Welcome to Episode 80 of the RT Dialogue. We are so thankful for you joining us on this journey.

In this episode we welcomed Dr. Dave Morgan from Lipscomb University where he is a faculty member in the Marriage and Family Therapy program.

This was a great episode as we got learn more about how Dr. Morgan thinks about therapeutic models and the training of students in preparation for therapy work. He also has a special interest in integration which we discuss in this episode. Honestly, we covered so many things that I hope you find all the show notes below helpful.

Mentioned in Episode

Friedman's Fables by Edwin Friedman

Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue by Edwin Friedman

Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix by Edwin Friedman

Murray Bowen -- Family Systems

Terry Hargrave

Virginia Satir

Ron Deal

Linda Metcalf

Structural Family Therapy

Scott Miller -- Feedback Informed Treatment

Minton Family Therapy

Ivan Boszermenyi-Nagy

Contextual Family Therapy

George Fox University

RT Dialogue Episode 79 with Kaivon Asgharian

RT Dialogue Episode 67 with Justin Metz

2 Corinthians

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't by Jim Collins

What to Make of a Life: Cliffs, Fog, Fire and the Self-Knowledge Imperative by Jim Collins

Extraordinary Relationships: A New Way of Thinking About Human Interactions by Roberta Gilbert

The Science of Trust: Emotional Attunement for Couples by John Gottman

Finding our Way Home: Turning Back to What Matters Most by Mark McMinn

Welcome to Episode 79 of the RT Dialogue!

[ Sign up for RT Summit | Sign up for new Anxiety Intensive with Rhett and Lance]

We have been on a bit of a summer break in July, which has been really great, but also excited to ramp back up for the remainder of the year. And this was a really great episode to launch us out of summer and into the school year with.

In this episode, we had the privilege of conversing with Kaivon Asgharian, who is a graduate student at George Fox University, and interns at Hale Counseling NW. Kaivon is up in the PNW and came to RT like so many do in that part of the country -- via Dr. Richard Shaw (thank you Dr. Shaw).

We loved Kaivon's enthusiasm for Restoration Therapy, and all the great questions he had regarding it. There were so many beautiful insights that emerged during the interview because of Kaivon's curiosity and willingness to ask really great questions...and some hard questions.

We dived into a lot of topics, and circled back to the conversation on emotional self-regulation and co-regulation, specifically in light of Kaivon's experience working with trauma and learning more about interpersonal neurobiology. We loved this conversation and learned a lot.

Mentioned in the Episode

Parent from Peace Journals (we talked with Rob Hayes back in Episode 46)

Lilly's Pads (Gil and Brenda Stuart)

Jean Baker Miller

Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl

Carl Jung

NARM

Dr. Dan Siegel

C. S. Lewis

World War II with Tom Hanks

Minton Family Therapy

Welcome to Episode 78 of the RT Dialogue.

In this episode we welcomed therapist Nathan Ely. Nathan is a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary, a Level II RT Therapist (as well as many other trainings and certifications), and he specializes in spiritual abuse and recovery -- a topic that we really wanted to address on this podcast. It's an issue that is very prevalent and one that many of us therapists come into contact with in our practices.

We barely scratched the surface in our time with Nathan, but we plan to have him back on the podcast again, and he offers classes on the topic of spiritual abuse and recovery, as well as offering a class on demand. So we highly recommend you check out his work as it's a valuable resource.

Mentioned in the Episode

Redeeming Power: Understanding Authority and Abuse in the Church by Diane Langberg

The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe by Richard Rohr

The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control by Steven Hassan

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Religious Refugees: (De) Constructing Toward Spiritual and Emotional Healing by Mark Gregory Karris

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast series by Mike Cosper

Shiny Happy People documentary series

Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church by Rachel Held Evans

Welcome to Episode 77 of the RT Dialogue.

[NOTE: The video recording malfunctioned and was unable to capture Amanda -- so this episode will be published all audio, which is probably how most of you access it.]

We were so excited to welcome Amanda Tipps to our podcast and it did not disappoint. She brings a lot of energy and insight into the RT world and it was fun conversing with her. Amanda is on staff at Hill Country Bible Church's counseling center which is an amazing group of people. They hosted this last April our Texas RT Gathering where Amanda brought out some of her sourdough baked goods for us to eat.

We really enjoyed this conversation and covered a wide range of topics from Amanda's work with teenagers, to navigating anxiety and depression in our lives. I (Rhett) am also really envious that she gets to practice therapy in a really cool community there in the counseling center at Hill Country Bible Church -- what an amazing group of people they have. And we are really looking forward to more Texas gatherings and seeing (hopefully all of them) at the Restoration Therapy Summit in Malibu this March.

Mentioned in the Episode

5 Days to a New Self by Terry and Sharon Hargrave

Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker Palmer

Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis

What if It's Wonderful: Release Your Fears, Choose Joy, and Find the Courage to Celebrate by Nicole Zasowski

Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World by Henri Nouwen

Arresting Anxiety: Experiential Training Model for Utilizing Intensive Restoration Therapy (Lance's Ahl's DMFT dissertation)

Dr. Erik Salwen

Welcome to Episode 76 of the RT Dialogue.

