When you get free and are safe, it’s strange how alone you can feel, even when there are people you love around you. They didn’t live it like you did. They don’t quite understand the exhaustion of trying to explain what it was like or why you stayed, or why you still feel like this even though you’re safe. Sometimes what you need most isn’t advice. It’s other people who already understand, without you having to spend an hour providing context.
I started The Resilient Blueprint because I’ve been exactly where you are, and I know how much time gets wasted searching for resources that actually fit this experience. Everything I share here, I’ve looked at carefully. I share them because I think they’re genuinely worth your time.
What Is Circles?
Circles is a subscription-based app offering live, audio-only group support sessions focused specifically on narcissistic abuse and divorce. Sessions are led by professional facilitators, a mix of counsellors, coaches, and practitioners with backgrounds in mental health and relationship recovery and run more than 500 times per week, across a range of topics and time slots. It’s available via iOS and Android app, and accessible globally with no stated country restrictions. There is a free tier that gives access to peer-led sessions, without facilitator-led content, and also a 7-day free trial if you upgrade.
Why It’s Here
Most people who’ve come out of a relationship with a narcissistic or abusive partner run into the same problem when they try to talk about it: the learning curve. Explaining coercive control, or gaslighting, or why leaving was so complicated to someone who hasn’t experienced it takes enormous energy, and it can actually make you feel more isolated, not less. The people in a Circles session don’t need that explanation. They’re already there.
What I find genuinely useful about this platform for TRB’s audience is its specificity. It’s not a generic mental health app that happens to touch on relationships. Narcissistic abuse is its primary focus, and that precision changes the quality of what happens in the room. Being heard by people who understand exactly the dynamic you’re describing is a different experience to general wellness support. That recognition is important, particularly when so much of what you’ve come through involved having your reality questioned.
How It Works
You start with a short intake to identify what you’re dealing with, then get matched to relevant sessions. From there, you can join any live audio session. You can listen in without speaking for as long as you want, since all sessions are audio-only and show only your first name. Sessions run throughout the day across different topics, so there’s flexibility in when and how often you engage. The free trial gives you seven days to try it before committing to a subscription.
It’s worth noting: facilitator credentials vary. Some are licensed mental health professionals, others are coaches or specialists in narcissistic abuse recovery, so if clinical background matters to you, it’s worth looking at individual facilitator profiles before settling in.
Who This Is For and Who It Might Not Be
This might resonate if you:
- Are coming out of a relationship with a narcissistic or controlling partner, and want to process that experience alongside people who’ve lived something similar without having to explain the basics.
- Are looking for something more flexible and accessible than weekly one-on-one therapy, whether as a standalone option or a complement to other support.
- Find it hard to open up on video calls, or feel safer in audio-only spaces where you can listen first and speak when you’re ready.
It might not be the right fit if:
- You’re looking for individual one-on-one therapy. Circles is group support, not a clinical treatment program, and does not offer private sessions with a therapist.
- Your situation is complex enough that you need a higher level of clinical care, in which case working with a licensed therapist one-on-one is likely a better starting point, with Circles as a complement rather than a primary support.
