Healing Betrayed Families

“Don’t use that tone with me.” “You’re being disrespectful.” “After everything I’ve done for you...” Defensiveness in parenting often looks like authority, but underneath it there’s usually shame or a sense of threat. In families impacted by betrayal, it carries extra weight, because many kids have already experienced defensiveness as dishonesty or minimizing.

In this episode, Morgan explores how defensiveness shows up for both parents after betrayal. For the betrayed parent, often Mom, it can come from depletion and the feeling that everything rests on her, so a child’s pushback lands on an already raw wound. For the betraying parent, often Dad, a child’s anger or distance can hit right where his shame lives, and defensiveness rushes in to protect him. To the child, that can feel like a repeat of what they’ve already lived through.

Morgan also looks at the teen years, when a push for independence is a normal part of development, and at how “disrespect” can actually be a protest behavior asking, “Do you see me? Are you there for me?” This isn’t a free pass for teens. It’s an invitation to hold boundaries on behavior without making kids wrong for what they feel.

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About the Host

Morgan Ellsworth is a Licensed Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (LAMFT) and Board Certified Coach (BCC) with advanced training in trauma-informed care. She is certified through APSATS as a Certified Clinical Partner Specialist Associate (CCPS-A) and Certified Partner Coach (CPC) and works with individuals and families impacted by betrayal trauma.

Connect with Morgan @Healing.betrayed.families on Instagram or email her directly at [email protected]

Visit Morgan’s coaching website

For those looking for therapeutic support in Arizona, connect with Morgan at her supervised private practice, Ellsworth Family Therapy

Thank you for listening to Healing Betrayed Families.

When betrayal hits a family, the betrayed parent, often Mom, may expect her kids to naturally lean toward her. After all, she’s not the one who caused the harm. But many moms find their kids pulling away, getting angry, or feeling closer to Dad, and it can feel deeply unfair.

In this episode, Morgan speaks to a dynamic she sees often in her work with teens, especially teenage daughters, impacted by family betrayal. Kids can’t always read a trauma response for what it is. What they feel is intensity: a sharp tone, defensiveness, anger that may be about Dad but still lands on them. Meanwhile, a betraying parent who seems calmer on the surface can feel easier to be around.

Morgan names the injustice in this. A mom whose own nervous system is in crisis is now being asked to become a safe, steady place for her kids. She offers compassion for how hard that is, along with a reframe that can change the relationship: your job is to be a safe harbor for your child, not to require them to dock.

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📲 Share This Episode — Know someone who needs to hear this? Send it to them. Share it on your social media. You never know who might be waiting for exactly this conversation.

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About the Host

Morgan Ellsworth is a Licensed Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (LAMFT) and Board Certified Coach (BCC) with advanced training in trauma-informed care. She is certified through APSATS as a Certified Clinical Partner Specialist Associate (CCPS-A) and Certified Partner Coach (CPC) and works with individuals and families impacted by betrayal trauma.

Connect with Morgan @Healing.betrayed.families on Instagram or email her directly at [email protected]

Visit Morgan’s coaching website

For those looking for therapeutic support in Arizona, connect with Morgan at her supervised private practice, Ellsworth Family Therapy

Thank you for listening to Healing Betrayed Families.

In this episode, Morgan sits down with songwriter, author, and betrayal trauma advocate Evelyn Reed to talk about how music became her lifeline after discovery and disclosure. Evelyn shares how she turned her journals into songs, releasing multiple albums that trace the ups and downs of recovery, from the raw anger of “Shatterversary” to the hope in “Shattered Still Standing.” She also opens up about receiving an ADHD diagnosis during her healing journey and how understanding her “beautiful brain” freed her from years of shame, gave her busy mind a place to focus, and helped her reclaim her voice. Her song “You Are Never Broken” speaks to anyone navigating the overlap of betrayal trauma and neurodivergence.

Morgan and Evelyn also explore a decision many families face: whether to tell the children. Evelyn explains why she and her husband chose not to disclose to their four adult children, how she distinguishes privacy from secrecy, and what it’s like to carry that choice. Together they discuss the role of intention in disclosure, what signs a parent might watch for in their kids, and why there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. Evelyn’s song “I Was There Too” honors the children who live through a parent’s betrayal, a message that deeply resonated with Morgan. The episode closes with a reminder that healing isn’t linear, and that it’s always okay to grieve, lean on others, and ask for help.

