Restored: Helping Children of Divorce

When your parents’ divorce or separation hurts deeply, it can raise painful questions about God: Where was He when my family fell apart? Why didn’t He stop it? And if faith matters so much, why didn’t it save my family? In this episode, Joey talks with Dr. Daniel Meola, co-founder of Life-Giving Wounds, about suffering, anger, grief, spiritual bypassing, and the struggle many adult children of div...

When your family breaks apart, especially through years of fighting, manipulation, or emotional chaos, you can learn to survive by staying busy, shutting down, or pretending it didn’t affect you. But what happens when that pain starts showing up in your marriage, your parenting, your confidence, or the way you handle conflict? In this episode, Billy shares how her parents’ long, painful divorce be...

When a parent cheats, it doesn’t just wound the marriage. It can wound the children too. For many young people from broken families, infidelity creates a terrifying fear: What if I get cheated on too? Or worse, what if I become the one who cheats? In this episode, Joey talks with marriage and family therapist Doug Hinderer about how affairs happen, why betrayal damages a child’s ability to trust,...

When your family breaks apart, anger makes sense. But if it has nowhere to go, it can turn into bitterness, depression, addiction, relationship fear, and despair. In this episode, Autumn shares how her parents’ divorce, her father’s infidelity, generational dysfunction, and sexual abuse shaped the way she saw men, love, marriage, God, and herself. She opens up about the rage she carried, her strug...

What if the person you fall for isn’t just a choice, but a pattern? Most people think love is about chemistry, attraction, or finding “the one.” But according to today’s guest, the heart alone is not enough. If you come from a divorced or dysfunctional family, your wounds can shape who you trust, who you’re attracted to, and what feels “normal” in a relationship. Without realizing it, you might be...

In this episode, I mentor three people LIVE through the problems they’re facing in their broken families: One caller asks how to deal with a dad who avoids the reality of his divorce, and whether it’s his place to confront him or let that battle go. Another asks a question people are afraid to say out loud: Can I actually heal? And if so, how does healing really happen? And finally, a young woman...

At 14 or 15 years old, Celeste learned her parents’ marriage was unraveling. Affairs. Addiction. Secrets. Her siblings didn’t know. But she did — because she was the oldest daughter. And before long, she wasn’t just watching the marriage fall apart… she was managing it. In this episode, Celeste shares what it was like to grow up as the “third parent” in a family where divorce was unthinkable — and...

We’re hosting a rare healing retreat for young adults from divorced or dysfunctional families May 1-3 in Malvern, PA, just outside Philadelphia. View details or sign up at RestoredMinistry.com/philly. Questions? Email JordanaM@restoredministry.com

Recommend a Therapist You’re rare: you found a therapist who massively helped you heal and grow. Most people from broken families never get that. They want help but don’t know who to trust, so they stay stuck. We’re changing that by building a small, trusted list of exceptional therapists. In this short episode, you’ll hear how you can help. You don’t need to volunteer or donate. Just spend a few...

If you grew up in a broken or divorced family, struggling with confidence isn’t random. Research has consistently shown that children of divorce are more likely to experience lower self-esteem, higher anxiety, and greater insecurity in relationships. When love feels unstable or conditional early on, it shapes how you handle pressure later in life. You might: Overthink conversations Freeze in high-...

If you grew up in a divorced or really dysfunctional family, this is for you. I’m working on a new 6‑week program for people like us, but before we build anything, I want your honest input and advice. In this short episode, I’ll share the idea, who it’s for, and how you can help shape it. It’s quick, and your feedback will directly impact whether this happens and what it looks like. Listen in, che...

What if your anxiety about money didn’t start in adulthood, but in your dysfunctional family during childhood? Growing up with financial instability doesn’t just affect your bank account. It can train your nervous system to live in survival mode — forcing you to grow up too fast and quietly shaping how you date, marry, and handle responsibility. In this episode, pediatric cardiac ICU physician Liz...

