Description
Secondary Victims: Navigating Childhood Abuse in Adult Relationships
A live training for therapists supporting partners of childhood trauma survivors
When a partner has experienced childhood abuse, the effects often extend beyond the individual. Without always realising it, their partner may begin to shape themselves around the trauma — avoiding potential triggers, walking on eggshells, or suppressing emotional and sexual expression in an effort to keep the peace.
Over time, this relational dynamic can lead to symptoms that resemble trauma in the partner who was not directly victimised: hyper-vigilance, emotional shutdown, increased anxiety, or a loss of relational identity. These partners become secondary victims — impacted not through direct abuse, but through prolonged exposure to trauma’s ongoing imprint in the relationship.
In this clinically focused webinar, we’ll explore how to identify, name, and work with these dynamics in couples therapy, with particular care for how to support both partners without reinforcing shame or blame.
What You’ll Learn:
- How childhood abuse shapes relational patterns in adult partnerships
- What it means to be a secondary victim — and how this differs from vicarious trauma
- Common behavioural and emotional adaptations in partners (e.g. hyper-vigilance, avoidance, sexual withdrawal)
- How to bring psychoeducation into the room to reduce shame and increase mutual understanding
- Ways to support couples in honest, safe communication around trauma
- Approaches to restore intimacy and co-regulation in relationships impacted by early abuse
- How to name and work with these dynamics without positioning one partner as the problem
This Will Benefit:
- Psychotherapists and counsellors working with individuals or couples
- Professionals supporting clients impacted by trauma
- Therapists looking to strengthen their clinical confidence when trauma enters the couples space
- Students, social workers, or mental health practitioners exploring trauma-informed relational work
Details:
Date: Monday 26th January, 2026
Time: 12.30pm – 2.30pm
CPD Hours: 2 CPD Hours
Price: €25
✅ Live + Recorded Access Included
About Elizabeth Hollingsworth
Elizabeth is a Practitioner Psychologist with over 22 years of experience as a psychotherapist, working across community mental health settings, charities, schools, private practice, and corporate environments where she has conducted Critical Incident Stress Debriefings.
She established her private practice in Florida in 2007 and has had the privilege of supporting thousands of individuals and couples since. Her clinical background includes qualifications in Marriage and Family Therapy, Play Therapy, Sexual Abuse and Trauma Recovery, and she is trained in Basic EMDR. She also holds a Level 3 Award in Training and Education.
Elizabeth is deeply passionate about mental health and education. She founded a learner-driven school in Orlando for neurodiverse children and adolescents, and in addition to her practice, she lectures at the University of Greater Manchester and with the Manchester Adult Education Service.
She brings warmth, experience, and cultural sensitivity to her work, and is especially committed to helping people live more satisfying lives and build deeper, more connected relationships.
