In this episode of Good Grief, Dr. Christine Malone talks with author Adrienne Caldwell about Unbroken: Life Outside the Lines—a memoir that faces childhood trauma, abusive foster care, addiction, and loss with clear-eyed honesty. Adrienne shares why she finally opened decades of CPS records, how writing forced her to “unbox” long-buried pain, and why success means changing even one life. Together they explore forgiveness, family patterns, motherhood, and what it takes to break cycles without pretending there’s a simple how-to.

Chapters

0:00 – Show intro: Good Grief & resilience mission

0:54 – Meet Adrienne Caldwell, author of Unbroken

1:25 – Why she wrote it: CPS case files & foster-care abuse

3:32 – Trigger warnings & trauma overview (what the book covers)

4:59 – Writing as exposure therapy: “opening the boxes”

6:42 – Success metric: helping even one person

7:37 – On forgiveness & the foster mother

10:03 – Family patterns, protection, and cycles

12:09 – How trauma shaped empathy & resilience

13:29 – Who the book is for (and what it isn’t)

19:38 – Choosing motherhood; breaking generational cycles

22:05 – Bedtime ritual & her father’s last words to their daughter

Trigger warnings (applicable to this episode): childhood abuse, foster-care abuse, addiction, suicide attempts, grief/loss.

Get the free prologue + chapter one (while it’s still available) at UnbrokenCaldwell.com

Thank you for listening.

To hear more from Good Grief, please visit https://open.spotify.com/episode/0x4tteAGkJTTDJ3iowsVZj

Adriene Caldwell joins The Phantom Electric Ghost Podcast to talk about survival, trauma, and finding purpose in pain. Author of Unbroken: Life Outside the Lines, Adriene opens up about her years in abusive foster care, the loss of safety in childhood, and the courage it took to tell her story.

In this conversation, she shares how revisiting her CPS case files inspired her to write her memoir, how the foster care system failed her and so many others, and why she believes her story should be used to train future therapists and social workers.

Adriene also speaks about her healing journey — addiction recovery, motherhood, forgiveness, and learning to rebuild trust — all while working toward systemic change for children in care.

Get the free prologue + chapter one (while it’s still available) at UnbrokenCaldwell.com

Chapters 0:00 – Introduction and Motivation

2:01 – Adriene Introduces Unbroken: Life Outside the Lines 3:01 – Why She Decided to Write the Book

6:12 – Finding Help and Collaborators in Writing

8:20 – Abuse in Foster Care and Nightmares That Remain

9:17 – Systemic Failures and Foster Care Statistics

15:06 – The Foster Mother’s Abuse and Emotional Damage 22:16 – Escaping Through a Scholarship to Germany

27:24 – College, Addiction, and Survival

33:13 – Attachment Disorders and Trust Struggles

38:55 – Motherhood and Sobriety

45:12 – Lessons on Gratitude, Forgiveness, and Resilience 58:03 – Purpose, Advocacy, and Closing Reflections

⚠️ Trigger warnings: discussion of childhood abuse, sexual assault, foster care trauma, addiction, and suicide. Shared for education, awareness, and healing.

To hear more from Phantom Electric Ghost, please visit https://open.spotify.com/show/7L6YyXfnnwW8LwPGQwte8X

Thank you for listening.

Adriene Caldwell joins Marcus Smith on The InnerFight Podcast to talk about surviving the unthinkable — and how she found the strength to turn trauma into purpose. Adriene, author of Unbroken: Life Outside the Lines, speaks openly about childhood abuse, foster care, and the long road of therapy that led her toward healing and forgiveness.

In this conversation, Adriene explains why she believes her story should be used as a teaching tool for future counselors and psychologists studying childhood trauma. She also shares her honest struggle with forgiveness, her continuing therapy journey, and her belief that even the smallest step forward can change everything.

Trigger warnings: emotional and physical abuse, child sexual assault, drowning death of a child, extreme poverty, mental illness, homelessness, abusive foster care, bulimia, pedophilia, incest, death, and suicide.

Get the free prologue + chapter one (while it’s still available) at UnbrokenCaldwell.com

Chapters 0:00 – Introduction to Adriene Caldwell and Unbroken 5:59 – Adriene’s Early Memories and Childhood Trauma 20:04 – The Concept of Safety and Male–Female Dynamics 32:54 – Adriene’s Therapeutic Journey and Writing Her Book 43:22 – Forgiveness, Anger, and Personal Growth 47:43 – Conclusion and Final Thoughts

To listen to more from The Inner Fight, please visit https://open.spotify.com/show/51Na7Dir4SS1ZUEKuQ9E6h

Thank you for listening.

Adriene Caldwell — foster care survivor, trauma recovery advocate, and author of Unbroken: Life Outside the Lines — joins Dr. James Perdue on the Professor of Perseverance podcast to share how she turned tragedy into purpose. Adriene discusses surviving abuse, foster care, addiction, and multiple suicide attempts, and how her life now serves as a real-world case study for mental health awareness and system reform.

Her story reminds us that healing is possible, purpose is real, and pain can become the foundation for change.

Trigger warnings: emotional and physical abuse, child sexual assault, drowning death of a child, extreme poverty, mental illness, homelessness, abusive foster care, bulimia, pedophilia, incest, death, suicide, addiction.