About Evelyn Reed

Evelyn Reed is an author, songwriter, and betrayal-trauma advocate who transforms lived experience into words and music for those navigating the aftermath of relational betrayal. She is the author of Shattered Vows and Find Yourself After Betrayal workbook and has created an expanding catalog of music exploring grief, anger, identity, self-worth, resilience, and healing.

Evelyn’s work speaks openly about the realities of betrayal trauma including the questions and emotions that can be difficult to say out loud and the long, nonlinear process of finding yourself again. Rather than focusing solely on saving or leaving a relationship, her work centers on something equally important: learning to trust your own voice and refusing to abandon yourself in the process.

Evelyn writes under a pen name to protect her family’s privacy while creating a space where betrayed partners can feel seen, understood, and less alone.

Learn more at EvelynReedBooks.com

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @evelynreed.author

Website: EvelynReedBooks.com

YouTube: Evelyn Reed

Books: Available on Amazon under Evelyn Reed

Music: Available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and other major streaming platforms.

Enjoyed This Episode?

If this conversation resonated with you, here are three ways you can support the show:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Leave a Review — Reviews help other people in the betrayal trauma community find this podcast when they need it most. It only takes a minute and means the world.

📲 Share This Episode — Know someone who needs to hear this? Send it to them. Share it on your social media. You never know who might be waiting for exactly this conversation.

Register for “Witnessed” coaching groups for teens and adult children 

About the Host

Morgan Ellsworth is a Licensed Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (LAMFT) and Board Certified Coach (BCC) with advanced training in trauma-informed care. She is certified through APSATS as a Certified Clinical Partner Specialist Associate (CCPS-A) and Certified Partner Coach (CPC) and works with individuals and families impacted by betrayal trauma.

Connect with Morgan @Healing.betrayed.families on Instagram or email her directly at [email protected]

Visit Morgan’s coaching website

For those looking for therapeutic support in Arizona, connect with Morgan at her supervised private practice, Ellsworth Family Therapy

Thank you for listening to Healing Betrayed Families.

In this deeply moving episode, Morgan sits down with Kim and Connor Brown for an intergenerational conversation about betrayal trauma. Kim shares her story as a wife navigating decades of hidden addiction within her marriage. Connor, her oldest son, opens up about growing up in a home where his father's struggles were concealed, how that secrecy shaped his own teenage battle with pornography, and the isolation he felt before he found the courage to talk about it. Together they explore what it means to bring hidden pain into the light, and why silence and shame so often do more damage than the original betrayal itself.

Throughout the conversation, Kim and Connor model what healthy repair between a parent and adult child can look like, full of humility, faith, and hard-won wisdom. They talk candidly about "connecting before correcting," a mother's fear of falling short even while doing her best, and Connor's insight that honoring the good in his upbringing doesn't mean erasing the pain that came with it. Both draw on their faith throughout their healing, offering listeners a message of hope: that no family is defined by its worst chapter, and that healing is possible even when a story doesn't end the way you hoped.

About my Guests

Kim Brown: 

Kim Brown specializes in betrayal trauma and grief, working primarily with betrayed women. Over more than a decade, she has mentored women both one-on-one and in support groups, and her earlier work with couples and men in sexual addiction recovery gives her a wide-angle view of how betrayal moves through a relationship, and what it takes to heal from it.

Kim creates a space free of judgment, helping women get curious about their emotional responses so they can move toward awareness, self-trust, and purposeful change.

Credentials & Training: APSATS Certified Partner Coach (CPC) · ICF ACC · Trauma Informed Certified Coach (TICC) · Certified Betrayal Trauma Coach · Certified Grief Coach · Trained in Full Disclosure (Disclosure Guide Candidate, DG-C) · Advanced Betrayed Families Trained · IFS Trained

Grab Kim’s Free Grief Journal Prompts

Kim coaches through Choose Recovery Services, where you can book a session or a complimentary 25-minute consultation at www.chooserecoveryservices.com 

Reach her directly at [email protected] or on Instagram @kimbrown.coach

Connor Brown: 

Connor is a husband to his amazing wife and father to 4 beautiful sons. He has a bachelor's in Biomedical Science, a Master's in Faith Based Leadership, and has taught and coached teenagers for 8 years. He is a disciple of Jesus Christ and loves to follow Him. He is blessed to work with youth and young adults in the realm of faith and athletics.

You can reach him at [email protected]

Register for “Witnessed” coaching groups for teens and adult children 

Enjoyed This Episode?

If this conversation resonated with you, here are three ways you can support the show:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Leave a Review — Reviews help other people in the betrayal trauma community find this podcast when they need it most. It only takes a minute and means the world.

