“What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

So, you found yourself in a relationship filled with twisted emotional manipulation and mind games. Hauntingly familiar, and yet this one caught you off guard. You ignored the RED FLAGS. The realization happened slowly. In waves.

It’s like a punch to the gut. You were made to doubt yourself and REALITY ITSELF.

Even if nobody else in the world sees the truth. Don’t doubt yourself.

It’s YOU that does all of the emotional labor to keep track of every single detail of life together. YOU that does the physical labor of keeping the home together. Despite it all, the criticism keeps on coming your way. Criticism of you and your intrinsic value as a person has become a regular topic of discussion. Your effort, your very character itself is put under a microscope and torn to shreds. How come you’re never acknowledged as being enough?

Perhaps you’ve experienced financial abuse on top of the the emotional abuse. Perhaps you’ve experienced physical violent too; what insult to injury this is.

From the outside it looks like your life is great, most people wouldn’t even suspect the cruelty you’ve endured. It’s excruciating to wear the mask. You deserve to be treated with kindness ALL THE TIME, not just when others are around to witness it.

Now you’re searching for a trauma informed therapist, someone to help with narcissistic abuse and Complex PTSD (CPTSD). A therapist who can help you make sense of all this trauma that’s trapped in your mind and body. Even though you’re strong and capable, all the manipulation and abuse has muddled up your mind and caused you to experience physical pain and soreness in your joints, neck and back. Your anxiety is through the roof. A lot of times you just have no control over when these bad feelings take over. When something unexpected or frustrating happens you’re left with a rapid heartbeat, dry mouth, clouded judgement. Sometimes you just freeze - unsure what to do next, or how to feel better fast. Those are the days that have you scrolling Google looking up, “how to heal from narcissistic abuse?” “Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) therapy”, "What is trauma informed therapy?” and “How to heal from trauma?”

You’ve found yourself unable to control or regulate your emotional responses. Chronic trauma, such as prolonged childhood abuse and neglect, or domestic violence, feels overwhelming at times.

It’s crushing your ability to function like you used to. It’s affecting your ability to pay attention, focus, maintain emotional connections with friends and family. Your well-being is not so well anymore, is it?

It’s tough to make decisions and to pursue goals without stability. You’re don’t have to do this alone. As a specialist in complex trauma and narcissistic abuse recovery, Joanna Rose MA, AMFT can help you by providing therapy to get through the setbacks and roadblocks along the way. Some of the tools she uses include somatic therapy, guided imagery, EMDR, coaching, and more, to help you through.