New Episode: Is My Child Hiding How They Really Feel About the Divorce?
Most parents going through separation believe they are protecting their children by keeping them out of it. It feels like the kindest thing to do. But what if that instinct, however well-meaning, is actually silencing the one voice that could change everything, including for you as a parent?
In the latest episode of Conflict to Connection, host Mitch Wilkins is joined by founder Bill Hewlett and guest Helen Adam, founding partner of Wells Family Mediation and one of the UK's most respected voices in family mediation. Helen was recently honoured in the King's Birthday Honours 2026 for services to families, children and young people, recognition that reflects three decades of work pushing for a family justice system that puts children, rather than legal process, at the centre, including through her role as Chair of the Family Solutions Group.
Together they explore what children actually carry during separation, why the UK's approach to family breakdown remains filtered through law rather than love, and why the Ministry of Justice keeps being asked to solve a problem it was never designed to understand.
Helen and Bill share some real examples from their practice, including a teenage boy who performed happiness for his mother in the waiting room and then changed demeanour entirely the moment the door closed, and a young girl who couldn't ask her dad for separate shampoo because the request had become tangled up in her parents' conflict. These aren't dramatic courtroom stories. They are quiet, everyday examples of what children carry when the adults around them aren't listening.
This is one of the most important conversations we've had on the podcast, and we think it will stay with you.
If this episode resonates, you might also want to read our pieces on what children really say about divorce and conflict and the greatest gift you can give your children during divorce.