?

Nasreddin Hoca

If you weren鈥檛 in your current profession, you鈥檇 be鈥�?

Classic rock radio morning show host or board game designer.

Who is your literary or living hero?

Gandalf

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Dr. Neill began her work in the Practicum program at 天美视频 in 2001. In addition to her teaching, she runs a private practice in Woodinville.

Dr. Neill鈥檚 primary classes include Professional Ethics, History, Interpersonal Neurobiology, Case Conference and Learning Labs.

What are you currently reading?

• • John Brookes, The Book of Garden Design
  • Monty Don, Down to Earth
  • Judith Herman, Truth and Repair: How Trauma Survivors Envision Justice
  • Justine Afra Huxley, Generation Y, Spirituality and Social Change
  • John Muir, In Nature’s Heart
  • Daniel Siegel, IntraConnected
  • Numerous poetry books by Billy Collins, Joy Harjo, G. M. Hopkins, W.S. Mersyn, Pablo Neruda, Mary Oliver, Roger Robinson, David Whyte

What have you been listening to lately?

Nature! I listen to nature and never walk with earbuds in. It is grounding to start each day with the birds and bugs, and the movement of leaves and water. If I am inside and need a podcast, it is most often The Hidden Brain, Being Well, This American Life, or On Being.

What research do you find yourself drawn to at the moment?

Issues of identity within communal spaces (the 鈥渨e鈥� and 鈥渕e”); changes in the counseling profession with telehealth; climate issues and healing aspects of nature; impact of climate change on local farming communities.

What is something you’re celebrating?

My 33rd wedding anniversary! Also, the arrival of summer with its season of fresh produce and berries, and a more gentle rhythm.

Anything you’re looking forward to this summer?

Seeing my aging parents, being in the mountains and smelling pine and fir forests, paddling in Puget Sound, eating fresh-caught Dungeness crab.

What鈥檚 a favorite recipe or favorite food you enjoy?

Best summer meal for me is crab cakes and salad, followed by blackberry pie.

Why do you enjoy teaching at 天美视频?

I love seeing students making connections. For example, as they leave ethics class and begin to see how their work from the core curriculum (epistemology, anthropology, human flourishing) impacts their professional ethic and how they will live this out at their internships and beyond.

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