📲 Share This Episode — Know someone who needs to hear this? Send it to them. Share it on your social media. You never know who might be waiting for exactly this conversation.

About the Host

Morgan Ellsworth is a Licensed Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (LAMFT) and Board Certified Coach (BCC) with advanced training in trauma-informed care. She is certified through APSATS as a Certified Clinical Partner Specialist Associate (CCPS-A) and Certified Partner Coach (CPC) and works with individuals and families impacted by betrayal trauma.

Connect with Morgan @Healing.betrayed.families on Instagram or email her directly at [email protected]

Visit Morgan’s coaching website

For those looking for therapeutic support in Arizona, connect with Morgan at her supervised private practice, Ellsworth Family Therapy

Thank you for listening to Healing Betrayed Families.

In this episode of Healing Betrayed Families, Morgan sits down with Sammy Uyama, a recovery coach at Choose Recovery Services who has spent nearly a decade helping men repair their relationships after betrayal. Sammy also knows this work from the inside. As an adult living in Korea, married and with a baby on the way, he discovered his father's affair and became the one who told his mom. He describes the ground disappearing beneath his feet, the shame he carried for someone else's choices, and how quickly he fell into his lifelong family role of caretaker and mediator. He also shares the long, quiet road back to his dad. That road ran through his father's sustained recovery work and through Sammy's own work: seeing his father as a flawed human being and understanding the isolation his dad lived with as an immigrant. It ended with a phone call that brought his father to tears.

Together, Morgan and Sammy explore the "betrayed child" experience at every age, from teens still living at home to adult children building families of their own. They talk about why repair takes two-way witnessing between parent and child, how common it is for men in recovery to be betrayed children themselves, and why healing with your kids is its own lane, separate from individual and couples work. Sammy's advice to parents is to start with your own recovery, because your kids will feel the difference even if they never see the work. Morgan adds a reminder: if you can't be fully present for your children right now, make sure they have safe, supportive people walking alongside them. To connect with Sammy, visit his bio on the Choose Recovery Services website and schedule a free consult.

About Sammy Uyama

Sammy is a recovery coach who helps individuals and couples navigate compulsive behaviors, relational disconnection, shame, and the deeper wounds that drive them. His work centers on the belief that many destructive patterns are not ultimately rooted in desire for pleasure, but in the human longing to feel loved, safe, seen, and worthy.

Email: [email protected]

Work with Sammy

Register for “Witnessed” coaching groups for teens and adult children 

Enjoyed This Episode?

If this conversation resonated with you, here are three ways you can support the show:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Leave a Review — Reviews help other people in the betrayal trauma community find this podcast when they need it most. It only takes a minute and means the world.

📲 Share This Episode — Know someone who needs to hear this? Send it to them. Share it on your social media. You never know who might be waiting for exactly this conversation.

About the Host

Morgan Ellsworth is a Licensed Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (LAMFT) and Board Certified Coach (BCC) with advanced training in trauma-informed care. She is certified through APSATS as a Certified Clinical Partner Specialist Associate (CCPS-A) and Certified Partner Coach (CPC) and works with individuals and families impacted by betrayal trauma.

Connect with Morgan @Healing.betrayed.families on Instagram or email her directly at [email protected]

Visit Morgan’s coaching website

For those looking for therapeutic support in Arizona, connect with Morgan at her supervised private practice, Ellsworth Family Therapy

Thank you for listening to Healing Betrayed Families.

In this episode, Morgan gives a listener-friendly introduction to Internal Family Systems (IFS), also known as parts work — the idea that we're each made up of an internal "family" of parts. She walks through the core roles: burdened or exiled parts that carry old pain, shame, and fear; protector parts that work to keep that pain hidden, including reactive firefighters (rage, numbing, addiction, shutting down) and proactive managers (perfectionism, people-pleasing, overfunctioning); and Self, the calm, compassionate, curious core beneath all of it that IFS founder Richard Schwartz says every person has access to, even when it's buried.

Morgan connects this framework directly to betrayal trauma — for betrayed partners, betraying partners, and children alike, parts work offers language for why someone can feel love and rage in the same breath, or why "acting out" behavior is often a protector doing its job, not a character flaw. Understanding parts doesn't excuse harmful behavior or replace accountability and repair, but it can build compassion for yourself and for others in the family system as everyone works toward healing. She recommends No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz and Altogether You by Jenna Riemersma for anyone wanting to go deeper, and points listeners to a companion parts-work handout linked below.

