A Free Resource from the Academy for Integrative Health

The NPE Experience

Created for NPEs, by NPEs.

A free video series for anyone navigating a not-parent-expected discovery. What happens after the DNA result, why it lands as trauma, and how people find their way back to a sense of who they are. Drawn from years of lectures, workshops, and honest conversations inside the NPE community.
Write your awesome label here.
If This Is You

From discovery to reconciliation.

Maybe the father who raised you isn't your biological father. Maybe a sibling turned out to be a half-sibling. Maybe a whole side of your family was a secret kept for decades. However it arrived, it landed hard, and the people around you may not understand why.

There is a name for this.
NPE, not-parent-expected. And there is a large community of people who have walked exactly this road. This series exists because that discovery is real trauma, it deserves to be treated as such, and no one should have to face it without a map.
What's Inside

From discovery to reconciliation.

A multi-part series that walks the whole arc, with trauma professionals and people who have lived it.

01     The trauma of discovery

Why an unexpected DNA result lands the way it does, with trauma expert Amy Ebbeson, LCSW.

02     Identity disruption

What happens to your sense of self when the story of where you came from changes, with Dr. Paulette Bethel.

03     The effects of intergenerational trauma

How secrets and inherited patterns shape a family long before the discovery.

04     Owning your NPE experience

Moving from something that happened to you toward something you can carry on your own terms.

05     Identity reconciliation

The work of reclaiming who you are, separate from what the test revealed.
Who This Is For

Wherever you are in it.

  • Just Found Out  The discovery is recent and everything feels upended. Start here.
  • Still Processing  It happened a while ago and you are still working through what it means.
  • Supporting Someone  A person you love had this discovery, and you want to understand it.
Created by

Bradley Hall

Bradley Hall is an NPE. Years ago, a DNA test told him the father who raised him was not his biological father, and he had to rebuild his sense of who he was from there. He is now a certified trauma recovery coach and supervisor with a master's degree in depth psychology, and he created this series so no one has to walk that road without the map he wishes he'd had.

You do not have to figure this out alone.

The full series is free. Register to watch, and to hear when new material is added.

No cost. Register and start watching.

More from the Academy

Other ways to keep going.

The Academy offers more free courses, and a live cohort when you are ready for guided work. Everything available to you is below.

Created with