#148: Don’t Forget the Children: Betrayal Trauma’s Impact on the Family System
About this episode
The episode discusses the impact of parental betrayal on children and the family system, emphasizing the need for compassionate witnessing and emotional validation.
Betrayal trauma is often talked about as a couple’s crisis, but betrayal is never contained to the marriage alone. In this episode, Hali Roderick and her daughter Morgan Ellsworth explore the often-overlooked impact of parental betrayal on children and the entire family system. As professionals in the betrayal trauma field, and as a mother and daughter who have firsthand experience, they invite listeners into an essential conversation on generational healing, witnessing, and family recovery. They discuss how children often feel the impact of betrayal in the family, without the truth to give language to their experience. Without support, they often carry confusion, self-blame, and unprocessed grief into adulthood. Together, they discuss how children often sit in an unaware and disempowered place and why compassionate witnessing, emotional validation, and developmentally appropriate disclosure are essential for restoring agency and safety. Healing is messy. It is courageous. And it is possible across generations. View the Typology of Witness Grid mentioned in this episode HERE . Sign up here for our upcoming course for parents: Intentional Parenting After Betrayal. Read …
More episodes of Choosing to Stay After Infidelity and Betrayal
- #156 Anger After Betrayal — What It Really Means & How to Work With It with Matt Wenger, LPC, CSAT, CCPS
- #155 Resolving the Push-Pull Dynamic of the Trauma Bond with Dr. Nima Rahmany
- #154 Healing Fatigue After Betrayal: When You’re Both Just Tired
- #153 Staying or Leaving After Betrayal — Discernment for Both Partners
- #152 The Individual Healing That Saved Our Marriage with Chance and Crystal
- #151 Why Apologies Aren’t Enough to Heal Betrayal Trauma
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