Narcissistic Abuse Support Group
Do you experience/have you experienced invalidation from your partner or parents? Do you find yourself questioning the validity of your experiences and reactions? Odds are, you may be dealing with a narcissist- an individual who is self involved and often invalidates the experiences of those around them. Narcissistic abuse occurs when the invalidation is chronic and long lasting and disrupts our sense of self and the internal validity of our needs and emotional experiences. This group aims to provide support and collective processing of these experiences in a safe supportive environment while helping to rewrite the narratives of your lived experiences. We will also explore strategies for managing narcissistic abuse, including, communication strategies and DBT distress tolerance skills. Aetna, Cigna, Highmark, Quest, and United Behavioral Health/Optum accepted. Private rate is $65. Meets Saturdays at 11am.
Week 1: Introduction
-Establishing safe non-judgmental space and sharing experiences
-Who is your narcissist and how have they impacted your sense of safety?
-Setting group norms and expectations
Week 2: Gaslighting and Invalidation
-Defining gaslighting and understanding emotional invalidation
-How have our friends and loved ones unintentionally contributed to our experiences with invalidation
-Group processing of experiences with gaslighting and invalidation
Week 3: Mindfulness Part 1
-Exploration of use of mindfulness to recover from gaslighting
-Start review of DBT mindfulness skills: defining mindfulness, wisemind skill, and observe skill
Week 4: Mindfulness Part 2
-Continued to review DBT mindfulness skills: describe skill, participate skills and non-judgmentally, one mindfully and effectively skills.
-Troubleshooting barriers to effective practice of mindfulness
Week 5: Guilt and Shame
-Defining guilt and shame
-How do guilt and shame show up in our experiences (past and present) with narcissists?
-Group processing of emotional experiences with guilt and shame.
Week 6: Anger and Disgust
-Defining anger and disgust
-How do anger and disgust show up in our experiences (past and present) with narcissists?
-Group processing of emotional experiences with anger and disgust.
Week 7: Radical Acceptance Part 1
-Intro to DBT acceptances skills focusing on radical acceptance and turning the mind
-How can acceptance help with emotions of narcissistic abuse, including guilt and shame and anger and disgust?
- Where are we in our individual journeys to accept our narcissists?
Week 8: Radical Acceptance Part 2
-Continued review of DBT acceptance skills focusing on willingness, willing hands and half smile
-Group processing of barriers to acceptance.
Week 9: Communication Skills
-DBT interpersonal effectiveness skills
-Using the skills to set boundaries and communicate our experiences to others
-challenging guilt and shame that are barriers to effective communication
-group processing of past experiences with communication
Week 10: Walking the Middle Path
-Building skills to manage the extremes that come with navigating relationships with a narcissist
-Pros and Cons of ending vs minimizing relationship with a narcissist
-How to end relationship while managing safety and integrity
Week 11: Special Theme
-Special theme to be identified at later date based on group vote
Week 12: Close Out
-Exploration of our experiences and what we have learned about ourselves
-Continuing to honor and validate our experiences
Please click the button below to contact our administrative team and begin the intake process for this group.
This virtual group will be facilitated by Theo Meyer and hosted through Zoom.