Full Course Description
Relational Trauma and Grief Treatment for Survivors of Narcissistic Relationships
Survivors of narcissistic or antagonistic relationships often find themselves trapped in cycles of manipulation, betrayal, and control—punctuated by fleeting moments of connection. This emotional rollercoaster fuels confusion, self-doubt, and chronic inner conflict, leaving clients torn between holding on and letting go.
The aftermath of these relationships extends far beyond heartbreak. Survivors grapple with deep emotional wounds, trauma, and a unique form of grief—mourning not just the relationship but also the loss of trust, stability, and self-worth. Addressing this grief within the context of trauma requires a specialized therapeutic approach.
Empathetic, engaging, and deeply compassionate, Dr. Ramani—renowned psychologist, New York Times best-selling author, and leading expert on narcissistic abuse—invites you to this essential training.
You’ll gain the clinical tools needed to navigate the complex dynamics of narcissistic abuse, or what we may term antagonistic relational stress.
In this session, you’ll learn to:
- Recognize the unique trauma and grief responses experienced by survivors
- Identify the key dynamics of narcissistic relationships
- Apply trauma-informed models to support clients through their healing process
- Implement practical strategies to help clients rebuild their sense of self and reclaim their lives
This training provides a comprehensive, trauma- and grief-informed framework to empower survivors, alleviate distress, and facilitate meaningful recovery.
Program Information
Objectives
- Identify the key dynamics of narcissistic relationships.
- Apply tenets of trauma informed models when working with clients experiencing narcissistic relationships.
- Assess how grief presents in narcissistic relationships.
Outline
The Dynamics of Narcissistic Relationships
- Universal dynamics: Key patterns consistently observed (e.g., manipulation, betrayal, invalidation)
- Situational dynamics: Behaviors and dynamics that vary
Impact of Narcissistic Relationship Dynamics on Survivors
- Emotional and psychological effects (e.g., confusion, self-doubt, anxiety)
- Chronic inner conflict: The push-and-pull of staying versus disengaging
Overview of Applying Trauma-Informed Frameworks in Case Conceptualization
- Key trauma-informed principles to guide work with survivors
- Adapting trauma models to conceptualize narcissistic relationship fallout
Recognizing and Addressing Grief in Narcissistic Relationships
- Exploring the unique grief reactions experienced by survivors
- Identifying losses beyond the relationship, such as trust, stability, and identity
Practical Tools and Resources for Clinicians
- Handouts for ongoing client work
- Recommendations for further readings and resources to deepen understanding
Risks, Limitations, and Areas for Growth
Target Audience
- Case Managers
- Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Psychologists
- Social Workers
Copyright :
07/17/2025
The Fawn Response and Narcissistic Abuse: Strategies to Help Survivors Break Free from Trauma-Based Appeasement
Despite its profound impact, the fawn response—a survival strategy rooted in appeasement and self-abandonment—remains largely misunderstood in the clinical field, often leading to mislabeling and mishandling of behaviors that stem from powerlessness and a deep need for relational safety.
Without a trauma-informed lens, clinicians risk reinforcing shame and self-blame in clients navigating this deeply ingrained response.
In this compelling training, Ingrid Clayton, PhD—a trauma expert and survivor—bridges clinical insight with lived experience to illuminate the fawn response, offering:
- A clear understanding of fawning and how it differs from fight, flight, and freeze
- Strategies to reframe fawning as a protective adaptation rather than a personality flaw
- Insight into the long-term impact of narcissistic abuse, including entrenched relational patterns and identity confusion
- Clinical tools to help clients shift from automatic appeasement to authentic self-expression, restoring agency and autonomy
By reframing fawning as a survival response rather than a defect, you’ll empower clients to recognize their patterns with self-compassion—freeing them from the invisible chains of their past.
Program Information
Objectives
- Differentiate the fawn response from other trauma responses (fight, flight, freeze) and explain its adaptive function in relational dynamics.
- Identify common misconceptions about fawning and recognize how mislabeling these behaviors can impact clinical assessment and treatment.
- Apply evidence-based strategies, including psychoeducation, nervous system regulation, and self-safety practices, to effectively support clients exhibiting fawning behaviors.
