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Healing the Effects of Toxic Relationships
The realization that you are in a toxic relationship is the first step towards healing.
Iman Habel
Toxic Relationship Support Group: Healing the Effects of Toxic Relationships
In our day today, toxic relationships seem to be everywhere. Perhaps our modern-day technologies have made it harder for us to connect deeply with each other, or perhaps it’s just been the trend over the years, but what I have realized is that most people seem to be in one type of toxic relationship or another. Whether in the home or in romantic relationships, it seems as though everyone has a thing or two to say about how someone in their life emotionally harmed them in one way or another.
Now do not get me wrong, there isn’t anything wrong with some healthy disagreements, coordination, and conversations, but the relationships filled with yelling spells, insults, disrespectful statements, glances, and passive-aggressive actions are far from the healthy relationships that we all crave and know we deserve. These relationships lack something essential, mainly heart, compassion, and gentility.
Yes, I said something rather than some things because heart, compassion, and gentility all stem from the same root of love, not the love we hear being thrown around everywhere by everyone in which there must be a true loves kiss for all to be all, but true genuine love. Love is gentle. So if someone does something hurtful, forceful, and disturbing towards you in the name of love, their statement is misguided. Love is non-judgemental, therefore if someone criticizes you, questions your judgments, disregards your opinions, disrespects your values, and still says they love you, their statements are misguided. Love is compassionate, meaning, love is understanding, life is allowing, life is accepting, therefore a life with people you love should be filled with lots of compassion, kindness, understanding, respect, and value.
In our time, it seems as if it’s almost impossible to find relationships like these in households, friendships, and romantic relationships. We are slowly losing a part of what makes us human. Human connection. We need human connection, we need to feel understood, valued, respected, and far from being loved, we need to feel like we belong somewhere, with someone or some people.
Toxic relationships are painful, hard and create repeating cycles of toxicity in which both of the parties contribute to the toxic relationship in a way or another.
Toxic relationships can be from any type of relationship. It can be between parents and their children, siblings, cousins, schoolmates, significant others, teachers, students, extended family members, societal expectations, religious expectations etc etc.
Toxicity comes in all forms: name-calling, physical abuse, lying, controlling, manipulating and all the internal turmoil that results from being in an unhealthy relationship. Whether it is a personal relationship involving a family member, lover friend, or a professional relationship involving a co-worker or a boss, toxic relationships can damage and leave long-lasting effects on the person involved.
Psychology Today
Why is it important to heal the effects of toxic relationships?
Toxic relationships can sometimes be difficult to self-diagnose because you are one of two or one of many parties in a toxic cycle.
Your ability to recognize that you are in a toxic relationship and seek a way out of it is a major breakthrough for yourself and for your healing journey. For your present healing and your future.
The interesting thing about healing from a toxic relationship is that you must first learn, realize and acknowledge that you are in one, and be brave enough to walk away from it.
Most toxic relationships have a magnetic factor. Something that keeps you going back for more. It does not make any sense, but after mistreatment, either fear keeps you coming back as a desire to protect yourself from future mistreatments, passion keeps you coming back for the sweet moments, kind words that follow or precede the torturous times. A sense of loyalty to the person that you are in a toxic cycle with.
There are many reasons why people get stuck in toxic relationships, but the most important part of all of it is first realizing you are in a toxic relationship, then choosing to walk away and rebuild yourself. A toxic relationship is complicated. Extremely complicated. A toxic relationship can function like acid to your sense of self, it will slowly corrode your true self in efforts to compromise, overcompensate, protect, defend, and at times even over submit just to keep the peace in efforts to keep someone abusive happy.
The answer to the why is simple. So that you may be able to start separating the difference between yourself and the self that was created to protect yourself from a toxic relationship and to keep you in a state of functionality while experiencing internally crippling experiences.
Why join this support group?
This support group is intended to serve as an important platform to allow you to see the difference between who you are vs who you must be to survive your relationship. It will allow you to listen to what others have experienced similar to your experiences and help you understand that your defensive mechanisms are/were important and once you leave that toxic relationship, it is important to learn to shed the skin you glued on to survive.
The other thing we will work on is setting boundaries with loved ones who are toxic who you wish to keep in your life. This may be difficult to do with some relationships and some people, but learning to set boundaries is an important part of re-establishing who you are and or learning to get to know yourself for the first time.
Who is this support group for?
This support group is for women who have been in toxic relationships and are currently working on healing from the effects of those relationships.
Online: Zoom: Once you register, you will receive an email with details.
Tuesdays : 5pm Western (pdt)/8pm Eastern (edt) time
How much does it cost?
$120 per month: 4 support group sessions
