The Adult Child Returning Home: A Decade-by-Decade Therapist’s Map
Returning home for the holidays as an adult stirs complex emotions and shifts in self. This decade-by-decade guide explores how family dynamics, emotional regression, and attachment patterns evolve from your twenties through your forties. Understanding these stages offers clarity and tools to navigate the pull of your childhood self while fostering growth and differentiation within your family system.
Last reviewed: June 2026 by Annie Wright, LMFT
- The Ninety-Second Regression
- What Is Emotional Regression in the Family of Origin?
- The Neurobiology of Attachment Reinstatement
- In Your Twenties: Going Home When You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
- In Your Thirties: Going Home When the Illusions Start to Crack
- Both/And: You’re an Adult and You Still Become a Child at the Door
- The Systemic Lens: Why the Family System Is Designed to Keep You in Your Childhood Role
- In Your Forties and Beyond: Going Home When You’ve Done the Work
- Frequently Asked Questions
Emotional regression in the family of origin is the phenomenon in which returning home as an adult triggers an automatic, somatic return to the relational role and nervous system state you occupied as a child, bypassing your adult identity in a matter of seconds. It is not metaphorical; the body actually shifts into old postures, rhythms, and response patterns that were encoded during formative years within that specific attachment system. The regression intensifies across decades as family systems work to preserve their established homeostasis and roles, particularly when you have grown and changed through therapy or life experience. In my work with driven women, understanding this phenomenon changes everything about how they prepare for and process visits home.
In short: Emotional regression in the family of origin is a somatic and relational phenomenon in which returning home as an adult triggers an automatic reversion to your childhood nervous system state and family role within seconds of crossing the threshold.
If your nervous system learned the safest way to exist was to manage everyone else's world, my self-paced course Enough Without the Effort is the recovery map.
I have more than 15,000 clinical hours working with clients on family-of-origin dynamics, and emotional regression during home visits is one of the most predictable and disorienting experiences they report. Murray Bowen, MD, psychiatrist and founder of family systems therapy at Georgetown University Family Center, described how family systems exert powerful pressure toward homeostasis, pulling differentiated members back into their original emotional positions regardless of how much growth has occurred outside that system (Bowen 1978).
The Ninety-Second Regression
Elena steps through the front door of her parents’ house in Fremont on December 23rd. The familiar scent of pine and cinnamon wraps around her like a thick blanket. Within ninety seconds, she feels a sudden shift , not just in mood, but in body. Her posture tightens, her voice softens, and her deference returns. She’s twelve years old again, not metaphorically, but somatically.
Camille, at forty-three, sits at the holiday table watching herself ask her mother’s permission before taking more food. She’s struck by the absurdity , both aware of this moment and powerless to stop it. This simultaneous recognition and regression is common among adult children returning home.
This phenomenon is what Murray Bowen, MD, describes as emotional regression within the family of origin. He explains how the family system exerts a gravitational pull, dragging adult children back into their childhood roles through what he calls the “undifferentiated ego mass.”
In these moments, adults slip into familiar patterns, triggered by longstanding family dynamics and emotional entanglements. The body remembers even when the mind resists.
Returning home activates deeply embedded relational memories, which Daniel Siegel, MD, refers to as implicit relational knowing. These patterns are stored in the brain and reignite automatically upon re-entering the family environment.
Recognizing this ninety-second regression is the first step in understanding the complex dance of returning home. It’s not about failure; it’s about the power of the family system and the neurobiology of attachment pulling you back.
Elena and Camille’s experiences illustrate the universal tension of being simultaneously adult and child in the family space during the holidays.
What Is Emotional Regression in the Family of Origin?
Adult child returning home for holidays therapy names the emotional and nervous-system experience at the center of this article, especially when family expectations collide with the need for safety, grief, or repair.
In plain terms: Your reaction makes sense. You are not overreacting because a calendar date, family text, airport gate, or dinner table can carry years of relational history.
Emotional regression in the family of origin is a well-documented phenomenon where adult children revert to earlier developmental states when interacting with their parents. This isn’t simply nostalgia or sentimentality; it’s a psychological and physiological response rooted in the family system.
Murray Bowen’s Family Systems Theory offers a framework to understand this. He identified that families operate as emotional units, where individual differentiation is challenged by the pull of the collective emotional process.
