It will come as no surprise to anyone when we say that we are in the midst of a very difficult time in world history. The world is in a very volatile state politically, and the cultural climate is full of tension. And as therapists, this can be complicated terrain to navigate, especially when in the context of one therapy day we interact with clients coming from all different perspectives.

With this in mind, we wanted to bring Terry and Sharon Hargrave onto the podcast to help us better understand the role of Restoration Therapy in shaping us into the type of therapists (and people) who can bring peace into all of this pain.

Terry and Sharon obviously need no introduction in this community. They are the founders of Restoration Therapy and Relate Strong, and so much more. And most importantly, they have trained many of us professionally and walked alongside of us personally.

In this episode we look at their model of how we move from reactivity to polarization to entitled extremism (see the RT Dialogue Substack for the handout Terry talked about during this episode), and the critical role emotional self-regulation plays in volatile times like these. We discuss the work of the therapist using this model, as well as practical ways we can all walk this out everyday in our personal lives.

Mentioned in the Episode

The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence

In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen

Exclusion and Embrace by Miroslav Volf

Restoration Therapy by Terry Hargrave and Franz Pfitzer

The Road to Character by David Brooks