About Us
ABOUT THRIVERS SPEAK
Survivor Intelligence Belongs in the Room
Thrivers Speak® is building a survivor-informed platform for professional education, conferences, speaking, research translation, and representation.
WHO WE ARE
A Platform for Adult Survivor-Led Professional Education
Thrivers Speak® centers the voices, analysis, and professional contributions of adult survivors of child psychological abuse related to “parental alienation” and abduction.
The work has evolved beyond a single conference. Today, Thrivers Speak® connects survivor testimony with criminology, cybersecurity-informed threat modeling, clinical research, coercive control education, and public-facing professional conversations.
The mission is simple: adult survivors should not be the subject of professional conversations while being absent from the rooms where those conversations happen.
SURVIVOR-INFORMED TRIFECTA
Three Lenses, One Professional Bridge
Thrivers Speak® brings together three complementary lanes: targeted parent and reunification education, forensic behavioral intelligence, and clinical assessment and treatment research.
Andrew Folkler
Targeted parent education, alienated-parent coaching, reunification insight, and Red Thread recovery work.
Dawn McCarty
Forensic behavior, crime-scene analysis, coercive control, abduction dynamics, and institutional red flags.
Dr. Alyse Price-Tobler
Clinical assessment, doctoral research, practitioner education, and Healing Qualia treatment pathways.
WHAT WE DO
We Translate Lived Experience into Professional Insight
Our work helps professionals recognize patterns that are often minimized, mislabeled, or flattened into family-conflict language.
Survivor Representation
We support adult survivor participation in conferences, professional gatherings, public education opportunities, and spaces where lived experience can change the quality of the conversation.
Professional Speaking
We develop talks and trainings that connect child psychological abuse, coercive control, abduction dynamics, threat patterns, criminology, and survivor-informed education.
Research Translation
We bridge survivor evidence with clinical and academic work, including Dr. Alyse Price-Tobler’s PACFA-registered specialist trauma practice, twin doctoral research, and Healing Qualia Treatment Protocol.
Framework Development
We are building language and preparation models, including DARE Frameworks™, for survivors and professionals who need clearer ways to recognize and describe harm.
WHY IT EXISTS
Nothing About Us, Without Us Is More than a Slogan
For years, conferences and professional conversations discussed “parental alienation,” child protection, high-conflict families, and family systems harm while adult survivor voices were often missing from the platform.
The Problem
When the people who lived the pattern are missing, professionals can mistake euphemisms for explanations and systems language for safety.
The Response
Thrivers Speak® brings adult survivor analysis into professional spaces with stronger language, clearer patterns, and practical pathways for inclusion.
SURVIVOR-LED RESOURCES
Several Pathways Into the Work
Each resource serves a different function, but all of it supports adult survivor representation and professional education.
EVENTS
Thrivers Speak® Events
Speaking, education, panels, and public-facing conversations rooted in adult survivor intelligence.
CONFERENCES
NAUWOU™ Conferences
Nothing About Us, Without Us conferences of adult survivors, built around meaningful survivor inclusion.
FRAMEWORKS
DARE Frameworks™
A developing suite for pre-clinical, forensic preparation, pattern recognition, risk language, and agency repair.
CLINICAL BRIDGE
Healing Qualia
A bridge toward Dr. Alyse Price-Tobler’s phase-based specialist clinical framework for adult survivors of severe child psychological abuse related to “parental alienation,” familial abduction, and relational harm.
LEADERSHIP
Leadership and Co-Founder Roles
Dawn McCarty is a criminologist, cult specialist, survivor advocate, #1 international bestselling author, publishing author of two collaborative books, and founder of Thrivers Speak® Events. Her work examines child psychological abuse related to “parental alienation” and abduction through the lens of coercive control, criminology, cybersecurity-informed threat modeling, cult dynamics, and survivor-informed professional education.
The Nothing About Us, Without Us (NAUWOU™) survivor conference initiative was co-founded by Dawn McCarty and Dr. Alyse Price-Tobler to bring adult survivor voices, clinical research, and professional education into the same room. Thrivers Speak® Events provides the U.S.-based umbrella for organizing, sponsorship, and public-facing conference work.
Andrew Folkler is a Thrivers Speak® leadership voice in targeted-parent education, reunification insight, and Red Thread recovery work. He brings the alienated-parent coaching lane into the platform, helping parents understand the mind of the alienated child and build the conditions for safe reconnection.
Dawn also served as Associate Director of the Erasing Family documentary and continues to build professional language for survivors whose histories have been minimized, mislabeled, or hidden inside family-system euphemisms.
Read Dawn’s PageRead Alyse’s PageRead Andrew’s PageMeet the Speakers
Invite Dawn to SpeakInvite Dr. Price-Tobler to SpeakInvite Andrew to Speak
BOOKS AND RECOGNITION
Publishing the Evidence Survivors Carry
Thrivers Speak® leaders publish survivor-informed, clinical, forensic, and professional resources that help name child psychological abuse, coercive control, abduction dynamics, and the recovery work that follows.
DAWN MCCARTY
Unsealing the Crime Scene
A Forensic Roadmap for Survivors of Child Psychological Abuse and Coercive Control
A bestselling title in forensic psychology and medical forensic psychology, applying criminology and cybersecurity-informed thinking to child psychological abuse, coercive control, identity theft, and recovery.
“As a forensic mental health professional and trauma therapist, I regard this as a deeply personal account of trauma, coercive control, and survival that readers with similar histories may find validating.” — Dr. Mozelle Martin
ANTHOLOGY
Warning! Children Are Not Weapons!
This collaborative anthology features adult survivor narratives, poetry, essays, artwork, and reflection on child psychological abuse related to “parental alienation,” family alienation, and abduction.
It received the James Madison Literary Award from the United States Presidential Services Center, with a foreword by former White House Chef Marti Mongiello.
COMING SOON
Sealed to My Abductor
Now in editing, this forthcoming memoir continues Dawn’s forensic examination of abduction, identity concealment, coercive control, religious narrative capture, and the long work of unsealing an origin story.
DR. PRICE-TOBLER’S BOOKS
A Three-Volume Clinical and Research Pathway
Dr. Alyse Price-Tobler’s authorship brings together doctoral research, survivor testimony, international practitioner insight, lived experience, clinical supervision, and frontline trauma practice for adult survivors, mental health professionals, medical practitioners, legal professionals, researchers, advocates, and community leaders.
VOLUME ONE
Disrupting the Intergenerational Trauma Cycle of High Conflict Divorce
Volume One centers adult-child survivors of severe child psychological abuse related to “parental alienation,” including their lived experience, the process of seeking help, and the cost of professional misrecognition.
VOLUME TWO
Navigating the Maze During Treatment of Adult Survivors
Volume Two gathers international practitioner insight into treatment pacing, assessment, risk, therapeutic alliance, family-system pressure, and the clinical uncertainty surrounding complex CPA-PA presentations.
FORTHCOMING
Healing Qualia Treatment Protocol
A forthcoming specialist, phase-based clinical framework for adult survivors whose identity, attachment, relational safety, and reality testing were shaped by coercive family systems.
Available July 25, 2026.
Copies of Dr. Price-Tobler’s book series may also be ordered through Inspiring Bookshop.
ANDREW FOLKLER’S RED THREAD WORK
Reconnection Education for Targeted Parents
Andrew Folkler’s Shortening the Red Thread work supports targeted parents, reunified survivors, and professionals who need clearer language for the path back after child psychological abuse related to “parental alienation” and abduction.
NEWSLETTER
Shortening the Red Thread
A monthly resource for targeted parents and adult survivors focused on reconnection, recovery, alienated-child psychology, and the conditions that make return possible.
FORTHCOMING
Shortening the Red Thread Book
Andrew’s forthcoming book expands his reunified survivor perspective into a guide for healing, reconnection, and breaking the cycle after alienation.
GET INVOLVED
Help Build the Next Chapter
Support survivor representation, invite a speaker, or connect with Thrivers Speak® about professional education and collaboration.