Outline
What is the Fawn Response?
- Understand fawning as a relational, hybrid trauma response
Misconceptions about fawning
- How the field has missed the adaptive function of fawning
Ways to work with fawning
- Psychoeducation, nervous system regulation, cultivating internal safety
- Risks and limitations of research and techniques taught
Target Audience
- Addiction Professionals
- Case Managers
- Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Nurses
- Psychologists
- Social Workers
Copyright :
07/17/2025
Grief and Healing in Narcissistic Relationships
Grief in narcissistic relationships is complex and deeply personal, often leaving clients feeling invisible, invalidated, and emotionally exhausted. As a clinician, you may struggle to help them untangle the web of manipulation, loss, and self-doubt that follows.
Join David Kessler, one of the world’s foremost experts on grief and best-selling author, for this essential training that addresses the unique and often misunderstood grief responses experienced in narcissistic relationships. With trauma-informed interventions and real-world strategies, you’ll gain the tools to help clients rebuild trust, establish boundaries, and restore their sense of self after emotional abuse.
What You’ll Learn:
- Identify key grief responses—such as ambiguous loss, traumatic grief, and identity erosion—in clients recovering from narcissistic abuse
- Implement trauma-informed strategies to help clients process grief, enforce boundaries, and reclaim their emotional stability
- Support clients in cultivating self-compassion to reduce shame and promote lasting healing
Whether your client has left a narcissistic relationship or is still entangled in its cycle, this training will provide practical tools to help them heal and rediscover their true selves.
Don’t miss this chance to learn from one of the leading voices in grief work—register now!
Program Information
Objectives
- Assess the unique grief responses associated with narcissistic relationships, including ambiguous loss, traumatic grief, and identity erosion.
- Apply trauma-informed interventions to help clients process grief, set boundaries, and rebuild self-trust after leaving a narcissistic relationship.
- Develop personalized self-compassion practices to help clients reduce shame, regain a sense of self, and foster emotional resilience after narcissistic abuse.
Outline
Understanding Grief in Narcissistic Relationships
- The unique nature of grief: Ambiguous loss, trauma bonding, and identity erosion
Rebuilding Identity and Emotional Resilience
- Boundary-setting techniques: Teaching clients how to enforce emotional and physical limits
- Self-compassion practices: Strategies to reduce shame and foster self-trust
Target Audience
- Addiction Professionals
- Case Managers
- Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Nurses
- Psychologists
- Social Workers
Copyright :
07/17/2025
Working with Interpersonal Trauma and Grief in Narcissistic Relationships: A Panel Discussion
Copyright :
07/17/2025
Navigating Intimacy in Relationships with Narcissistic or Antagonistic Personalities in Therapy
Clients in intimate relationships impacted by narcissistic or antagonistic personalities often face some of the most complex and emotionally charged dynamics in therapy. These cases involve betrayal trauma, relational trauma, and trauma bonding, as well as challenges like coercive control, post-separation abuse, and the multifaceted difficulties of co-parenting and divorce.
Join Dr. Ramani Durvasula—renowned psychologist, New York Times best-selling author, and leading expert on narcissistic abuse—for this transformative training.
Blending academic rigor with real-world application, Dr. Ramani equips you with essential tools to navigate narcissistic relationship dynamics and support survivors in their healing journey. In this session, you’ll learn to:
- Address legal and ethical complexities, including confidentiality, record-keeping, custody evaluations, and cultural considerations
- Identify key elements of the narcissistic relationship cycle and how they manifest in various dynamics
- Define and assess coercive control within intimate relationships.
- Enhance cultural competence when working with clients in narcissistic or antagonistic intimate relationships
With a focus on both individuals and couples, this training highlights the pitfalls and unique challenges of working with narcissistic relationships, emphasizing trauma-informed approaches and practical tools. Combining case examples with empirical insights, this session will empower you to provide safe, ethical, and effective support for this vulnerable population.
Program Information
Objectives
- Identify the elements of the narcissistic relationship cycle and the different ways this can play out in relationships.
- Identify at least five tactics used in coercive control.
