February 11 • 8PM ET

The alienation of grandparents from the lives of their grandchildren after parental separation has been largely overlooked in social science research, despite the fact that the importance of the grandparent-grandchild attachment bond is the subject of considerable research. My presentation will report the results of an exploratory study of grandparent alienation, from the perspective of grandparents themselves. There are four primary circumstances associated with grandparent alienation: parental separation, conflict with both parents, death of an adult child, and step-parent adoption following remarriage. In particular, paternal grandparents are at high risk for losing contact with grandchildren when the child-in-law is the custodial mother. Disrupted grandparent-grandchild relationships, which some grandparents describe as a “primal wound,” have profoundly negative consequences for grandparents and grandchildren alike, and this has important implications for legal policy and therapeutic practice. 

Edward Kruk, MSW, PhD, is Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of British Columbia, specializing in child and family policy. His recent research projects have focused on co-parenting after divorce, family mediation, parental alienation and the grandparent-grandchild relationship. He has over 40 years of clinical and community work experience as a professional social worker. He received his BA and MSW degrees from the University of Toronto, and his doctorate from the University of Edinburgh, where he studied as a National Welfare Fellow. His professional experience also includes a faculty appointment with the University of Calgary Faculty of Social Work, family practice with Catholic Family Services in Calgary, medical social work practice with the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh, school social work practice with the Metro Separate School Board in Toronto, and child protection work with the Metro and Catholic Children’s Aid Societies in Toronto. He is author of “Divorce and Disengagement: Patterns of Fatherhood Within and Beyond Marriage” (Fernwood, 1993), “Mediation and Conflict Resolution in Social Work and the Human Services” (Nelson-Hall, 1997), “Divorced Fathers: Children’s Needs and Parental Responsibilities” (Fernwood, 2011), “The Equal Parent Presumption” (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2013), and “The Routledge International Handbook of Shared Parenting and the Best Interest of the Child”(Routledge, 2021), and has published widely in a variety of academic and professional journals. His three research articles on the grandparent-grandchild relationship focus on the alienation of grandparents from their grandchildren’s lives, grandparent rights in cases of grandparent-grandchild alienation, and multigenerational family mediation in cases of grandparent alienation.

February 18 • 8PM ET

Most parents have a hard enough time with their child’s alienation, without having to endure abuse from the child. While no one is completely immune to the effects of verbal abuse, our children probably have more power than anyone to make us feel helpless, hopeless, guilt-ridden, and depressed. This is because our children are the people in whom we’ve invested the greatest amount of love, time, and money and for whom we have had the highest hopes of being loved in return. ​In addition, most if not all parents get their self-esteem as parents from how their children treat them. If their children are loving and respectful, most parents feel not only proud of their children’s behavior, but proud of the reflection that the adult child holds up to them as parents. Alienated parents are deprived of this mirror and have to work much harder to maintain their self-esteem and psychological balance. For those with children whose lives haven’t gone well, the parent has the double sorrow of worry about the child, and guilt and sorrow that there isn’t the closeness with that child that they assumed would be there at this point in their lives. In this webinar we’ll learn why alienated adult children behave in disrespectful and abusive ways, how to best respond whey they do. 

Dr. Coleman is a psychologist in private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area and a Senior Fellow with the Council on Contemporary Families, a non-partisan organization of leading sociologists, historians, psychologists and demographers dedicated to providing the press and public with the latest research and best practice findings about American families. He has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, NBC THINK, The Behavioral Scientist, CNN, MarketWatch, the San Francisco Chronicle, Greater Good Magazine, AEON, Huffington Post, Psychology Today and more. He has given talks to the faculties at Harvard, the Weill Cornell Department of Psychiatry and other academic institutions. A frequent guest on the Today Show and NPR he has also been featured on Sesame Street, 20/20, Good Morning America, PBS, America Online Coaches, and numerous news programs for FOX, ABC, CNN, and NBC television. He is the author of numerous articles and chapters and has written four books: The Rules of Estrangement (Random House); The Marriage Makeover: Finding Happiness in Imperfect Harmony (St. Martin's Press); The Lazy Husband: How to Get Men to Do More Parenting and Housework (St. Martin's Press); When Parents Hurt: Compassionate Strategies When You and Your Grown Child Don't Get Along (HarperCollins) He is the co-editor, along with historian Stephanie Coontz of seven online volumes of Unconventional Wisdom: News You Can Use, a compendium of noteworthy research on the contemporary family, gender, sexuality, poverty, and work-family issues. His books have been translated into Chinese, Korean, Russian, Polish, and Croatian. ​He is the co-editor, along with historian Stephanie Coontz of seven online volumes of Unconventional Wisdom: News You Can Use, a compendium of noteworthy research on the contemporary family, gender, sexuality, poverty, and work-family issues. Dr Coleman also writes music for film and television. His music has been featured on Lethal Weapon, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Longmire, Shameless, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Fresh Off the Boat, Supergirl, Mistresses, Hustlers, RuPaul's Drag Race and many more.

