Our Story: From Brokenness to Restoration

A Journey Home Begins With One Step of Faith

​Every life has a story.

Some stories begin with hope. Others are marked by pain, addiction, trauma, broken relationships, loss, and seasons when it feels impossible to find a way forward.

Prodigal Daughters Journey Home was born out of a vision to meet women right in the middle of those stories, and remind them that their story is not over.

For more than 35 years, our founder and Executive Director, Denise Gattuso, has worked in the fields of mental health and addiction. Through those years, she witnessed firsthand the struggles women face when addiction and life-altering circumstances take hold of their lives. She saw women who desperately wanted change but often lacked the safe environment, support, resources, and hope necessary to begin again.

In 2015, Denise left New York and followed what she believed was God's calling to Florida. That step of faith became the beginning of Prodigal Daughters Journey Home, a place where women could come out of bondage, begin healing, and learn how to build a completely different future.

Where Restoration Begins

We believe transformation begins from the inside out.

Prodigal Daughters is a 24-month residential program serving women and their children, providing a safe and supportive environment for women overcoming addiction, abuse and trafficking.

But we believe recovery is about more than simply walking away from addiction.

It is about learning to live again.

It is about renewing the mind.

It is about discovering identity.

It is about healing relationships.

It is about learning to parent from a place of love and stability.

It is about developing healthy habits, practical life skills, confidence, and independence.

And for us, it is about discovering what happens when a woman begins to understand that God's purpose for her life is greater than her past.

Renewing Minds. Restoring Lives. Rebuilding Families.

At the heart of Prodigal Daughters is the belief that when a woman begins to heal, the impact reaches far beyond her.

It reaches her children.
It reaches her family.
It reaches future generations.

That is why we welcome mothers and their children into our program. We want children to experience security while their mothers receive the opportunity to heal, grow, and rebuild. We believe restored mothers can become a foundation for restored families.

Our program brings together recovery support, discipleship, biblical study, counseling, parenting education, mentoring, career counseling, education, life-skills training, prayer, community, and opportunities for personal growth.

Every part of the journey is designed to help a woman move from surviving to living with purpose.

More Than a Program. A Family.

Prodigal Daughters is more than a place to stay.

It is a community.

It is a safe haven.

It is a place where women can be seen, heard, challenged, encouraged, and loved.

It is a place where someone can walk through the door feeling broken and begin discovering that she still has a future.

And some of the most powerful people walking alongside our women are women who have walked the journey themselves.

Our graduates have gone on to rebuild relationships with their children, pursue education, develop careers, serve others, and become leaders within their communities. Their stories remind us that restoration is not just something we talk about—it is something we get to witness.

The Heart Behind the Name

The word “prodigal” reminds us of the biblical story of someone who wandered away but was welcomed home.

That is the heart of this ministry.

We believe that no woman should be defined by where she has been.

Her addiction is not her identity.

Her trauma is not her identity.

Her mistakes are not her identity.

Her past does not get the final word.

There is still a way home.

At Prodigal Daughters Journey Home, we believe God can take what has been broken and begin rebuilding it. He can renew a mind, restore a family, redeem a story, and awaken a purpose that seemed lost.

Our Vision for the Future

We envision a community where every woman has the opportunity to recover, every child has the security to thrive, and every family can build a future defined by resilience, dignity, and independence.

We don't just want women to complete a program.

We want them to leave with a new way of thinking, a stronger foundation, healthier relationships, practical tools, restored hope, and a vision for the life ahead.

We want mothers to look at their children and see possibility.

We want children to see their mothers becoming strong.

We want families to experience restoration.

And we want every woman who comes through our doors to know:

You are not your past.
You are not your mistakes.
You are not forgotten.
Your story is still being written.

This is the Journey Home.

Renewing Minds.
Restoring Lives.
Rebuilding Families.
Redeeming Futures.

This is Prodigal Daughters Journey Home.