The “undifferentiated ego mass” describes how family members’ emotional boundaries blur, causing adults to lose their sense of self and slip back into childhood roles during family interactions.
This regression serves a systemic function, maintaining homeostasis within the family. Even when adults seek autonomy, the family system unconsciously resists change by reactivating old patterns.
These patterns often manifest during high-stress or emotionally charged moments, such as holiday gatherings, where longstanding roles and expectations resurface.
Understanding emotional regression helps adult children recognize that their responses are not personal failings but reflections of entrenched family dynamics.
Awareness of this concept opens the door to new ways of engaging with family, where you can begin to set boundaries and maintain your adult identity.
The Neurobiology of Attachment Reinstatement
Body memory describes the way the nervous system can respond to relational threat before conscious thought catches up, a pattern described in trauma literature by Daniel Siegel, MD, clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and author of The Developing Mind. Cite on how attachment patterns are stored as implicit relational knowing and how returning to the original attachment environment activates those patterns automatically.
In plain terms: Your shoulders, jaw, stomach, sleep, and breath may know the holiday is coming before your thinking mind has decided what to do.
Neuroscience sheds light on why returning home triggers such powerful emotional responses. Daniel Siegel, MD, explains that attachment patterns are stored as implicit relational knowing , nonverbal, unconscious memories encoded in the brain’s limbic system.
When adult children enter their family environment, these implicit memories activate, prompting automatic emotional and behavioral responses shaped by early attachment experiences.
This neurobiological process explains why adults often feel transported back to childhood despite years of personal growth and therapy.
These responses are not just psychological but embodied. The body remembers the safety or threat associated with parental relationships, influencing posture, voice, and even breathing patterns.
Recognizing this automatic activation allows individuals to approach their feelings with curiosity rather than judgment, understanding that these reactions are hardwired survival mechanisms.
Therapeutic work can help rewire these implicit patterns by creating new relational experiences and fostering differentiation, even within the family system.
By learning about the neurobiology of attachment, adult children can develop strategies to stay grounded and present during holiday visits.
In Your Twenties: Going Home When You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
In your twenties, returning home often feels confusing and overwhelming. You’re still largely unconscious of the family system’s influence and eager to please, hoping to avoid conflict and gain approval.
At this stage, the family’s emotional dynamics remain largely invisible. You may find yourself slipping into old roles without fully understanding why, caught between emerging independence and ingrained patterns.
Elena’s experience is typical: the body remembers the twelve-year-old posture and voice even when the mind tries to assert adulthood.
Therapy or self-reflection might be limited or just beginning. The focus often lies outside the family system, on individual achievements or relationships.
This decade is about survival and navigation. You learn the family’s unspoken rules and try to fit in, sometimes at the cost of your authentic self.
Recognizing these patterns early can prevent deeper entanglement later. Resources like the Holiday Survival Guide for Difficult Family can offer practical support.
Exploring therapy options, such as therapy with Annie or executive coaching, can begin the work of differentiation even in this early phase.
In Your Thirties: Going Home When the Illusions Start to Crack
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
Maya Angelou, poet, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
In your thirties, the experience of going home often shifts dramatically. Awareness of family dynamics grows, especially if you’ve engaged in therapy or personal growth work.
This decade brings the cracking open of illusions about your family. You start to see patterns clearly , the enmeshment, the unspoken rules, the emotional triggers.
Camille’s awareness at forty-three, though slightly beyond this decade, reflects the earlier emergence of this insight: the simultaneous recognition and inability to interrupt old patterns.
You may feel conflicted , wanting connection but also craving boundaries and autonomy. This tension can create discomfort and ambivalence around holiday visits.
Therapeutic approaches like those detailed in Fixing the Foundations™ can help you understand and dismantle harmful patterns.
At this stage, you’re more equipped to identify when family dynamics become difficult and to use strategies to protect your emotional wellbeing.
Joining a supportive community or newsletter, like the one at AnnieWright.com, can provide ongoing encouragement during this challenging decade.
Both/And: You’re an Adult and You Still Become a Child at the Door
Ambiguous loss, a concept developed by Murray Bowen, MD, psychiatrist and founder of Bowen Family Systems Theory. Cite on “emotional regression” in the family of origin and the concept of “undifferentiated ego mass” as the pull back into the childhood self, describes grief that lacks a clear ending, shared ritual, or social recognition.
