Helping Young Adults from Divorced or Dysfunctional Families
Heal the Wounds from Your Broken Family So You Don’t Repeat Your Parents’ Story
If your parents divorced or you grew up in a dysfunctional family, you’re not alone.
Restored helps you heal those wounds and build strong, healthy relationships
The Hidden Impact of Your Parents’ Divorce or Dysfunctional Family
When your parents divorce, separate, or family life becomes very dysfunctional, it’s not a small thing. For many young adults and teens who are children of divorce, those wounds don’t stay in the past; they show up in how they feel and how they do relationships.
You might notice that:
You feel like love or marriage probably won’t last for you
Conflict and intimacy trigger fear and anxiety
You cope through numbing, bad habits, or addictions
You feel lonely, “different,” or like something is wrong with you
You worry you’re on track to repeat your parents’ story
Research shows that children of divorce are more likely to struggle with anxiety, depression, and relationship stability, and are 2–3 times more likely to get divorced themselves. That doesn’t mean you’re doomed; it means your pain is real and worth taking seriously.
Below are three common struggles many young adults from divorced or dysfunctional families face.
The Struggles Many Children of Divorce Face
Many young adults from broken families experience three common struggles.
Emotional Pain
Children of divorce often carry emotional wounds that last long after the divorce itself.
Common struggles include: anxiety, depression, loneliness, anger toward parents, grief over the family you lost.
These are normal responses to a painful situation, not signs that you’re “too sensitive” or broken beyond repair.
Unhealthy Coping
When pain is overwhelming, children of divorce often develop coping strategies that temporarily relieve the hurt but ultimately make things worse.
These may include: bingeing on alcohol, food, social media, or video games, unwanted sexual compulsions or addictions, neglecting your health, isolating from others, adopting a victim mentality.
Understanding the roots of these patterns is the first step toward healing and breaking free.
Relationship Struggles
By far, people who grew up in divorced or broken families struggle most in their relationships.
Common challenges include: part of you wants marriage but you feel terrified by it, fearing you’ll become like your parents or repeat their marriage in yours, afraid of conflict and handling it poorly, avoiding love and relationships altogether, failed or unhealthy past relationships.
These struggles are normal for children of divorce, but they are not permanent. Healthy relationships can be learned.
C.S. Lewis
“You can’t go back and change the beginning. But you can start where you are, and change the ending.”
Healing from Your Parents’ Divorce Is Possible
You can’t erase your family’s brokenness or the past. But you’re not doomed to repeat it.
Many people who grew up in divorced or dysfunctional families go on to build healthy relationships, strong marriages, and stable families of their own.
Restored exists to make healing simple and practical for young adults and teens from divorced or dysfunctional families. We help you:
Heal trauma and emotional wounds
Navigate difficult emotions
Break bad habits and unhealthy coping
Learn healthy relationship skills
If safe, improve your relationship with your parents
Your story may begin with a broken family, but it does not have to end there.
The Restored Podcast
The Restored Podcast helps young adults understand the impact of growing up in a broken family and learn how to build a better future.
Each episode features conversations with therapists, researchers, and individuals who have walked the journey of healing from parents’ divorce and family dysfunction.
Topics include:
Healing from childhood wounds
Breaking destructive habits
Building healthy relationships
Overcoming anxiety and loneliness
Mending your relationship with your parents
Our most popular episodes
Testimonials
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I haven't seen any other attempts to support people who suffer from divorces, and even if there are other attempts out there, your's is likely far superior. I absolutely love the podcast you host and it seriously felt like it's a life-hack listening to it because it helped so much. I am not particularly religious though that doesn't mean I'm not opened minded, it's more a habit developed from years of being angry at whatever divine being is out there. I felt like that was relevant because this podcast and everything you're doing is extremely helpful to anyone, religious or not, who is struggling with their broken family.
Anonymous
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Your ministry has literally saved my life. Your podcast has been more effective than 30 years of counseling. Nothing worked until I found Restored. Finally, people who understood how I felt and gave this pain a voice.
Holli
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I am, seriously, so grateful to your ministry through your podcast alone!! It has motivated me to re-enter counseling, after 1.5 years! I haven't listened to all of the episodes, but I am binging (healthily!!).
Taylor
Restored is an organization that helps teens and young adults from divorced or dysfunctional families to heal, so they can avoid repeating their parents’ story and instead build strong, healthy relationships.
Restored offers a podcast, book, 6-week healing program, speaking engagements, videos, and more
Restored exists to help you understand your story, validate your struggles that come from growing up in a broken family, and guide you toward healing.
Instead of struggling with past wounds, emotional problems, bad habits, and unhealthy relationships, we want you to:
Heal your wounds so you feel whole
Navigate your emotions so you feel peace
Break bad habits so you feel free
Build healthy relationships so you feel loved
You are not doomed to repeat your family’s dysfunction. You can break that cycle and build a better life. And we’re here to help.
What Is Restored?
Trusted by
Endorsed by
“I recommend Restored’s podcast as well as their other resources to help individuals break the cycle of brokenness and build authentic love.”
Jason Evert
“As a young man, I had no resources to help me through the devastating impact of my parents’ divorce. I highly recommend Restored to teen and adult children of divorce or dysfunction.”
Dr. Bob Schuchts
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Research shows that children of divorce are more likely to struggle with emotional problems like anxiety or depression, bad habits like sexual compulsions or poor health, and relationship struggles like conflict avoidance or struggling to trust. However, mentorship and science-backed healing techniques can dramaticaly reduce these risks.
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Absolutely. Many adult children of divorce go on to build strong, healthy marriages. Learning healthy relationship skills from happily married couples and awarenes of unhealthy patterns you’ll be tempted to repeat are key steps in breaking the cycle.
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Healing always begins by diagnosing your trauma or emotional wounds. From there, it involves processing emotional wounds (often in therapy), developing healthy habits, and learning new relationship skills.
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Without realizing it, parents train their children in how to love and build relationships. Unless trained otherwise, the children will repeat what they saw in their parents’ marriage growing up. If the children saw a poor model, they’re likely to feel lost and incompetent at building a healthy relationship. But thankfully, that broken model can be replaced with a healthy model and those skills can be learn.
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An adult child of divorce is someone who experienced their parents’ divorce and is now 18 years or older.
Heather thought her family life was normal. But over time, she uncovered two buried traumas that quietly shaped her childhood—and required deep healing.