Free Online Event
Getting through the holidays with difficult parents
Navigating family relationships when your hurt goes unacknowledged
- Thursday, December 3, 2026
- 9:00–10:00am PT · 12:00–1:00pm ET
- Live on Zoom + Replay · Teaching and Q&A
Free to attend. A replay is available to everyone who registers.
Reserve your free spot
Free · Live on Zoom + Replay
Can’t attend live? A replay will be available to all registrants.
The holiday bind
When everyone acts as though things are fine
One parent hurt you. The other may have stayed silent, made excuses, or offered comfort without taking steps to protect you.
Now the holidays are approaching, and you may feel expected to spend time together without anyone acknowledging what happened. You might want connection with one parent while feeling hurt by their continued defense of the other.
Setting a boundary or speaking honestly may risk conflict or distance from the wider family. You may worry that protecting yourself will cost you connection with people you still love, leaving you torn between staying close and acknowledging your own hurt.
You may be weighing a visit, anticipating familiar arguments, or keeping your distance while still missing your family.
How do you get through the holidays without pretending everything was okay?
Passive abuse
Understanding both relationships
When one parent was physically, verbally, or emotionally abusive during childhood, their role in the harm may have been easier to recognize.
The other parent may have shown you love without protecting you. They may have looked away or remained emotionally unavailable. It can take years to recognize their impact, especially when you depended on them for care and connection.
You might feel hurt or angry, then question yourself:
“They weren’t the one abusing me. Am I being unfair?”
In this free one-hour webinar, psychiatrist and trauma specialist Dr. Frank Anderson will explore passive abuse, including a caregiver’s repeated failure to protect or respond when a child needed help.
What is passive abuse?
A caregiver’s repeated failure to protect or respond when a child needed help. It can look like staying silent, making excuses for abuse, or comforting a child afterward without taking steps to protect them.
Frank will discuss why feelings toward that parent can be complicated and help you give attention to experiences your family may still minimize or dismiss.
For the season ahead
Practical guidance for the holidays
Growing up, you may have had little say over what happened at home. Being around family can bring back that feeling of being unheard or having no choice, along with familiar responses: holding back to avoid upsetting a parent, trying to keep everyone happy, or getting pulled into arguments you wanted to avoid.
Frank will use holiday examples to help you recognize the choices available to you now and consider how to set boundaries from a more empowered place.
What you’ll learn
- 1
What passive abuse can look like
Including staying silent, making excuses for abuse, or comforting you afterward without taking steps to protect you.
- 2
How to navigate conflicting feelings toward your parent
Including wanting closeness while feeling hurt, angry, or uncertain about contact.
- 3
How to communicate boundaries and respond to family pressure
Including requests to accommodate the other parent.
- 4
How to avoid taking the bait in difficult conversations
And consider when to respond, disengage, or step away.
- 5
Ways to give yourself more choice over holiday visits
Including where to stay, how long to visit, and when it makes sense to leave.
Who this is for
This webinar is for you if you:
- Feel expected to celebrate with family as though nothing happened.
- Feel hurt by one parent’s behavior and unsupported by the other.
- Question your hurt because the parent who didn’t protect you also showed you love or was struggling themselves.
- Want practical help with family visits, conversations, or pressure.
- Are estranged, maintaining distance, or grieving a parent who died with things unresolved.
Free Online Event
Join Frank on December 3
Better understand these family dynamics and explore how to approach the holidays with more agency: a greater say over your time, conversations, and participation, with room for your own needs and feelings.
Thursday, December 3, 2026
9:00–10:00am PT · 12:00–1:00pm ET
Free · Live on Zoom + Replay
Reserve Your Free Spot →Can’t attend live? A replay will be available to all registrants.
Event details
Questions about the webinar
- When is the webinar?
- Thursday, December 3, 2026, from 9:00 to 10:00am PT (12:00 to 1:00pm ET). It runs for one hour and includes teaching and Q&A.
- Does it cost anything?
- No. The webinar is free. Register above to save your spot.
- Where does it take place?
- Live on Zoom. Registered attendees join online from anywhere.
- What if I can’t attend live?
- Register anyway. A replay will be available to all registrants.
- Who is leading it?
- Dr. Frank Anderson, a psychiatrist and trauma specialist.
- What will the webinar cover?
- What passive abuse can look like, how to navigate conflicting feelings toward a parent, how to communicate boundaries and respond to family pressure, how to avoid taking the bait in difficult conversations, and ways to give yourself more choice over holiday visits.