In plain terms: You may grieve someone who is alive, grieve a family you never fully had, or grieve the version of a holiday everyone else seems to assume exists.
It’s important to hold both truths: you are an adult, and yet you still become a child at the door. This paradox is at the heart of returning home for the holidays.
The family system is designed to pull you back into childhood roles, as Bowen’s concept of undifferentiated ego mass explains. This pull is both unconscious and powerful.
Simultaneously, your adult self is aware of this regression, creating internal conflict and sometimes shame.
Accepting this both/and reality reduces self-judgment and opens space for compassion. You’re not failing; you’re responding to a complex system.
This awareness allows you to create small moments of differentiation even within the pull , for example, setting boundaries around topics or taking breaks when needed.
Resources on managing difficult family dynamics, such as understanding enmeshment, can deepen your insight.
Remember, this process is gradual and nonlinear. Each holiday visit is an opportunity to practice and grow.
The Systemic Lens: Why the Family System Is Designed to Keep You in Your Childhood Role
The family system functions as a self-regulating emotional unit. Its design is to maintain stability, often at the expense of individual differentiation.
Returning home triggers the system’s efforts to keep you in your childhood role, preserving familiar patterns even if they cause distress.
This systemic lens explains why changing your individual behavior often feels futile without broader family shifts.
Understanding this dynamic helps you shift focus from trying to change others to managing your own responses and boundaries.
Bowen’s work emphasizes the importance of differentiation , developing a strong sense of self while remaining emotionally connected.
Practicing this differentiation requires patience, support, and sometimes professional guidance, such as therapy with Annie.
Recognizing the systemic forces at play empowers you to navigate family interactions with greater clarity and resilience.
In Your Forties and Beyond: Going Home When You’ve Done the Work
In your forties and beyond, returning home takes on new meaning. This decade often reflects the fruits of your earlier work or the cost of postponing it.
If you’ve invested in differentiation and healing, you approach holiday visits with greater awareness and tools to maintain your adult self.
You might still experience moments of regression, but they’re less frequent and less overwhelming.
Therapy, coaching, and ongoing self-reflection become essential practices to sustain this growth.
Some adults in this stage choose to redefine or limit holiday participation, prioritizing their wellbeing.
Others find ways to engage with family from a place of empowered choice rather than obligation.
This decade invites a deeper integration of your childhood and adult selves, allowing for more authentic connections.
Community and support remain vital; consider joining groups or continuing education to nurture your progress.
Ultimately, returning home becomes less about regression and more about conscious presence and connection.
Every step forward is a testament to your resilience and commitment to healing. You are not alone in this journey, and together, we can create new family stories marked by growth and understanding.
Returning home as an adult after years of independence is a journey marked by complexity. Each decade of life brings unique challenges and opportunities for growth. The final healing phase is where reflection, acceptance, and transformation converge.
Elena’s story illustrates the delicate balance between autonomy and connection. After years of living abroad, she returned to her childhood home in her early forties. The walls held memories, both comforting and constraining. Her parents, aging and needing support, were also navigating their own transitions.
Elena found herself caught between roles: caregiver, daughter, and independent adult. The shift required renegotiating boundaries that had long been taken for granted. Her therapist helped her explore these dynamics, emphasizing the importance of clear communication.
Camille’s experience, returning home in her late fifties, highlights a different set of challenges. Widowed and facing retirement, she sought refuge in the familiar, yet found the home had changed as much as she had. The emotional landscape was layered with grief, hope, and uncertainty.
For Camille, the healing process involved acknowledging loss while embracing new possibilities. Therapy focused on building resilience and fostering a sense of purpose beyond traditional family roles. This shift allowed her to redefine what ‘home’ meant.
Both Elena and Camille demonstrate that returning home is not a regression but a redefinition. It invites adults to integrate past experiences with present realities. The therapist’s role is to guide this integration with empathy and insight.
Decade by decade, the adult child’s return home reflects evolving needs. In the twenties and thirties, it often involves launching careers and establishing independence. By the forties and fifties, caregiving and legacy considerations emerge. Later decades bring reflection and reconciliation.
Therapists recognize that healing is not linear. Setbacks and breakthroughs coexist. Emotional ambivalence is common , love intertwined with frustration, gratitude mingled with resentment. Validating these feelings is crucial to progress.
