Discover the Elements of Healing from Family Trauma
Think of these blogs as a colourful buffet of ideas and stories. Just scroll through and pick whatever grabs your attention or speaks to you. Each one is a little treasure trove of insights on dependency and family life. Happy exploring!
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Strategies for Healing Family Violence Trauma
Supporting clients who have experienced family violence and dependency-related trauma requires specialised understanding and practical strategies. In this blog, we explore how early experiences in families affected by substance or process abuse shape adult relationships, emotional responses, and patterns of behaviour. Discover insights and evidence-based tools designed specifically for therapists, and learn how you can help clients break free from the cycles of trauma. Equip yourself with resources that make a real difference-read more and find practical workbooks to support your therapeutic practice.
Working with Codependency Controlling Patterns
Many clients who grew up in families affected by addiction develop controlling behaviours as a way to create safety amid chaos. These patterns, while protective, can strain relationships and cause distress. Understanding the roots of these behaviours-and approaching them with compassion-is key to supporting lasting change. My workbook offers practical, trauma-informed strategies to help clients recognise and gently shift these patterns toward healthier connections.
Working with Co-dependency Avoidance Patterns
Many clients who have experienced trauma linked to family members’ substance or process dependencies develop avoidance and codependence patterns that block healing and connection. This blog explores how therapists can recognise these behaviours and offers practical strategies to help clients break free. Discover how The Origins of Codependence Workbook and other resources can support your therapeutic work and guide clients toward lasting recovery.
Working with Co-dependency Denial Patterns
Many adults who grew up with parents struggling with addiction develop denial patterns as a survival mechanism. In this post, we explore how these patterns show up in clients, illustrated by Michael’s story-a man caught in the grip of denial shaped by his parents who were dependent on substances. Understanding these behaviours is essential for therapists supporting healing and growth.
If you want practical tools to help your clients uncover and overcome codependent denial, check out my workbook, The Origins of Codependence. It offers clear strategies and exercises designed for therapists and clients alike.
Dependencies and Family Dynamics: Understanding the Impact
Explore how family dependencies shape client experiences and learn a compassionate, evidence-informed approach to supporting clients impacted by a parent or caregiver’s addiction. This blog unpacks the role of bonding in dependency and highlights the importance of connection in recovery. Ideal for therapists seeking practical insights and tools, including the Dependence Demystified workbook, designed to help clients understand and heal from complex family dynamics. Enhance your therapeutic practice with strategies that foster empathy and resilience.
The Overlooked One: Understanding the Lost Child Role
The lost child is a common role in families affected by addiction, where the child retreats into solitude to avoid conflict and protect themselves. Often invisible within the family system, they suppress their needs and emotions, believing this helps reduce the family’s burden. While this coping strategy offers safety, it can lead to deep loneliness and distorted self-worth. For therapists, recognising the lost child’s patterns is key to helping clients reconnect with their needs, build self-awareness, and move toward healing.
The Troublemaker: A Complex Role in Family Dynamics
Explore the complex role of the “troublemaker” in families affected by dependence. This blog offers therapists practical insights into how acting-out behaviours often mask deeper pain and unmet needs in clients who grew up with parental or caregiver dependence. Discover how understanding these patterns can unlock hidden strengths and guide clients toward healing. For a deeper dive and practical tools, check out the Embodied Patterns – Four Roles in Families with Dependence workbook.
Supporting Clients from Dependent Families to Rebuild Trust
Many clients from addiction-affected families struggle with trust, both in others and themselves. As therapists, understanding the hidden rules that shape these patterns is key to supporting genuine healing. This post explores the impact of the “don’t trust” rule and introduces practical ways to help clients rebuild trust, featuring the Neutralising Hidden Rules workbook as a valuable resource for your practice.
Understanding Co-dependency Compliance Patterns in Therapy
When clients from families with addiction or dysfunction present as overly agreeable, therapists might see it as people-pleasing—but it runs much deeper. Compliance patterns are protective strategies, often rooted in a survival-based need for safety, acceptance, and belonging. This post explores how chronic niceness can signal codependent dynamics that erode self-trust and intimacy, and offers clinical insights into recognising and working with these patterns in therapeutic practice.
Working with Co-dependent Patterns of Low Self Worth
Many clients who grew up with emotionally dependent or neglectful caregivers carry a hidden burden: a deeply ingrained belief that they are not good enough. This blog explores how low self-worth fuels codependent patterns and how therapists can support clients in reclaiming their value. It also introduces Origins of Codependence, a practical workbook designed to uncover and transform these early wounds.
The Family Hero: A Role Shaped by Survival, Not Choice
Explore the 'Hero' role in families affected by dependence. This blog is part of a series based on the workbook series created for therapists working with adult clients impacted by childhood trauma. Discover how the Hero's strengths and struggles take shape, and how you can support clients to move from survival to authenticity.