The journey of the alienated child (North America and Europe)

The journey of the alienated child (Australasia and Far East book launch)
A live online book launch with Karen Woodall

Saturday 12 December 2026

This seminar will be delivered on Zoom between 17:00 and 19:00 UK Time.

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FREE EVENT

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About this seminar 

What happens to a child who becomes alienated from a parent and what happens when that child begins the journey home?  

To celebrate the publication of The Journey of the Alienated Child, Karen Woodall invites parents, practitioners and anyone interested in understanding the inner world of alienated children to join her for a special two-hour live online launch event. This event is completely free of charge. 

Understanding the Journey
For decades, discussions about alienated children have focused largely upon their rejection of a parent. But rejection is not the whole story because, behind the child's certainty, anger and apparent indifference lies a far more complex psychological journey, one shaped by attachment, adaptation, psychological splitting and the child's need to survive within the relational world around them. And for some children, rejection is not the end of the story, because children grow and change and, as they do, psychological defences shift and questions emerge as memories return. The journey therefore continues for many children as they move into young adulthood and begin the search which asks the question 'what happened to me?' 

From Splitting to Relational Repair
During this special live launch, Karen will introduce the central ideas explored in The Journey of the Alienated Child, and take participants through the child's experience of moving into and, potentially, out of psychological splitting. We will explore the journey through: 

• Onset — when the child's relational world begins to change,
• Splitting — when complexity becomes psychologically unbearable and the child's experience becomes increasingly divided and then adaptation as the child learns to live within the new relational reality, and
• Emergence, and the often subtle signs that rigid psychological defences are beginning to shift Integration and the difficult work of bringing previously separated feelings, memories and relationships back together.

Along the way, Karen will consider what the child's journey means for parents in the rejected position and why relational repair requires something very different from persuading, pursuing, or waiting helplessly for a child to change their mind. 

The Story Behind the Book
Karen will also talk about the experiences and ideas which led her to write The Journey of the Alienated Child, what she has learned from almost three decades of therapeutic work with separated families, and why her work has increasingly moved towards understanding alienation as a problem of attachment, psychological splitting and relational repair. She will also discuss the underlying causes of this attachment trauma and the coercive strategies and transgenerational patterns which underpin it. There will be readings from the new book, discussion of the developing Lighthouse Keeping Relational Repair Pathway, and time for questions and conversation.  

Please read our terms and conditions here:
https://www.familyseparationclinic.com/parenting/group-work-t-and-c-1/

About Karen Woodall
Karen Woodall is a qualified psychotherapist who has worked with alienated children for over fifteen years. Drawing upon her psychotherapeutic experience as well as her research and direct work with alienated children in recovery, Karen offers unique insights 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. Karen offers a wealth of knowledge and experience from her direct work with families to help them to integrate and recover from this serious trauma. Her online courses, seminars, and courses offer 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.