The Best Support Groups for Survivors of Emotional Abuse

One of the most important things support groups for survivors of emotional abuse do, is offer women a safe place to process what has happened to them in a community of women who understand and can validate their experiences.

If you’re wondering if you’re experiencing emotional abuse, take my free emotional abuse test here.

HOW SUPPORT GROUPS for Emotional Abuse SurvivorS HELP VICTIMS

We hear from so many women who discover BTR but are reluctant to sign up for Group Sessions or take the Clarity After Betrayal Workshop at first. They’ve been taught that the right place to get help is from a therapist or clergy member, so they’re understandably hesitant to trust support that looks different from what they expected.

Then, months or sometimes years later, they come back to BTR and tell us, “This is what I needed first.” With that in mind, here are the three most important things I hear from women who were helped by our Group Sessions.

1. Survivors NEED SUPPORT WHERE THERE ARE NO CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

You need a support group that’s entirely on your side, and there’s no conflicts of interest.

Women who are emotionally abused are married to men who are really good at lying in manipulation, really good at this good guy image. So if they’re going to couple therapy or getting help from people who know their husband, then he’s able to manipulate them too.

In our community, we don’t have that conflict of interest. Our group sessions provide crucial connection and community with zero victim blaming.

2. BTR Helps Survivors Recognize and Understand Abuse Patterns

In our group sessions, women say they were able to recognize emotional abuse quicker than any other resource.

And in fact, there have even been women who’ve said, “It helped me recognize my husband was NOT abusive quicker than any other resource.” Every day women tell me that they tried therapy for years and all the advice on the internet, and it never gave them the clarity that they found in our group sessions.

3. HEARING Survivor Stories Offers Validation AND HOPE

 Many of the women who come to BTR say they felt hopeless in this constant cycle of confusion, and then with therapy or other groups, they were given the impression that part of it was their fault.

As they take that advice from these other types of groups, things seemed to get better for a little while, but then they realized that it wasn’t, and sometimes it was even a lot worse.

So hearing stories of women who have been through this exact same cycle, women are like, “Oh, it wasn’t me. I was getting the wrong information.” And then when they hear the tools that we have to offer that are completely different than anything they’ve ever heard before, they start making progress for the first time.

TranscripT: STORIES FROM SUPPORT GROUPS for SURVIVORS OF EMOTIONAL ABUSE

Anne: Today’s episode is a montage of stories from emotional abuse survivors.

I’m super humbled as I’ve listen to these stories.

I honor all the women searching for answers. Who are genuinely trying to save their families. Not knowing what to do and getting harmful information from therapists, internet articles or clergy. Including resources that haven’t helped them understand the abuse.

I want to thank everyone for listening. Above all I hope that BTR is helpful. The thought of any woman being in an abusive situation and not understanding what it is, is heartbreaking to me. Also, a thank you to all of you who have shared our material on social media or shared it with friends. In an effort to educate more women. So with that, here are their stories.

Emotional Abuse Survivor Story #1

I have been in therapy for 12 years. Only now have I felt that I have the expert care and clarity that I have been searching for. You and this whole group are what I call, proactive. Where before it was just wishy washy, hit or miss, psycho-babble type of therapy. This group is exactly what women need, to recover from betrayal trauma, and I cannot thank you enough.

Emotional Abuse Survivor Story #2 <p class="