Emotional Abuse & Narcissistic Abuse Counselling
Making sense of confusing relationship dynamics and rebuilding trust in yourself.
Emotional and narcissistic abuse can be difficult to recognise while you are living through it. You may know that something feels wrong long before you have words for what is happening. I work extensively with people making sense of manipulative, controlling or emotionally harmful relationships, as well as the impact these experiences can have on confidence, boundaries and trust in your own perceptions.
What is Emotional & Narcissistic Abuse?
Emotional abuse can include patterns such as gaslighting, manipulation, persistent criticism, invalidation and cycles of closeness and withdrawal that gradually undermine confidence and self-trust.
How might Emotional Abuse & Narcissistic Abuse Affect you?
You may find yourself walking on eggshells, questioning your judgement, blaming yourself for relationship difficulties, feeling anxious or low, or losing confidence in your own perceptions.
When might Counselling be helpful?
Counselling may be helpful if you are trying to understand a current or past relationship, recover from emotional or narcissistic abuse, rebuild self-trust, or recognise unhealthy relational patterns in yourself that you want to change.
How can Counselling help?
Counselling can help you make sense of what happened without requiring you to arrive certain of a label or diagnosis. The work can explore gaslighting, manipulation, trauma bonds, attachment and relational patterns while keeping the focus on your lived experience, rebuilding self-trust and recognising what healthy connection and boundaries mean for you.
What counselling with Sarah might look like?
My approach is relational and integrative. Online terminology can be a useful starting point, but sessions move beyond identifying a narcissist, attachment style or trauma bond and explore what the experience has meant for you emotionally and relationally. I also welcome people who recognise unhealthy relational patterns in themselves and genuinely want to understand and change them.
RELEVANT TRAINING & QUALIFICATIONS
CPD / Training
Gaslighting: Help Clients Escape and Rebuild from a Narcissist's Emotional Abuse
Stephanie Sarkis
CPD / Training
Treating Survivors of Coercive Control in Narcissistic Abuse
CPD / Training
Rebuild Clients’ Healthy Instincts and Restore Their Trust in Themselves after Manipulation
CPD / Training
Narcissism and Intimacy: Coming Down from Grandiosity and Up from Shame
Terry Real / PESI UK
Taking care of yourself
Recovery is not about a quick fix. Giving yourself time, maintaining supportive connections and gradually noticing your own needs, boundaries and perceptions can form part of rebuilding trust in yourself.
Deciding which counselling feels right
Online counselling
Online counselling is available across the UK and can be particularly useful if you value the privacy of your own environment or need support that fits around work, family life or distance.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How do I know if what I experienced was emotional abuse?
Do you understand narcissistic abuse and gaslighting?
Can you help me if I am still in the relationship?
Can you work with someone who recognises unhealthy behaviour in themselves?
Is online counselling available?
Recommended Resources
Should I Stay or Should I Go
Lundy Bancroft
The Gaslight Effect
Robin Stern