How to Heal the Brokenness Inside: Counselor Chuck DeGroat on Trauma, Disconnection, and Coming 'Home' to the Most Flourishing Life Possible (Episode 26)

“Sin’s power is disconnection.”

That's one of the essential ideas that runs through what therapist and author Chuck DeGroat talks about in this episode. A longtime pastor and counselor, Chuck isn't just commenting on burnout and addiction from afar—he's actually lived it. In fact, he opens up about his own journey of breaking down in his early forties, when his body and soul finally gave out after years of religious workaholism. That collapse became the doorway into healing what was broken within. That also happens to be the topic of his latest book, Healing What's Within.

In this conversation, Chuck unpacks what he calls homing: the Spirit’s invitation to return to the worth, belonging, and purpose we were made for. We talk about addiction not as the problem, but as the attempted solution to disconnection. Chuck even explains why true recovery isn’t about behavior modification, but about reconnection—to God, to self, and to others.

We also discuss why repentance must be specific, how trauma fragments our stories, and what it means to offer empathy to our unhealed parts rather than shame.

This is a deeply pastoral, psychological, and hopeful episode for anyone who’s ever wondered, Why do I do what I don’t want to do—and how do I find my way home?

We explore:

— The three essential questions from Genesis that still heal today: “Where are you?”, “Who told you?”, and “Have you eaten?”
— How addiction is an attempted solution to pain and disconnection
— Why every human is, at some level, an addict
— The myth of purity and how God still uses broken people
— What true repentance looks like: specific, reparative, and relational
— “Faux-nerability” vs. authentic vulnerability
— Why trauma isn’t what happens to us, but what happens inside us
— The four needs every child has: to be safe, seen, soothed, and secure
— The danger of coping mechanisms that look holy, like workaholism
— How to come home to yourself through curiosity, connection, and grace

Website: chuckdegroat.net

Explore one of Chuck's Soul Care Intensives

Chuck's blog: "Sit With Chuck"

Book: Healing What's Within

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