RENAR Voice

Erica and Ana sit down with Dr. Jody Vernam—former president of CSI’s Rho Eta Nu Alpha Rho chapter and current core faculty member at Liberty University. In this episode, Dr. Vernam shares her journey into leadership within the counseling profession and offers valuable insights and specifics for those aspiring to become college counselors. Tune in for a thoughtful conversation filled with inspirat...

Hello everyone! We are sorry for the delay, but much has happened! Erica successfully defended her dissertation and is now teaching at Liberty! Congratulations, Dr. Rhoads! In this episode, Erica and Ana discussed the journey with the editors of the book and how the project was conceived.  We explored the key concepts about which the editors are most proud. We also discussed how a Christian profes...

During this interesting conversation, Erica and Ana were delighted to hear from Dr. Daniel how fascinating, effective, and therapeutic group work is! As we are made in God's image (3 in One), group work addresses our need for relatedness and exposes how we relate with each other. We also explored how to making meaning from experiencing pain, and developing cognitive complexity in ourselves and our...

Erica and Ana interviewed Dr. Joy Mwendwa, who is an embodiment of joy! In this interview, they discussed practicum anxiety and specific steps Master students can take to address this normative reaction to the counselor education experiential process. They also explored Dr. Mwendwa's teaching philosophy and the importance of humility and presence through the pedagogical process. We hope you enjoy!...

Erica and Ana begin their podcast hosting experience interviewing Dr. Mary Deacon, who is a professor who has inspired both of them as they develop into the leaders God has designed them to be. Dr. Deacon has been teaching at Liberty for 12 years, she was the CACREP liaison, director of three of our master’s programs, and assessment coordinator. We hope Dr. Deacon's view of leadership will also in...

In this final episode of RENAR Voice, Robert and Jeff say goodbye and thank core professors and chapter leadership for their support and encouragement.  What began as an idea to interview a professor (Episode 1) turned into two years of episodes featuring Liberty professors, the Special Feature track with experts outside Liberty, and the first passes of the Client Voices track offering some person...

On this final guest episode of RENAR Voice, Robert and Jeff sit with counselor and professor Dr. Lisa Sosin who serves as the director of Liberty's PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision program.  Dr. Sosin leads Robert and Jeff through a prayerful and intimate exploration of the challenges a Christian faces associating with professional organizations especially amid endorsed contradictions to...

Counselor (TX), Christian sex therapist, and Liberty University alumna and assistant professor Dr. Brittany Lashua joins Robert and Jeff to discuss female sexual desire.  She touches on topics related to specific dynamics both within a woman and with her spouse, as well as pornography, trauma, emotional intimacy, how sexuality is more than just genital, and much more in this packed 54-minute episo...

Counselor (VA) and Liberty alumna and assistant professor Dr. Kristin Hauswirth joins Robert and Jeff to discuss her work as a counselor within correctional facilities and adult detention centers.  She shares what drew her to the work and her background in forensics, offers insight into the unique dynamics of this somewhat overlooked and marginalized population, and discloses stories from her expe...

Ana Barend is a former professional surfer, world-class competitor, two-time Brazilian champion, World Surf League chaplain, and is a wife, homeschooling mother, and doctoral student in Counselor Education and Supervision at Liberty University.  She joins Robert and Jeff to tell her story as a world-touring professional athlete and pioneer of women's professional surfing in Brazil.  She shares how...

Can I be OK not knowing? Can I sit in the uncertainty? Can I stop my constant checking behaviors? Can I find deliverance from the false promise of relief that my rituals never satisfy? Counselor (VA and WV) and Liberty alumnus and assistant professor Dr. Brandon Waggoner joins Robert and Jeff to discuss obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), scrupulosity, and exposure and response prevention (ERP) t...

Fr. Isaac Mary, CFR joins Robert and Jeff to share his experience receiving counseling as a man who is a Catholic priest - what led him to it, his resistance to counseling, his experience of the therapeutic process, and his life since. He discusses performance and perfectionism, looking for healing without knowing what he needed, possible misdiagnosis, understanding his emotional life, the experie...

Clinical psychologist (CT & NY) and Jeff's internship supervisor Dr. Tim Lock joins Robert and Jeff to discuss the hardship, misconceptions, and challenges of forgiveness.  He discusses forgiveness and validation, self-forgiveness, and cases from over 20 years of clinical experience.  He also reflects on forgiveness regarding clergy sexual abuse, and failures of ecclesial leadership. For Dr. Lock'...