February 25 • 8PM ET

The Use of Children as Weapons Has Long Been Documented by Domestic Violence (DV) Researchers as a Strategy of Abuse by Coercively Controlling Individuals. The Impact of This Weaponization on Children Has Been the Focus of Scientists Who Study Parental Alienation, Who Consequently Have Referred to Coercively Controlling Behaviors as “Parental Alienating Behaviors” Because of the Focus on the Child Rather Than the Perpetrator of Abuse. Despite These Two Different Labels for the Same Sets of Behaviors, There Has Been Considerable Resistance Among Detractors of Parental Alienation in Recognizing Parental Alienating Behaviors, Preferring Instead to Call Coercively Controlling Abuse in These Cases as “Protective Parenting,” Particularly When the “Protective Parent” Is a Mother. In This Presentation, Dr. Harman Will Review the Scientific Evidence Documenting the Weaponization of Children Across Both Fields of Study, Highlight How They Are One and the Same Phenomenon, and Explore How a Biased Gender Paradigm About Violence and the Denial and Misrepresentation of Science Has Created an Unnecessary and Harmful Divide in This Field of Work. Jennifer J. Harman, PhD Received Her Doctorate in Social Psychology From the University of Connecticut in 2005. She Is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Colorado State University and Has Published Over a Dozen Peer-Reviewed Articles and Scientific Studies on the Topic of Parental Alienation and Domestic Violence. She Is a Renowned Expert on the Topic of Parental Alienation, Conducts Trainings on the Topic for Legal and Mental Health Professionals, and Has Provided Expert Witness Testimony in Many Family and Criminal Court Cases Across the U.S. She Currently Serves on the Board of Directors for the Parental Alienation Study Group, Is the President of the International Council on Shared Parenting, and Is on the Editorial Board of the Peer-Reviewed Scientific Journal, Personal Relationships.

March 4 • 8PM ET

In this episode, Zach Flood, MA, LLP talks about loyalty contracts and how they impact alienated children as they interact with targeted parents. He speaks to how the children are forced to internalize a narrative about a parent that is not rational or tied to reality. This concept is then discussed in a way that helps targeted parents and others empathize with these children. Empathizing in this way can help unburden targeted parents from the weight of taking the words and actions of their alienated children personally. Tune into this video if your looking for insight into how to understand how alienated children can act and behave in inexplainable ways. Zach is a psychotherapist, associate evaluator, and coach with the Men’s Resource Center of West Michigan. He works with parents struggling with the complicated and painful dynamics involved in being a rejected or targeted parent in parental alienation. He also serves as an associate evaluator in custody and parenting time evaluations. He believes that helping families navigate and heal from alienation dynamics is some of the most complicated but important work a mental health professional can dedicate themselves to. He continues to look for more ways to educate and serve families afflicted with this insidious dynamic that is counterintuitive for most professionals. Zach Flood, MA, LLP Psychotherapist and Associate Evaluator zflood@fountainhillcenter.com

