What experience have you had dealing with sociopaths or other disordered personalities—personally, professionally, or both?
I am a counselor in Portland, Oregon with both personal and professional experience in healing from personality disordered and exploitative relationships. Having had my own experience with toxic relationships and healing, I am able to provide empathy, support and insight for survivors in ways that many therapists cannot. I have worked with domestic violence survivors and on community crisis teams to help survivors of trauma and abuse, and I train other professionals in understanding and supporting survivor experiences.
I currently offer a women’s open support group for healing from narcissistic abuse and a skills group for working on targeted areas of healing from narcissistic abuse. I also co-facilitate a men’s group for both narcissistic and borderline personality disordered relationships. The second counselor for the men’s group is a male who has personal and professional experience in this area as well. More groups will be coming in late 2015. I also offer one on one counseling for healing from these relationships.
How do you go about helping clients who have tangled with a sociopath?
I support you in your healing by: encouraging you to read and learn as much as you can about personality disorders, empathetic/highly sensitive people, and abuse. I connect you to a support community with others who have experienced similar relationships and are supportive to your healing; I offer skills groups, resources, and information to work on specific areas of healing from toxic relationships, and I teach you to turn inward, tune into your body, voice and intuition, and to grow to trust yourself in your journey going forward.
What, in your experience, is the biggest issue or problem that people who have been betrayed by a sociopath need to overcome?
Rebuilding trust in yourself and building a healthy network of others to support you is key to healing.
What’s one tip you can suggest for helping Lovefraud readers recover from the betrayal of a sociopath?
One of the biggest barriers to healing is the lack of understanding from others.
Stick with others who are supportive of your healing and trust your inner voice.
My father the sociopath: ‘I should just kill you’
Welcome Tiffany!!! I practiced in Hillsboro for over 20 years! Was a board member at the Domestic Violence Resource Center. I moved to Austin Texas after my divorce. I still get many calls from past clients. I normally pass them on to a sweet psych nurse practitioner who I have known for many years. She has more than she can handle…where do you practice? Contact me through Donna if you want information about the lady who I mentioned….I know how difficult getting a psychiatrist appointment is in PDX. Because she is a nurse practitioner she can prescribe. Besides she is a treasure trove of experience. Wishing you the very very best!!!
Thank you for the welcome! Ive been providing one on one counseling and groups on narcissistic abuse for about two years, and been in the community working in domestic violence much longer. I am very familiar with DVRC!! Its a great organization. I practice in North Portland and have clients coming from as far away as Seattle, and have done online counseling sessions as far away as Japan and the UK. I work a lot with naturopathic support for PTSD and do refer to nurse practitioners often so would love to connect up.
Lets connect through Donna. Thank you!
As a survivor of NPD and psychopath abuse, I found bio-identical hormone replacement to be very helpful in recovering from chronic high stress, other related illnesses, and complex PTSD. In particular, I had a naturopath treat me for adrenal exhaustion with cortisol (hydrocortisone) HRT. Testosterone (bio-identical via pellet insertion) was also very helpful. I believe that adrenal exhaustion may underlie PTSD, depression, and anxiety from such trauma. Glad to hear you work with naturopathic support for PTSD.