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Self-paced course · Six modules

Rolling Stones, Broken Bonds

A six-module course on the father wound — what it actually is, and what gets built after

It was never about where he was. It was about whether he could be reached.

6modules72flash cards60quiz questionsYescertificate

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

Who this is for

If somebody's father came up in the last month and you had your sentence ready before anyone looked at you — mine was around, it wasn't like that for me, other people have it way worse — this course is for you. It answers the question you have been carrying in your coat pocket most of your life: does this count?

No background in psychology is assumed. Nothing here asks you to reach a verdict about anyone in order to understand what happened to you.

What you will be able to do

  • Name what you are carrying as an attachment injury, and say in plain English what that means — so you can stop choosing between "character flaw" and "ungrateful."
  • Separate where your father was located from whether he could be reached, so you can see which one your own history actually turns on.
  • Recognize the repair fantasy and apply the gift-or-ransom test, so you can tell what you give freely from what you are still paying off.
  • Tell recognition from compatibility, and protest behavior from deactivation, so you can read why the kind ones feel boring.
  • Work rupture and repair as a five-part, thirty-second return, so you can build presence as a skill rather than wait to become a different person.

The six modules

Meant to be taken in order — each one assumes the one before it.

01Naming It
What a father wound actually is — and why it was never about where he was.
02How It Got In
Why you can understand all of this and still flinch.
03The Repair Fantasy
Being the reliable one, and the debt it was quietly paying.
04Love and the Nervous System
Why the kind ones feel boring, and what your alarm system is really reading.
05Grief, Anger, and the Ledger
The grief nobody scheduled, and the account you've kept open for years.
06Presence as a Practice
Presence is a skill. Here is how it gets built.

Format & what you get

  • Six modules, meant to be taken in order — each one assumes the one before it. Nothing is timed.
  • Twelve flash cards per module (72 in all), and a ten-question quiz per module with an explanation behind every answer.
  • Quizzes are the only thing scored, 70% to pass, and you can retake them as many times as you want.
  • A certificate of completion unlocks once all six quizzes are passed — a record that you finished, not a clinical or CE credential.
  • Your scores and place in the course stay in your own browser, on your own device. Nothing is sent anywhere.

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. The teaching is trauma-informed and plain-spoken, it draws on Bowlby, Ainsworth and Tronick rather than on vibes, and nothing in it is a diagnostic instrument. The course is built from her book Rolling Stones, Broken Bonds: Paternal Absence, Relational Trauma, and the Generational Search for Repair, and the modules assign reading from it.

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

Does mine even count?

That is the question Module 1 exists to answer, and it answers it without making you argue your case. The course works from what an attachment injury is — damage to your basic expectations about whether people respond to you — rather than from how bad it looked from outside.

Is this going to make my mother the villain?

No, and the course says so in Module 1. In most of these houses somebody kept everybody alive. Naming what one person did not give you is not a complaint about the people who gave you everything they had.

Is it anti-father?

No. Module 5 works the distinction the whole course rests on: explaining is not excusing, and a cause is not a permission slip. Understanding where he came from is not the same as settling his account for him.

What if what I am describing is not just a difficult relationship?

Module 4 draws that line explicitly, and it does not soften it: nothing in the course excuses anyone's behavior toward you, and understanding is not a prerequisite for leaving. It names the markers that separate insecure attachment from coercive control, and points at a therapist who screens for it, an advocate, or a hotline. In the United States that is the National Domestic Violence Hotline, 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788; the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is 988.

Is this therapy?

No. It is education, and it is not a substitute for therapy. If something here opens up more than you can hold on your own, that is information rather than failure, and it is best handled with another person in the room.

Where does my progress go?

Into your own browser, on your own device. Scores and completion are stored there and nowhere else.

It was never about where he was. It was about whether he could be reached.

You have been serving as legal counsel for a man who never once had to sit in the room and answer a question. This is where you put the file down and look at what is actually in it.

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.