Some conversations change what we see.
Others change what we carry.
Bringing clinical expertise, research, storytelling, and real-world insight together to help audiences understand the deeper forces shaping who we are, how we relate, and what we pass forward
We often talk about the problems we can see.
The struggling marriage. The fractured family. The person who has lost their sense of identity. The leader who has accomplished everything and still doesn't know who they are outside of what they produce. The behaviors we promise ourselves we'll never repeat.
But underneath those experiences are stories.
Family stories. Cultural stories. Relational experiences. Trauma. Beliefs. Survival strategies. Expectations. And patterns that may have begun long before we recognized them.
Taran helps audiences connect those dots.
Her speaking invites people to move beyond simply asking “What's wrong?” toward a deeper question:
“Where did this come from—and what do we do with it now?”
Conversations that go beneath the surface.
Signature Conversations
It Didn’t Start With You
An accessible exploration of how trauma, family experiences, relational patterns, and survival strategies can travel across generations —and how awareness creates an opportunity to respond differently.
Faith, Family, and Generational Healing
Designed particularly for faith-based audiences, this conversation explores family legacy, trauma, identity, forgiveness, responsibility, healing, and the difference between honoring where we came from and remaining bound by unhealthy patterns.
What Are We Building Instead?
Breaking unhealthy patterns is only part of healing. This conversation explores what happens next: intentionally building healthier identities, relationships, marriages, families, and legacies.
When Our Histories Enter the Relationship
Two people don't enter a relationship alone. They bring histories, families, expectations, wounds, beliefs about love, and learned ways of protecting themselves. This conversation helps audiences understand how those histories can collide—and how couples can begin creating something different together.
Who Did You Learn to Be?
Our identities can become shaped by family roles, expectations, survival, achievement, rejection, and the need to belong. Taran explores how people begin separating who they truly are from who they learned they needed to become.
Insert YOUR Topic
Every audience is different. Speaking topics can be customized to fit the goals, context, and needs of your event.
What Audiences Can Expect
Complex Ideas | Human Conversations
Taran's approach combines the depth of a clinician and researcher with the accessibility of a storyteller.
Audiences can expect conversations that are:
Research-informed without feeling like a lecture.
Clinically grounded without turning the room into a therapy session.
Honest and thought-provoking without reducing families to villains or trauma to a buzzword.
Practical so people leave with language and ideas they can actually use.
Hopeful because understanding our history isn't about remaining stuck in it—it's about becoming more intentional about what happens next.
I particularly like that third point for your brand. Your perspective shouldn't become “your family traumatized you; cut everyone off.” Your work is much more nuanced than that.
Meet Taran McGowen, LPC-S, PhD (c)
Taran McGowen, LPC-S, is a counselor, researcher, educator, and speaker specializing in intergenerational trauma, relationships, and identity.
Her work explores how family histories, trauma, attachment, and relational experiences shape the ways we understand ourselves and connect with others—and how individuals, couples, and families can intentionally change what gets carried forward.
A doctoral candidate in Counselor Education and Supervision at the University of North Texas, Taran's research focuses on intergenerational trauma within couple relationships. She brings years of clinical experience working with individuals, couples, and families into conversations that make complex psychological concepts understandable, relevant, and deeply human.
Recent Speaking & Training Highlights
Southern Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (SACES) Conference
Session: The Impact of Intergenerational Trauma on Attachment Within the Family System
An exploration of how trauma is passed down through attachment and culturally responsive strategies to work with multicultural families
Texas Counseling Association (TCA) Conference
Session: How Intergenerational Trauma Impacts Family Systems
A dynamic, research-informed presentation exploring trauma patterns, family dynamics, and culturally responsive intervention strategies.
Serving on Sunday National Radio Show — 105.7 FM (Dallas)
Topic: Faith & Mental Health
A nationwide conversation bridging spiritual wellness and emotional healing, offering practical tools for individuals and families.
Northwestern University
Topic: EFT and RCT Integration within Couples Counseling
A lecture on culturally responsive theoretical approaches to treating couples
Embassy City Church
Topic: Theology + Therapy
A podcast on how therapy and theology integrate healing, specifically when dealing with addiction
Let’s Start a Conversation that Matters
Whether you're planning a conference, church gathering, university program, podcast, community event, or something entirely different, I'd love to learn more about the conversation you're creating.