March 11 • 8PM ET

Dr. Steve Lindenberg will speak about the carry over into adulthood of trauma to victims of parent alienation. Mental health difficulties, issues with self-esteem, and substance abuse are three adulthood manifestations of parent alienation. Relationships, Learning and Development, Grief and Loss, and Disconnection and Dysfunction are all attributes of parent alienation exhibited in adulthood. Dr. Steve will conclude by suggesting coping, healing through resilience, and attempting reunification with the target parent. Steven P. Lindenberg Ph.D. received his doctorate in counselor education with honors from the University of Georgia in 1977. He is a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Kappa Delta Pi. His dissertation was based on research performed at Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia. It proved the efficacy of group therapy for terminally ill cancer patients. He wrote a book on the subject, Group Psychotherapy With People Who are Dying. Springfield IL: Thomas, 1983. Among his many honors Dr. Lindenberg has received Jesse S. Heiges Distinguished Alumnus Award (1996), Shippensburg (PA) University, Professional Service Award - American Mental Health Counselor's Association (1989 & 1991) Pennsylvania Counseling Association Eminent Practitioner Award (1988) and American Spirit of Honor Medal, a civilian award received while in the United States Air Force (1968). Dr. Lindenberg is the Founder of the Alliance of Parent Alienation and Family Reunification Practitioners (Alliance). He has also hosted Clinical Seminars by Dr. Bill Bernet and Lynn Steinberg, Ph.D. He has been interviewed as a parent alienation expert by Dr. Petra Deeter, Victim to Hero, and participated on a panel that included himself, Ashish Joshi, Esq., and Dr. Amy Baker moderated by Dr. Deeter. Dr. Lindenberg has been in practice for almost 46 years. He began his practice in Hershey Pennsylvania on June 15, 1977. He has performed hundreds of custody evaluations. He has testified under oath for over 1500 hours many of which have focused exclusively on parent alienation. In addition, he has provided therapy in dozens of reunification therapy cases. He has participated in 100 hours of basic and advanced family mediation training. He has be trained as a collaborative divorce neutral and is a past member of Collaborative Professionals of Central Pennsylvania, a collaborative law practice group. He was trained as a parenting coordinator. He has also consulted on behalf of alienated parents in Texas, North Carolina, and New Jersey. Since retiring after 14 years as a school psychologist in 2011, Dr. Lindenberg returned to his full- time practice. His work has focused on evaluations in case of severe parent alienation and reunification therapy. He conducts evaluations and provides expert testimony, consultation, reunification therapy in Pennsylvania, and consultation nationwide. Dr. Lindenberg is a charter and lifelong member of the American Mental Health Counselors Association and a retired member of the National Association of School Psychologists, the National Education Association, and the Pennsylvania State Education Association. He belongs to the Parent Alienation Study Group as well. He lives in Central Pennsylvania with his wife of 56 years, Linda, and their pets. He has three daughters and four grandsons. His hobbies are music, gardening, and reading. He can be reached at Drspl5@ptd.netand 1-717-269-8032.

March 18 • 8PM ET

This presentation will provide a summary of research into grandparents’ experience of being alienated from their grandchildren. Grandparents’ experiences of being exposed to parental alienating behaviours will be discussed. The types of losses associated with being alienated from their grandchildren will be described along with the ways grandparents cope with their experiences.

 Dr Mandy Matthewson is a senior lecturer and head researcher in the Family and Interpersonal Relationships Research Lab at the University of Tasmania. She is a clinical psychologist in private practice. Dr Matthewson has worked with many families and individuals affected by parental alienating behaviours. She has published numerous peer reviewed papers on parental alienation and is co-author of the book Understanding. and Managing Parental Alienation: A guide to assessment and treatment. Mandy Matthews, Ph. D Mandy.matthewson@utasedu.au

March 25 • 8PM ET

In this presentation, Dr. Baker will explore some of the hardest questions that targeted parents most frequently ask her, how targeted parents can avoid feeding into the alienating parent's agenda by psychologically taking care of themselves, and how the concept of ambiguous loss may be helpful to alienated parents who are faced with the only option of walking away. 

 Kelley A. Baker, PhD, LPC Dr. Baker graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2002 with a doctorate degree in Developmental, Social, and Personality Psychology and a master’s degree in Program Evaluation. She also holds a master’s degree in Counseling and Guidance and is a Licensed Professional Counselor. Dr. Baker has over 25 years of clinical experience serving families going through separation and divorce. As a forensic consultant in the Austin area of central Texas, she serves primarily as a court appointed guardian ad litem, a court appointed custody evaluator, and an expert on topics related to high conflict divorce. Her professional career includes teaching as an adjunct professor of undergraduate and graduate psychology and counseling courses and providing continuing education and training to mental health and legal professionals. She has presented training for local and state Bar Associations. Her publications include co-authored chapters in The Litigator’s Handbook: Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology and in Gender and Domestic Violence: Contemporary Legal Practice and Intervention Reforms. She has also contributed articles to the National Parents Organization. Dr. Baker is an active member in the American Counseling Association (ACA), The Association of Family and Conciliatory Courts (AFCC), Parental Alienation Study Group where she serves on the membership committee, and the International Council on Shared Parenting (ICSP), where she served for two years as the vice-president of family professions. www.kelleybakerphd.com.