In this episode Lance and I discuss the upcoming RT Summit at Pepperdine in March of 2027. Register now.

And we thought it would be fun, and hopefully insightful, to discuss what we typically do in a first session with a new client. We definitely learn a lot of things from doing this work with each other and our community of RT colleagues. So please comment about anything you learned, or what you do in a typical first session.

Welcome to Episode 75 of the RT Dialogue.

[FYI: There were some internet connections with Eric accidentally falling off, but RO Smith did a great job editing it all together. Thanks RO]

In this episode we were really excited to bring on a couple we met at the RT Summit in Amarillo last year -- Lindsay and Eric Minton of Minton Family Therapy in Knoxville, TN. I remember sitting out at lunch with them on one of the days and just really enjoying my (Rhett) conversation with them. I also just really admired the work that they were doing and the unique perspective that they bring to Restoration Therapy. This will be evident in our conversation with them.

Both are graduates of Fuller Theological Seminary -- Lindsay with her MSMFT, and Eric with his MDiv. Both of them are Level II Restoration Therapists, and Eric is also the author of the book It's Not You, It's Everything: What Our Pain Reveals about the Anxious Pursuit of the Good Life.

Mentioned in the Episode

Contextual Family Therapy

Carl Whitaker

Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy

Salvador Minuchin

David Dark -- Belmont

Jacques Lacan

RT Lodge

Welcome to Episode 74 of the RT Dialogue.

In this very short episode, Lance and I talk about the opening of the 2027 Restoration Therapy Summit registration -- and why you all should attend.

We loved being in Amarillo for the 2025 Summit and we emerged out of that time together with a lot of energy and momentum, which is reflected in all the amazing things happening in our broader RT community right now. So we are looking forward to gathering at Pepperdine University in Malibu March 4-5.

Speaker information for plenary keynotes and workshops are still coming in, so please stay tuned as those get updated.

If you have not registered, please head over and register. You can register now for the early bird discount, as well as registering as a student or big groups. We expect to sell out this event, so don't hesitate if you are wanting to attend.

Welcome to Episode 73 of the RT Dialogue

In this episode we welcomed Joanne Russell who is an LMFT practicing at the Restoration Therapy Center of San Diego. It was fun hearing Joanne's story of how she came into Restoration Therapy, and how transformative it has been for her life both personally and professionally.

In this episode we spend some time talking about the varying things that she really loves about RT, as well as some different interventions that really impact the work she is doing -- like the baseball bases intervention.

We hope you enjoyed this episode as much as we did.

Welcome to Episode 72 of the RT Dialogue Podcast

We were very excited to welcome onto this episode, David Ake. David is the Associate Pastor of Marriage Ministries at Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, TX. I (Rhett) first met David a few years ago after he was researching Restoration Therapy and came across my website. I then had the privilege of doing some teaching on RT with he and his staff, and they have also been out to Pepperdine to do Relate Strong training.

David uses Marriage CORE in the marriage ministries at church, and has been implementing Relate Strong as well. We love in the podcast where he talks about the important of tools such as Relate Strong and Restoration Therapy, and how they give us language, tools, and a process to help individuals and couples.

It's exciting to see how RT is being used in pastoral ministries and we are looking forward to more conversations with David and other ministry leaders who are using it in their work.

Mentioned in the Episode

5 Days to a New Marriage by Terry Hargrave and Shawn Stoever

Vital Tools for Relevant Church Leaders: Restoring Relationships and Building Community During Difficult Conversations

Relate Strong

The Mindful Marriage: Create Your Best Relationship Through Understanding and Managing Yourself by Ron and Nan Deal and Terry and Sharon Hargrave

Chuck Swindoll

Welcome to Episode 71 of the RT Dialogue.

On this episode we sit down with RT Therapist Laura Matheson who is a bilingual therapist practicing in Renton, WA. Laura is a graduate of the University of Washington (Go Huskies!) where she assisted with the qualitative analysis of a study under Marsha Linehan, the inventor of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and picked up a minor in Spanish along the way. She is a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary where she studied under Dr. Terry Hargrave, and more recently finished RT Level II training with Lance Ahl.

In this episode we explored some of the specialties that Lauren is passionate about (i.e. adolescents) while talking about what it's like to go through Level II training. We really enjoyed getting to spend time with Lauren and hear more about the work she is doing. And we definitely put on the pressure for she and her husband to attend the RT Summit coming to Malibu in March of 2027.

If you are interested in connecting with Laura, you can email her at mailto:[email protected]

Mentioned in Episode

The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook

RT Therapist Amanda Tipps

RT Therapist, Dr. Corynne Keirns (RT Dialogue Ep. 66)

The Power of Showing Up: How Parental Presence Shapes Who Our Kids Become and How Their Brains Get Wired by Dan Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson

Malcolm Gladwell (10,000 hours rule in Outliers)

Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by Anders Ericsson (10,000 deliberate hours)

The Way of Excellence: A Guide to True Greatness and Deep Satisfaction in a Chaotic World by Brad Stulberg (Episode 65)