Mission
To save lives, marriages, and families through clinical expertise and a biblical perspective.
History
Our story begins in 2008 when founder and C.E.O., Ashley McIlwain, M.A., LMFT, set out to pursue a calling that was placed on her life by God to help promote healthy marriages and relationships. Having already obtained her Masters degree in Clinical Psychology with a specialization in Marriage and Family Therapy, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was called to do something a little unconventional with her passion and training.
After a great deal of prayer by Ashley and her husband Steve, the idea for a non-profit ministry called Foundation Restoration became abundantly clear one day to Ashley while sitting at a bookstore pondering ideas and praying. While a non-profit organization was always the original long-term goal, it was a huge aspiration that she knew would take time, patience, and lots of faith. To get started, Foundation Restoration, actually began as a blog known as Little Wifey. Quickly, Ashley used this platform as an opportunity to write articles and share information, resources, and recommendations to people on a variety of topics related to marriage and relationships.
Little Wifey quickly gained momentum and a strong readership spanning all 50 States as well as countries across the world. It was clear that it was time to take that next step of faith toward getting the non-profit established. In May of 2010, Foundation Restoration became an official non-profit organization receiving the Federal approved 501(c)(3) charitable status.
Since then, Ashley has worked hard at developing Foundation Restoration into a comprehensive resource for individuals, couples, and families everywhere in order to experience health, strength, peace, and joy. Through articles, the blog, recommendations, and resources, lives have already been impacted greatly. In addition, Ashley speaks to a wide variety of audiences about marriage, relationships, and mental health through seminars and workshops, and she also meets with clients for individual, premarital, marital, and family therapy at Foundation Restoration’s office in North Raleigh where the team of clinicians continues to grow and serve a wide range of clients from ages 5 and up.
Foundation Restoration now offers The Real Talk Podcast, which is available on all major streaming services. They have grown steadily and continued to find new ways to serve their community and beyond, marrying clinical expertise with a biblical perspective. In 2023 they expanded their office space to increase their ability to offer more professional therapy, and in 2024 added a large training room to grow their community partnerships and programming.
