Some things cannot be fixed by time alone. If you have lived inside narcissistic abuse or coercive control — if you have had your reality systematically distorted, your identity progressively eroded, your freedom quietly removed — you already know that understanding what happened is only the beginning. The harder work is what comes after.
This page is for people who are ready for that work.
Do You Recognize This?
You left — or you are trying to leave — and you expected to feel relief. Instead you feel lost, anxious, and more confused than ever. You understand, intellectually, what happened to you. But that understanding hasn’t translated into feeling better, trusting yourself again, or knowing who you are outside of what you survived.
You may be experiencing:
- Persistent anxiety, hypervigilance, or a sense of waiting for something to go wrong
- Brain fog — difficulty making decisions that once felt simple
- An inability to trust your own judgment or perception
- Flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, or emotional responses that feel disproportionate
- Deep shame without a clear sense of what you have done wrong
- People-pleasing, difficulty setting boundaries, or automatic compliance in relationships
- Isolation — from others, and from your own sense of self
- A feeling of being a diminished version of who you used to be
These are not character flaws. They are the documented neurological and psychological consequences of sustained narcissistic abuse and coercive control. Your nervous system has been reorganized around threat. Your sense of reality has been systematically distorted. Your identity has been progressively replaced by someone else’s version of who you are.
None of this is permanent. But recovering from it requires more than time, more than insight, and more than a generic approach that wasn’t built for this specific injury.
The Coercive Trauma Recovery Method™
The Coercive Trauma Recovery Method™ is the framework I developed from seven years of direct professional work with survivors of narcissistic abuse and coercive control. It is built on the recognition that coercive trauma is a specific category of injury — distinct in its neurological signature, its dismantling of identity and perception, and what genuine recovery from it requires.
The method works across four domains:
Pattern Recognition — Understanding with precision what happened to you, how each tactic functioned, and why. Not as an academic exercise but as the cognitive clarity that begins to dismantle self-blame and restore accurate perception of reality.
Nervous System Recalibration — The anxiety, hypervigilance, and brain fog you are experiencing are neurological, not just emotional. Recovery requires working directly with the body’s threat-response systems — not just talking about what happened.
Identity Reconstruction — Coercive control systematically replaces the targeted person’s identity with the perpetrator’s version of who they are. This domain is about recovering authorship of your own narrative: what you value, what you want, and what kind of life belongs to you.
Boundary Architecture — Understanding what happened is not the same as being able to act differently. This domain provides practical, accountable frameworks for establishing and maintaining boundaries, disengaging from manipulation, and building the behavioral patterns that a recovered life requires.
The Coercive Trauma Recovery Method™ has been reviewed by a PhD-level clinician specializing in attachment theory and the dynamics of personality.
Why Specialist Coaching — and Why This One
Most survivors of narcissistic abuse encounter a gap when they begin looking for help. Therapy — particularly EMDR, somatic therapy, trauma-focused CBT, and Internal Family Systems — is an essential part of recovery for many people, and I will always tell you when I think a clinical referral is what you need.
But therapy doesn’t always bridge the distance between understanding what happened and being able to act on that understanding in daily life. That gap — between intellectual clarity and embodied, behavioral change — is where specialist coaching operates.
There are also dimensions of this experience that most practitioners are simply not equipped to address. Post-separation abuse — the continuation of coercive control through family court proceedings, custody disputes, financial sabotage, and legal harassment — is one of the most devastating and least recognized phases of the experience. Navigating it requires knowledge that extends beyond standard coaching and therapy practice. As a subject-matter expert on coercive control legislation, I often clients and their attorneys build winning cases.
I bring seven years of direct work with survivors, original published research — including the Global Coercive Control Legislation Index and the Global Femicide Legislation Index, the first indexes of their kind on the web — and deep familiarity with coercive control dynamics in family law contexts.
What Clients Say
“I got more out of my first session than I have gotten in a full year of traditional talk therapy with a social worker. Very progressive and knowledgeable about this phenomenon, and it was comforting to be able to understand. It was good to be held accountable to explore my own role in this and how I may grow from it. All in all I feel I found a true partner in my recovery from narcissistic abuse.”
Anonymous
“I found Manya through her website during one of the darkest times in my life. I was struggling with suicidal ideation as a result of narcissistic abuse. In the midst of my terror and confusion, Manya asked a question that stopped me in my tracks: ‘What do you want, instead of what does your husband want for you?’ It was the first time in years that anyone had asked me what I truly wanted for myself. That single question was a turning point. With Manya’s ongoing coaching and support, I was reintroduced to my core and able to stop rejecting my sense of self. Her gentle yet profound guidance helped me save my relationship with my child, and take the first steps toward rebuilding my life. I am endlessly grateful for her unwavering support and the transformative impact she has had on my life.”
Dr. Adrienne Murphy, PhD
“An encyclopedic knowledge and deep understanding of domestic violence-related family law, including obscure statutes. It saved me a lot of time and money. I started out feeling hopeless and got a level of expertise that helped me build a strong case.”
Anonymous
Work With Me
Coaching is available one-to-one for adults aged 18 and above. All sessions are conducted online and are 50 minutes.
- Free 15-Minute Consultation A genuine conversation — not a sales call. An opportunity to discuss where you are, what you are hoping for, and whether this is the right fit. One free consultation per person. Book Your Free Consultation
- Narcissistic Abuse Recovery Coaching Session — $200 A 50-minute one-to-one coaching session using the Coercive Trauma Recovery Method™. For survivors who want to begin, or who are between packages and need focused support on a specific challenge. Book a Weekday Session
- Weekend Session — $250 A 50-minute Saturday session for those who cannot make weekday availability work. Book a Weekend Session
- Legal Strategy Advisory – $600 – For survivors navigating post-separation abuse through the family court system. Drawing on deep familiarity with coercive control legislation, relevant legal precedent, and the specific dynamics of how coercive control manifests in custody and property proceedings.
This service is available by inquiry only. Please contact me at hello [at] narcissisticabuserehab [dot] com to discuss your situation before booking.
Please note: this is a strategy advisory service, not legal representation. I am not an attorney. Contact for Details.
On payments: All payments are made directly on the booking page for the date you select. Package payments are arranged following your consultation. Public figures are welcome to send a confidentiality agreement to hello [at] narcissisticabuserehab [dot] com before booking.
About Manya Wakefield
Manya Wakefield is a narcissistic abuse recovery coach, coercive trauma specialist, and the developer of the Coercive Trauma Recovery Method™ — a structured recovery framework built from seven years of direct professional work with survivors of coercive control and narcissistic abuse, reviewed by Dr. Michael Kinsey, PhD, clinical psychologist, New School for Social Research.
She is the founder of Narcissistic Abuse Rehab, a global social impact platform launched in 2019 to support survivors through evidence-based recovery frameworks. Manya is the author of Are You In An Emotionally Abusive Relationship(2019), a resource used in domestic violence recovery groups worldwide.
Her original research contributions include the Global Coercive Control Legislation Index (2020) — the first systematic index of its kind on the web — and the Global Femicide Legislation Index (2026), comprehensive legal references used by advocates, legal professionals, and policymakers internationally.
Her expertise has been featured in Newsweek. , Elle, Cosmopolitan, Parade and . Huffington Post. She hosts the Narcissistic Abuse Rehab Podcast, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.
All content on this site reflects Manya’s direct professional experience working with survivors of narcissistic abuse and coercive control, her published research, and her ongoing advocacy work.