IT'S TOO HARD TO HANDLE THE TRAUMA OF BETRAYAL ALONE

Cape Cod Betrayal Trauma Workshop

In early April, the Cape is just beginning to wake-up from its winter hibernation. It's a great time for reviewing, reflecting on/re-evaluating, and renewing our relationships. Relationship trauma and emotional abuse are among the most painful challenges adults have to manage and cope with. Don't try to do this alone. Whether you come to Cape Cod with us or participate virtually with us through telehealth services, don't let betrayal trauma destroy you or what you have left of your family, your friendship system, or your career.  Call 724-733-2928 to schedule an appointment or to learn more details about this retreat.

Come join us in April of 2024 for our annual Betrayal-Trauma Recovery Workshop, a time to celebrate the coming of Spring and break-out of the sadness, disappointment, confusion, and hurt that comes with betrayal by someone you loved, worked closely with, or cared deeply about. If you can't wait until April, call anytime for some help on-line or at one of our Pennsylvania offices.  

If you haven't experienced betrayal, but you have been through a different type of trauma, you might still enjoy coming to the workshop simply to embrace and apply the Three R Model that we use to review, re-evaluate, and renew our lives. Think of it as a behavioral health retreat on the beautiful southern shore of the Cape, across from Nantucket Island and Martha's Vineyard. (There's no need to take the ferry unless you want to actually go to see those islands during your free time.)

Betrayal, exclusion-abuse, scapegoating, gas-lighting, slandering, mobbing, and other types of relational aggression were occurring in epidemic numbers throughout the United States, and in a number of other countries , before the Covid-19 pandemic occurred. Some were calling this the "era of hate" because of the polarized mean-spirited ways that people were handling differences. Instead of using civility and discussing differences in rational ways, people were attacking the person as opposed to attacking the idea. We call this "personalizing differences." It's mean. It's hurtful, It's wrong, and it hurts everyone, including those who perpetrate it.

Betrayal can lead to PTSD, but it doesn't always have to. If it does, PTSD can go into long periods of remission with the right kind of knowledge, support, and coping skills. The post-traumatic growth that comes after it can be amazing.

Some Internet websites have been advocating for relational aggression in families and in other types of relationships. People are foolishly falling for this and trying to to justify cut-offs and exclusion on the basis of slander and name-calling, using alleged mental health conditions that only a psychiatrist or licensed mental health provider is qualified to diagnose. Parents of adult off-spring and siblings have especially been targeted. This has damaged families and created a new category of elder abuse and child neglect, destroying important informal social support networks that children, disabled adults, and older adults need.

Children and adolescents, in particular, have been isolated in tightly-closed, cult-like nuclear families where they are being objectified as the exclusive property of one or both parents. This is extremely damaging to a child's development and quality of life. Children have a right to know and spend time with their extended family. Depriving them of this on the basis of false-labeling extended family members can be considered a type of child maltreatment and alienation. In some countries, it is illegal.

If you, your family, or your organization has been hurt by betrayal or relational aggression ("exclusion-abuse" or forced isolation), we want to help. There is no better place to begin the healing process than the quiet shores of Cape Cod during the off-season when uncrowded beaches are simply for walking along or for watching sun-rises, sunsets, and the waves that, like emotions, are always there cresting up, rolling over, and finally coming down just like the rhythm of life itself. For those of you who want to swim in April, there's a glass enclosed pool on the beach itself, and it's always warm inside that enclosure, no matter what is happening outside. Please call us for cost, room and travel details.