Dr Samantha Duggan is a behavioural psychologist, author and speaker specialising in parenting, family relationships and emotional recovery. Her work integrates behavioural science, attachment theory and insights from addiction recovery to help parents build calmer, more resilient family systems.

She is the author of Channels of Peace: Using Psychology & Spirituality to Transform Your Family and speaks internationally on parenting, emotional development and the psychology of repair in relationships.

PRESENTATION TITLE: 

The cycle stops with me – What recovery teaches us about parenting

Many parents in recovery share a powerful aspiration: “The cycle stops with me”. They want to do better than their own parents, avoid repeating past harm and raise children who will not face the struggles they did. Yet parenting often proves more emotionally demanding than expected, confronting parents with guilt, perfectionism and unresolved feelings about their own upbringing. This talk introduces The Parenting Mirror, a simple framework for understanding how the way adults judge their own parents shapes the way they judge themselves as parents. Drawing on
behavioural psychology, addiction recovery and lived experience, this session explores how we can help parents move beyond shame and perfectionism toward a more sustainable path: compassionate accountability and repair.

Learning objectives:
At the end of this presentation, delegates will be able to…

• Identify two common parenting traps – shame-based prosecution and defensive idealisation – that can emerge in recovery families
• Specify how unresolved resentment toward one’s own parents can intensify parental guilt and perfectionism
• Explain how the standards adults apply to judging their parents shape the standards they apply to themselves as parents
• Apply recovery-informed concepts such as accountability, amends and repair to support healthier parenting in addiction recovery.