
Story Matters Podcast
In the Story Matters Podcast, Hosts Ryan and Emily Baker discuss the intersection between theology and psychology helping listeners to better grasp how their particular stories have shaped them.
Episodes
35 episodes
35. Understanding “Triggered”: What's Happening in Your Brain and Body
The word “triggered” has wandered far from its clinical roots, but we all hear it referenced often. We pull the term back into focus by walking through what actually happens when the brain’s alarm system misfires and how prior wounds teach the ...
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33:42

34. Why Story Work: For the Lovers, the Haters and Everyone Not Sure.
We make a clear, biblical case for "story-work" or anything under the umbrella of understanding your narrative in view of God's redemptive story. We explore why people resist it—from theological objections to fear of feeling—while offerin...
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Season 3
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Episode 8
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34:12

33. Redeeming “Just Sit in It”: From Avoidance to Honest Waiting with God
What if the advice you hate—“just sit in it”—isn’t a brush‑off, but a doorway to God’s presence, clarity, and change? We unpack why the phrase so often feels passive or even harmful, especially for those with abandonment wounds, and then rebuil...
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Season 3
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Episode 7
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35:57

32. Ten Ways to be a Better Listener
Genuine listening has become a rare art. In this episode, Ryan and Emily Baker break down ten practical strategies that transform ordinary conversations into sacred encounters. Whether one-on-one with a friend or in a small group, deep listenin...
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Season 3
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Episode 6
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32:23

31.Integrity: Finding Wholeness in a Fragmented World
What if integrity isn't about moral perfection, but about truthful living? This conversation explores integrity as the alignment between our inner and outer worlds – not a flawless character, but an honest one.When we experience trauma ...
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Season 3
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Episode 5
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22:13

30. Intensifying Your Binds: Aiming at Shame Is The Path To Healing
Shame traps us in impossible situations where every path seems wrong. These "binds" leave us feeling anxious, stuck, and desperate for solutions that never quite materialize. But what if the way forward isn't finding the perfect answer, but nam...
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Season 3
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Episode 4
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39:13

29. From Success to Theology: Exposing Shame's Hidden Influence
In this episode, Ryan and Emily Baker unpack the subtle ways shame operates as rocket fuel for our accomplishments—from Michael Jordan fabricating opponents' trash talk to motivate himself, to the high-achieving Christian who serves tirelessly ...
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Season 3
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Episode 3
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37:20

28. The Shame Grandiosity Cycle
Shame is not just one of many emotions we stumble into but rather the alienation we feel from God from conception that persists even after becoming a Christian. We explore the shame grandiosity cycle, where we attempt to cover our shame through...
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Season 3
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Episode 2
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41:57

27. Unmasking Shame: The Hidden Driver of Our Actions
What makes trauma trauma? The shame we never talk about. Shame shapes our lives far more profoundly than most of us realize. While we typically think of shame as something that follows our mistakes, what if it's actually driving our behaviors f...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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34:57

26. May We Have Your Attention Please? Season 2 Conclusion
Dr. Curt Thompson has a saying "Pay attention to what you pay attention to." We discuss, in this episode, how it may look like we are doing one thing while our mind is somewhere completely different. We want to pay attention to what may be runn...
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Season 2
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Episode 13
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34:12

25. Todd's Story: The Ache of Being Missed
In this episode Emily engages Todd's story from his childhood where a simple moment of being missed has had lifelong effects which can be healed.
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Season 2
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Episode 12
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27:22

24. The Godfather Syndrome a.k.a. Loyalty Structures
Loyalty structures are patterns that develop in childhood as a means for staying in good favor with our families of origin as well as peer groups. These structures are often very influential in how we show up in the world and they usually...
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Season 2
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Episode 11
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34:25

23. Four Styles of Avoiding Pain
Suffering can move us toward God or it can move us away from him; consequently away from being fully human and alive. In the wake of a collective tragedy we discuss how to love your community by understanding the ways we often avoid the p...
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Season 2
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Episode 10
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31:09

22. Shelly's 4th Grade Story and It's Impact on her Identity
In this episode we engage Shelly's story in our studio. Shelly, who has gone through the Allender Center's Narrative Focused Trauma Care levels one and two, brings a story from fourth grade which has had life long implications.
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Season 2
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Episode 9
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32:09

21. Why Is Everything Gaslighting?!
Gaslighting was Merriam-Webster's word of the year in 2022. Why did it make such a big splash? In this episode we explore this concept, its roots, but also the fact that we need language for what is happening to us.
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Season 2
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Episode 8
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34:42

20. What "Part" of You Needs Healing?
In this episode we take a look at the idea that we have various parts that make up who we are. Traditionally theologians speak of Christians having the flesh and spirit, which is true. However, we know that we are never in thi...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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34:31

19. Love Means Saying More than just "Sorry"
So often in conflicts we would just love to hear the words, "I am sorry." However, as great as this is, it really serves as only the beginning of restoration. While not every conflict needs much more than these words to heal, many d...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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30:24

18. Repair Is Foundational
Repair is the third major pillar in healthy attachment. Repair in a relationships is in some ways the most important aspect and also the most elusive. We know that in this fallen world we will have conflicts in even our most cherish...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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31:08

17. What is Containment and Why is it Important?
In Episode 17 we discuss the importance of healthy containment in our families of origin. Containment is a process that helps children feel safe involving the emotional support that adults give children. Healthy containment helps develop...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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27:23

16. You Were Made for Attunement
Attunement is the sense that you matter; that someone else sees you and is tending to you. We were made to be attuned to – by God and by our primary caregivers. When our deepest needs are seen and met, we feel safe and able to attune to o...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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28:17

15. Three Pillars of Connection
We were made to be loved by our primary caregivers. Three main categories that outline what we were meant to receive are attunement, containment, and repair. This episode will introduce this topic as we will explore what it means fo...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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25:42

14. The Holiness of Hatred
As Christians we are taught that hatred is evil and yet one of the most important doctrines of God is his hatred of evil. For present day Christians this often is relegated to a few technicolored "evils" that most can agree upon. However,...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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30:42

13. Season 1 Conclusion: NPCs
The term NPC came from video games referring to the characters that the player doesn't have control of - they are controlled by the game's programming. When a person's behavior is determined by a system, whether family, church or peer group, th...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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24:29