Dating today feels exhausting. Confusing. And for people from divorced or dysfunctional families, it can feel even heavier — because one wrong choice doesn’t just mean heartbreak… it can feel like repeating your parents’ story. In this episode, Joey sits down with Emily Wilson, Catholic author and co-founder of Sacred Spark, to talk about the most important factor in building a healthy marriage: c...

Most people think screen time is a harmless habit. But what if it’s quietly training your brain against healing? In this conversation, Christen Routh explains why doomscrolling feels like relief but often leaves you more anxious, more numb, and more alone. We talk about the real danger of screens, not just what they show you, but what they replace: real friendship, real presence, real growth. And...

Most people don’t have a knowledge problem when it comes to wellness. They have a consistency problem. You already know the basics, but when stress hits, you fall off and you start chasing the next hack, app, plan, podcast, or supplement. In this episode, Brandon Hall (CatholicWell) explains why the real battle is willpower, how stress and trauma can train your brain to live on high alert, and why...

In this episode, I’ll mentor three people LIVE through real-life situations that people like us from broken families face: A separated mom with adult kids asks: How do I support my kids through the fallout without pushing them, guilt-tripping them, or putting them in the middle? A man, wounded by his parents’ divorce and his struggles with alcoholism, asks: Is it actually worth digging up the past...

You might be “over” your parents’ divorce. But your body might not be. If you grew up in a divorced or dysfunctional home, chronic stress can get stored in your nervous system — quietly shaping your sleep, energy, digestion, hormones, and mental health years later. In this episode, I talk with Dakota Lane about how stress doesn’t just affect your emotions. It can literally rewire your body and kee...

If you come from a divorced or dysfunctional family, this show is for you. We mentor you through the pain and help you heal, so you can avoid repeating your family’s dysfunction and instead build strong, healthy relationships.  In this episode, you'll hear highlight clips from the podcast in 2025. If you’re new to the podcast, welcome! This is the perfect way to sample the podcast and learn h...

Growing up with divorced parents or a dysfunctional family does not just shape your childhood. It shapes your nervous system. Many young people from broken homes live with chronic anxiety, shutdown, emotional overwhelm, or conflict avoidance without ever knowing why. In this episode, Sr. Mary Stephen explains how childhood chaos trains your brain and body to stay on high alert and how to finally r...

So many young people from divorced or dysfunctional families assume their story is unique — or worse, that they’re destined to repeat the same patterns. But the truth is, family brokenness is far more common than anyone talks about. And God has been dealing with messy family dynamics since the beginning of time. In this episode, Deacon Ryan Budd, who served as Dr. Scott Hahn’s research assistant,...

What if your parents’ divorce, or the chaos you grew up in, didn’t just hurt you emotionally but actually wired you to seek relief through addiction? This might explain why you feel unsafe for no reason, why you keep numbing out when life gets hard, or why you crave control but end up stuck in the same self-destructive cycles. In this episode, we explore the deep connection between addiction and f...

When your parents divorce, you almost always miss out on the mentorship and guidance that parents are meant to give their children about life, relationships, and so much more.   Without that kind of guidance, you feel lost, alone, and stuck - unsure what to do about it all. But that’s where a mentor can be incredibly helpful and even healing. In this episode, we dive into the power of mentorship:...

To serve you better, we’re trying something new.  In this episode, I’ll mentor three people live, right here on the show.  Each of them brings a raw, honest question—things most of us from broken families have wrestled with. A college student asks how to heal from his dad’s abandonment—and whether he should leave the door open for a relationship or finally close it. A man wonders how he can help y...

What if divorce didn’t just break your childhood—it rewired how you see love and marriage? Most people think divorce only affects the couple who splits. But the truth is, when you grow up watching marriage after marriage fall apart, you start to believe that brokenness is normal. That was Kaseena Birnbaum’s story. With six divorces between her parents and in-laws, she once assumed she’d rack up di...

What if your parents’ divorce didn’t just split your family—but left you quietly carrying the blame? Most people think the hardest part of divorce is the day it happens. But often it’s the confusion, the pressure to act like everything’s fine, and the haunting thought: “Was it my fault?” In this episode, Jim Havens shares his journey of growing up in a broken family, spiraling into destructive cho...