Burnout is an occupational hazard. Prolonged stress, overwork, uncertainty, survival pressures and pushing through crisis fatigue (a population-wide condition after a global pandemic) can be a recipe for psychological exhaustion.

One of the most painful lessons from narcissistic abuse is the shock of discovering that the person in whom we invested the very best of our nature (love, kindness, generosity, loyalty) actually had a narcissistic hidden agenda.

Moral injury is the deep inner wound that opens up when we experience things that we know to be unfair, unjust or wrong.

Avoidance, projection and denial are basic human strategies for avoiding pain. Narcissistic liars are unable to recognise the difference between Truth and Lie.

Bullying and psychological abuse is all about the absence of things, rather than the presence of things.

People know when they are the victim of covert bullying and abuse.

The Split from a narcissistic partner can create so much chaos as to be overwhelming for some people.

Survivors often must grapple with serious survival threats, as well as deep moral injury.

When Personal Power comes up against Positional Power, and the person with the Positional Power has many narcissistic traits, the drive to diminish the Personal Power of the other becomes almost an obsession – which is subsequently why the target of bullying feels targeted – because they are!

Written over the entrance to the Ancient Temple at Delphi were words which could easily form the basis of modern trauma-recovery therapeutic interventions. Know Thyself. They are an exhortation to look first within our own character in order to understand our world.

The in-built grandiosity and entitlement of the narcopath is so huge it is likely they genuinely experience the most minor of challenges or disagreement as a gross invasion to their superior self-image – a narcissistic injury.

The narcissist will claim the fight/race/election was rigged, rather than accept defeat. They must win at all costs.

In her 1996 book, psychologist, Elaine Aron first identified a type of person who it is estimated makes up about 15-20% of the population. They are not necessarily shy or introverted, and are not necessarily neurotic. But they are normally and naturally sensitive, deep thinkers, who essentially feel things more deeply than others.

Narcissistic abuse by a life partner can be traumatising. It can cause deep moral injury, and leave a survivor experiencing a massive burden of loss, which needs to be grieved.

What I aim to do is to teach survivors how to be their own therapist by:

1. Orienting to strengths

2. Attending to pain

3. Taking charge of the narrative of their lives

Some of us have harsh, sarcastic or critical voices that are part of our own internal dialogue. These harsh inner voices are the result of conditioning. We learned this cruel internal discourse as we were growing up, from our parents, caregivers, teachers, peers or siblings.

Triggers can be directly addressed when our nervous system is in a relaxed and safe enough environment to do so. The traditional Tibetan practice of Chod is the perfect visualisation method for us to take the sting out of things we fear.

The chaos and despair that victims of narcopaths feel after sudden abandonment can resemble conditions other than trauma –including Depression, Generalised Anxiety Disorder or Borderline Personality Disorder – and especially if the therapist is quick to judge the presenting issue as “just a break up”.

Counselling is: holding a healing space to support and empower a person to find the best way forward. My mission is to help people find their courage and confidence again, and get back behind the steering wheel of their lives.

PTSD is notoriously difficult to treat. We pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and try a treatment that we've not yet tried. Keep Trying Everything

Mental health changes such as depression, anxiety, grief, trauma or PTSD can lead to abnormal behaviour. Abnormal behaviour is a normal response to abnormal learning conditions.

The term, Complicated Grief implies that there must be such a thing as simple grief. Whilst no grief is simple and there are as many ways of grieving as there are mourners, some grief can involve loss which is life changing and devastating.

Jeanette’s experience of unengaged parenting and poor familial communication is anything but unique. Many people grow up as “the black sheep” of the family because they have learned differently to their parents or siblings.

Let's allow ourselves, for our own sakes, to see that people change. Let's assume that everything is impermanent - that we are inside a human existence inside a universe that is constantly shifting.