Counselor and Liberty associate professor Dr. Kuhnley joins Robert and Jeff to explore Fred Rogers as embodying counseling theories, empathetic relating, and the transforming power of meeting hostility with non-defensiveness.  She sheds light on the longstanding mentorship he enjoyed from child psychologist Dr. Margaret McFarland, after whom Daniel Tiger's little sister is named.  And with an alte...

From parental wounds including infidelity and divorce, early experiences of God, eight years of seminary and life as a Franciscan friar in the South Bronx, broken attempts to pursue holiness, the experience of being a client, meeting his wife who was miraculously born at 21 weeks, and delivering babies on his couch, and his experience online at Liberty as a Catholic, our cohost and chapter's found...

Dr. Imhoff returns to the podcast to reflect with Robert and Jeff on what happens when counselor educators pour themselves into their students despite the relationship building often missing from online learning. Dr. Imhoff shares stories from his own journey through graduate and doctoral studies, and the lasting impact he experienced from specific mentors who intentionally invested in him. Visit...

It's St. Valentine's Day, so let's talk about the wonderfully charming traits of narcissism that win us over quickly, but then leave us disappointed, unsatisfied, hurt, and confused. Counselor (MO), Liberty alumna and assistant professor Dr. Kerry Marsh joins us to talk narcissism.  She sets the record straight about narcissistic traits as descriptive rather than just diagnostic, and then discusse...

Counselor (FL and NC), and Liberty University alumnus and assistant professor Dr. Chris Ostrander joins Robert and Jeff to discuss perceptions of pornography addiction and self-identifying in cases where criteria for addiction may not be present.  Dr. Ostrander touches on reasons for usage, externalization, attempts at self-regulation and stress relief, sin and shame, where the distorted practice...

Dr. Jesse Fox, counselor educator, author, associate professor at Stetson University, and president-elect of the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC) joins counseling students Robert and Jeff following his sharing to a counselor educator email listserv (CESNET-L) his co-authored letter to CACREP expressing concerns over the 2024 revisions possibly removi...

Counselor and supervisor (OH), Liberty University alumna and assistant professor, and CSI chapter president of Liberty's Rho Eta Nu Gamma Dr. Teresa Phillips-Harris joins Robert and Jeff to discuss the foundations of moral injury in combat veterans, and the similar dynamics of moral injury and self-forgiveness when dealing with sexual shame from past sexual behaviors, particularly prior to one's "...

Counselor (TN), school counselor, and associate professor Dr. Rick Albright joins Robert and Jeff to talk more about the seemingly intimidating populations counseling students face.  Dr. Albright shares why even seasoned professionals may avoid adolescents and teens, what he's learned about how best to connect with them, how the counselor can effectively enhance their sense of self, and some insig...

Recorded the day after Halloween, counselor/supervisor (TX), registered play therapist/supervisor, and Liberty University assistant professor Dr. Christina Villarreal-Davis joins Robert and Jeff (and Jeff's two-year-old) to begin addressing some common student fears in counseling couples, families, and children.  She discusses some nuances of shifting from individual counseling, red flags and pitf...

African American professors in Liberty's Department of Counselor Education and Family Studies Dr. Stephanie JW Ford and Dr. Tylon Crook join counseling students Robert and Jeff for a discussion on the interwoven dynamic of spirituality and mental health in African American communities.  The conversation powerfully evolves into personal experiences of pain and hope following the nation's response t...

Counselor (AR & OK) and supervisor, private practice owner, Liberty University assistant professor, and CSI Rho Eta Sigma chapter faculty advisor Dr. Deborah Braboy joins Robert and Jeff to discuss eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR).  She shares how EMDR can release clients from pain deeply rooted within the body, heart, and mind. Check out Anchored Hope Counseling for more from...

Liberty alumnus and assistant professor, counselor in private practice, registered play therapist, and certified group psychotherapist Dr. Kevin Hull joins us to share stories of his use of play therapy with incarcerated fathers.  Look for his article "Light in the darkness with the forgotten: Using play therapy in prison as a pathway to relationship and self-development" in the December 2021 issu...