Description
Learning Objectives:
1. Identify common relational patterns associated with narcissistic maternal dynamics and their impact on adult daughters.
2. Describe common trauma, attachment, and nervous system responses seen in adult daughters of narcissistic mothers.
3. Recognize family system roles and adaptations that may shape adult presentation and functioning.
4. Apply trauma-informed treatment considerations when working with clients affected by chronic maternal invalidation, control, and identity disruption.
5. Support clients in strengthening self-trust, internal safety, boundaries, and identity development during recovery.
Description:
Despite their prevalence in clinical practice, the specific trauma signatures of adult daughters of narcissistic mothers are often obscured by secondary symptoms like perfectionism, people-pleasing, and treatment-resistant self-criticism. Traditional therapeutic modalities may inadvertently re-traumatize these clients if the underlying attachment injury, often characterized by the systematic erasure of the self, is not accurately identified. This session provides practitioners with the diagnostic precision needed to differentiate these patterns from generalized C-PTSD, offering frameworks to help clients move beyond survival-based people-pleasing and toward genuine autonomy. By attending, you’ll gain the tools to help your client break the cycle of generational projection and support deep-seated identity reclamation, in your most ‘stuck’ clients.”
Who Should Attend?:
• Nurses, Physicians, Psychologists, Mental Health Nurses, Therapists in all settings
• Primary Care Nurses, Physicians, Psychologists, Social Workers, & OT’s in Community Settings
• Nurses, Physicians, Psychologists, Social Workers, & OT’s in Hospital MH settings
• Nurses, Physicians, Social Workers, & OT’s in Adolescent MH settings
• Intake & Front-line Staff; Mental Health Managers and Educators
Brenda Stephens, LPCC, LPC, LMHC
Brenda Stephens, LPCC, LPC, LMHC, is a licensed therapist, author, and educator specializing in narcissistic abuse recovery and complex trauma. She is the founder of The Narcissistic Abuse Recovery Center and has extensive experience working with survivors of coercive control, emotional abuse, and identity erosion following narcissistic family and partner dynamics. Brenda is the author of “Recovering from Narcissistic Mothers” and “The Narcissism Recovery Workbook,” and her work integrates trauma informed, violence informed, and nervous system informed approaches to healing.
