Surviving Toxic Relationships Podcast with The Matadoras · Elizabeth Jane and Deana Lynn

Episode #85: When Toxic Families Turn on You

·35 min·2 clips

"I start bringing them alongside of me" after the house fire, car loss, and 36 hours without sleep.

1. Surviving Toxic Relationships with The Matadoras centers Episode #85, "When Toxic Families Turn on You," and Johnny Woods describes surviving abuse, loss, and family conflict. 2. Lizzie and Dina introduce Johnny Woods as a certified life coach, founder of Journey Coaching, and a culture strategist with 15 years in communication and emotional intelligence. 3. Johnny's core point is that trauma does not define her, and she says she chooses "love and kindness" every day. 4. Johnny says her ex-husband died in August 2020, and his family responded with conflict instead of support after the funeral delay. 5. She says she invited his family over for her children, but "nobody showed up" except the step-grandmother. 6. Johnny says her ex-husband had been "a narcissistic person," and she believed he taught his family to treat her as an enemy. 7. She describes a custody fight in which his family sought partial custody and an emergency court order kept her from being with her children on the funeral day. 8. Johnny says she spent thousands of dollars on lawyers and case studies before the family finally conceded the morning of court. 9. She says her brother-in-law later noted that he had never seen her son Ashton smile at family events during the previous five years. 10. Lizzie connects Johnny's account to her own experience of raising four children with an abusive ex-husband. 11. Johnny links her growth to emotional intelligence, especially self-reflection, self-awareness, and accountability. 12. She says those skills helped her admit, "I could have done it differently," even when others told her she was right. 13. Johnny describes moving from Illinois to Ann Arbor, then traveling to Canada for her mother's funeral two weeks before school started. 14. She says she found a home only five days before school began and later rebuilt again after the 2023 house fire. 15. Johnny says the fire destroyed the house and both cars, including her son's first car at age 16. 16. She tells her children the truth when she is overwhelmed, including days when she cannot get out of bed or eats and sleeps poorly. 17. The episode's strongest insight is her line that the fire, divorce, and deaths are "affirmations" rather than tests of character. 18. The conversation stays conversational and testimonial, with Lizzie and Dina asking follow-up questions and reflecting their own family histories. 19. Listeners who want faith-based recovery, boundary-setting, and parenting after abuse will fit this episode. 20. Listeners seeking light conversation or a short self-help summary may skip it.

As heard by us

A faith-centered look at toxic relationships, family denial, and healing for children.

The episode centers on the pain of loving someone who slowly chips away at a sense of self, while also holding to the choice to answer trauma with love and kindness. It shows how denial can let families stand behind an abuser, leaving children caught in confusion and pain.

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Why you'd press play

You need this when family loyalty, denial, and trauma leave you second-guessing what happened and who you want to be.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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