- Analyze how cultural norms influence perceptions of narcissistic abuse and coercive control.
Outline
- Different ways that the classical relationship can show up in narcissistic relationships
- Different types of issues that are raised when working with individuals in narcissistic relationships versus couples
- Betrayal trauma and why is it so common in narcissistic relationships
- Getting clarity on trauma bonding and how that can contribute to ambivalence in narcissistic relationships
- Coercive control and why is it so important to understand this when you are working with clients experiencing narcissistic relationships
- A brief introduction to key ethical and legal issues raised by cases of narcissistic/antagonistic relational stress
- Being a culturally competent counselor when working with clients in narcissistic intimate relationships
- Handouts to illustrate these issues and to keep as a reference, as well as suggestions for further reading
- Risks and Limitations
Target Audience
- Case Managers
- Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Psychologists
- Social Workers
Copyright :
07/18/2025
Breaking Narcissistic Patterns in Couples Therapy: Proven Schema Therapy Interventions to Restore Trust and Heal Relationship Trauma
Navigating narcissism in couples therapy presents unique challenges. Narcissistic partners often display control, entitlement, defensiveness, and emotional detachment, while their partners may struggle with self-doubt, self-sacrifice, and fear of conflict.
These dynamics create cycles of manipulation, emotional wounds, and deep attachment ruptures, making trust and intimacy difficult to rebuild.
Join Wendy Behary, a leading expert in narcissism and Schema Therapy, and best-selling author of Disarming the Narcissist, for this essential training. Wendy will guide you through how to use Schema Therapy—a flexible, evidence-based approach that combines both individual and conjoint work to break destructive patterns and foster healing.
In this session, you’ll learn how to:
- Assess narcissistic traits and coping styles in relationships
- Identify attachment wounds and track conflict patterns
- Interrupt dysfunctional cycles using emotion-focused and CBT strategies
- Use empathic confrontation to set boundaries and encourage accountability
- Maintain a “sturdy self” in the therapy room, even in high-conflict moments
Gain the tools to help couples navigate narcissistic dynamics, rebuild trust, and create healthier, more fulfilling relationships!
Program Information
Objectives
- Apply empathic confrontation strategies for limit setting, accountability, and bypassing challenging modes.
- Coming soon
- Coming soon
Outline
Understanding the Role of Schema Therapy in Couples Work
Challenges of Narcissism in Intimate Relationships
The Schema Therapy Approach
Key Treatment Strategies
- Assess narcissistic traits and coping modes in relational dynamics.
- Track attachment ruptures and identify conflict triggers.
- Address dysfunctional cycles using emotion-focused and CBT-based interventions.
- Use empathic confrontation to establish boundaries, promote accountability, and restore intimacy.
- Maintain a “sturdy self” as a clinician to engage effectively in high-conflict sessions
Target Audience
- Addiction Professionals
- Case Managers
- Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Psychologists
- Social Workers
Copyright :
07/18/2025
The Legal & Ethical Minefield of Trauma-Informed Care: Strategies for Safeguarding Survivors of Narcissistic Abuse
When working with survivors of narcissistic abuse and coercive control, the legal system can become an overwhelming and intimidating factor in treatment. From documentation concerns and ethical dilemmas to navigating high-conflict legal cases, you must be prepared to protect your clients while maintaining professional integrity.
Join Dr. Catherine Barrett, Clinical Forensic Psychologist, narcissistic abuse recovery specialist, and sought-after expert witness, as she delivers a must-attend training for therapists working with clients entangled in legal battles. With years of experience consulting in civil and criminal courts, Dr. Barrett will guide you through the critical legal and ethical considerations you must know when working with survivors of narcissistic abuse.
Through real-world insights and case examples, you’ll learn how to:
- Document with precision to safeguard your clients from legal scrutiny and potential misuse of records by ex-abusive partners
- Navigate ethical decision-making when working with clients involved in ongoing or potential litigation
- Communicate effectively with attorneys, collateral contacts, and the court system while maintaining trauma-informed care.
