Valerie Smith grew up in a household marked by abuse, neglect, and instability, leading to years of struggle with complex PTSD. Through therapy, mindfulness, and her connection with nature, she found healing and resilience, ultimately transforming her pain into purpose as a psychotherapist and ecotherapy guide. In this article, Valerie shares her journey and the insights that now shape her work with clients facing trauma and recovery.

I used to think I was broken—too sensitive, too emotional, too reactive, too much, or not enough. But the truth is, I wasn't hurt; I was grieving. And not the kind of grief that earns sympathy cards. I wasn't mourning someone who passed away; I was grieving someone who was right in front of me—my mom. 

Trauma is not merely an event that fades with time; it etches itself into the very fabric of our being, demanding acknowledgment and resolution. Though my experience happened in 2017, it took me four years to give the pain the acceptance and acknowledgment it needed. I got a text from someone wishing me "Happy Mother's Day," and it broke me four years later. It was at that point that I realized that our body keeps the score of every experience we go through.

The Role of Inner Child Healing in Overcoming Adult-Child Syndrome explores the importance of reconnecting with the inner child to address Adult-Child Syndrome (ACS).Stephanie Watterson is our author. Stephanie grew up in a home affected by mental illness, with a mother who struggled with mental health issues and an emotionally unavailable workaholic father.

Kirsten Rabuck collaborates with me as a co-author for this issue. She is a substance abuse counselor and an adult child of an alcoholic father, just like me. Together, we draw on our experiences as adult children to help others facing similar challenges.

Cendie Stanford is passionate about understanding and preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Drawing on her personal and ancestral history of trauma, Cendie is dedicated to educating and inspiring others.

War zones might be closer than you realize, with 25% of children growing up with a father, mother, or both who have a substance use disorder

Childhood trauma plays a significant role in the onset of adult-child syndrome. Such chronic trauma often leads to PTSD.

Transformation allows people with adult-child syndrome (ACS) to take control of their lives and continue living a life of change.

“Adult children of alcoholics” (ACOA) and “adult children of narcissists” (ACON) share a bond of growing up in dysfunctional families.

Survival strategies for children of alcoholics often live on as adults.  , These survival strategies need to be unlearned and discarded.

By Tom O’Connor and Lauren Grawert, MD, FASAM, Co-Authors Is there a recovery from Adult-Child Syndrome? Is there partial recovery?