Healing from Emotional Abuse and Narcissism with Katie McKenna and Helen Villiers

The ADHD Women's Wellbeing Podcast

Today's conversation features the incredibly insightful and informative Katie McKenna and Helen Villers. In this episode, we are talking about the impact of growing up with emotionally abusive or narcissistic parents, understanding this through the lens of neurodivergence and healing from this behaviour so we can finally break systemic generational patterns.

Helen Villiers, LLB, PG Cert, PG Dip, MA, is a psychotherapist with a master's degree in Working Therapeutically with Adult Children of Narcissistic Parents. Helen works with clients recovering from narcissistic abuse; she also specialises in autism and ADHD and is a couples counsellor, too.

Katie McKenna, BA, MIACP is an accredited psychotherapist who specialises in parentification and emotional abuse. Katie educates adults on how their childhood relationships are impacting their current relationships. She helps them recognise and heal from the lifelong impacts of dysfunctional family dynamics through the psychotherapy process.

Together, they co-host the successful podcast 'In Sight', and they have just brought out their brand new book, You’re Not the Problem: The Impact of Narcissism and Emotional Abuse and How to Heal.

On the ADHD Women's Wellbeing Podcast, with Kate, they talk about:

• Understanding the definition of Narcissistic Personality Disorder - NPD
• Defining terms, such as 'Narcissist' and 'Parentification'
• The impact of growing up with an emotionally abusive parent
• How a narcissistic parent behaves and the traits of a narcissist
• How to set your own boundaries in relationships
• Recognising what are neurodivergent traits and what could've been narcissism
• Validating your trauma and feelings toward a narcissistic parent
• Emotional responsibility, motivational empathy and feeling more empowered
• Healing ourselves from emotional abuse
• Releasing resentment towards an emotionally abusive family member
• How we gaslight ourselves to think their behaviour is justifiable
• Breaking the generational cycle of trauma and doing the work so as not to pass on the abusive behaviour
• Taking responsibility for traumatised, abusive and narcissistic behaviour
• Hypervigilance and being an empath
• Understanding 'weaponised ignorance'
• Understanding infantilization and enmeshment

Have a look at some of Kate's workshops and free resources here.

Kate Moryoussef is a women’s ADHD Lifestyle & Wellbeing coach and EFT practitioner who helps overwhelmed and unfulfilled newly diagnosed ADHD women find more calm, balance, hope, health, compassion, creativity, and clarity.

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Find Kate's resources on ADDitude magazine here