This essential training will equip you with the tools to confidently and ethically support clients facing legal complexities, ensuring their safety, well-being, and access to justice. Don’t miss this opportunity to strengthen your clinical practice in one of the most challenging therapeutic landscapes!
Program Information
Objectives
- Implement effective documentation strategies to minimize liability and protect client well-being.
- Apply accurate diagnostic frameworks to prevent over-pathologizing trauma survivors.
- Recognize and assess covert abuse tactics, including technology-enabled coercive control, that exacerbate client distress.
- Evaluate appropriate collateral contacts, how to speak with them, how to protect your clients, and how much you should disclose.
Outline
How To Ensure Competency in An Evolving and Controversial Domain
- Understanding of the diversity of violence across populations
- When culture blurs the line with emotional terrorism (patriarchal structures that are normalized and contribute to a lack of autonomy)
- Addressing cultural barriers to disclosure: Creating a safe and supportive space for marginalized clients at higher risk
Documentation/Disclosure
- How much is too much and how little is too little?
- The use of collateral contacts and how they might harm/help our clients
- Responding to a Subpoena: Ethical and Legal Steps to Protect Yourself and Your Client
Diagnosis
- What to do when CPTSD isn’t a formal diagnosis in the DSM?
- Balancing diagnosis and legal implications: Avoid over-pathologizing while understanding the legal ramifications of a trauma diagnosis
- How a diagnosis can be used and manipulated in custody evaluations and decision making.
- Make sure to document a client’s premorbid mental and emotional state
Target Audience
- Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Psychologists
- Social Workers
Copyright :
07/18/2025
Managing the Legal and Ethical Landscape When Working with Narcissistic Abuse in Couples: A Panel Discussion
Copyright :
07/18/2025
Should They Stay or Should They Go? Working with Ambivalent Clients Experiencing Antagonistic/Narcissistic Relationships
Sitting with clients who are being negatively impacted by a narcissist is hard because it can seem like leaving is the obvious solution...but not all clients are willing or able to do that.
In this must-attend session, Ramani Durvasula, PhD, LCP, highly sought-after narcissism expert, researcher, and author of Should I Stay or Should I Go: Surviving a Relationship with a Narcissist, will provide guidance on this ambivalence and the factors that make choice complex. She will then discuss techniques to consider in working with these clients, frame psychoeducational approaches, and highlight awareness of our presence in the client’s process as well as the errors clinicians may make while working with clients at these difficult decisional nodes.
Program Information
Objectives
- Describe the architecture of the narcissistic relationship and how this may present differently depending on the nature of the relationship.
- Identify the factors that underlie client ambivalence and decisional “freeze” in narcissistic relationships.
- Apply an antagonism-informed framework for working with clients struggling with decision making and ambivalence in narcissistic and antagonistic relations hips.
Outline
Describing the fundamental structure of a narcissistic relationship
- Reviewing the classical cycle of idealization/devaluation/discard/hoover
- Review of concepts including (and how these can underlie client ambivalence)
- Cognitive dissonance
- Betrayal blindness
- Trauma bonding
- Pressure to conform
Exploring why so many clients feel ambivalent about making changes in these relationships
- A review of the fallout of narcissistic abuse/antagonistic relational stress including confusion, self-blame, helplessness, rumination, regret
- The reality of what change means for the client
- The “fear of regret” and how that plays out for the client
- Exploring what the “options” are
Helping clients navigate their ambivalence and confusion
- Utilizing antagonism-informed frameworks with clients
- Exploring the multiple truths of a particular circumstance
- Validating these experiences
Fostering clinician awareness so we do not undermine their decisional autonomy and support them in this process
- Clinician frustration as the client vacillates
- Avoiding direct advice giving and self-awareness of our “agendas” for clients
- Activation of our own experiences with these types of relationships
Target Audience
- Psychiatrists
- Psychologists
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Nurses
- Physicians
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Copyright :
01/22/2024
Psychoeducation and Narcissistic Abuse
With different presentations, risk levels, typologies and survivor experiences, a “one-size-fits-all” approach to managing the patterns of narcissistic abuse won’t meet your clients’ needs.