Parts Work Handout

No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz 

Altogether You by Jenna Riemersma

Register for “Witnessed” coaching groups for teens and adult children 

Enjoyed This Episode?

If this conversation resonated with you, here are three ways you can support the show:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Leave a Review — Reviews help other people in the betrayal trauma community find this podcast when they need it most. It only takes a minute and means the world.

📲 Share This Episode — Know someone who needs to hear this? Send it to them. Share it on your social media. You never know who might be waiting for exactly this conversation.

About the Host

Morgan Ellsworth is a Licensed Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (LAMFT) and Board Certified Coach (BCC) with advanced training in trauma-informed care. She is certified through APSATS as a Certified Clinical Partner Specialist Associate (CCPS-A) and Certified Partner Coach (CPC) and works with individuals and families impacted by betrayal trauma.

Connect with Morgan @Healing.betrayed.families on Instagram or email her directly at [email protected]

Visit Morgan’s coaching website

For those looking for therapeutic support in Arizona, connect with Morgan at her supervised private practice, Ellsworth Family Therapy

Thank you for listening to Healing Betrayed Families.

Morgan sits down with newlyweds Kenly and Tyler Meek, who met at 16 — just three days after Kenly's parents announced their divorce following her father's infidelity. Kenly shares what it was like growing up as a "betrayed daughter" inside a faith community where her family's story became public knowledge, the years-long road to finding the right therapist, and how boundary violations compounded the original betrayal. Tyler reflects on stepping into a support role as a teenage boyfriend, the toll of unintentionally absorbing "every role" in Kenly's life, and how his own family's healthier communication patterns shaped his approach. Together they talk candidly about parts work, nervous system triggers, and what it takes to become a generational cycle-breaker. The conversation offers hope for anyone who fears betrayal trauma means they can't build a healthy relationship. 

Register for “Witnessed” coaching groups for teens and adult children 

Enjoyed This Episode?

If this conversation resonated with you, here are three ways you can support the show:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Leave a Review — Reviews help other people in the betrayal trauma community find this podcast when they need it most. It only takes a minute and means the world.

📲 Share This Episode — Know someone who needs to hear this? Send it to them. Share it on your social media. You never know who might be waiting for exactly this conversation.

About the Host

Morgan Ellsworth is a Licensed Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (LAMFT) and Board Certified Coach (BCC) with advanced training in trauma-informed care. She is certified through APSATS as a Certified Clinical Partner Specialist Associate (CCPS-A) and Certified Partner Coach (CPC) and works with individuals and families impacted by betrayal trauma.

Connect with Morgan @Healing.betrayed.families on Instagram or email her directly at [email protected]

Visit Morgan’s coaching website

For those looking for therapeutic support in Arizona, connect with Morgan at her supervised private practice, Ellsworth Family Therapy

Thank you for listening to Healing Betrayed Families.

In this episode, Morgan Ellsworth explores why children need somatic tools, not just conversation, to process stress and trauma. Kids, especially younger ones, often don't yet have the language or emotional maturity to express what they're feeling, so betrayal trauma and other stressors tend to show up in the body first: stomach aches, sleep issues, meltdowns, shutdown, or big emotional outbursts. Morgan shares practical, playful practices parents can use at home, including belly breathing, wiggle breaks, five-senses scavenger hunts, safe ways to release anger (like a punching bag or trampoline), and sensory swings — many drawn straight from her own experience parenting her young kids.

Morgan also unpacks the concept of co-regulation, explaining why children's nervous systems are so attuned to their parents that self-regulation often isn't realistic at a young age, meaning parents modeling their own regulation is one of the most powerful tools available. She closes with guidance on creating predictable calm-down routines at home and a reminder not to push kids to "use their words" before their bodies are ready. This episode is a warm, practical guide for any parent wanting to better attune to what their child's body is communicating.

Register for “Witnessed” coaching groups for teens and adult children 

Enjoyed This Episode?

If this conversation resonated with you, here are three ways you can support the show:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Leave a Review — Reviews help other people in the betrayal trauma community find this podcast when they need it most. It only takes a minute and means the world.

💬 Join the Community — Connect with others who are navigating this same journey. You don't have to do this alone. 

📲 Share This Episode — Know someone who needs to hear this? Send it to them. Share it on your social media. You never know who might be waiting for exactly this conversation.

About the Host

Morgan Ellsworth is a Licensed Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (LAMFT) and Board Certified Coach (BCC) with advanced training in trauma-informed care. She is certified through APSATS as a Certified Clinical Partner Specialist Associate (CCPS-A) and Certified Partner Coach (CPC) and works with individuals and families impacted by betrayal trauma.

