Saturday seminars: The neuroscience of alienation - full series (discounted)

The neuroscience of alienation
A three-part online series with Karen Woodall

FULL SERIES - ALL THREE SEMINARS

Saturday 21 March 2026
Saturday 18 April 2026
Saturday 16 May 2026

These seminars will be delivered on Zoom between 17:00 and 19:00 UK Time.

We advise you to check your local start time. Todo so, please click the link below, ensure ‘Date’ is selected, and enter 17:00 - 2026-MM-DD - London in the right-hand boxes, here: https://dateful.com/time-zone-converter *

A Zoom link for this event will be included in your order confirmation (if you do not receive this, please check your spam folder).

Cost £105.00

T&Cs: Please read our terms and conditions here

* we are unable to offer refunds for missed events.

About this series

At the Family Separation Clinic, we bring together neuroscience and therapeutic parenting to offer hope where families often feel stuck. Our work creates clear, compassionate road maps that help parents understand what is happening in their child’s mind and body during alienation, and how healing unfolds through relationship.

By supporting the parent in the rejected position to become a calm, confident, and emotionally available presence, we help children feel safe enough to reconnect, recover their whole self, and move toward genuine, lasting repair. All of our work is anchored in the micro-skills of adapted therapeutic parenting and we are now in the final phase of writing the books, the maps and the connected resources that will allow you to work with your children in real time across their recovery journey.

This spring we are delivering a short seminar series for parents who want to learn more about the neuroscience of alienation, and how shifts in behaviour in parents in the rejected position create shifts in the relational field that allow children to come closer.

This series is for you if you want to:

• ground yourself in practical skills and knowledge about how to respond to children with the right action at the right time
• know more about how to understand and predict your child’s behaviours and how to respond to them
• learn the foundational steps of therapeutic parenting for alienated children to provide a strong basis for further work in our groups or on our courses.

This is a three-part educational seminar series exploring why some children become psychologically rejecting or withdrawn following family separation and what genuinely helps them to emerge and reconnect.

Grounded in neuroscience, attachment theory, and clinical practice, these seminars explain children’s behaviour through a neurobiological lens and help parents move from confusion and panic toward steadiness and informed presence.

About these seminars

PART 1: FEAR, PANIC, AND THE SUBCORTICAL LOCK
Focussing on children who seem unreachable, reactive, or emotionally shut down following separation or conflict. Drawing on attachment theory, neuroscience and therapeutic parenting, this seminar explains how fear and loyalty conflict can lock a child into a state of survival, where the thinking brain goes offline and behaviour becomes rigid, avoidant or controlling. Parents will gain a clear understanding of what is happening beneath the behaviour, why reasoning and reassurance so often fail, and how calm, attuned presence can begin to unlock safety and restore connection. The focus is on understanding rather than blame, and on giving parents a map that brings hope, clarity and direction.

PART 2: FROM PANIC TO PRESENCE
Exploring what happens to parents who find themselves pulled into cycles of fear, urgency and emotional reactivity as they try to stay connected to their child. Building on an understanding of the subcortical lock, this seminar focuses on what helps a child feel safe enough for change to begin. Parents will learn how panic is transmitted relationally, how their own nervous system becomes part of the child’s regulation, and how small shifts into calm, grounded presence can interrupt survival patterns. The emphasis is on practical, compassionate parenting responses that reduce fear, stabilise relationships and create the conditions in which healing and reconnection can emerge.

PART 3: THERAPEUTIC PARENTING FOR LOCKED-IN CHILDREN
Looking at how to move beyond survival and begin creating the conditions for real emotional recovery. This session focuses on how children who have been living in fear, loyalty conflict or psychological control slowly re-orient towards safety through repeated experiences of regulated, boundaried care. Parents will learn how therapeutic parenting differs from ordinary parenting, why change happens in small, non-linear steps, and how consistency, containment and emotional truth help unlock development over time. The emphasis is on pacing, patience and presence - supporting parents to become a stable reference point as their child gradually reconnects with their fuller self.

Q&A

Is this therapy?
No. These seminars are educational. They focus on understanding children’s behaviour and parental responses, not on personal disclosure or therapeutic processing.

Do I need to attend all three?
No. Each seminar stands alone. However, the series is designed to build progressively, and many parents find attending all three most helpful.

Will I have to speak or share my story?
No. There is no requirement to speak. Questions can be asked during the Q&A, and participation is always optional.

Are these seminars suitable if my child is an adult?
Yes. The neurobiological principles discussed apply across adolescence and adulthood.

Will this help me get my child back?
These seminars do not offer guarantees or quick solutions. They focus on understanding what is happening and what supports relational change over time.

Will there be recordings?
Yes. A recording will be available for registered participants for a limited time after each seminar.

Is this appropriate if there is court involvement?
Yes. The seminars are educational and not case-specific. They do not provide legal advice.

Please read our terms and conditions:

About Karen Woodall
This series is delivered by Karen Woodall and is based on her successful work with alienated children over fifteen years. Drawing upon her psychotherapeutic experience as well as her research and direct work with alienated children in recovery, Karen offers you a unique insight into the world that the alienated child inhabits whilst helping you to understand how to build a path for the child to walk upon to return to you. Beyond that, Karen will assist you to understand the alienated child in recovery and their unique needs for longer term therapeutic parenting which helps them to integrate all of the lost parts of self. The wealth of knowledge and experience of direct work with families to help them to integrate and recover from this serious trauma that Karen offers, makes this series an experiential, warm and effective opportunity to create your own positive outcomes for your alienated child(ren). Karen's new parenting handbook, The Journey of the Alienated Children, will be published later in 2026.