Elena’s therapy sessions revealed how unresolved childhood patterns resurfaced. Her parents’ expectations clashed with her evolved identity. Through narrative work, she reconstructed her story, reclaiming agency over her life choices.
Camille’s journey was marked by the challenge of loneliness. Returning home stirred memories of her late spouse and the life they shared. Therapy provided a container for grief, enabling her to cultivate new social connections.
Both women benefited from mindfulness practices integrated into therapy. These tools helped ground them in the present moment, reducing anxiety about the future and regrets about the past.
Family systems theory offers a lens to understand these dynamics. Returning adult children often trigger shifts in family roles and hierarchies. Recognizing these patterns allows for healthier interactions.
Elena’s family sessions illuminated how unspoken rules governed communication. Bringing these to light fostered openness and mutual respect. This transparency was a turning point in their collective healing.
Camille’s therapist encouraged her to set limits kindly but firmly. Establishing boundaries with aging parents and siblings preserved her emotional well-being. This practice is essential for sustaining long-term family relationships.
Healing also involves grieving the loss of the idealized home. Neither Elena nor Camille found the perfect sanctuary they had imagined. Acceptance of imperfection became a cornerstone of their recovery.
Therapists emphasize self-compassion in this phase. Adult children often carry guilt for their perceived shortcomings or for stepping back. Reframing these narratives reduces self-blame and fosters growth.
Elena’s work included exploring cultural influences on family expectations. Her bicultural background added layers of complexity to her return. Therapy helped her navigate these intersections with sensitivity.
Camille’s spiritual beliefs provided a source of strength. Integrating spirituality into therapy enriched her healing, offering meaning and connection beyond the family unit.
Practical considerations, such as financial independence and living arrangements, often complicate the return home. Addressing these openly prevents misunderstandings and resentment.
Elena negotiated a plan to contribute to household expenses and maintain private space. This arrangement honored her autonomy while supporting family needs.
Camille chose to remodel a portion of the home to create a personal retreat. This physical boundary mirrored the emotional boundaries she was establishing.
Therapists encourage adult children to cultivate external support networks. Friends, community groups, and professional resources supplement family dynamics and enhance resilience.
You've been holding everything together. You're allowed to put some down.
A focused self-paced course on overfunctioning, achievement-first self-concept, and the trauma response that masquerades as a personality. Not a productivity problem. Not a boundary problem. A nervous system that learned competence was the only safety.
Elena joined a local writers’ group, rekindling a passion that had waned. This engagement expanded her identity beyond family roles.
Camille volunteered at a senior center, finding fulfillment in service and connection. This activity counterbalanced feelings of isolation.
The return home often surfaces intergenerational patterns. Recognizing these cycles enables healing not only for the individual but for the family lineage.
Elena’s therapy included genogram work, mapping family relationships and patterns. This visual tool illuminated inherited dynamics and empowered her to break unhealthy cycles.
Camille’s exploration of her mother’s experiences provided insight into her own behaviors. Understanding these links fostered empathy and forgiveness.
Addressing unresolved trauma is a critical component of healing. Returning home can trigger old wounds, necessitating careful therapeutic support.
Elena confronted childhood neglect that colored her adult relationships. Processing this trauma freed her to engage more authentically with family and friends.
Camille faced suppressed grief over parental loss. Therapy offered a safe space to mourn and integrate these feelings, enhancing emotional resilience.
Mind-body approaches complement traditional therapy in this phase. Practices like yoga, somatic experiencing, and breathwork facilitate emotional regulation and self-awareness.
Elena incorporated somatic techniques to manage anxiety arising from family tensions. This embodied approach grounded her in her own experience.
Camille found yoga helpful in releasing physical manifestations of stress. The mind-body connection supported her overall healing.
Therapists advocate for patience in the healing journey. Returning home is a process that unfolds over time, requiring flexibility and perseverance.
Both Elena and Camille experienced moments of frustration and doubt. Recognizing these as normal rather than pathological eased their path forward.
Celebrating small victories reinforces progress. Acknowledging improved communication, increased autonomy, or moments of joy sustains motivation.
Elena cherished a family dinner where open dialogue replaced old patterns of silence. This milestone symbolized a shift toward healthier relationships.