Dr. Ramani Durvasula is one of the most recognizable figures on the etiology and impact of narcissism on human relationships and mental health. A licensed clinical psychologist, Professor of Psychology at California State University, Los Angeles and Consulting Editor of the scientific journal Behavioral Medicine, her research on personality disorders has been funded by the National Institutes of Health.
In this session, she’ll show you how to understand the heterogeneity of narcissistic presentations, recognize differential impacts on clients, and employ psychoeducational approaches in narcissistic/antagonistic relational stress treatment so you can meet clients where they are.
Program Information
Objectives
- Analyze the various presentations of narcissism, the descriptions and the impact on clients.
- Investigate the different subgroups of clients who typically present with narcissistic abuse and the differential needs of these groups.
- Use psychoeducation tailored to clients on the basis of their (i) presentation, (ii) history and (iii) the nature of the narcissistic presentation(s) they are facing.
Outline
- The continuum of narcissistic severity
- The subtypes of narcissism
- The subtypes of clients and co-occurring clinical issues that present in those with narcissistic abuse
- Overview on narcissistic abuse/antagonistic relational stress
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Social Workers
- Psychologists
- Psychiatrists
- Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners
- Therapists
- Art Therapists
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Addiction Counselors
- Physicians
- Nurses
- Other Mental Health Professionals
Copyright :
01/27/2022
Narcissism & Addiction
Sadly, personality is often overlooked when working with clients living with addiction, and personality assessments often do not inform treatment planning.
Narcissism and other antagonistic personality styles can turn addiction therapy into a complex puzzle. And understanding these personality dynamics is the key to preventing relapse and achieving lasting change.
Join Ramani Durvasula, PhD, New York Times best-selling author of It’s Not You: Identifying and Healing from Narcissistic People for an exploration of narcissism and its impact on addiction treatment. Dr. Durvasula offers a comprehensive overview of narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), including DSM formulations and relationship dynamics, guiding you through:
- How narcissistic traits complicate assessment, treatment, and long-term management of substance use disorders
- The parallels between narcissism and addiction, and gain insights into effective engagement strategies for this challenging population
- The intersection of narcissism, trauma, and substance use disorders, and explore practical tips for maximizing clinician efficacy as well as for families, spouses, partners, and friends
Don't let narcissism derail your addiction treatment efforts. Register now to gain valuable strategies for working with this complex population and achieving better outcomes for your clients.
Program Information
Objectives
- Classify conceptualizations of antagonism and narcissistic symptoms, particularly grandiose, vulnerable, and malignant factors
- Understand the relationship, including the role of dysregulation and impulsivity, between narcissism and substance use/addiction
- Manage and treat co-occurring narcissism and substance use/addiction
Outline
Why It’s So Important to Consider Narcissism When Treating Persons Living with SUDs
- Building personality into addiction treatment planning
- The inter-relationship between narcissism, antagonism, substance use, and addiction
- A relative dearth of empirical literature, especially treatment literature
Overview of Narcissism and Antagonistic Personality Styles
- DSM-5 and ICD diagnostic frameworks
- The continuum of narcissism
- Subtypes of narcissism
- The ongoing challenges in creating consensus around narcissism and antagonism
Parallel Processes in Addiction and Narcissism
- Denial
- Projection
- Rationalization
- Sense of invulnerability (I can fix anything)
- Impulsivity
- Lack of empathy
The Relationship Between Narcissism and Addiction
- Similar dynamics
- Developmental Trajectories
- Addressing motivations for entering treatment
How to Clinically Work with Clients Experiencing Narcissism and Addiction
- How does narcissism interfere with treatment?
- The Narcissistic Person as a “dry drunk”
- Goal setting with clients experiencing co-occurring addiction and narcissism.
- The challenge of not having RCTs and limited windows with these clients
How Clinicians are Impacted by these Clients
- Not addressed in training or supervision
- Manipulation and triangulation in treatment settings
- Managing expectations and process issues
- Remaining aware of positionality in this work
Target Audience
- Addiction Professionals
- Psychologists
- Social Workers
- Licensed Clinical/Mental Health Counselors
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Case Managers
- Physicians
Copyright :
08/09/2024