Ever wonder why a delayed text message or a slight shift in tone can send an adult's nervous system into absolute freefall? It's because the body never forgets the quiet relational ruptures of childhood.

In this episode of Relational Practice: A Social Work Podcast, hosts Dr. Jodie Park and Rose Mackey take a deep dive into one of the most pervasive, misunderstood issues in clinical practice: abandonment trauma. While we often picture dramatic life events or overt caregiving ruptures, this conversation shines a light on the "quieter" wounds, the subtle, unsaid experience of ambiguous abandonment where a caregiver is physically present, yet emotionally unreachable.

Grounded in attachment theory and Pauline Boss’s concept of ambiguous loss, Jodie and Rose unpack how these early  ...