Camille treasured her first solo outing in months, reclaiming independence within the home environment. This act of self-care was empowering.
Therapists encourage adult children to define their own metrics of success. Healing is personal and resists comparison or external validation.
Elena measured success by her ability to assert needs without guilt. Camille valued her growing sense of peace and contentment.
Integration of past and present selves is a hallmark of final healing. Adult children returning home weave their histories into a coherent narrative that honors growth.
Therapy supports this integration by facilitating reflection and meaning-making. This process fosters a cohesive identity that embraces complexity.
Elena’s narrative evolved from one of conflict to one of connection. She embraced imperfections in herself and her family with compassion.
Camille’s story shifted from loss to legacy. She found purpose in nurturing family traditions while creating space for new beginnings.
Healing also involves envisioning the future. Adult children returning home contemplate their roles in the family and community moving forward.
Elena planned to pursue further education, blending personal aspirations with family responsibilities. This vision energized her commitment to growth.
Camille considered mentoring younger relatives, passing on wisdom gained through experience. This role enriched her sense of belonging.
Therapists recognize the importance of rituals in marking transitions. Creating ceremonies or symbolic acts can honor the return home and the healing journey.
Elena and her family held a gathering to celebrate their renewed connection. This event acknowledged past struggles and future hopes.
Camille planted a garden as a living tribute to resilience and renewal. This tangible symbol reinforced her healing progress.
Community resources enhance the healing environment. Support groups, educational workshops, and wellness programs provide additional layers of assistance.
Elena accessed a local adult children support group, finding solidarity and shared understanding. This connection alleviated feelings of isolation.
Camille attended grief counseling sessions, deepening her emotional processing and expanding coping strategies.
Therapists emphasize the role of self-reflection in sustaining healing. Journaling, meditation, and creative expression promote ongoing self-awareness.
Elena kept a journal documenting her emotions and insights, tracking growth and challenges. This practice deepened her therapeutic work.
Camille engaged in painting, channeling emotions into art. This outlet provided relief and fostered creativity.
Healing is ultimately about reclaiming agency. Adult children returning home learn to navigate relationships and environments on their own terms.
Elena’s journey exemplifies empowerment through boundary-setting and honest communication. She reclaimed voice and choice.
Camille’s path illustrates strength in vulnerability and openness to change. She embraced new identities with courage.
Therapists hold a hopeful stance, witnessing the transformation that emerges from returning home. This phase, though challenging, is ripe with potential.
Each adult child’s map is unique, shaped by history, personality, and circumstance. The therapist’s guidance is tailored to honor this individuality.
Elena and Camille’s stories remind us that healing is a mosaic of small steps, courageous conversations, and compassionate choices.
The return home is not an end but a beginning , a chance to rewrite relationships and rediscover self.
Therapeutic work in this phase fosters resilience, connection, and meaning. It equips adult children to thrive within and beyond the family system.
As adult children navigate the return home, they cultivate wisdom born of experience and reflection. This wisdom becomes a foundation for future growth.
The final healing phase invites embracing complexity with grace. It challenges simplistic narratives and honors the full spectrum of human emotion.
Elena and Camille’s healing journeys exemplify this embrace, offering hope to others on similar paths.
Returning home as an adult is a deeply human experience, rich with possibility for renewal and transformation.
Returning home as an adult child often stirs complex emotions that intensify during family gatherings. It’s common to feel both relief and tension, comfort and unease. Recognizing these mixed feelings as valid is the first step toward navigating the holiday landscape with greater ease. Your presence may reopen old dynamics, yet it also offers an opportunity to rewrite relational patterns with intention and self-compassion.
In therapy, we explore how your current boundaries can serve as lifelines amid familiar family stressors. This might mean gently redirecting conversations that veer into triggering territory or choosing moments to step away without guilt. Practicing these small acts of self-care signals to your nervous system that you are safe, even when old wounds feel raw. Remember, setting limits is not rejection, it’s a form of radical self-respect that preserves your emotional well-being.
It’s also important to notice how family narratives shape your internal dialogue. Stories you’ve heard or lived through can unconsciously influence how you engage with relatives. Therapy encourages you to become the author of your own story, distinguishing past from present. This awareness empowers you to respond rather than react, breaking cycles of misunderstanding and hurt. The holiday season, with its heightened expectations, can be a fertile ground for practicing this new narrative.
