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Cover of Everyone I've Never Met by Dr. Donetta D. Quinones — the book this course is built from

Self-paced course · Book Two of the Objectification Series

Alongside, Not Instead: A Course on Parasocial Attachment

Alongside the people in the room — not instead of them.

12modules 10 hrsat your own pace 120flashcards 120quiz questions

Dr. Donetta D. Quinones, PhD, LMHC, LPC · GraceRoot Relationship Healing Institute

Who this is for

If you have felt genuinely close to a voice, a face, or a channel that has never heard of you, and would rather understand that than be teased about it, this course is for you. It is also for parents, teachers, coaches and youth workers who can see something happening with a young person and have no words for it beyond an argument about hours.

No background in psychology is assumed, and you do not have to have read the book to take the course.

The promiseBy the end of this course you can explain, to somebody else and in ordinary words, how a stranger on a screen comes to hold an inner-circle position on outer-circle evidence, and you have practiced two or three small checks that need nobody’s permission to run.
  • Define parasocial interaction, borrowed interiority, and compression in plain sentences, so you can hand them to a non-specialist.
  • Tell closeness that was demonstrated between two people from closeness that was delivered complete to everybody at once, so you can see what the evidence actually supports.
  • Explain how a stranger on a screen comes to hold an inner-circle position on outer-circle evidence, so you can describe it without mockery.
  • Run two or three small checks that need nobody's permission, so you can test the pattern in your own week.
  • Keep the one-sided bonds that give you something real, so you can have them alongside the people still in the room rather than instead of them.

What you will be able to do

  • By the end of this course, you will be able to define parasocial interaction, borrowed interiority, and compression in plain sentences a non-specialist could hand on.
  • By the end of this course, you will be able to distinguish closeness that was demonstrated between two people from closeness that was delivered complete to everybody at once.
  • By the end of this course, you will be able to name the four circles, state the rule that governs movement between them, and describe what a screen does to that rule.
  • By the end of this course, you will be able to trace how a reason that is entirely true can still function as a justification, and apply the two tests that separate them.
  • By the end of this course, you will be able to apply the filters-not-walls model and the relational integrity check to one ordinary week of your own attention.

Why trust it

Dr. Donetta D. Quinones, PhD, LMHC, LPC is a licensed mental health counselor and licensed professional counselor, a certified Human Behavior Consultant, and the founder of GraceRoot Relationship Healing Institute. This course is built from her book Everyone I’ve Never Met, one module per chapter, in the book's order.

The teaching is trauma-informed and plain-spoken. Every person and scene in the course is a fictional composite. Nothing here is a diagnostic instrument, and no arrangement of answers — none, in any combination — produces a finding about you or about anybody you know.

The twelve modules

One module per chapter of the book. Each takes between thirty-five minutes and an hour, and each is built the same way: a short opening scene, three to five terms defined in ordinary words, the teaching itself, a worked example you watch, a half-finished example you complete, and one small practice you can do alone this week.

01The Person Who Doesn’t Know You Exist
What parasocial attachment is and is not
45 min
02Circle One Evidence, Circle Four Intimacy
How media collapses the layers of trust
55 min
03Learning to Feel by Watching
What media genuinely gives us
50 min
04Borrowed Identity
Building a self from strangers
50 min
05The Machine That Learned What You Reach For
When the extraction gets automated
55 min
06Emotional Dumping at Scale
Venting, dumping, and audience consent
45 min
07The Reasons We Give
Justification, excuses, and not noticing
55 min
08A Million People, One Person
How a crowd objectifies one person
50 min
09The Other Side of the Glass
What being watched costs the watched
50 min
10What It Costs the Watcher
Comparison, erosion, company and contact
50 min
11Filters, Not Walls
Rebuilding the circles on purpose
55 min
12The Actual People in Front of You
Mutual recognition in a mediated world
45 min

Format & what you get

  • Twelve self-paced modules — about 10 hrs in total, retakable and revisitable as long as you have access.
  • 120 flashcards and 120 comprehension questions, ten of each per module, with an explanation of why each answer lands where it does.
  • Written reflection built into every module, with Download, Print, Backup and Restore tools in the course toolbar.
  • Everything you type stays in your own browser, on your own device. It is never sent to the author or to any server.
  • Nothing is timed, nothing accumulates against you, and no quiz ever produces a finding about you.

Price

$149

One payment. Self-paced, revisit any time, and questions go to support@graceroot.institute.

Already a member — or thinking about it? This course is included in the Flourishing all-access membership ($99/mo) and the À-la-carte plan (pick any 6 courses, $49/mo), instead of paying $149 for this one. See membership options →

Questions people actually ask

Is this course going to tell me to delete my apps?

No. The course is not built on the idea that one-sided attachment is a defect to be cut out. It gives something real, and the material says so. What it teaches is where it substitutes — and the difference between alongside and instead.

Do I need to have read the book first?

No. The course stands on its own and assumes no background in psychology. It follows the book's twelve chapters in order.

I am a parent, not the one with the attachment. Is this still useful?

Yes — it was written with you in mind as well. The course gives you language for what you are watching, which is generally more useful than an argument about screen hours.

How much time does it take?

About 10 hours in total, in modules of 35 to 60 minutes, at whatever pace you set. Nothing is timed.

Where does my writing go?

Into your own browser, on your own device, and nowhere else. Nothing you type is sent to the author or to any server.

Everyone You Have Never Met

Alongside the people in the room — not instead of them.

By the end of this course you can explain, to somebody else and in ordinary words, how a stranger on a screen comes to hold an inner-circle position on outer-circle evidence, and you have practiced two or three small checks that need nobody’s permission to run.

Program Clarity

GraceRoot courses are psychoeducational learning programs, not emergency care, legal advice, or a replacement for therapy. Certificates document GraceRoot completion. Court, employer, board, or continuing education acceptance should be confirmed before purchase unless a page states a specific approval.