Get the free prologue + chapter one (while it’s still available) at UnbrokenCaldwell.com

Chapters

0:00 – Introduction and content note

1:02 – Why pain shapes purpose (“because of,” not “in spite of”)

3:00 – Adriene introduces Unbroken: Life Outside the Lines 5:00 – Suicide attempts and the gun that misfired

8:45 – A turning point and sense of divine purpose

10:20 – Writing the book and using trauma to teach

17:00 – Foster care realities and the “therapeutic” home that caused deeper damage

20:00 – How systemic neglect feeds lifelong scars

27:00 – Why she wrote the book: punishment vs. purpose 30:00 – Surviving addiction, moving toward healing

33:00 – Love, motherhood, and loss

37:00 – Hope, acceptance, and what she lives by today

To listen to more from Professor of Perseverance Podcast, please visit https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/professor-of-perseverance-podc-1284234

Thank you for listening.

Adriene Caldwell joins the show to share her powerful journey behind Unbroken: Life Outside the Lines — a raw, emotional, and ultimately hopeful account of surviving childhood trauma, abuse, and foster-care failures. She opens up about resilience, mental health, and rediscovering purpose after pain.

This episode includes open discussions of difficult experiences, including: emotional and physical abuse, sexual assault of a child, the drowning death of a child, extreme poverty, mental illness, homelessness, abusive foster care, bulimia, incest, and suicide. Please listen with care.

Chapters

0:00 Introduction and Trigger Warnings

4:21 The Incident with Mr. Montgomery

10:14 Survivor's Guilt and Family Dynamics

12:37 Upbringing and Family Struggles

24:21 Education and Early Success

26:16 Mental Health Struggles and Suicide Attempts

36:14 Impact of Foster Care and Abuse

36:41 Introduction of the Book and Website

58:44 Personal Reflections and Future Plans

59:09 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Learn more or get a free sample chapter: UnbrokenCaldwell.com

To hear more from the My Blurred Opinion podcast, please visit: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-blurred-opinion/id1571406941

Thank you for listening.

Most people think foster care is a safe place. But what if it’s not? In this powerful episode, author Adriene Caldwell shares her journey from trauma to forgiveness — from surviving foster care and abuse to discovering that her mother wasn’t cruel, but schizophrenic and untreated.

Her story will break your heart and rebuild it with hope. This conversation reveals how one woman turned unimaginable pain into purpose and why real change in the system begins with truth.

🎧 Learn more or get Adriene’s book: UnbrokenCaldwell.com

Chapters 00:00 – Introduction & foster care realities 01:19 – Adriene’s journey from trauma to forgiveness 02:18 – Why she wrote Unbroken: Life Outside the Lines 05:47 – Lessons from tragedy and intuition 09:02 – Drowning, danger, and early resilience 13:33 – Life with an untreated schizophrenic mother 16:42 – The breaking point and running away 19:12 – CPS intervention and a second chance 23:19 – Forgiveness, healing, and reunion 30:05 – The truth about foster care 36:21 – Writing through pain 39:05 – Wisdom for survivors 42:10 – Hope, reform, and legacy

To listen to more from True Crime Connections ~ Advocacy Podcast, please visit https://www.buzzsprout.com/1602670

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Adriene Caldwell’s powerful prologue to Unbroken pulls you inside the word “Unbroken.” In just seven minutes, she reveals the brutal honesty behind survival — mental illness, abandonment, near-suicide, and the quiet miracle of still being here. This isn’t just a story; it’s a reckoning.

If you’ve ever faced darkness and still chosen to breathe, this is your mirror.

About Adriene CaldwellAuthor, speaker, and advocate for trauma-informed systems and real-world healing. Her work centers on the belief that transformation begins when truth is spoken aloud.

Learn more at UnbrokenCaldwell.com

Chapters

00:00 – Prologue

00:10 – Psychological Evaluation, 1992

00:30 – Despair and Defiance

01:30 – The Attempt0

2:30 – The Click That Changed Everything

03:30 – The Aftermath

05:00 – The Call

06:20 – A Second Chance

Thank you for listening.

From trauma to transformation — Adriene Caldwell shares the truth behind the word “Unbroken.”

In this moving conversation from the Overcome podcast, Adriene Caldwell, author of Unbroken: Life Outside the Lines, recounts her extraordinary journey through childhood trauma, foster care, and mental illness toward healing, resilience, and advocacy.

She discusses how a life defined by instability, poverty, and abuse evolved into a mission to reform systems that fail children. Diagnosed with depression and anxiety at 15, Adriene later learned that her true diagnosis was complex PTSD — a realization that reframed her entire story.

Chapters:

00:00:00 – Introduction to Adriene Caldwell’s Journey00:01:12 – Navigating Mental Illness and Therapy00:04:59 – Understanding Trauma and Its Impact00:10:08 – The Journey of Writing Unbroken00:19:24 – The Power of Vulnerability and Seeking Help00:25:07 – Overcoming Trauma and Moving Forward00:26:22 – The Validity of Personal Trauma00:27:55 – The Turning Point: Sharing My Story00:32:24 – Seeking Justice: The Impact of Foster Care00:34:50 – Life Axioms: Approaching the World Positively00:35:21 – Overcoming Personal Loss and Health Challenges00:39:05 – The Importance of Seeking Help00:42:05 – Stigmas in Mental Health00:43:38 – Workplace Mental Health Initiatives00:47:15 – Finding Purpose After Trauma00:51:43 – Embracing Mental Health as a Tool

Adriene’s story proves that trauma doesn’t define you — how you rise does.
Through candid reflection, she reveals the courage it takes to seek therapy, embrace vulnerability, and rebuild after unimaginable hardship. Her voice carries hope for anyone who’s lived through the unthinkable and still chooses to believe in healing.

📘 Learn more at UnbrokenCaldwell.com

Listen to more of Overcome - A Mental Health Podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/7hbxEyFwwdJvCFLWBNQQiD