Lastly, lean into moments of connection that feel authentic and nourishing. These may be brief but meaningful, a shared laugh, a sincere compliment, or a quiet moment of listening. These interactions can anchor you amid emotional turbulence. Healing is rarely linear, but each small step toward genuine connection and self-awareness builds resilience, allowing you to return home not just physically, but emotionally whole.
Q: Why do I feel like a child again when I visit my parents as an adult?
A: Feeling like a child again when visiting your parents as an adult is a common experience rooted in family dynamics and neurobiology. According to Murray Bowen’s Family Systems Theory, the family acts as an emotional unit that can pull you back into childhood roles through emotional regression. Daniel Siegel’s research explains that early attachment patterns are stored in the brain as implicit memories, which activate automatically when you return to the family environment. This combination causes your body and mind to revert to familiar childhood responses, even if you’ve grown and changed significantly.
Q: Is it normal to regress emotionally when you go home for the holidays?
A: Yes, emotional regression when going home for the holidays is normal. Family gatherings often trigger longstanding roles and patterns established during childhood. These triggers activate implicit relational memories stored in the brain, causing automatic emotional and behavioral responses. This regression serves a systemic purpose by maintaining family stability, even if it feels uncomfortable. Understanding this can help you approach these feelings with compassion and develop strategies to maintain your adult identity during visits.
Q: How do I stay myself when I go home to a difficult family?
A: Staying yourself in a difficult family requires awareness, boundaries, and self-compassion. Recognize that family systems are designed to pull you back into old roles, so prepare by setting clear emotional and physical boundaries before visits. Practice grounding techniques and remind yourself of your adult identity. Therapy or coaching, such as services offered at AnnieWright.com, can provide tools to strengthen differentiation. Remember, you can choose how to engage and prioritize your wellbeing even amid challenging dynamics.
Q: Why does going home for the holidays feel different in my thirties than it did in my twenties?
A: Going home for the holidays feels different in your thirties because this is often when awareness of family dynamics deepens. Unlike your twenties, when you may have been unaware or eager to please, your thirties bring clarity about patterns like enmeshment and emotional triggers. This awareness can create tension as you balance the desire for connection with the need for boundaries. Therapy and personal growth work often begin to crack open illusions, making holiday visits more complex but also an opportunity for healing.
Q: How do I stop reverting to old family dynamics when I visit my parents?
A: Stopping the reversion to old family dynamics starts with understanding that these patterns are deeply ingrained and activated automatically. Developing differentiation. The ability to maintain your sense of self within the family system. Is key. This involves setting boundaries, practicing self-awareness, and sometimes limiting contact. Therapeutic work, such as that offered at AnnieWright.com, can help rewire implicit relational patterns. Remember, change is gradual, and each visit is an opportunity to practice new ways of relating.
If you want more support around this topic, these companion resources may help: related Annie Wright resource related Annie Wright resource related Annie Wright resource related Annie Wright resource related Annie Wright resource related Annie Wright resource.
Related Reading
Bowen, Murray. Family Therapy in Clinical Practice. Jason Aronson, 1978.
Siegel, Daniel J. The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are. Guilford Press, 2012.
Hoffman, Lee. The Complete Guide to Family Dynamics. Routledge, 2019.
Johnson, Susan M. Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love. Little, Brown, 2008.
References
Peer-Reviewed Research (Vancouver)
- Reisz S, Duschinsky R, Siegel DJ. fearful-avoidant attachment and defense: exploring John Bowlby's unpublished reflections. Attach Hum Dev. 2018;20(2):107-134. doi:10.1080/14616734.2017.1380055. PMID: 28952412.
Books & Cultural Sources (Chicago Author-Date)
- Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Random House, 1969.
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Annie Wright is a licensed psychotherapist (LMFT #95719) and trauma-informed executive coach with over 15,000 clinical hours. She works with driven women. Including Silicon Valley leaders, physicians, and entrepreneurs. In repairing the psychological foundations beneath their impressive lives. Annie is the founder and former CEO of Evergreen Counseling, a multimillion-dollar trauma-informed therapy center she built, scaled, and successfully exited. A regular contributor to Psychology Today, her expert commentary has appeared in USA Today, Forbes, Business Insider, Inc., NBC, and The Information. She is currently writing her first book with W.W. Norton.
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