About this event
Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACoAs) are a widely present but often unspoken client group in therapy. Despite the statistics – with millions growing up in homes affected by addiction, emotional unpredictability, or dysfunction; the lasting impact is frequently missed or misunderstood in healthcare settings. Many ACoAs enter adulthood without recognising their experiences as trauma, having normalised chaos, silence, or emotional neglect as children.
These clients may present with anxiety, low self-worth, chronic burnout, people-pleasing, or relational difficulties, but the root causes often remain unspoken- sometimes even in therapy. The legacy of growing up in a dysfunctional environment can shape identity, nervous system regulation, and attachment patterns in ways that go undetected, especially when external success or caregiving roles mask internal struggle.
This discussion explores why ACoAs are a ‘forgotten’ group, both culturally and clinically and why understanding their unique adaptations is essential for effective therapeutic work. It also touches on a deeper truth: that this topic can feel confronting for many, including therapists, because it invites us to consider our own histories and the systems that shaped us.
By bringing these dynamics into focus, we move closer to offering the kind of attuned, trauma-informed support this group truly needs.
Learning Objective Participants Can Expect From This Event
- Explore how ACoAs adapt through roles that often go unseen in the therapy room.
- Learn why these stories are often missed: Consider how silence, shame, and normalised dysfunction make ACoA experiences easy to overlook.
- Deepen your awareness of what ACoA clients may need to feel safe, seen, and understood.
Who is This Workshop Appropriate For?
- This course is relevant for counsellors, psychotherapists, mental health workers and other professionals in supportive roles, including those in healthcare or education, who want to deepen their understanding of Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACoAs).
- While the focus is on the therapeutic process, this is a group that are often overlooked not just in therapy, but in life. Raising awareness and understanding across these fields is essential for meaningful support and change.
How May This Workshop Impact Your Practice?
- This course can enhance practice by helping professionals recognise the often-hidden patterns and roles shaped by early survival. It supports more attuned, compassionate work with clients who may not have named their experiences, but still carry their impact.
- At its heart, it’s about helping people come home to themselves and feel seen, perhaps for the first time.
Accredited Member of the BACP
RECORDING
This event will be recorded and you can use the ticket function to pre-purchase the recording before the event. This will be useful for colleagues who are not able to attend the event live and also for those who attend the event live and want to watch it again.
ZOOM
This event will be hosted on the Zoom meeting platform where we will use our cameras and microphones to interact with each other as a group.
SELF-SELECT FEE
The self-select fee is a radical inclusion policy to open learning for all colleagues. The guide price for this event is £20.00, however, we appreciate that income varies greatly in different locations and circumstances. Please contribute what you can to help us maintain inclusive professional training.
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At Onlinevents, we and the presenters we collaborate with are committed to working in a way that aligns with the ethical codes and frameworks of our respective professional organisations. We expect all colleagues attending our events to uphold the ethical principles of their professional membership.
If you are not a member of a professional organisation, we ask that you participate in a way that is both authentic and respectful, fostering a space of mutual learning and professional engagement.
By registering for this event, you agree to be present and interact in a manner that reflects these principles.
Eve True
Eve True is a therapist, trainer and advocate for those who’ve carried silence too long.
Her work is rooted in both lived experience and therapeutic insight, with a particular focus on Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACoAs), neurodivergent women and clients who have adapted to survive in roles of caregiving, achievement or emotional invisibility.
Eve believes that many people arrive in therapy without the language for what they’ve lived through, and that being truly seen can be a powerful turning point. Through her specialist training, she helps professionals recognise the hidden impact of childhood dysfunction and offer support that is attuned, compassionate and non-pathologising.
She also creates content online that gently opens up conversations around trauma, identity and coming home to yourself.
Website | www.evetrue.com
Facebook | Eve True
Instagram | eve_true
LinkedIn | Eve True BA (Hons), MBACP (Accred), CBT Dip
