Complex Trauma, C-PTSD & Narcissistic Abuse Recovery Group

Philadelphia, PA, US

1,280 members · Public group

Organized by Kay R.

What we’re about

We are a peer-to-peer support community that aims at providing support meetings to those who are interested in recovering from past trauma including narcissistic abuse of any kind, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and/or physical abuse. We are a safe space where all of our members are vetted through a First Timer's event which explains our rules and regulations which are maintained to provide a supportive and inclusive atmosphere to our members.

Please read this message carefully: Before signing up to any meeting in this group, you MUST attend a First Timers Meeting event. There are NO exceptions to this. These meetings are designed to ensure community safety and if you sign up for an Established Member event without attending one, you will be removed from that event. Before you do anything else, including signing up for an Established Members group, check out our "Events" section and sign up for a First Timers Group and attend one BEFORE you sign up for an Established Member meeting. We are very strict about this rule, so please do so as we hate to remove people from meetings and have to send a PM advising someone of this rule.
All meetings are run through Zoom. The links and passwords are reset every day. The links are all sent the morning of the meetings. You will receive your link through whatever email you use through Meetup. Please ensure you have your settings with Meetup set to receive emails as they will come in through that email. If you sign up for a meeting, please check you have received your link well before the meeting as we do not check our emails during meetings. It is your responsibility to check that you have received your link - if you haven't received it and it's before meeting time, simply send your organizer a PM and we will ensure you receive it.
Some more general rules that will be reviewed in your First Timer's Meeting:

DO NOT private message moderators/organizers unless you have a question regarding the group as a whole, or you didn't receive a link to the meeting. DO NOT message us for medical, legal, or general advice, and do not contact us to vent. We understand that times are tough and this is not an easy situation to deal with, but we are all running this group on a volunteer basis, and we do not have any medical or counseling degrees. If there is an emergency please call 911, contact your local police, hospital, or physician. There is also a domestic violence hotline (800.799.SAFE) and a suicide hotline (800-273-8255) - these are free 24 hour services. We appreciate your understanding in advance.
DO NOT private message other members of the group. Again, this is an exception to the rule above, but if you see someone in a meeting you'd like to reach out to, please send the organizer of that meeting a message and we will ask that person if they consent to being contacted and will pass on your info to them. If a member tells you during a meeting to reach out to them, that is OK as they have consented already. This is for the safety of our members, which we take very seriously.

We are happy you are here and hope you find this a supportive community. All of the rules are above are to ensure that you are safe and that the people you will be interacting with are validating, here for the 'right reasons', and are properly vetted. We look forward to meeting you!

x Kay, Christine, Nataliya, Sarah, Wajeeha, Ruby, Nicole, Wajeeha and Beth

Featured event

Sun, Apr 27, 2025, 10:30 PM UTCCPTSD Workshop - Recovery Step Two: Mourning and Remembrance of Past Trauma

Link visible for attendees

$15.00

CPTSD Workshop - Recovery Step Two: Mourning and Remembrance of Past Trauma cover photo

The step of remembering and mourning the trauma is essential for recovering from complex PTSD. In this second step of the Complex PTSD recovery stages, one must address the things that were lost due to one's trauma. Today, we will go over the methods used in the psychotherapy community to cope with this grief including EMDR, desensitization therapies and neurofeedback in order to successfully through this stage of healing. Group members are, as always, encouraged to participate in the discussion and offer feedback on this step.

Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) is a widely talked about but barely understood condition that repeatedly comes up in our groups dealing with narcissistic abuse. Many times, our members have been told they suffer from it, but haven’t been provided an effective treatment plan or even basic information on C-PTSD. Other times our members haven’t heard of it and are surprised to learn that there’s a name for what they’re experiencing.

After recent discussions on the topic with my own therapist, I related that I found the information passed along to me about C-PTSD vague, confusion and without any kind of direction. He made it clear to me that there’s not a lot of understanding on C-PTSD, but that it seems to be a new ‘buzz’ diagnosis in the psychology field even though many practicing psychologists and therapists haven’t had specific training on the disorder.

Together with my therapist, we decided to unpack some of the information (and misinformation) about C-PTSD in workshop format so that our members have a clear and concise understanding of the concept and the current suggestions on the treatment of the disorder. This workshop will consist of open group discussion on thoroughly researched information on C-PTSD presented in slide format, self-quizzes on the matter and question, answer and suggestion conversation so that we are armed with necessary information about it in order to make a clear treatment plan for ourselves.

There will be six classes in this series of workshops. Members can sign up for one or all six. The workshops will be capped in attendance and will be first come, first served between both the US Groups and the London groups. The classes will take place as follows:
Class 1: What is Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) and Do I have it?
Class 2: How CPTSD Can Affect Intimate Relationships, Work Relationships, Friendships & Daily Life
Class 3: Treatment Step 1: Establishment of Safety with CPTSD
Class 4: Treatment Step 2: Mourning and Remembrance with CPTSD
Class 5: Treatment Step 3: Reconnection and Integration with CPTSD
Class 6: Final Workshop Wrap Up – Tailoring a Specific Treatment Plan for You

Classes will encourage open discussion along with a downloadable power point that can be referred back to for information. You do NOT have to be an established member to attend these classes and you can choose to go to one class, several, or all 6.

COST: $15 per class

ZOOM LINKS WILL BE SENT VIA E-MAIL THE MORNING OF THE MEETING. PLEASE ENSURE YOU HAVE YOUR MEETUP SETTINGS SET TO RECEIVE E-MAILS.