The Allender Center

This week on the Allender Center Podcast, Dan and Rachael sit down with survivor, advocate, and Narrative Focused Trauma Care alumni Kate Ouimette-Wedell for a conversation that is both heartbreaking and deeply hopeful.

After moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in music, Kate was trafficked and spent more than a decade in the commercial s*x industry. In this episode, she shares part of her story with remarkable courage, offering insight into the realities of exploitation, the long road of recovery, and the resilience that makes healing possible.

Together, they explore the power of story, the importance of being seen and believed, and why healing often begins when someone is willing to sit with us in our pain rather than rush to fix it.

Through her own healing journey and her work with survivors through Cherished LA, Kate bears witness to a hope rooted in the belief that every person has immeasurable worth and that no story is beyond the reach of compassion, restoration, and delight.

* Please note: This episode includes discussions of human trafficking, s*xual exploitation, abuse, and trauma. Listener discretion is advised.

🎧 You can listen to this episode of the Allender Center Podcast wherever you get your podcasts, or stream the episode and find show notes and an episode transcript on our website.

theallendercenter.org/podcast

https://theallendercenter.org/2026/06/a-survivors-story-of-trafficking-and-hope-with-kate-ouimette-wedell/

A Survivor's Story of Trafficking and Hope with Kate Ouimette-Wedell - The Allender Center Kate shares part of her story with remarkable courage, offering insight into the realities of exploitation, the long road of recovery, and the resilience that makes healing possible.

Faith, power, and politics have become deeply intertwined in our culture, leaving many Christians asking hard questions:

Is this what following Jesus is meant to look like? And how do we stay faithful when the way of Jesus seems so different from the voices claiming to speak for him?

In this week's episode of the Allender Center Podcast, Dan and Rachael welcome Rev. Rob Schenck back to the podcast for an honest conversation about power, discipleship, and the state of American Christianity.

Together, they explore the difference between the way of Jesus and the pursuit of control, the cost of discipleship, and why humility, grief, and love matter more than ever.

🎧 We invite you to listen this week wherever you get your podcasts, or stream each episode on our website.
theallendercenter.org/podcast

https://theallendercenter.org/2026/06/faith-power-and-the-cost-of-discipleship-with-rev-rob-schenck

Faith, Power, and the Cost of Discipleship with Rev. Rob Schenck - The Allender Center Faith, power, and politics have become deeply intertwined, leaving many Christians asking: Is this what following Jesus is meant to look like? And how do we stay faithful when the way of Jesus seems so different from the voices claiming to speak for him?

Contempt often feels justified. It can feel like self-protection. But it also has a way of distancing us from others, ourselves, and even God.

What would it look like to recognize contempt when it appears and respond differently?

📆 Join Rachael Clinton Chen this Saturday, June 13, for The Art of Story Engagement: Stories of Contemp. In this a live online event, you'll explore how contempt shapes our stories and witness how a real story is engaged with wisdom and care.

🔗 theallendercenter.org/events

Is there still more to your story? It's a question that can feel surprising, especially if you've spent years reflecting on your past, pursuing healing, or engaging your story. Yet in this conversation, Dr. Dan Allender, Rachael Clinton Chen, and Wendell Moss explore how story continues to reveal new insights about who we are, how we've been shaped, and how God is meeting us in the present.

You'll get a glimpse into what story work actually looks like in a Story Workshop or Narrative Focused Trauma Care®️ training, and why returning to meaningful moments from our lives can open the door to greater compassion, deeper understanding, and unexpected freedom.

Whether you're new to story engagement or have been doing this work for years, you’re invited to consider what might still be waiting for you in your story.

🎧 Listen to "Is There Still More to Your Story?" out today on the Allender Center Podcast, available wherever you stream your podcasts, or on our website.

theallendercenter.org/podcast

https://theallendercenter.org/?p=12828&preview=true

Is There Still More To Your Story? - The Allender Center Is there still more to your story? It’s a question that can feel surprising, especially if you’ve spent years reflecting on your past, pursuing healing, or...

What happens when shame takes root in a story? And how does contempt become one of the ways we learn to survive it?

Today on the Allender Center Podcast, Dr. Dan Allender and Rachael Clinton Chen explore the complicated relationship between shame and contempt, and why understanding these dynamics matters so deeply for healing and human connection.

You’ll hear reflections on:
✨ why contempt often forms in response to pain and powerlessness
✨ what trauma responses like fight, flight, freeze, and fawn look like in moments of shame
✨ how to remain grounded in dignity and belovedness when faced with contempt

This conversation invites us into deeper curiosity, compassion, and discernment, especially in a cultural moment increasingly marked by outrage, dehumanization, and contempt.

🎧 You can listen to this episode anywhere you get your podcasts, or find it on our website, along with transcripts and additional resources.
theallendercenter.org/podcast

If you’d like to explore these themes more deeply, we invite you to join Rachael Clinton Chen for the upcoming live training, The Art of Story Engagement, on June 13. Together, you’ll explore more deeply how contempt shapes our stories — and how learning to recognize these dynamics in ourselves and others can open the door to greater wisdom, healing, and care. You can learn more at theallendercenter.org/events

https://theallendercenter.org/2026/05/trauma-shame-and-contempt/

Trauma, Shame, and Contempt - The Allender Center What happens when shame takes root in a story? And how does contempt become one of the ways we learn to survive it?

🌸 Our biggest sale of the season starts now! 🌸

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Whether you want to better understand your story, continue your own healing journey, deepen your relationships, or engage trauma with greater wisdom—this is a meaningful time to begin.

Every self-paced course and webinar recording includes lifetime access.
You can move through the material at your own pace and return whenever you need.

Use code SPRING25 now through Tuesday, May 26, to save 25%.

🔗 online.theallendercenter.org

Have you ever felt like you were living between worlds? 🌎 Maybe you’ve moved across countries or cultures. Maybe your family story carries immigration, missionary work, military life, trauma, loss, or displacement. Or maybe, even surrounded by familiar people and places, you still carry an ache for belonging — a longing to feel fully known, rooted, and at home.

Today, Dan and Rachael sit down with Esperansita Bejnarowicz, who is a story coach, an NFTC Certified Facilitator with the Allender Center, and the founder of Far From Home.

Together, they explore the hidden grief, loneliness, and longing that can come from living “far from home” geographically, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally.

The conversation considers the story of Jesus as someone deeply acquainted with displacement: a child forced to flee, a man who “had no place to lay his head,” and someone who understood sorrow, exile, and longing for home.

Whether you’ve crossed borders or simply know what it feels like to search for belonging, this conversation offers language, comfort, and hope for the parts of us still longing to find home.

We invite you to listen in this week wherever you get your podcasts, or stream each episode on our website.

🎧 theallendercenter.org/podcast

https://theallendercenter.org/2026/05/feeling-far-from-home-with-esperansita-bejnarowicz/

Feeling Far From Home with Esperansita Bejnarowicz - The Allender Center Explore the hidden grief, loneliness, and longing that can come from living “far from home” — geographically, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally.