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    The Personalities We Build: How Culture and Childhood Shape Our Emotional Blueprints

    • Friday, January 09, 2026
    • 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
    • Online
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    EVENT DETAILS

    Date: Friday, January 9, 2026

    Time: 12 - 1:30 pm

    (Includes 30 minutes of virtual networking prior to presentation)

    Location: Online via Zoom

    (This event will be held virtually only)

    Virtual Event Link


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      CEU INFO

      Earn 1 CEU | Approved for LMFTs, LPCs, LCSWs, & Psychologists

      CEU Requirements: To receive CEUs, you must complete the evaluation form provided during the event. Once submitted, your CEU certificate will be emailed to you.

      This event will be recorded and accessible to Austin AMFT members in the members-only section of our website afterward. If you are a member, you may receive CEUs for watching this recording after completion of the presentation and submission of the evaluation form. This recording will not be available to non-members.


      TOPIC

      The Personalities We Build: How Culture and Childhood Shape Our Emotional Blueprints


      PRESENTER


      Abigail Makepeace



      PRESENTATION DESCRIPTION

      What we often call personality is sometimes a survival strategy. In this presentation, psychotherapist Abigail Makepeace explores how culture shapes the development of character styles—adaptations we form in response to the emotional demands of our environment. These adaptations may later look like personality traits, but they often begin as strategies to stay connected, safe, or acceptable within a particular cultural or familial system.

      Through clinical insight, storytelling, and cross-cultural examples, Abigail examines how different cultures reward or inhibit particular traits—independence, emotional expression, deference, assertiveness—and how these expectations shape the emotional “rules” we live by. She also explores how trauma can freeze these adaptations in place, making growth or healing harder until the underlying context is compassionately understood.

      Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of how to recognize culturally shaped character adaptations, how to differentiate between personality and strategy, and how to support healing in ways that honor both personal history and cultural complexity.


      KEY LEARNING POINTS

        • Describe how character adaptations form in response to cultural and familial expectations
        • Identify ways in which culturally shaped adaptations can mask, normalize, or perpetuate trauma, making it harder to recognize or heal
        • Develop greater insight into how survival strategies can be mistaken for fixed personality traits
        • Apply a culturally informed lens when working with clients’ emotional patterns and defenses


        BIOGRAPHY

        Abigail Makepeace is the founder of Makepeace Therapy and a licensed therapist in Texas and California. Makepeace Therapy’s mission is that people experience being seen and have agency in their lives. Abigail is a writer, speaker, and thought leader on the impact trauma has on relationships and life development. Her TEDx presentation on Parental PTSD brought attention to the role Post Traumatic Stress Disorder plays in parenting for survivors of childhood abuse. She is a recurring contributor to the Huff Post and has also been featured on Buzz Feed. In addition, Abigail has been a guest on radio shows such as Channel Q and Dash Radio.



        This presentation is designed to be useful for all levels of training and experience.

        Having trouble? Visit our FAQ page for help.


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