Connect with Morgan @Healing.betrayed.families on Instagram or email her directly at [email protected]

Visit Morgan’s coaching website

For those looking for therapeutic support in Arizona, connect with Morgan at her supervised private practice, Ellsworth Family Therapy

Thank you for listening to Healing Betrayed Families.

In this episode of Healing Betrayed Families, Morgan Ellsworth introduces brainspotting, a body-based trauma processing modality that uses fixed eye position to access stuck emotion and trauma stored in the brain and nervous system. Morgan shares the origin story of brainspotting (discovered by David Grand during an EMDR session with a professional figure skater), how it differs from talk therapy and EMDR, and why it's especially effective for betrayal trauma, which so often lives in the body as hypervigilance, flashbacks, and freeze responses.

Morgan also walks through what a typical brainspotting session looks like, from identifying an activation or resource spot to the wide range of ways clients process (verbally, internally, or through somatic release), and offers guidance on aftercare, journaling, and giving yourself grace as your body works through months or years of stored trauma. Whether you're new to trauma therapy or looking to deepen work you're already doing in coaching or support groups, this episode offers a compassionate look at how brainspotting can unlock healing that talk alone sometimes can't reach.

Register for “Witnessed” coaching groups for teens and adult children 

About the Host

Morgan Ellsworth is a Licensed Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (LAMFT) and Board Certified Coach (BCC) with advanced training in trauma-informed care. She is certified through APSATS as a Certified Clinical Partner Specialist Associate (CCPS-A) and Certified Partner Coach (CPC) and works with individuals and families impacted by betrayal trauma.

Connect with Morgan @Healing.betrayed.families on Instagram or email her directly at [email protected]

Visit Morgan’s coaching website

For those looking for therapeutic support in Arizona, connect with Morgan at her supervised private practice, Ellsworth Family Therapy

Thank you for listening to Healing Betrayed Families.

In this episode, I sit down with Katie Padilla — family law attorney, certified family law specialist, and founder of Bloom Family Law in Oakland, California. With 12 years of experience across litigation, mediation, and consulting, Katie has built something truly unique: a law firm that also houses a team of vetted divorce coaches to support the whole person through one of life's most disorienting transitions. She shares how she came to see divorce not as a failure, but as an invitation to awaken — a catalyst for deep personal growth, boundary-setting, and intentional living.

We explore what the research actually says about how divorce impacts children (spoiler: it's conflict, not divorce, that causes harm), and how parents who do their own healing work end up modeling emotional intelligence and safety for the next generation. Katie also reflects on her own experience as a child of divorce, the Buddhist teaching that changed her relationship to self-awareness, and why humility, not perfection, is the true currency of cycle-breaking.

This conversation closes with a reminder that feels especially fitting for the work we do here: we are all just walking each other home. Whether you're in the thick of betrayal, navigating a family in transition, or simply trying to show up 1% better than you did before — you are not alone in that journey. 🎵 Walking Each Other Home by Emma Nissen

About Katie Padilla

Katie Padilla is a Certified Family Law Specialist, founder of Bloom Family Law, and a collaboratively trained attorney, certified coach, and meditation teacher who has spent 12 years reimagining what family law can look like. As a child of divorce, she felt firsthand the cost of prolonged conflict, and that experience became the foundation of everything she has built at Bloom.

Katie believes divorce is not just an ending. It is an invitation to meet yourself more deeply than you ever have before. Her practice blends rigorous legal expertise with trauma-informed coaching and a genuine commitment to keeping families out of unnecessary conflict, and her clients leave not just with resolved cases, but with a renewed sense of who they are and what they are capable of.

Email Katie

Visit her Website

Follow her on instagram

Join us for the Becoming Together: Mother-Daughter Retreat

Register for “Witnessed” coaching groups for teens and adult children 

About the Host

Morgan Ellsworth is a Licensed Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (LAMFT) and Board Certified Coach (BCC) with advanced training in trauma-informed care. She is certified through APSATS as a Certified Clinical Partner Specialist Associate (CCPS-A) and Certified Partner Coach (CPC) and works with individuals and families impacted by betrayal trauma.

Connect with Morgan @Healing.betrayed.families on Instagram or email her directly at [email protected]

Visit Morgan’s coaching website

For those looking for therapeutic support in Arizona, connect with Morgan at her private practice, Ellsworth Family Therapy

Thank you for listening to Healing Betrayed Families.